5kW burst-mode femtosecond amplifier system for the European XFEL pump-probe laser development

Operating at repetition rates of up to 4.5MHz, the successful implementation of superconducting LINAC technology at the European XFEL will boost the time averaged X-ray power density substantially above current values. This high pulse rate will only occur during 600μs long bursts of 10Hz repetition rate, resulting in up to 27000 pulses per second. Optical femtosecond pump-probe lasers will be needed for more than 50% of all experiments at the facility and will need to match this burst-mode emission pattern. There are currently no “off-the-shelf” commercial femtosecond laser technologies producing this kind of output at close to mJ-level energies per pulse and sub-20fs pulse width. Therefore, at the European XFEL, a development project was launched in order to close this gap in time for the start of commissioning in 2016 [1].