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We present the generation of broadband terahertz radiation. Driven by a multipass cell compressed high-power fiber laser system at a repetition rate of 200 kHz an average power of 94 mW is generated with the two color gas-plasma scheme. The full bandwidth of the pulses are characterized by a measurement based on the air-biased coherent detection. By using the full potential of the driving laser further power scaling of the generated THz power towards watt-level average power can be expected in the near future.

Coherent beam combination of fiber amplifiers is a powerful tool to synthetically increase the effective mode area of the beam while mitigating most of the limitations of fibers. Therefore this technique enables a further power and energy scaling of the radiation emitted by fiber laser systems (even of those delivering ultrafast pulses) [1] , [2] . However, the combination of single emitters leads to very complex, bulky and expensive systems due to the component count growing linearly with the number of channels. To decouple the component count from the channel count, so called multicore fibers (MCFs), that incorporate multiple active cores sharing the same pump cladding, have been developed. First tests with MCF amplifiers have not only shown their linear power scaling potential but also the scaling of the transverse mode instability threshold [3] .

Transverse mode instability (TMI) induces detrimental mode coupling in fiber-laser systems at high average powers and still represents the main limitation for the further power scaling of diffraction-limited systems. In this contribution, we describe a new approach to mitigate TMI in fiber amplifiers by dynamically modifying the inversion profile in the fiber. When periodically changing the excitation of the active fiber (e.g. with the help of an acousto-optic deflector), the intensity distribution along the fiber is also dynamically modified. If this is done with a frequency of a few hundreds of kHz (i.e. so that the inversion cannot completely adapt to the new intensity pattern), the inversion grating will be washed out and a homogeneous inversion profile can develop. Consequently, the resulting heat distribution will also be homogenized and the formation of a thermally-induced refractive index grating, which is responsible for the TMI-induced mode coupling, can be largely suppressed. Hence, the presented mitigation approach tackles TMI at an early stage by acting upon the root cause of the detrimental modal energy transfer. At the conference, simulations will be presented which will illustrate the working principle of the new mitigation approach and show its potential to increase the TMI threshold of high-power fiber amplifiers by washing out the inversion profile.

A new approach to characterize the effect of transverse mode instability (TMI) in high-power fiber-laser systems is presented. A position-sensitive detector is employed to detect the trajectories of the center of gravity of the fluctuating beam (in a short time-window) at different average power levels. With an increasing average output power, the area covered by the trajectories increases which is used as a measure for the stability of the system. The new concept allows for a simple, fast, and detailed characterization of TMI, which accurately determines its threshold even in complex operating regimes. This new technique can easily distinguish between spatial and power fluctuations of the beam. Furthermore, the trajectories contain information about the movement of the center of gravity of the beam, which can be used to gain additional insight about the dynamics of TMI. The technique robustness was tested by characterizing the TMI behavior in a complex operating regime. e.g., using a pump-power modulation.

We present on THz generation in the two-color gas plasma scheme driven by a high-power, ultrafast fiber laser system. The applied scheme is a promising approach for scaling the THz average power but it has been limited so far by the driving lasers to repetition rates up to 1 kHz. Here, we demonstrate recent results of THz generation operating at a two orders of magnitude higher repetition rate. This results in a unprecedented THz average power of 50 mW. The development of compact, table-top THz sources with high repetition rate and high field strength is crucial for studying nonlinear responses of materials, particle acceleration or faster data acquisition in imaging and spectroscopy.

Intense, ultrafast laser sources with an operation wavelength beyond the well-established near-IR are valuable tools for exploiting the wavelength scaling laws of strong-field, light-matter interactions. Such laser systems enable the scaling of the phase matching photon energy cut-off in high-order harmonic generation, which allows for the generation of coherent soft X-ray radiation up to, and even beyond, the water window. Such laser-driven sources enable a plethora of subsequent applications. A number of these applications can significantly benefit from an increase in repetition rate. In that regard, ultrafast thulium-doped fiber laser systems (providing a broad amplification bandwidth in the 2 μm wavelength region) represent a promising, average-power scalable laser concept for driving high-order harmonic generation. These lasers are capable of delivering ~100 fs pulses with multi-GW peak power at hundreds of kHz repetition rate. In this work, we show that combining ultrafast thulium-doped fiber CPA systems with HHG in an antiresonant hollow-core fiber is a promising approach to realize high photon energy cut-off HHG from a compact setup. The realization is based on combining nonlinear pulse self-compression (leading to strong-field waveforms) and phase-matched high-order harmonic generation in a single antiresonant hollow-core fiber. In this demonstration, a photon energy cut-off of approximately 330 eV has been achieved, together with a photon flux >106 ph/s/eV at 300 eV. These results emphasize the great potential of exploiting the HHG wavelength scaling laws with 2 μm fiber laser technology. Improvements of the HHG efficiency, the overall HHG yield and further laser performance enhancements will be the subjects of our future work.

The effect of transverse mode instability is a limitation for the power scaling of fiber laser systems, that can originate due to heat caused by stimulated Raman scattering. In this contribution, we experimentally investigate the threshold of transverse mode instability caused by stimulated Raman scattering in a passive fiber. Both, the Stokes seed power and the fiber length of a core-pumped Raman fiber amplifier are varied to systematically study this effect. Mode resolved measurements reveal that the threshold occurs at approximately the same Stokes output power for all tested configurations, independent of the total Raman conversion efficiency. These results increase the understanding of this type of mode instability and show which parameters are important for a further power scaling of high-power Raman fiber amplifiers.

The effect of transverse mode instability (TMI) is currently the main limitation for the further average-power scaling of fiber laser systems with diffraction-limited beam quality. In this work a main driving force for TMI in fiber amplifiers is identified. Our experiments and simulations illustrate that the performance of fiber laser systems in terms of their diffraction-limited output power can be significantly reduced when the pump or seed radiation exhibit intensity noise. This finding emphasizes the fact that the TMI threshold is not only determined by the active fiber but, rather, by the whole system. In the experiment an artificially applied pump intensity-noise of 2.9% led to a reduction of the TMI threshold of 63%, whereas a similar seed intensity-noise decreased it by just 13%. Thus, even though both noise sources have an impact on the TMI threshold, the pump intensity-noise can be considered as the main driver for TMI in saturated fiber amplifiers. Additionally, the work unveils that the physical origin of this behavior is linked to the noise transfer function in saturated fiber amplifiers. With the gained knowledge and the experimental and theoretical results, it can be concluded that a suppression of pump-noise frequencies below 20 kHz could strongly increase the TMI threshold in high-power fiber laser systems.

In this work we present a novel way to mitigate the effect of transverse mode instability in high-power fiber amplifiers. In this technique a travelling wave is induced in the modal interference pattern by seeding the amplifier with two modes that have slightly different frequencies. The interference pattern thus formed will travel up- or downstream the fiber (depending on the sign of the frequency difference between the modes) with a certain speed (that depends on the absolute value of the frequency difference). If the travelling speed is chosen properly, the thermally-induced index grating will follow the travelling modal interference pattern creating a constant phase shift between these two elements. Such a constant controllable phase shift allows for a stable energy transfer from the higher-order modes to the fundamental mode or viceversa. Thus, this technique can be adjusted in such a way that, at the output of the fiber almost all the energy is concentrated in the fundamental mode, regardless of the excitation conditions. Moreover, this technique represents one of the first examples of the new family of mitigation strategies acting upon the phase shift between the modal interference pattern and the refractive index grating. Additionally, it even exploits the effect of transverse mode instability for gaining control over the beam profile at the output of the amplifier. Therefore, by adjusting the frequency difference between the seed modes, it is possible to force that the beam at the output acquires the shape of the fundamental mode or that of a higher order mode.

In this work we present theoretical investigations of the power scaling potential of multicore fibers. In principle it is widely accepted that increasing the number of active cores helps to overcome current challenges such as transversal mode instabilities and non-linear effects. However, in order to do a proper analysis of the average power scaling potential of multicore fibers it is required to pay particular attention to thermal effects arising in such fibers. Therefore, a simulation tool has been developed that is capable of solving the laser rate equations, taking into account the resulting temperature gradient and the distortions in the mode profiles that it causes. In the study several different multicore fibers possessing a rectangular core position layout of 2×2 to 7×7 of active cores have been analyzed. Moreover, we have investigated the influence of the active core size in terms of thermal effects as well as the extractable output power and energy. This includes a study in the maximum achievable coherent combination efficiency of the multicore channels (that is strongly influenced by the distorted mode profile at the fiber end facet), the impact on nonlinear effects, the optical path differences between the cores and the amplification efficiency which are all triggered by thermal effects. Finally the scaling potential as well as the challenges of such fibers will be discussed.

Numerous molecules important for environmental and life sciences feature strong absorption bands in the molecular fingerprint region from 3 μm – 20 μm. While mature drivers at 1 μm wavelength are the workhorse for the generation of radiation up to 5 μm (utilizing down-conversion in nonlinear crystals) they struggle to directly produce radiation beyond this limit, due to impeding nonlinear absorption in non-oxide crystals. Since only non-oxide crystals provide transmission in the whole molecular fingerprint region, a shift to longer driving wavelengths is necessary for a power scalable direct conversion of radiation into the wavelength region beyond 5 μm. In this contribution, we present a high-power single-stage optical parametric amplifier driven by a state of the art 2 μm wavelength, thulium-doped fiber chirped pulse amplifier. In this experiment, the laser system provided 23 W at 417 kHz repetition rate with 270 fs pulse duration to the parametric amplifier. The seed signal is produced by supercontinuum generation in 3 mm of sapphire and pre-chirped with 3 mm of germanium. Combining this signal with the pump radiation and focusing it into a 2 mm thick GaSe crystal with a pump intensity of 160 GW/cm2 lead to an average idler power of 700 mW with a spectrum spanning from 9 μm – 12 μm. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest average power reported from a parametric amplifier directly driven by a 2 μm ultrafast laser in the wavelength region beyond 5 μm. Employing common multi-stage designs, this approach might in the future enable multi-watt high-power parametric amplification in the long wavelength mid infrared.

In this work we present a multicore fiber design that exploits the Talbot effect to carry out the beam splitting and recombination inside of the fiber. This allows reducing the complexity of coherent combining systems since it makes the splitting and combining subsystems together with the active stabilization redundant. In other words, such a multicore fiber behaves for the user as a single core fiber, since the energy is coupled just in a single core and it is extracted from the same core. This work describes the operating principle of this novel fiber design and analyzes its performance in high power operation using a simulation model based on the supermode theory. This includes a study on the impact on non-linear effects, on the amplification efficiency, on the thermal resilience of this design and on the performance dependence on the pump direction. Moreover, some design guidelines will be provided to tailor the characteristics of the fiber. Finally, it will be discussed how these fibers can be used to increase the TMI threshold of fiber laser systems.

Applications such as material processing, spectroscopy, particle acceleration, high-harmonic and mid-IR generation can greatly benefit from high repetition rate, high power, ultrafast laser sources emitting around 2 μm wavelength. In this contribution we present a single-channel Tm-doped fiber chirped-pulse amplifier delivering 108 W of average output power at 417 kHz repetition rate with 250 fs pulse duration and 0.73 GW of pulse peak power. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of an ultrafast Tm-doped fiber laser with more than 100 W of average power and GW-level peak power.

In this contribution, we present a Tm-doped fiber chirped pulse amplifier system delivering 108 W of average output power at 417 kHz repetition rate with 250 fs pulse duration and close to 1 GW of pulse peak power.

We report on soft x-ray HHG driven by a thulium-doped fiber laser. It is the first time that a photon energy cut-off ~400 eV has been demonstrated using this highly scalable laser technology.

The development of high-power, broadband sources of coherent mid-infrared radiation is currently the subject of intense research that is driven by a substantial number of existing and continuously emerging applications in medical diagnostics, spectroscopy, microscopy, and fundamental science. One of the major, long-standing challenges in improving the performance of these applications has been the construction of compact, broadband mid-infrared radiation sources, which unify the properties of high brightness and spatial and temporal coherence. Due to the lack of such radiation sources, several emerging applications can be addressed only with infrared (IR)-beamlines in large-scale synchrotron facilities, which are limited regarding user access and only partially fulfill these properties. Here, we present a table-top, broadband, coherent mid-infrared light source that provides brightness at an unprecedented level that supersedes that of synchrotrons in the wavelength range between 3.7 and 18 µm by several orders of magnitude. This result is enabled by a high-power, few-cycle Tm-doped fiber laser system, which is employed as a pump at 1.9 µm wavelength for intrapulse difference frequency generation (IPDFG). IPDFG intrinsically ensures the formation of carrier-envelope-phase stable pulses, which provide ideal prerequisites for state-of-the-art spectroscopy and microscopy., Mid-infrared photonics: bright broadband source A table-top-sized, coherent light source that offers a compact and bright alternative to a synchrotron in the 4−18 µm spectral range has been developed by a German-US research team. The team used a novel ultrashort (16 fs) pulse, high power Tm-doped fiber laser operating at 1.9 µm to induce a nonlinear frequency downconversion process called intrapulse difference frequency generation in a crystal of GaSe. The broad spectral coverage and high brightness render this mid-infrared source a unique tool for state-of-the art spectroscopy and microscopy. The team says that the compactness and simplicity of the presented approach brings exciting prospects for the future accessibility, in particular for emerging applications that are currently addressed only with mid-infrared beamlines in large-scale synchrotron facilities.

The performance of fiber laser systems has drastically increased over recent decades, which has opened up new industrial and scientific applications for this technology. However, currently a number of physical effects prevents further power scaling. Coherent combination of beams from multiple emitters has been established as a power scaling technique beyond these limitations. It is possible to increase the average power and, for pulsed laser systems, also parameters such as the pulse energy and the peak power. To realize such laser systems, various aspects have to be taken into account which include beam combination elements, stabilization systems and the output parameters of the individual amplifiers. After an introduction to the topic, various ways of implementing coherent beam combination for ultrashort pulses are explored. Besides the spatial combination of beams, the combination of pulses in time will also be discussed. Recent experimental results will be presented, including multi-dimensional (i.e. spatial and temporal) combination. Finally, an outlook on possible further developments is given, focused on scaling the number of combinable beams and pulses.

In this work we present a novel way to manipulate the effect of transverse mode instability by inducing traveling waves in a high-power fiber system. What sets this technique apart is the fact that it allows controlling the direction of the modal energy flow, for the first time to the best of our knowledge. Thus, using the method proposed in this work it will be possible to transfer energy from the higher-order mode into the fundamental mode of the fiber, which mitigates the effect of transverse mode instability, but also to transfer energy from the fundamental mode into the higher-order mode. Our simulations indicate that this approach will work both below and above the threshold of transverse mode instability. In fact, our model reveals that it can be used to force a nearly pure fundamental mode output in the fiber laser system almost independently of the input coupling conditions. In this context, this technique represents the first attempt to exploit the physics behind the effect of transverse mode instability to increase the performance of fiber laser systems.

We present the power scaling of broadband THz radiation generated by the two-color gas plasma scheme driven by a state-of-the-art, ultrafast, high average-power fiber laser system to an unprecedented average power of 50 mW. The possibilities for further scaling are discussed.

Ultrafast lasers that deliver intense femtosecond pulses at carrier wavelengths beyond the well-established emission bands of Yb- or Ti:Sa-based sources have become extremely popular drivers for scientific applications. It is widely known that the long wavelength is a key property to enable new strong-field experiments or to significantly improve existing ones, e.g. in the case of extreme nonlinear frequency conversion to otherwise hardly accessible spectral regions. Those spectral regions of interest range from the deep mid-infrared (based on parametric amplification in non-oxide crystals) up to the soft X-ray regime (via high-harmonic generation). In order to turn such laboratory experiments into real-world applications with improved signal-to-noise-ratios and fast data acquisition and to unlock applications within the industry sector as well, the long wavelength driving laser sources need to deliver high repetition rates and high average powers.

We present the most recent results of ultrafast fiber-laser driven generation of broadband THz radiation based on two-color gas-plasma. The experiment shows how energetic fiber-lasers can improve on an application today mainly dominated by Ti:sapphire lasers and power-scalability of this kind of THz sources is discussed. With a high-power driving laser THz radiation with more than 4 mW of average power is generated. This is the highest average power using this scheme so far.

In this work we have investigated the impact of pump-power noise on transverse mode instabilities (TMI) in high-power fiber laser systems. This is a crucial study since former works have shown that pump-power variations can induce a phase shift between the modal interference pattern and the thermally-induced refractive index grating and, thus, they are the most likely trigger for TMI. To experimentally investigate this behavior, we have generated white noise for different frequency bands with an arbitrary waveform generator and applied it to the pump diode. In a first experiment we have evaluated the frequency range of interest. It was found that only frequency components of the pump noise close to the main frequency of the TMI fluctuations influence the TMI threshold of the fiber laser system. In a second experiment we have measured the TMI threshold of the free-running system and compared it to the ones obtained when applying different pump-noise amplitudes. It was found that the TMI threshold can be decreased by almost a factor of three by increasing the noise of the pump source. This result is in good agreement with former theoretical and experimental studies and suggests that pump-power noise indeed acts as a main trigger for TMI. Furthermore, the findings indicate that the development of pump sources and drivers with a low noise level in a frequency range close to the main frequency of the TMI fluctuations could help to increase the TMI threshold of fiber laser systems.

In this work, we study the generation and evolution of phase-shifts between the modal interference pattern and the thermally-induced index grating due to pump-power changes. This study is not only important to understand new mitigation strategies based on controlling such phase-shifts, but also to comprehend how pump/signal noise can trigger TMI. Understanding how such a phase-shift can develop from a pump/signal change is not trivial, since the movement of both the MIP and the RIG are thermally driven and, therefore, should have similar time constants. Our simulations show unequivocally that a change of the pump power will lead to the generation of a phase-shift and the physical reason for this behavior is unveiled. The main reason is an increased sensitivity of the MIP to temperature variations because the local beat-length changes of the MIP are accumulated along the whole fiber length. Therefore, the further downstream the fiber a MIP maximum is (i.e. closer to the pump end in a counter-pumped configuration), the stronger and faster its position shift will be. This insight shows a way to obtain more TMI-resilient fiber designs and may help understanding the core area dependence of TMI.

We report on the generation of 102 μJ-, sub-2 cycle pulses with several GW of peak power centered at 1.73 μm wavelength. The intense few-cycle source features 8.8 fs pulse duration (full-width at half maximum, FWHM). It is operated at 196 kHz pulse repetition rate and provides a record average power of 20 W. This result is enabled by the combination of two average power scalable concepts: direct emission from an ultrafast Tm-doped fiber laser system and nonlinear pulse compression in a gas-filled antiresonant hollow-core fiber. Ultrafast Tm-doped fiber lasers are scalable to kW-level average power, which emphasizes the great potential of this approach for driving high cut-off HHG at high repetition rates.

We analyze the average power scaling capabilities of ultrafast thulium-doped fiber lasers in the context of available pump brightness and transverse-mode instabilities. It has been theoretically predicted that thulium-doped fiber lasers emitting at around a wavelength of 2 μm can withstand much higher thermal loads before the onset of mode instability is observed. In this work we intend to verify this theoretical hypothesis experimentally. To do so, we use state of the art laser diodes to reach a combined pump power of more than 2 kW at 793 nm. Careful thermal management of the fiber amplifier and sufficient seed power are beneficial for exploiting cross-relaxation, which allows for high optical to optical efficiencies greater than 50%, which we demonstrate in a 50/250 thulium-doped photonic crystal fiber. An average power of 1060 W after pulse compression to 265 fs duration with stable diffraction-limited beam quality is demonstrated. We have achieved a pump-limited average output power of 1.15 kW prior to pulse compression without the onset of thermal mode instability. After a longer period of operation at this power level, a degradation of the amplifier performance occurred and thermal mode instability has been observed for average powers in excess of 847 W. This is the first time, to the best of our knowledge, that thermal mode instability has been observed in a thulium-doped fiber laser. According to simulations of the amplification process, the average heat load at the threshold of thermal mode instability is at least 95 W/m, which is about 3 times higher than the typical value for ytterbium-doped fiber laser.

This work presents a review on the effect of transverse mode instability in high-power fiber laser systems and the corresponding investigations led worldwide over the last decade. This manuscript includes the description of the experimental observations, the physical origin of this effect, as well as some of the proposed mitigation strategies., Comment: (c) 2020 Optical Society of America. One print or electronic copy may be made for personal use only. Systematic reproduction and distribution, duplication of any material in this paper for a fee or for commercial purposes, or modifications of the content of this paper are prohibited

In this Letter, we report on the generation of 1060 W average power from an ultrafast thulium-doped fiber chirped pulse amplification system. After compression, the pulse energy of 13.2 μJ with a pulse duration of 265 fs at an 80 MHz pulse repetition rate results in a peak power of 50 MW spectrally centered at 1960 nm. Even though the average heat-load in the fiber core is as high as 98 W/m, we confirm the diffraction-limited beam quality of the compressed output. Furthermore, the evolution of the relative intensity noise with increasing average output power has been measured to verify the absence of transversal mode instabilities. This system represents a new average power record for thulium-doped fiber lasers (1150 W uncompressed) and ultrashort pulse fiber lasers with diffraction-limited beam quality, in general, even considering single-channel ytterbium-doped fiber amplifiers.

A phase shift between the modal interference pattern and the thermally-induced refractive index grating is most likely the ultimate trigger for the damaging effect of transverse mode instabilities (TMI) in high-power fiber laser systems. By using comprehensive simulations, the creation and evolution of a thermally-induced phase shift is explained and illustrated in detail. It is shown that such a phase shift can be induced by a variation of the pump power. The gained knowledge about the generation and evolution of the phase shift will allow for the development of new mitigation strategies for TMI.

We propose, to the best of our knowledge, the first mitigation strategy for TMI based on controlling the phase shift between the thermally-induced index grating and the modal intensity pattern. In particular, in this work we present a study of transverse mode instabilities in burst operation in a high-power fiber laser system. It is shown that, with a careful choice of the parameters, this operation regime can potentially lead to the mitigation of TMI by forcing an energy transfer from the higher-order-modes into the fundamental mode during the burst.

Thermally-induced refractive index gratings (RIG) in high-power fiber laser systems lead to transverse mode instabilities (TMI) above a certain average power threshold. The effect of TMI is currently the main limitation for the further average power scaling of fiber lasers and amplifiers with nearly diffraction-limited beam quality. In this work we experimentally investigate, for the first time, the growth of the RIG strength by introducing a phase-shift between the RIG and the modal interference pattern in a fiber amplifier. The experiments reveal that the RIG is strong enough to couple energy between different transverse modes even at powers significantly below the TMI threshold, provided that the introduced phase-shift is high enough. This indicates that, as the strength of the RIG further increases with increasing average output power, the RIG becomes more and more sensitive to even small noise-induced phase-shifts, which ultimately trigger TMI. Furthermore, it is shown that a beam cleaning also occurs when a positive phase-shift is introduced, even above the TMI threshold. This finding will pave the way for the development of a new class of mitigation strategies for TMI, which key feature is the control of the introduced phase-shift.

In this contribution we demonstrate the nonlinear pulse compression of an ultrafast thulium-doped fiber laser down to 14 fs FWHM duration (sub-3 optical cycles) at a record average power of 43 W and 34.5 μJ pulse energy. To the best of our knowledge, we present the highest average power few-cycle laser source at 2 μm wavelength. This performance level in combination with GW-class peak power makes our laser source extremely interesting for driving high-harmonic generation or for generating mid-infrared frequency combs via intra-pulse frequency down-conversion at an unprecedented average power. The experiments were enabled by an ultrafast thulium-doped fiber laser delivering 110 fs pulses at high repetition rates, and an argon gas-filled antiresonant hollow-core fiber (ARHCF) with excellent transmission and weak anomalous dispersion, leading to the self-compression of the pulses. We have shown that ARHCFs are well-suited for nonlinear pulse compression around 2 μm wavelength and that this concept features excellent power handling capabilities. Based on this result, we discuss the next steps for energy and average power scaling including upscaling the fiber dimensions in order to fully exploit the capabilities of our laser system, which can deliver several GW of peak power. This way, a 100 W-class laser source with mJ-level few-cycle pulses at 2 μm wavelength is feasible in the near future.

The state of the art of science and technology in fiber lasers and amplifiers is reviewed. Prospects for future power scaling using advanced fiber designs in combination with modern laser and amplifier architectures are discussed.

It has been recently shown that photodarkening can significantly reduce the mode instability threshold in high power Yb-doped fiber amplifiers, thus resulting in an even more severe limitation to the scaling of the output average power of these systems. Therefore, an efficient reduction of photodarkening in an Yb-doped active fiber will lead to very significant gains in the output average power delivered by such systems. In this context, it has been reported that photodarkening can be significantly mitigated when co-doping a fiber core with Al and P, which makes this approach potentially appealing to increase the TMI threshold. Unfortunately co-doping the fiber core with Al and P also alters the effective cross-sections of the fiber, which has repercussion in the amplification efficiency. Thus, a fiber with a higher P concentration will exhibit lower cross-sections, therefore requiring a higher Yb-ion concentration to reach a certain desired amplification efficiency. However, increasing the Yb-ion concentration leads to higher photodarkening losses, which might potentially counteract the benefits of using P co-doping. In this paper we present a comparative analysis of the expected performance of different fiber amplifiers for a given constant average heat-load and amplification efficiency as a function of the ratio of Al:P concentration in the fiber core. This study indicates which core compositions are more beneficial for increasing the mode instability threshold in Yb-doped high-power fiber amplifier systems.

We present nonlinear self-compression of ultrashort pulses from a powerful thulium- doped fiber laser using a gas-filled antiresonant hollow-core fiber. 104 sub-2 cycle pulses have been generated around 1.85 µm at 98 kHz repetition rate.

We present a thulium-doped fiber chirped pulse amplifier delivering 790 W average power, 250 fs pulses with diffraction-limited beam quality and a relative intensity noise of 0.23% (RF-band 10 Hz to 1 MHz).

We demonstrate a first fiber-laser driven two-color air-plasma based THz source operating at 30 kHz repetition rate. The generated THz spectrum covers 0.1 - 5 THz and has an average power in the mW-range.

We present efficient, ultrabroadband intrapulse difference-frequency generation driven by a Tm-doped fiber laser resulting in an average mid-infrared output power of 450 mW spanning more than one octave (−10 dB width) at a central wavelength of 12 µm.

During the past decade coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) microscopy has evolved to one of the most powerful imaging techniques in the biomedical sciences, enabling the label-free visualization of the chemical composition of tissue in vivo in real time. While the acquisition of high-contrast images of single cells up to large tissue sections enables a wide range of medical applications from routine diagnostics to surgical guidance, to date CARS imaging is employed in fundamental research only, essentially because the synchronized multiple wavelength pulsed laser sources required for CARS microscopy are large, expensive and require regular maintenance. Laser sources based on optical fibers can overcome these limitations combining highest efficiency and peak powers with an excellent spatial beam profile and thermal stability. In this review we summarize the different fiber-based approaches for laser sources dedicated to coherent Raman imaging, in particular active fiber technology and passive fiber-based frequency conversion processes, i.e. supercontinuum generation, soliton self-frequency shift and four-wave mixing. We re-evaluate the ideal laser parameters for CARS imaging and discuss the suitability of different laser concepts for turn-key operation required for routine application in clinics.

High-average power laser sources delivering intense few-cycle pulses in wavelength regions beyond the near infrared are promising tools for driving the next generation of high-flux strong-field experiments. In this work, we report on nonlinear pulse compression to 34.4 μJ-, 2.1-cycle pulses with 1.4 GW peak power at a central wavelength of 1.82 μm and an average power of 43 W. This performance level was enabled by the combination of a high-repetition-rate ultrafast thulium-doped fiber laser system and a gas-filled antiresonant hollow-core fiber.

Among other modern imaging techniques, stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) requires an extremely quiet, widely wavelength tunable laser [1], which, up to now, is unheard of in fiber laser systems. Here we present a compact all-fiber laser system, which features an optical parametric oscillator (OPO) based on degenerate four-wave mixing (FWM) in an endlessly single-mode photonic-crystal fiber [2]. We employ pulses from an all-fiber frequency and repetition rate tunable laser, which after amplification and subsequent conversion in the linear OPO cavity arrangement are converted to wavelength ranges of 764–960 nm and 1164–1552 nm at a repetition rate of 9.5 MHz. Thus, all biochemically relevant Raman shifts from 922 to 3322 cm−1 may be addressed in combination with an additional output, which is tunable from 1024 to 1052 nm. This ultra-low-noise output emits synchronized pulses with twice the repetition rate to enable SRS imaging.

The noise characteristics of high-power laser systems are becoming more and more important for a host of high-end applications that include, for example, attosecond pulse generation [1]. For these experiments, the noise level of the driving laser is very important since the HHG-process that drives the attosecond-pulse generation depends strongly on the driving laser field. Up to now, only thin-disk lasers have been systematically investigated regarding their noise characteristics [2]. In a previous work [3], we began with the examination of the transfer function of the relative intensity noise (RIN) in a high-power fiber laser system, and found out that it can be significantly attenuated due to saturation effects. This is in accordance with previous theoretical works [4]. We also found out that the noise characteristics of the fiber laser system depends on fiber design.

In recent years the evolution of the average output power emitted by high-power fiber-lasers and amplifiers has reached a level at which the onset of thermal effects has been observed. The most detrimental of these effects is the phenomenon of transverse mode instabilities (TMI) [1]. These instabilities are characterized by a sudden onset of spatial and temporal fluctuations in a formerly stable beam once a certain average output power threshold has been reached [2]. TMI are currently the most limiting effect for the further average output power scaling of fiber-laser systems and amplifiers with nearly diffraction-limited beam quality. Therefore, the development of mitigation strategies for TMI is critical to further enhance the performance of this technology.

The phenomenon of transverse mode instabilities (TMI) is currently the most limiting effect for the scaling of the average output power of fiber laser systems with nearly diffraction-limited beam quality. Even though a significant amount of knowledge on TMI in single-pass fiber amplifiers has been generated in the last years, relatively little is known about this effect in multi-pass amplifiers and oscillators. In this contribution TMI is experimentally investigated in a double-pass fiber amplifier, for the first time to the best of our knowledge. The TMI threshold was found to be significantly lower in the double-pass configuration than in the single-pass arrangement. Furthermore, the investigations unveiled a complex dynamic behavior of the instabilities in the double-pass fiber amplifier.

Transverse mode instabilities (TMI) have become a very serious problem for the further scaling of the average power of fiber laser systems. Recently the strong impact that photodarkening (PD) has on the TMI threshold of Yb-doped fiber laser systems has been revealed. This is a remarkable finding since it opens the door to a significant increase of the average power of fiber laser systems in the near future. The key to achieve this is to reduce the amount of PD losses in the fiber, which can be done with an optimization of the glass composition in the fiber. In this work we perform a theoretical study on the impact that co-dopants such as Al and P have on PD and on the TMI threshold. This analysis tries to find the optimum glass composition from the point of view of TMI. It is shown that in a short rod type fiber, changing the glass composition only leads to a modest increase of the TMI threshold due to the degradation of the cross-sections. This demonstrates that the optimization of the glass cannot be done attending only to the PD losses at the cost of the laser cross-sections. In spite of this, changing the glass composition can bring benefits in pulsed operation in terms of the stored energy. Additionally, other fiber geometries different from the rod-type can benefit in a greater degree by introducing co-dopants in the glass.

The noise characteristics of high-power fiber lasers, unlike those of other solid-state lasers such as thin-disks, have not been systematically studied up to now. However, novel applications for high-power fiber laser systems, such as attosecond pulse generation, put stringent limits to the maximum noise level of these sources. Therefore, in order to address these applications, a detailed knowledge and understanding of the characteristics of noise and its behavior in a fiber laser system is required. In this work we have carried out a systematic study of the propagation of the relative intensity noise (RIN) along the amplification chain of a state-of-the-art high-power fiber laser system. The most striking feature of these measurements is that the RIN level is progressively attenuated after each amplification stage. In order to understand this unexpected behavior, we have simulated the transfer function of the RIN in a fiber amplification stage (~80μm core) as a function of the seed power and the frequency. Our simulation model shows that this damping of the amplitude noise is related to saturation. Additionally, we show, for the first time to the best of our knowledge, that the fiber design (e.g. core size, glass composition, doping geometry) can be modified to optimize the noise characteristics of high-power fiber laser systems.

Experimental demonstrations of Tm-doped fiber amplifiers (typically in CW- or narrow-band pulsed operation) span a wavelength range going from about 1700 nm to well beyond 2000 nm. Thus, it should be possible to obtain a bandwidth of more than 100 nm, which would enable sub-100 fs pulse duration in an efficient, linear amplification scheme. In fact, this would allow the emission of pulses with less than 20 optical cycles directly from a Tm-doped fiber system, something that seems to be extremely challenging for other dopants in a fused silica fiber. In this contribution, we summarize the current development of our Thulium-doped fiber CPA system, demonstrate preliminary experiments for further scaling and discuss important design factors for the next steps. The current single-channel laser system presented herein delivers a pulse-peak power of 2 GW and a nearly transform-limited pulse duration of 200 fs in combination with 28.7 W of average power. Special care has been taken to reduce the detrimental impact of water vapor absorption by placing the whole system in a dry atmosphere housing ( 100 W average power can be expected in the near future.

The phenomenon of transverse mode instabilities (TMI) is currently the most limiting effect for the scaling of the average output power of fiber laser systems with nearly diffraction-limited beam quality. Thus, it is of high interest to develop efficient mitigation strategies to further enhance the performance of fiber laser systems. By actively modulating the pump power of an Yb-doped rod-type fiber amplifier, it was possible to weaken the thermally-induced refractive index grating along the fiber and, thus, to mitigate TMI to a large extent. A significant advantage of this approach is that it can be easily integrated in any existing fiber-laser system since no further optical components are needed. A function generator connected to the pump diode driver was used to achieve the modulation. With this setup we were able to extract a fully stabilized beam at ~ 1.5 times above the TMI threshold. Furthermore, a stabilization of the beam was still feasible at an average output power of 628 W, which is more than three times higher than the free-running TMI threshold of that particular fiber under identical conditions (e.g. seed power). This is the highest average output power reported from a single-channel rod-type fiber amplifier with a high-quality stabilized beam, to the best of our knowledge.

Thulium-doped fiber lasers are an attractive concept for the generation of mid-infrared (mid-IR) ultrashort pulses around 2 μm wavelength with an unprecedented average power. To date, these systems deliver >150 W of average power and GW-class pulse peak powers with output pulse durations of a few hundreds of fs. As some applications can greatly benefit from even shorter pulse durations, the spectral broadening and subsequent temporal pulse compression can be a key enabling technology for high average power few-cycle laser sources around 2 μm wavelength. In this contribution we demonstrate the nonlinear compression of ultrashort pulses from a high repetition rate Tm-doped fiber laser using a nitrogen gas-filled hollow capillary. Pulses with 4 GW peak power, 46 fs FWHM duration at an average power of 15.4 W have been achieved. This is, to the best of our knowledge, the first 2 μm laser delivering intense, GW-pulses with sub 50-fs pulse duration and an average power of >10 W. Based on this result, we discuss the next steps towards a 100 W-level, GW-class few-cycle mid-IR laser.

Ultrashort-pulse laser systems are an enabling technology for numerous applications. The stability of such systems is especially crucial for frequency metrology and high precision spectroscopy. Thulium-based fiber lasers are an ideal starting point as a reliable and yet powerful source for the nonlinear conversion towards the mid-IR region. Recently, we have demonstrated that nonlinear self-compression in a fused silica solid-core fiber allows for few-cycle pulse duration with up to 24 MW peak power using a high-repetition rate thulium-based fiber laser system operating at around 2 μm wavelength [1]. This experiment operates near the self-focusing limit of about 24 MW for circular polarization, which increases the requirements for the system stability due to the risk of a fiber damage. Here, we present a self-protecting nonlinear compression regime allowing for long-term operation and high output-pulse stability with very similar output performance.