Diode-pumped power scalable Kerr-lens mode-locked Yb:CYA laser

Stable 68 fs pulses with the average power of 1.5 W is directly generated from a multimode diode-pumped Kerr-lens mode-locked Yb:CYA laser by separating the gain medium and Kerr medium. The repetition rate is about 50 MHz, resulting in a single pulse energy of 30 nJ and a peak power of 0.44 MW. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest single pulse energy ever produced from a mode-locked Yb:CYA oscillator. Our experimental results show that Yb:CYA crystal is an excellent candidate for multiwatt, sub-100 fs pulse generation in diode-pumped all-solid-state lasers. It is believed that the output power can be scalable to multi-W while the pulse duration is maintained with this simple method.