Sub-40-fs Pulses from a Diode-Pumped Kerr-Lens Mode-Locked Yb-Doped Yttrium Aluminum Garnet Laser

We have generated ultrashort pulses with a duration as short as 35 fs from a diode-pumped Kerr-lens mode-locked Yb-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Yb:YAG) laser. This is, to our knowledge, the shortest pulse in Yb-doped bulk laser oscillators. Here we increased the Yb:YAG crystal length for gain suppression and applied a prism pair to precisely compensate the intracavity group-delay dispersion. The spectral width, center wavelength, and laser output power were 40 nm, 1060 nm, and 107 mW, respectively.