About KM Labs

Company History

KMLabs was established in 1994 by Professor Margaret M. Murnane and Professor Henry C. Kapteyn. Their research in the early 1990s resulted in the development of the first robust and repeatable mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser capable of generating <10fs light pulses.  Realizing that this device could make ultrafast technology accessible to non-experts for a multitude of applications, Murnane and Kapteyn published a step-by-step guide explaining how-to build the laser.  Dissemination of this laser design played a key part in the revolution that transformed ultrafast science in the 1990’s. Responding to widespread interest in their laser design, Margaret Murnane and Henry Kapteyn founded KMLabs in 1994.  Over the following eight years, KMLabs sold several hundred reliable low-cost, ultrafast Ti:sapphire laser oscillators to customers worldwide.  Then, around 2002, KMLabs began a phase of more rapid growth based upon a new range of robust, high-performance, ultrafast oscillator and amplifier products for the international research market.  Critical enabling IP in simple power-scaling, in pulse-shortening and, most recently, in coherent soft X-ray generation has enabled KMLabs to establish and protect a position as a world leader in high peak and average power and ultrashort pulse ultrafast amplifier systems.  In 2007/2008, KMLabs began a new growth phase based upon: a revitalized product range, outreach to new markets, and an increasing international network of distributors and service providers.

KMLabs' product range for 2009 comprises:

•  Ultimate performance 3-50 W Dragon/RedDragon multipass amplifiers with CEP-stabilization option for applications including high-harmonic generation, attosecond generation. And quantum coherence and control
•  0.5-15 W 1-250 kHz single-box, single-stage, robust turn-key Wyvern regenerative amplifiers for applications in micro-machining, THz generation/spectroscopy, and ultrafast imaging/spectroscopy
•  Robust turn-key and versatile oscillators for research applications in medicine, biology, chemistry and physics.

Murnane-Kapteyn Research Group at JILA, University of Colorado (Boulder)
Professors Murnane and Kapteyn have worked at the forefront of ultrafast laser research for over 20 years.  Their pioneering research in 10fs-class lasers led to the development of a new generation of robust <10fs lasers and, subsequently, to novel techniques for coherent ultrashort pulse generation in the deep-UV and soft x-ray region for fundamental studies of dynamic processes and nanoscale-resolution imaging.  This work enabled the first demonstration of fully coherent x-ray sources, the generation of attosecond duration light pulses,  manipulation of electrons on attosecond time scales, as well as opening up new frontiers in visualizing the coupled motions of electrons and atoms in molecules and materials.