Femtosecond pulse amplification on a chip
Femtosecond laser pulses enable the synthesis of light across the electromagnetic spectrum and provide access to ultrafast phenomena in physics, biology, and chemistry. Chip-integration of femtosecond technology could revolutionize applications such as point-of-care diagnostics, bio-medical imaging, portable chemical sensing, or autonomous navigation. However, current chip-integrated pulse sources lack the required peak power, and on-chip amplification of femtosecond pulses has been an unresolved challenge. Here, addressing this challenge, we report >50-fold amplification of 1 GHz-repetition-rate chirped femtosecond pulses in a CMOS-compatible photonic chip to 800 W peak power with 116 fs pulse duration. This power level is 2-3 orders of magnitude higher compared to those in previously demonstrated on-chip pulse sources and can provide the power needed to address key applications. To achieve this, detrimental nonlinear effects are mitigated through all-normal dispersion, large mode-area and rare-earth-doped gain waveguides. These results offer a pathway to chip-integrated femtosecond technology with peak power levels characteristic of table-top sources.
Authors
- Mahmoud Gaafar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5887-5772)
- Michael Geiselmann
- Henry Francis
- Shuangyou Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-4785-9626)
- Thibault Wildi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0193-7132)
- Pascal Del’Haye (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6517-6942)
- Neetesh Singh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9105-647X)
- Kai Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-4912-4652)
- Sonia M. García‐Blanco (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8125-9038)
- Markus Ludwig (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2109-163X)
- Thibault Voumard (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9482-9877)
- Tobias Herr (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5966-6697)
- Toby Bi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5670-6115)
- Milan Sinobad (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3490-0288)
- José Carreira
- Jan Lorenzen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-6058-2002)
- Franz X. Kärtner
Institutions
- Roche (Switzerland) (CH)
- Universität Hamburg (DE)
- Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (DE)
- Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY (DE)
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (DE)
- École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (CH)
- University of Twente (NL)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2024-09-16
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-52057-3
- Citations
- 25
- Primary Topic
- Advanced Fiber Laser Technologies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 7.76
Funders
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Helmholtz Association
- Horizon 2020 Framework Programme
- Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron