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Südmeyer, Thomas
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Südmeyer, Thomas
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thomas.sudmeyer@unine.ch
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31 Résultats
Voici les éléments 1 - 10 sur 31
- PublicationAccès libreCarrier-envelope offset frequency stabilization of a gigahertz semiconductor disk laser(2017)
; ;Gürel, Kutan; ; ; ; ;Waldburger, Dominik ;Keller, UrsulaOptical frequency combs based on ultrafast lasers have enabled numerous scientific breakthroughs. However, their use for commercial applications is limited by the complexity and cost of femtosecond laser technology. Ultrafast semiconductor lasers might change this issue as they can be mass produced in a cost-efficient way while providing large spectral coverage from a single technology. However, it has not been proven to date if ultrafast semiconductor lasers are suitable for stabilization of their carrier-envelope offset (CEO) frequency. Here we present what we believe to be the first CEO frequency stabilization of an ultrafast semiconductor disk laser (SDL). The optically pumped SDL is passively modelocked by a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror. It operates at a repetition rate of 1.8 GHz and a center wavelength of 1034 nm. The 273 fs pulses of the oscillator are amplified to an average power level of 6 W and temporally compressed down to 120 fs. A coherent octave-spanning supercontinuum spectrum is generated in a photonic crystal fiber. The CEO frequency is detected in a standard ƒ–to–2ƒ interferometer and phase locked to an external reference by feedback applied to the current of the SDL pump diode. This proof-of-principle demonstrates that ultrafast SDLs are suitable for CEO stabilization and constitutes a key step for further developments of this comb technology expected in the coming years. - PublicationAccès libreExtreme ultraviolet light source at a megahertz repetition rate based on high-harmonic generation inside a mode-locked thin-disk laser oscillator(2017)
;Labaye, François; ; ;Diebold, A; ;Modsching, Norbert Paul; ;Emaury, F ;Graumann, I.J ;Phillips, C.R ;Saraceno, C.J ;Kränkel, C ;Keller, UrsulaWe demonstrate a compact extreme ultraviolet (XUV) source based on high-harmonic generation (HHG) driven directly inside the cavity of a mode-locked thin-disk laser oscillator. The laser is directly diode-pumped at a power of only 51 W and operates at a wavelength of 1034 nm and a 17.35 MHz repetition rate. We drive HHG in a high-pressure xenon gas jet with an intracavity peak intensity of 2.8×1013 W/cm2 and 320 W of intracavity average power. Despite the high-pressure gas jet, the laser operates at high stability. We detect harmonics up to the 17th order (60.8 nm, 20.4 eV) and estimate a flux of 2.6×108 photons/s for the 11th harmonic (94 nm, 13.2 eV). Due to the power scalability of the thin-disk concept, this class of compact XUV sources has the potential to become a versatile tool for areas such as attosecond science, XUV spectroscopy, and high-resolution imaging. - PublicationAccès libreFull stabilization and characterization of an optical frequency comb from a diode-pumped solid-state laser with GHz repetition rate(2017)
; ; ; ;Gürel, Kutan; ;Mayer, Aline S ;Keller, UrsulaWe demonstrate the first self-referenced full stabilization of a diode-pumped solid-state laser (DPSSL) frequency comb with a GHz repetition rate. The Yb:CALGO DPSSL delivers an average output power of up to 2.1 W with a typical pulse duration of 96 fs and a center wavelength of 1055 nm. A carrier-envelope offset (CEO) beat with a signal-to-noise ratio of 40 dB (in 10-kHz resolution bandwidth) is detected after supercontinuum generation and ƒ-to-2ƒ interferometry directly from the output of the oscillator, without any external amplification or pulse compression. The repetition rate is stabilized to a reference synthesizer with a residual integrated timing jitter of 249 fs [10 Hz – 1 MHz] and a relative frequency stability of 10−12/s. The CEO frequency is phase-locked to an external reference via pump current feedback using home-built modulation electronics. It achieves a loop bandwidth of ∼150 kHz, which results in a tight CEO lock with a residual integrated phase noise of 680 mrad [1 Hz – 1 MHz]. We present a detailed characterization of the GHz frequency comb that combines a noise analysis of the repetition rate ƒrep, of the CEO frequency ƒCEO, and of an optical comb line at 1030 nm obtained from a virtual beat with a narrow-linewidth laser at 1557 nm using a transfer oscillator. An optical comb linewidth of about 800 kHz is assessed at 1-s observation time, for which the dominant noise sources of ƒrep and ƒCEO are identified. - PublicationAccès libreHigh-power amplification of a femtosecond vertical external-cavity surface-emitting laser in an Yb: YAG waveguide(2017)
; ; ;Kränkel, Christian ;Waldburger, Dominik ;Keller, Ursula; Calmano, ThomasWe present the amplification of a mode-locked vertical external-cavity surfaceemitting laser (VECSEL) using an Yb:YAG crystalline waveguide as gain medium. The VECSEL seed laser operates at a center wavelength of 1030 nm and generates 300-fs pulses at a repetition rate of 1.77 GHz. An average seed power of 60 mW was launched onto a 8.3 mm long fs-laser written Yb:YAG waveguide pumped by 7.7 W from a 969-nm continuous-wave VECSEL. The amplifier achieves an average output power of up to 2.9 W, corresponding to an amplification factor of 17 dB. Due to gain narrowing, the pulse duration increases to 629 fs. Our results show that crystalline waveguides are a promising technique for the realization of compact multi-watt ultrafast amplifier systems. - PublicationAccès libreFrequency comb offset dynamics of SESAM modelocked thin disk lasers(2015)
;Emaury, Florian ;Diebold, Andreas ;Klenner, Alexander ;Saraceno, Clara J; ; Keller, UrsulaWe present a detailed study of the carrier-envelope offset (CEO) frequency dynamics of SESAM modelocked thin disk lasers (TDLs) pumped by kW-class highly transverse multimode pump diodes with a typical M2 value of 200-300, and give guidelines for future frequency stabilization of multi-100-W oscillators. We demonstrate CEO frequency detection with > 30 dB signal-to-noise ratio with a resolution bandwidth of 100 kHz from a SESAM modelocked Yb:YAG TDL delivering 140 W average output power with 748-fs pulses at 7-MHz pulse repetition rate. We compare with a low-power CEO frequency stabilized Yb:CALGO TDL delivering 2.1 W with 77-fs pulses at 65 MHz. For both lasers, we perform a complete noise characterization, measure the relevant transfer functions (TFs) and compare them to theoretical models. The measured TFs are used to determine the propagation of the pump noise step-by-step through the system components. From the noise propagation analysis, we identify the relative intensity noise (RIN) of the pump diode as the main contribution to the CEO frequency noise. The resulting noise levels are not excessive and do not prevent CEO frequency stabilization. More importantly, the laser cavity dynamics are shown to play an essential role in the CEO frequency dynamics. The cavity TFs of the two lasers are very different which explains why at this point a tight CEO frequency lock can be obtained with the Yb:CALGO TDL but not with the Yb:YAG TDL. For CEO stabilization laser cavities should exhibit high damping of the relaxation oscillations by nonlinear intra-cavity elements, for example by operating a SESAM in the roll-over regime. Therefore the optimum SESAM operation point is a tradeoff between enough damping and avoiding multiple pulsing instabilities. Additional cavity components could be considered for supplementary damping independent of the SESAM operation point. - PublicationAccès libreUltrafast thin-disk laser with 80 µJ pulse energy and 242 W of average power(2014)
;Saraceno, Clara J ;Emaury, Florian ;Schriber, Cinia; ;Golling, Matthias; Keller, UrsulaWe present a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) mode-locked thin-disk laser generating 80 µJ of pulse energy without additional amplification. This laser oscillator operates at a repetition rate of 3.03 MHz and delivers up to 242 W of average output power with a pulse duration of 1.07 ps, resulting in an output peak power of 66 MW. In order to minimize the parasitic nonlinearity of the air inside the laser cavity, the oscillator was operated in a vacuum environment. To start and stabilize soliton mode locking, we used an optimized high-damage threshold, low-loss SESAM. With this new milestone result, we have successfully scaled the pulse energy of ultrafast laser oscillators to a new performance regime and can predict that pulse energies of several hundreds of microjoules will become possible in the near future. Such lasers are interesting for both industrial and scientific applications, for example for precise micromachining and attosecond science. - PublicationAccès libreDual-gain SESAM modelocked thin disk laser based on Yb:Lu2O3 and Yb:Sc2O3(2014)
;Schriber, Cinia ;Emaury, Florian ;Diebold, Andreas ;Link, Sandro ;Golling, Matthias ;Beil, Kolja ;Kränkel, Christian ;Saraceno, Clara J; Keller, UrsulaWe present for the first time a SESAM-modelocked thin-disk laser (TDL) that incorporates two gain materials with different emission spectra in a single TDL resonator. The two gain media used in this experiment are the sesquioxide materials Yb:Lu2O3 and Yb:Sc2O3, which have their spectral emission peak displaced by ≈7 nm. We can benefit from a combined gain bandwidth that is wider than the one provided by a single gain material alone and still conserve the excellent thermal properties of each disk. In these first proof-of-principle experiments we demonstrate pulse durations shorter than previously achieved with the single gain material Yb:Lu2O3. The oscillator generates pulses as short as 103 fs at a repetition rate of 41.7 MHz and a center wavelength of around 1038 nm, with an average output power of 1.4 W. A different cavity layout provides pulses with a duration of 124 fs at an output power of 8.6 W. This dual-gain approach should allow for further power scaling of TDLs and these first results prove this method to be a promising new way to combine the record output-power performance of modelocked TDLs with short pulse durations. - PublicationAccès libreGigahertz frequency comb from a diode-pumped solid-state laser(2014)
;Klenner, Alexander; ; Keller, UrsulaWe present the first stabilization of the frequency comb offset from a diode-pumped gigahertz solid-state laser oscillator. No additional external amplification and/or compression of the output pulses is required. The laser is reliably modelocked using a SESAM and is based on a diode-pumped Yb:CALGO gain crystal. It generates 1.7-W average output power and pulse durations as short as 64 fs at a pulse repetition rate of 1 GHz. We generate an octave-spanning supercontinuum in a highly nonlinear fiber and use the standard ƒ-to-2ƒ carrier-envelope offset (CEO) frequency ƒCEO detection method. As a pump source, we use a reliable and cost-efficient commercial diode laser. Its multi-spatial-mode beam profile leads to a relatively broad frequency comb offset beat signal, which nevertheless can be phase-locked by feedback to its current. Using improved electronics, we reached a feedback-loop-bandwidth of up to 300 kHz. A combination of digital and analog electronics is used to achieve a tight phase-lock of ƒCEO to an external microwave reference with a low in-loop residual integrated phase-noise of 744 mrad in an integration bandwidth of [1 Hz, 5 MHz]. An analysis of the laser noise and response functions is presented which gives detailed insights into the CEO stabilization of this frequency comb. - PublicationAccès libreYb-doped mixed sesquioxides for ultrashort pulse generation in the thin disk laser setup(2013)
;Beil, Kolja ;Saraceno, Clara J ;Schriber, Cinia ;Emaury, Florian ;Heckl, Oliver H ;Baer, Cyrill R. E ;Golling, Matthias; ;Keller, Ursula ;Kränkel, ChristianHuber, GünterWe report on spectroscopic investigations of the mixed sesquioxide laser materials Yb:LuScO3, Yb:YScO3, and Yb:(Lu,Y,Sc)2O3 as well as mode-locked thin disk laser experiments with Yb:LuScO3 and Yb:(Lu,Y,Sc)2O3. The disordered crystal structures of these materials result in significantly broader emission spectra than for the pure sesquioxides Yb:Sc2O3, Yb:Y2O3, and Yb:Lu2O3 providing a high potential for ultrashort pulse generation. In SESAM mode-locked thin disk laser experiments, pulse durations of around 100 fs could be obtained exploiting >70 % of the gain bandwidth which is to the best of our knowledge the optimum obtained so far for the mode-locked lasers in this setup. - PublicationAccès libreCutting-Edge High-Power Ultrafast Thin Disk Oscillators(2013)
;Saraceno, Clara J ;Schriber, Cinia ;Emaury, Florian ;Heckl, Oliver H ;Baer, Cyrill R. E; ;Beil, Kolja ;Kränkel, Christian ;Golling, Matthias; Keller, UrsulaA growing number of applications in science and industry are currently pushing the development of ultrafast laser technologies that enable high average powers. SESAM modelocked thin disk lasers (TDLs) currently achieve higher pulse energies and average powers than any other ultrafast oscillator technology, making them excellent candidates in this goal. Recently, 275 W of average power with a pulse duration of 583 fs were demonstrated, which represents the highest average power so far demonstrated from an ultrafast oscillator. In terms of pulse energy, TDLs reach more than 40 µJ pulses directly from the oscillator. In addition, another major milestone was recently achieved, with the demonstration of a TDL with nearly bandwidth-limited 96-fs long pulses. The progress achieved in terms of pulse duration of such sources enabled the first measurement of the carrier-envelope offset frequency of a modelocked TDL, which is the first key step towards full stabilization of such a source. We will present the key elements that enabled these latest results, as well as an outlook towards the next scaling steps in average power, pulse energy and pulse duration of such sources. These cutting-edge sources will enable exciting new applications, and open the door to further extending the current performance milestones.