Flexible 500W innoslab laser system with pulse durations from 0.5ps to 7.5ps and 300μJ pulse energy

Ultrafast master oscillator power amplifier systems with average power over 500W have been demonstrated some years ago. Their use has been limited to specialized laboratories so far. This work reports on a fully integrated and automated beam source with 500W average power. The setup consists of a commercial seed source with variable pulse duration and repetition rate which is coupled into an InnoSlab amplifier setup. Both units are installed in a common, sealed off housing. Inside the housing all optical components for beam conditioning (mode matching, optical isolation, power attenuation and measurement, fast optical switch, optical shutters) are kept under a clean atmosphere. For ease of use all electromechanical components can be controlled via a graphical user interface on a PC which is connected to the control rack via the TCP/IP protocol. The presented beam source is ideally suited to investigate the influence of fs and ps pulse durations for a wide range of pulse energies at MHz repetition rates, e.g. in materials processing.