12.5-GW few-cycle pulses generated via efficient all-solid-state post-compression from an ytterbium laser

In contrast to the more conventional gas-filled post-compression technique, solid-state-based multi-pass cells and multiple plates allow for the robust and efficient generation of intense few-cycle pulses from ytterbium (Yb) lasers with moderate energies. In this Letter, 180-fs 200-μJ pulses at 50 kHz were efficiently compressed down to 6.9 fs 144 μJ, enhancing the peak power from 1.1 GW to 12.5 GW with a long-term power stability of 0.1%. Moreover, we generated over-1.5-octave-spanning white light (500 nm-1420 nm) by using an enhanced self-steepening effect, supporting a Fourier transform limit (FTL) pulse of 2.7 fs (0.8-cycle).