High-energy, 34 fs, fiber source via nonlinear compression in hypocycloid-core Kagome fiber

We report on the generation of 34 fs and 50 μJ pulses from a high energy fiber amplifier system with nonlinear compression in an air-filled hypocycloid-core Kagome fiber. The unique properties of such fibers allow to bridge the gap between solid core fibers-based and hollow capillaries-based post-compression setups, thereby operating with pulse energies obtained with current state-of-the-art fiber systems. The overall transmission of the compression setup is over 70%. Together with Yb-doped fiber amplifier technologies, Kagome fibers therefore appear as a promising tool for efficient generation of pulses with durations below 50 fs, energies ranging from 10 to several hundreds of μJ, and high average powers.