ALPhANOV is currently conducting a R&D program to develop alternatives to Ti:Sa oscillators, based on fiber lasers. The recent obtained results were covered by an oral presentation: post-deadline during the last Europhoton conference and for the next SPIE Photonics West 2019 conference. In the coming months, they will also lead to the commercialization of a new product.

Ti:Sa lasers are usually the first brick of very high-power laser chains. They are also used as tools in medical imaging. Until now, these solid-state lasers are the only solution available to fulfill these functions. Recent advances in fiber laser sources have allowed ALPhANOV engineers and technicians to develop a laser source that can compete with them. The technology developed is based on all fiber femtosecond sources emitting at 1.6 µm which are then doubled in frequency.

Early works have led to develop a demonstrator delivering pulses with less than 40 fs of duration, offering an energy of 14 nJ at 1600 nm and 3.5 nJ at 800 nm. Papers on these results were selected as a post-deadline oral at Europhoton conference held in Barcelona from 2 to 7 September 2018 and as an oral conference for the next SPIE Photonics West 2019 conference. This fiber solution, leading to cheaper lasers, more robust and more compact than the current solid-state lasers, is adapted as much to the injection in the high-power amplification chains as to a direct use in medical applications or in microscopy.

The development program is going on to arrive in the coming months to the delivery of lasers configured for specific custom applications. The robustness of the laser is already demonstrated, and the industrialization is in progress.