Highly efficient high-power short-pulse lasers in the 2 µm wavelength range based on thulium (Tm3+)-doped materials have a variety of applications that include materials processing (such as polymer-to-metal joining), lidar, mid-infrared optical parametric oscillators (OPOs) that produce wavelengths up to 12 μm, and mid-IR supercontinuum generation. They also would enable direct coherent soft x-ray generation via high-order harmonic generation (HHG). For these applications, a light source with much higher conversion efficiency, average power, pulse energy, and shorter pulse duration is desirable. Now, Masaki Tokurakawa and colleagues at the Institute for Laser Science, University of Electro-Communications (UEC; Tokyo, Japan) have developed novel 2 µm high-power short-pulse lasers based on new technique of fiber-laser in-band pumping at 1611 nm and Kerr-lens mode locking with a new Tm-doped gain medium provided from the University of Hamburg by researcher Christian Kränkel.1, 2
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