Optical Rectification of a 100W Average Power Ultrafast Thin-Disk Oscillator

We demonstrate THz generation by optical rectification in GaP crystals using excitation average power levels exceeding 100 W. The laser source is a state-of-the-art diode-pumped Yb:YAG modelocked thin-disk laser, capable of generating 120 W at 13.4 MHz directly from a one-box oscillator, without the need for any amplification stages. In this first demonstration, we measured a maximum average power of 78 μW at a central frequency of 0.8 THz. This first result shows that optical rectification of high average power (100 W class) ultrafast sources is within reach, and paves the way towards Watt-level, ultrafast laser pumped THz sources.