Generation of 601 fs pulse from an 8 kHz Nd:YVO4 picosecond laser by multi-pass-cell spectral broadening

We demonstrate nonlinear pulse compression of an 8 kHz Nd:YVO4 picosecond laser using the multi-pass-cell (MPC) technique with fused silica as the nonlinear medium. The pulse duration is compressed from 12.5 ps to 601 fs, corresponding to a pulse shortening factor of 20.8. The output pulse energy is 154 µJ with an efficiency of 74.5%. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest pulse compression ratio achieved in a single-stage MPC with bulk material as the nonlinear medium. The laser power stability and the beam quality (M2) before and after the MPC are also experimentally studied. Both the laser power stability and the beam quality are barely deteriorated by the MPC device.