Direct diode pumped Ti:sapphire ultrafast regenerative amplifier system

We report on a direct diode-pumped Ti:sapphire ultrafast regenerative amplifier laser system producing multi-mu J energies with a repetition rate from 50 to 250 kHz. By combining cryogenic cooling of Ti: sapphire with high brightness fiber-coupled 450nm laser diodes, we for the first time demonstrate a power-scalable CW-pumped architecture that can be directly applied to demanding ultrafast applications such as coherent high-harmonic EUV generation without any complex post-amplification pulse compression. Initial results promise a new era for Ti: sapphire amplifiers not only for ultrafast laser applications, but also for tunable CW sources. We discuss the unique challenges to implementation, as well as the solutions to these challenges. (C) 2017 Optical Society of America