Femtosecond laser system based on thin rod Yb : YAG active elements with an output power of 110 W

A three-stage laser amplification system based on thin Yb : YAG rods with diode laser pumping is developed and fabricated. In this system, the average power of a continuous train of femtosecond pulses from a Yb : KGW master oscillator with a pulse repetition rate of 80 MHz and initial pulse duration of 128 fs was raised by a factor of 100 to above 100 W. Preliminarily chirped laser pulses provided compensation of dispersion in optical elements of the system and obtaining 580-fs output pulses. The longer duration of output pulses relates to spectrum narrowing in the amplifiers.