Menhir Photonics’ robust and reliable ultra low-noise ultrafast seeders are now a reference at 1.5 um. At 1030 nm, we present a flexible concept using our new MENHIR-1030 at 160 MHz together with nearly lossless resonant EOM pulse-picking to serve as ultra-low noise seeder for amplifier systems requiring 80 MHz or 40 MHz repetition rate. We provide >1 nJ of pulse energy while maintaining the high robustness and compactness of a high repetition rate system, combined with state-of-the art low jitter. The passively stable MENHIR-1030 can be actively stabilized for utmost stability in amplifier applications. We will review the laser's key parameters with our innovative concept and details on key applications from our customers such as enhancement cavity pumping and high-power amplification.
Space lidar instruments for missions like AEOLUS or MERLIN require advanced high-power laser systems with according technical and financial effort. In order to increase the impact of such missions, it is advantageous to expand the versatility of their instruments. In the case of trace gas sensing, the ability to detect multiple trace gas species with the same instrument greatly enhances their value. Multi-species trace gas differential absorption lidar (DIAL) systems require absolute frequency referencing across large spectral bandwidths. While absorption cell based references need individual lasers at online and offline wavelengths for each species, a broadband mode locked laser – offering a frequency comb – can provide the required frequency accuracy over the complete spectral range of the lidar instrument. In the frame of the LEMON project, we developed a combined design for an absolute frequency reference based on a wavemeter for coarse frequency determination (<500 MHz accuracy) and a broadband mode locked laser for precise frequency detection by means of heterodyne beat generation. It features a large spacing of 1 GHz and is optimized for spectroscopic lidar applications covering the spectral range from 980 nm to 1100 nm and 1500 nm to 2300 nm. The achieved accuracy of <100 kHz of the optical frequency, satisfies the requirements needed to atmospheric gas analysis from space. The broadband approach offers a cost-effective solution to address multiple gas species simultaneously. The system can also be adapted to different spectral ranges of interest for gas spectroscopy and other applications. Additional presentation content can be accessed on the supplemental content page.
Ultrafast lasers are key tools for micromachining and medical applications, but also in a growing numbers of domains like telecoms, aerospace and microwave photonics, which are currently limited by the lack of reliability of the lasers and the achievable repetition rate. Menhir Photonics has now successfully demonstrated and deployed real-turnkey ultrafast laser oscillators at 1.5 um and GHz repetition rate with an unprecedent robustness. Reaching now up to 2.5 GHz of fundamental repetition rate and the lowest phase noise and timing jitter on the market, the MENHIR-1550 was already qualified for Space. The latest development of the MENHIR-1550 at 2.5 GHz will be presented (first commercial product of its kind) as well as the newest applications that it enabled worldwide, in the fields of green-house gases monitoring from Space, very fast dual-comb spectroscopy or photonics analog-to-digital converter.
Photoconductive emitters and receivers are widely accepted as the best combination for applications requiring broadband and high dynamic range and are nowadays deployed in most commercially available systems. Novel laser sources with higher repetition rate and power levels are a promising route towards further improvements in this area. We present our first steps in this direction by combining state-of-the-art emitters and receivers with an ultra-stable commercial fs laser (MENHIR-1550 SERIES) at 1 GHz repetition rate as the optical source. The output of the laser is amplified and compressed by a commercial fiber amplifier setup. In this experiment, we use 17 mW as the probe beam and 30 mW as the pump beam with a pulse duration of 150 fs, as these are the best operation points for the emitter and receiver available. The emitter is based on iron doped InGaAs in a strip line geometry with an active region of 50 μm x 50 μm while a fiber coupled dipole antenna with a 10 μm gap is used as the receiver. We demonstrate a 1 GHz repetition rate terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) system with a dynamic range of 73 dB and a bandwidth of 3.5 THz using state-of-the-art THz photoconductive emitter and receiver with a measurement time of 60 s. This result is part of a larger effort to understand the compromises to be realized in terms of repetition rate and average power to take photoconductive emitters and receivers to the next step in dynamic range enhancement.
We report a compact ultrafast solid-state laser source with a pulse repetition rate tunable in the range of 0.5 – 1.3 GHz. The optical cavity design allows a user to vary the repetition rate only by moving the mirrors. The Yb:KYW crystal-based laser emits 250 fs pulses at a central wavelength of 1040nm and the SESAM modelocking enables self-starting. An average power up to 150 mW is achieved using a stabilized single mode pump source at 981 nm, emitting up to 800 mW. In continuous wave mode, up to 270 mW were measured with an optical-to-optical efficiency of 33%.
We use an ultrafast diode-pumped semiconductor disk laser (SDL) to demonstrate
several applications in multiphoton microscopy. The ultrafast SDL is based on an optically
pumped Vertical External Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VECSEL) passively mode-locked with
a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) and generates 170-fs pulses at a center
wavelength of 1027 nm with a repetition rate of 1.63 GHz. We demonstrate the suitability of this
laser for structural and functional multiphoton in vivo imaging in both Drosophila larvae and mice
for a variety of fluorophores (including mKate2, tdTomato, Texas Red, OGB-1, and R-CaMP1.07)
and for endogenous second-harmonic generation in muscle cell sarcomeres. We can demonstrate
equivalent signal levels compared to a standard 80-MHz Ti:Sapphire laser when we increase the
average power by a factor of 4.5 as predicted by theory. In addition, we compare the bleaching
properties of both laser systems in fixed Drosophila larvae and find similar bleaching kinetics
despite the large difference in pulse repetition rates. Our results highlight the great potential of
ultrafast diode-pumped SDLs for creating a cost-efficient and compact alternative light source
compared to standard Ti:Sapphire lasers for multiphoton imaging.
KEYWORDS: High power fiber lasers, Laser systems engineering, Fiber lasers, Fiber amplifiers, Solid state lasers, Systems modeling, Doping, Interference (communication), Oscillators
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.
Ultrafast laser sources are one of the main achievements of the past decades. Finding new avenues to obtain higher average powers and pulse energies from these sources is currently a topic of important research efforts both for scientific and industrial applications. SESAM modelocked thin-disk lasers are one of the most promising laser technology to reach this goal from table-top systems: recently, average powers of 275 W and pulse energies of 80 μJ were demonstrated directly from a modelocked oscillators without additional external amplification. In this presentation, we will review the current state-of-the art of such table-top systems and present guidelines for future kilowatt-class systems.
Ultrafast VECSELs with high peak power are of great interest for gigahertz frequency combs, as they provide a high power per comb-line and large comb-tooth spacing. However, the detection and stabilization of the carrier-envelope-offset frequency (fCEO) using an f-to-2f detection scheme, crucial for most frequency comb applications, requires short pulse durations around 100 fs combined with kilowatt peak power to generate a coherent octave-spanning supercontinuum. We present the detection of the fCEO beat notes from an ultrafast semiconductor laser. The laser is a SESAM-modelocked VECSEL which generates 231-fs pulses in 100-mW average output power at a repetition rate of 1.75 GHz and a wavelength of 1040 nm. As the performance of the oscillator is not sufficient for direct fCEO detection the pulses were amplified in an Yb-doped fiber amplifier and subsequently broadened by self-phase modulation in a large mode area fiber. The amplified pulses were compressed to a pulse duration of 85 fs at 2.2 W of average output power and launched into a highly nonlinear photonic crystal fiber. A coherent octave-spanning supercontinuum covering 680 nm to 1360 nm was generated, which supported for the first time fCEO detection from a femtosecond VECSEL in a standard f-to-2f interferometer.
Tremendous progress has been achieved in the last years in the field of ultrafast high-power sources. Among the
different laser technologies driving this progress, thin-disk lasers (TDLs) have gained significant ground, both from
amplifiers and modelocked oscillators. Modelocked TDLs are particularly attractive, as they allow for unprecedented
high energy and average powers directly from an oscillator. The exponential progress in the performance of these
sources drives growing needs for efficient means of beam delivery and pulse compression at high average power (<
100 W) and high peak power (> 10 MW). This remains a challenging regime for standard fiber solutions:
microstructured large-mode-area silica photonic-crystal fibers (PCFs) are good candidates, but peak powers are limited
to ≈4-6 MW by self-focusing. Hollow-core (HC) capillaries are adapted for higher peak powers, but exhibit high losses
and are not suitable for compact beam delivery. In parallel to the progress achieved in the performance of ultrafast laser
systems, recent progress in novel hollow-core PCF designs are currently emerging as an excellent solution for these
challenges. In particular, Inhibited-coupling Kagome-type HC-PCFs are particularly promising: their intrinsic guiding
properties allow for extremely high damage thresholds, low losses over wide transmission windows and ultra-low
dispersion.
In our most recent results, we achieve pulse compression in the hundred-watt average power regime using
Kagome-type HC-PCFs. We launch 127-W, 18-μJ, 740-fs pulses from our modelocked TDL into an Ar-filled fiber (13
bar), reaching 93% transmission. The resulting spectral broadening allows us to compress the pulses to 88 fs at 112 W of
average power, reaching 105 MW of peak power, at 88% compression efficiency. These results demonstrate the
outstanding suitability of Kagome HC-PCFs for compression and beam delivery of state-of-the-art kilowatt-class
ultrafast systems.
Phase-locked operation of an array of ten diode lasers is demonstrated in an extended-cavity using the Talbot self-imaging
effect. An output power up to 1.7 W has been obtained. The extracavity coherent conversion of the multilobed
array supermode into a Gaussian mode is investigated theoretically based on a binary phase grating. The best
configuration results in a conversion efficiency of 83%. Experimentally, the conversion efficiency reaches 50% and is
limited by the imperfect coherence of the laser array. We conclude that the conversion setup provides an actual
measurement of the power in the selected array supermode.
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