540. WE-Heraeus-Seminar: Modern Concepts of Continuous Wave and Pulsed High Power Lasers

540. Wilhelm und Else Heraeus-Seminar

„Modern Concepts of Continuous Wave and pulsed High Power Lasers“

July 14th – 17th, 2013
Physikzentrum Bad Honnef, Germany
This seminar is generously funded by the Wilhelm and Else Heraeus Foundation
Scientific Background

540. Wilhelm und Else Heraeus-Seminar
Modern Concepts of Continuous Wave and Pulsed High Power Lasers

In recent years there has been a tremendous progress in research on diode-pumped rare-earth doped high-power solid state lasers emitting in the infrared spectral range.
The research on different novel laser concepts enabled the control of thermal and non-linear effects, a crucial point for high output powers and intensities. Supported by the rapid development of high power laser diodes as pump sources for novel high power lasers unique operation parameters could be realized in the last years: Thin disk lasers enable output powers exceeding 10 kW in cw operation and fiber lasers are capable to realize several kW of output power in diffraction limited beam quality. In pulsed operation, fiber and slab-based amplifiers enable average output powers in the kW-range at sub-picosecond pulse durations and MHz repetition rates. Even without further amplification, mode-locked thin disk lasers can generate several hundred watt of output power at these pulse durations and repetition rates.
Despite this impressing performance, there is still a huge potential for the development of even more suitable gain materials with superior thermo-mechanical properties or broad emission bands for the generation of ultrashort pulses. Same is true for high power fiber lasers, in which optimized refractive index profiles and novel photonic structures continuously improve the laser performance.
For a complete understanding of such laser systems nowadays powerful software solutions are available, and even very complex processes like supercontinuum generation by spectral broadening in fibers are largely understood and predictable nowadays.
It is the combination of unique laser parameters and the theoretical understanding of the occurring phenomena, which enables many novel applications in fundamental science like high harmonic generation, pulse compression and frequency comb stabilization.
The seminar topics will cover the whole field of research on high power solid state lasers ranging from the simulation over the crystal growth and fiber design to high power lasers and amplifiers in different geometries and their applications in fundamental science.
The complete and final scientific program and schedule can be found here.

Invited Speakers:

The following speakers have confirmed their participation in the seminar:
Name
Institution
PD Dr. Rüdiger Paschotta
RP Photonics, Germany
Dr. Thomas Schreiber
Fraunhofer IOF Jena, Germany
Dr. Klaus Petermann
Institut für Laser-Physik, Uni HH, Germany
Prof. Dr. Andy Clarkson
ORC, University of Southampton, UK
Dr. Tino Eidam
IAP, Friedrich-Schiller Universität Jena, Germany
Prof. Dr. Ursula Keller
ETH Zürich, Switzerland
Prof. Dr. Fredrik Laurell
KTH Stockholm, Sweden
Prof. Dr. Uwe Morgner
Leipniz Universität Hannover, Germany
Dieter Hoffmann
Fraunhofer ILT Aachen, Germany
Prof. Dr. Thomas Südmeyer
Universität Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Prof. Dr. Giulio Cerullo
Politecnico di Milano, Italy
Dr. Ernst Fill
LMU München, Germany
Prof. Dr. Akira Endo
Waseda University Tokyo, Japan