Photonic crystal fiber amplifiers for high power ultrafast fiber lasers

In recent years, ultrafast laser systems using large-mode-area fiber amplifiers delivering several hundreds of watts of average power has attracted significant academic and industrial interest. These amplifiers can generate hundreds of kilowatts to megawatts of peak power using direct amplification and multi-gigawatts of peak power using pulse stretching techniques. These amplifiers are enabled by advancements in Photonic Crystal Fiber (PCF) design and manufacturing technology. In this paper, we will give a short overview of state-of-the-art PCF amplifiers and describe the performance in ultrafast ps laser systems.