The development and advancement of high powered, sub-picosecond laser sources have been crucial to the progression of ultrafast optical studies in the visible and near-infrared spectrum. Highly energetic, broadband pulses can be used to probe the electronic and structural dynamics of some of the fastest possible chemical and biological processes. In this talk, I will outline the complete design and characterization of several ultrafast sources. This includes the development of a novel ultrafast laser system operating in the 1μm wavelength regime, using a chirped-pulse amplification scaling scheme. The system, based solely on ytterbium-doped fiber amplifiers, delivers pulses up to 400 μJ in energy and average powers up to 100 Watts. I will also point to some future improvements of the sources, and discuss some applications of the system with regards to ultrafast science.