Kerr-lens mode-locked Yb:YAlO 3 laser generating 24-fs pulses at 1085 nm

Abstract

We report on a Kerr-lens mode-locked Yb:YAlO 3 laser generating soliton pulses as short as 24 fs at 1085 nm with an average output power of 186 mW and a pulse repetition rate of 87.5 MHz, representing the shortest pulses ever achieved from any mode-locked laser based on Yb 3+ -doped structurally ordered crystal. Optimized for power-scalable operation, the Yb:YAlO 3 laser delivers 1.9 W at 1060 nm at the expense of a longer pulse duration of 44 fs, corresponding to a peak power of 462 kW and an optical efficiency of 43.2%.