An all-photonic-crystal-fiber wavelength-tunable source of high-energy sub-100Â fs pulses

We demonstrate a wavelength-tunable source of high-energy sub-100 fs light pulses where all the key components, including a master oscillator, an amplifier, and a tunable frequency shifter, are based on photonic-crystal fibers (PCFs). Soliton self-frequency shift in a specifically designed all-solid photonic band-gap fiber with an effective mode area of 110 μm2 is used in this system to transform a 1040 nm, 50 MHz, 100 fs amplified output of a large-mode-area ytterbium-doped PCF oscillator-amplifier system into sub-100 fs, 6.4 nJ light pulses smoothly tunable within the range of wavelengths from 1160 to 1260 nm.