Inhibited-Coupling guiding hollow-core photonic crystal fibers (IC-HCPCF) proved to be a key enabling and transformative technology in large number of applications [1], and a timely innovation for ultrashort pulse (USP) lasers and their applications. USP lasers with pulses in the range of 20-500 fs and energy of up to ~3 mJ have been guided , and USP lasers with average power of 1 kW was reported. Pulse compression using IC-HCPCF of USP lasers emitting at the most representative wavelengths and with different pulse duration, energy and average power have been compressed with compression factors up to above 20. IC-HCPCF based fiber beam delivery and pulse compression is set to be a strong enabler in further developing USP lasers and in their adoption in any application where requirements for a safe and flexible delivery of the laser beam, or USP shorter than 100 fs are firm conditions.
[1] F. Benabid et al. J. Mod. Opt. 58, 87 (2011). B. Debord et al. , Fibers 7, (2019).