Intense ultra-short fiber laser systems and their applications

The performance of high average power and high energy femtosecond fiber laser systems is discussed. Remarkable evolutions in fiber technology made it possible to overcome restrictions due to nonlinear pulse distortions in the amplification fiber and revealed the full potential of rare-earth-doped fibers as a power-scalable solid-state laser concept in the short pulse regime. State-of-the-art femtosecond fiber lasers in our labs deliver average powers well above 100 W and pulse energies of several 100 µJ in the 1 µm wavelength region. This performance, in particular the significantly higher repetition rate compared to conventional femtosecond lasers, allows for unique approaches in several application fields. Beside the fiber designs, the setup, performance and limitations of these systems we will discuss selected applications.