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We report on an in-band pumped SESAM mode-locked Ho:CALGO bulk laser with a record-high average power of 8.7 W and an optical-to-optical efficiency of 38.2% at a central wavelength of 2.1 um. At this power level, the bulk laser generates pulses with a duration of 369 fs at 84.4-MHz repetition rate, corresponding to a pulse energy of 103 nJ and a peak power of 246 kW. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest average power and pulse energy directly generated from a mode-locked bulk laser in the 2-3 um wavelength region. Our current results indicate that Ho:CALGO is a competitive candidate for average power scaling of 2 um femtosecond lasers., 9 pages, 5 figures

A detailed study of thermo-optic properties of 1.5 at.% Yb:Lu2O3 single crystal is performed. Thermo-optic dispersion formulas are derived for dn/dT coefficient and thermal coefficient of the optical path. At the wavelength of 1.03 μm, dn/dT = 5.8 × 10−6 K−1. High-precision temperature-dependent measurements of the thermal expansion coefficient α are performed. At the room temperature (RT), α = 5.880 ± 0.014 × 10−6 K−1. Temperature dependence of the bandgap is analyzed, yielding RT value of E g = 5.15 eV and dE g/dT = –3.7 × 10−4 eV/K. Sensitivity factor of the thermal lens is calculated for a diode-pumped Yb:Lu2O3 crystal versus the pump spot radius and crystal temperature.

We report on, to the best of our knowledge, the first fs-laser-written waveguide laser in Yb3+:CaGdAlO4 (Yb:CALGO). With Yb:CALGO crystals grown in our labs, we obtained a slope efficiency of 69% and up to 2.4 W of continuous wave (cw) output power in a waveguide-laser configuration. Moreover, bulk laser experiments with Yb:CALGO were performed, and slope efficiencies up to 73%, optical-to-optical efficiencies of 65%, and maximum cw output powers of 3.3 W were reached. These are the highest efficiencies in the laser configuration with Yb:CALGO.