3.5  kW coherently combined ultrafast fiber laser

An ultrafast laser based on the coherent beam combination of four ytterbium-doped step-index fiber amplifiers is presented. The system delivers an average power of 3.5 kW and a pulse duration of 430 fs at an 80 MHz repetition rate. The beam quality is excellent (M2<1.24·1.10), and the relative intensity noise is as low as 1% in the frequency span from 1 Hz to 1 MHz. The system is turn-key operable, as it features an automated spatial and temporal alignment of the interferometric amplification channels.