Burst-mode laser architecture for the generation of high-peak-power MHz-rate femtosecond pulses

Abstract

A novel master-oscillator power-amplifier burst-mode laser system is reported for generating femtosecond (fs) pulse trains with high peak power and a broad spectral bandwidth of >10 nm without the use of nonlinear compression techniques. A mode-locked, 1064.6 nm fundamental-wavelength broadband master oscillator, a fiber amplifier/pulse stretcher, and four Nd:glass power amplifiers are used to generate a sequence of high-repetition-rate, transform-limited 234 fs pulses over a 1 ms burst duration at a 0.1 Hz burst repetition rate. Peak powers are 1.24 GW at 100 kHz and 500 MW at 1 MHz with M2∼1.5. Burst-mode fs laser design features, performance characteristics relevant to MHz-rate flow diagnostics, and prospects for scaling peak powers further by an order of magnitude are discussed.