193-Ghz 53-W Subpicosecond Pulse Source

We present a light source that can generate a pulse train with an extremely high repetition rate, tens of watts of average output power, and a low-divergence output beam. This unique combination of system characteristics is achieved with single-stage amplification of a passively harmonically mode-locked semiconductor disk laser in a tapered Yb-doped double-clad fiber. With the short-length tapered fiber amplifier an amplification factor >17 dB is reached, while preserving the 930-fs pulse duration of the semiconductor disk laser. The demonstrated pulse source with a beam quality factor <2 enables efficient coupling into single-mode fibers for nonlinear optical experiments and ultracoarse frequency comb generation.