Fiber based high repetition rate, high energy laser source applying chirped pulse amplification

We demonstrate the potential of a high-gain Yb-fiber amplifier system to pr ovide ultrashort pulses with high energies, 100 muJ pulses generated at a r epetition rate of 32 kHz exhibit nearly diffraction limited output (M-2 app roximate to 1.7) at a 1060 nm center wavelength. Using chirped pulse amplif ication, temporally streched laser pulses from a femtosecond oscillator cou ld be compressed after amplification to subpicosecond pulse duration. The a chievable intensities are high enough to create plasmas which can efficient ly convert laser light to the extreme ultraviolet radiation. In a multimode Yb-doped fiber amplifier we obtained average powers of up to 22 W and sing le pulse energies up to 130 muJ (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.