  We present the development of a high power fibre laser system to investigate
its suitability for use in a transverse electron beam profile monitor i.e. a
laserwire. A system capable of producing individual pulses up to $165.8 \pm 0.4
\mu$J at 1036 nm with a full-width at half-maximum of $1.92 \pm 0.12$ps at 6.49
MHz is demonstrated using a master oscillator power amplifier design with a
final amplification stage in a rod-type photonic crystal fibre. The pulses are
produced in trains of 1 ms in a novel burst mode amplification scheme to match
the bunch pattern of the charged particles in an accelerator. This method
allows pulse energies up to an order of magnitude greater than the steady-state
value of $17.0 \pm 0.6 \mu$J to be achieved at the beginning of the burst with
a demonstrated peak power of $25.8 \pm 1.7$ MW after compression. The system is
also shown to demonstrate excellent spatial quality with an $M^{2} = 1.26 \pm
0.01$ in both dimensions which would allow nearly diffraction limited focussing
to be achieved.
