Nonlinear compression of an ultrashort-pulse thulium-based fiber laser to sub-70 fs in Kagome photonic crystal fiber

Nonlinear pulse compression of ultrashort pulses is an established method for reducing the pulse duration and increasing the pulse peak power beyond the intrinsic limits of a given laser architecture. In this proof-of-principle experiment, we demonstrate nonlinear compression of the pulses emitted by a high-repetition-rate thulium-based fiber CPA system. The initial pulse duration of about 400 fs has been shortened to <70 fs with 19.7 mu J of pulse energy, which corresponds to about 200 MW of pulse peak power.