Integrated 2.0 µm femtosecond laser amplifier for advanced accelerator applications

We propose a novel new architecture for a mode-locked laser oscillator/amplifier system at 2050 nm that is designed to achieve 300 fs pulse widths at a repetition rate of 119 MHz with an average power of greater than 1 W. The system is designed for application to free-electron laser (FEL)- based light sources and for the recently demonstrated micro-fabricated Dielectric Laser Accelerators (DLAs). The laser design uses hybrid-integration to directly incorporate carrier phase envelope (CEP) stabilization in the femtosecond modelocked laser oscillator cavity. This design eliminates all mechanical adjustments or moving parts that are currently used in CEP systems and require periodic alignment using mechanical motion. Most of the large free-space optical components currently used in femtosecond laser systems are replaced with waveguide chips that implement all the optical functions required for long term stability in a small compact footprint. One of key design features of our technology is the ability to lock the laser modelocking repetition rate to an external clock frequency. The design will also implement Carrier Envelop Pulse stabilization (CEP) to control the phase drift of the carrier wave relative to the peak of the pulse due to phase jitter or drift of the laser cavity. These capabilities are critical for all of the anticipated DOE applications. In a previous DOE funded Phase II program Gener8 successfully developed a highly integrated fs laser oscillator. The proposed Phase I project will build on these Phase II results to develop a fs modelocked laser oscillator/amplifier system that uses chirped pulse amplification (CPA) in an innovative 4 stage semiconductor optical amplifier. This system can then be used to seed a fiber amplifier to obtain an average power of 1-10 watts in a single stage with <300 fs pulse widths after pulse compression.The 2 micron laser technology platform has many commercial applications including, Femtosecond 2 micron lasers for research and development for advanced laser driven electron accelerometers, Eye-safe LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging), Bio-medical applications including ophthalmic corneal resurfacing and non-invasive glucose monitoring, Environmental sensing (green-house gases), and Telecommunications applications