Ultrafast fiber laser technology: Status and prospects

Outstanding 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 power as high as 1 kW and pulse energies above 1mJ 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 experimental strategies, performance and limitations of these systems we will discuss selected applications.