Newsletter

Newsletter December 2011

The new generation of ultrafast-oscillators: Vitara

 

Dear Customer,

Coherent's more than 10 years experience with one-box femtosecond oscillators like the Vitesse and Micra led to the development of an oscillator that combines the benefits of the industrial and the shortest-pulse versions. The new Vitara brings the Ti:sapphire oscillator technology to a new level.

The Vitara offers true hands-free and fully automated operation from a sealed box even for demanding applications that require pulse widths shorter than 12 fs. The system not only provides the shortest pulses, but also flexibility like automated wavelength tuning over a wide (755 nm to 860 nm) range and push-button bandwidth adjustment from 30 nm to 125 nm. The Vitara fits to the changing needs of a scientific lab.

The output power of Vitara peaks at over 450 mW due to the fully integrated and compact Verdi G 5W pump laser based on Coherent's unique optically pumped semiconductor laser (OPSL) technology. Customers who own a Verdi already, can choose for the option "external pump" to save some money now and upgrade later to the integrated pump.

As with other one-box ultrafast lasers from Coherent, the Vitara is designed to bring state-of-the-art performance to the widest possible spectrum of users. The 125 nm maximum bandwidth delivers a specified pulse width of <20 fs, with a typical pulsewidth of 15 fs directly from the laser output. In addition, the optional compact compressor enables the Vitara pulsewidth to be further compressed to 12 fs or less. No other flexible and widely tunable laser can approach this short pulse width. Other options for Vitara include a next generation carrier-envelope-phase (CEP) stabilization module that delivers the industry's highest phase stabilization specification for emerging attosecond research activities, and a Synchrolock module for external pulse timing synchronization e.g. with free-electron-lasers.

The Vitara is the ideal choice for seeding CEP-stabilized amplifiers or any short-pulse amplifiers which benefit from Vitara's stability, bandwidth and hands-off operation. Other applications include THz spectroscopy and imaging, where the short pulse width produces the highest possible THz bandwidth, advanced multiphoton (MPE) microscopy and multiplex CARS imaging, and nevertheless ultrafast pump probe spectroscopy where the short pulse width of Vitara is a key advantage. With its optional CEP-stabilization or Synchrolock the Vitara is also well suited for any future advanced experiment needs while offering all the benefits and easy-of-use of a sealed-box approach.

As an additional service for customers going to use directly the Vitara Oscillator for e.g. pump-probe experiments Coherent offers the Compact-Pulse-Compressor (CPC). The CPC allows compensating for the dispersion given by optical elements in the beam path down to the sample. The use of the CPC is easy due to its "in-line" optical layout. For a course adjustment one chooses the number of bounces on a chirped-mirror pair, for fine adjustment one slides some thin glass wedge into the beam path.

The rock-solid stability of a new Vitara forms the fundament for your
Better Ultrafast Every Day

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