Nonlinear compression of high energy fiber amplifier pulses in air-filled hypocycloid-core Kagome fiber

We report on the generation of 34 fs and 50 mu J pulses from a high energy fiber amplifier system with nonlinear compression in an air-filled hypocycloid-core Kagome fiber. The unique properties of such fibers allow bridging the gap between solid core fibers-based and hollow capillary-based post-compression setups, thereby operating with pulse energies obtained with current state-of-the-art fiber systems. The overall transmission of the compression setup is over 70%. Together with Yb-doped fiber amplifier technologies, Kagome fibers therefore appear as a promising tool for efficient generation of pulses with durations below 50 fs, energies ranging from 10 to several hundreds of mu J, and high average powers. (C) 2015 Optical Society of America