2-GHz watt-level Kerr-lens mode-locked Yb:KGW laser

We report on a 2-GHz high-power Kerr-lens mode-locked Yb:KGW laser pumped by a single-mode fiber laser. The output performance for two different output coupling rates was investigated. Stable bidirectional mode-locking operation at the repetition rate of 2.157 GHz was obtained with a 0.6% output coupler. The average output powers of bidirectional operation are 741mW and 746mW, with 123-fs and 126-fs pulse durations, respectively. By using a 1.6% output coupler, unidirectional mode-locking is achieved with 145-fs pulse duration and 1.7-W average output power, which, to the best of our knowledge, is the highest average power from Kerr-lens mode-locked GHz femtosecond oscillators. (C) 2021 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement

Automated summary

A 2-GHz high-power Kerr-lens mode-locked Yb:KGW laser pumped by a single-mode fiber laser was reported. Stable bidirectional and unidirectional mode-locking operations were achieved with different output coupling rates, resulting in high average output powers and short pulse durations. This represents the highest average power from Kerr-lens mode-locked GHz femtosecond oscillators to date.