Compact, ultrastable, high repetition-rate 2 μm and 3 μm fiber laser for seeding mid-IR OPCPA

W. Hettel, G. Golba, D. Morrill, D. Carlson, P. Chang, T.-H. Wu, S. Diddams, H. Kapteyn, M. Murnane, and M. Hemmer

Abstract

We report a compact and reliable ultrafast fiber laser system optimized for seeding a high energy, 2 μm pumped, 3 μm wavelength optical parametric chirped pulse amplification to drive soft X-ray high harmonics. The system delivers 100 MHz narrowband 2 μm pulses with >1 nJ energy, synchronized with ultra-broadband optical pulses with a ∼1 μm FWHM spectrum centered at 3 μm with 39 pJ pulse energy. The 2 μm and 3 μm pulses are derived from a single 1.5 μm fiber oscillator, fully fiber integrated with free-space downconversion for the 3 μm. The system operates hands-off with power instabilities <0.2% over extended periods of time.