Multi-millijoule, diode-pumped, cryogenically-cooled Yb:KY(WO
)
chirped-pulse regenerative amplifier
Ogawa, Kanade; Akahane, Yutaka; Aoyama, Makoto; Tsuji, Koichi; Tokita, Shigeki*; Kawanaka, Junji*; Nishioka, Hajime*; Yamakawa, Koichi
Ytterbium (Yb
) doped gain media are one of promising laser materials for the next generation of diode-pumped high-power lasers. Yb-doped media have several advantages. It has wide absorption bandwidth, the low quantum defect, and the simple electronic structure. Yb:KY(WO
)
(Yb:KYW) and Yb:KG(WO
)
(Yb:KGW) have a large absorption and wide emission cross section, broad emission spectral range, and high thermal conductivity, yielding a high repetition-rate, high-energy, sub-picosecond pulses. However, multi-millijoule-class Yb:KYW or Yb:KGW lasers have not yet been reported so far, excepting a massive, joule-class Ti:sapphire laser pumped Yb:KGW regenerative amplifier. So, We developed a compact diode-pumped, cryogenically-cooled chirped-pulse Yb:KYW regenerative amplifier. An amplified pulse with an energy of 5.5 mJ and a high optical conversion efficiency of
14% is achieved. Regenerative pulse shaping is also used to counter gain narrowing during amplification.