Sub-50-fs Kerr lens mode-locked thin-disk lasers

Summary form only given. Ultrafast thin-disk lasers (TDLs) are often thought to deliver longer pulses than bulk lasers (Fig. 1a). Here we prove that this assumption is wrong and demonstrate the shortest pulses from any Yb:Lu
₂
O
₃
and Yb:CaGdAlO
₄
(Yb:CALGO) laser (cf. Tab. 1). Our Kerr lens mode-locked (KLM) Yb:Lu
₂
O
₃
TDL generates 4.5 W in 49-fs pulses and 1.7 W in 40-fs pulses (being 40 % shorter than Yb:Lu
₂
O
₃
bulk lasers [1]). In addition, we demonstrate the first KLM Yb:CALGO TDL. It generates 30-fs pulses, which is the shortest duration ever obtained from ultrafast TDLs [2,3] and equal to the shortest pulses obtained from Yb-bulk oscillators [4].