Femtosecond Laser Emits at High Power

Spectra-Physics Vienna

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• >0.5-μJ pulse energy
• <50-fs pulse duration
• 5.2-MHz repetition rate

Femtolasers Produktions GmbH has enhanced its family of high-power ultrafast laser systems with the FemtoSource scientific XL 500. It offers an average power level of >2.5 W and >10 MW of peak power at a centre wavelength of 800 nm.

Applications include materials processing, terahertz generation, spectroscopy and processes that require ultrafast pulses and ultrahigh peak power combined with high power, stability and reliability. The company sees the product as a cross between ultrafast oscillators and ultrafast amplifier systems, combining the advantages of both technologies and omitting the disadvantages of each.

The laser comprises a compact Ti:sapphire oscillator based on proprietary chirped pulse technology. It uses a relatively long chirped pulse that circulates in an extended cavity, allowing the pulse energy to build to very high levels. Dispersive mirror technology is used for low-loss intracavity dispersion control to access the maximum bandwidth directly from a high-energy oscillator. A prism sequence externally compresses the chirped pulses from the oscillator cavity, enabling continuous adjustment of the peak power by tuning the pulse duration down to <50 fs to match different application requirements.

At the output, pulse energy levels exceed 0.5 μJ, and pulse durations are <50 fs for pulses emitted with a repetition rate of 5.2 MHz. The TEM₀₀ spatial beam quality is M² <1.3, and the polarization extinction ratio of the horizontally polarized beam is better than 100:1. The temperature-stabilized laser head dimensions are 1241 × 540 × 208 mm, and the chiller dimensions are 203 × 386 × 277 mm. Continuous attenuation and a pulse picker are available as options.

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Published: April 2008