Fiber-amplifier pumped high average power few-cycle pulse non-collinear OPCPA

Temperature- and wavelength-insensitive parametric amplification enabled by noncollinear achromatic phase-matching

Optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification (OPCPA) has been demonstrated to be a promising approach for pushing femtosecond pulses towards ultra-high peak powers. However, the future success of OPCPA strongly relies on the ability to manipulate its phase-matching (PM) configuration. When a high average power pump laser is involved, the thermal effects in nonlinear crystals induce phase-mismatch distortions that pose an inherent limitation on the conversion efficiency. Here, we demonstrate that the noncollinear configuration previously adopted for wavelength-insensitive PM can be employed for temperature-insensitive PM when the noncollinear angle is properly reset. Simultaneous temperature- and wavelength-insensitive PM is realized for the first time by imposing such a temperature-insensitive noncollinear configuration with an angularly dispersed seed signal. Based on the lithium triborate crystal, the proposed noncollinear achromatic PM has a thermal acceptance 6 times larger than that of the conventional wavelength-insensitive noncollinear PM and has a sufficient spectral acceptance to support pulse durations of ~20 fs at 800 nm. These achievements open new possibilities for generating ultra-high peak power lasers with high average power.

500 kHz OPCPA delivering tunable sub-20 fs pulses with 15 W average power based on an all-ytterbium laser

An optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier fully based on Yb lasers at 500 kHz is described. Passive optical-synchronization is achieved between a fiber laser-pumped white-light and a 515 nm pump produced with a 200 W picosecond Yb:YAG InnoSlab amplifier. An output power up to 19.7 W with long-term stability of 0.3% is demonstrated for wavelength tunable pulses between 680 nm and 900 nm and spectral stability of 0.2%; 16.5 W can be achieved with a bandwidth supporting 5.4 fs pulses. We demonstrate compression of 30 µJ pulses to sub-20 fs duration with a prism compressor, suitable for high harmonic generation.

Design considerations for a high power, ultrabroadband optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifier

A conceptual design of a high power, ultrabroadband optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifier (OPCPA) was carried out comparing nonlinear crystals (LBO and BBO) for 810 nm centered, sub-7.0 fs pulses with energies above 1 mJ. These amplifiers are only possible with a parallel development of kilowatt-level OPCPA-pump amplifiers. It is therefore important to know good strategies to use the available OPCPA-pump energy efficiently. Numerical simulations, including self- and cross-phase modulation, were used to investigate the critical parameters to achieve sufficient spectral and spatial quality. At high output powers, thermal absorption in the nonlinear crystals starts to degrade the output beam quality. Strategies to minimize thermal effects and limits to the maximum average power are discussed.

Two-color deep-ultraviolet 40-fs pulses based on parametric amplification at 100 kHz

We present a 100-kHz deep-ultraviolet (DUV) laser system that generates 40-fs pulses. A 520-nm pulse generated by a noncollinear optical parametric amplifier pumped by the second harmonic of a Ti:sapphire laser is converted into 226- and 260-nm DUV pulses simultaneously with pulse energies of 250 and 130 nJ (average powers: 25 and 13 mW), respectively. The DUV pulses were estimated to have durations of ca. 40 fs by cross-correlation measurements based on (1 + 1') two-color ionization of gaseous nitric oxide.

Coherent control of high harmonic generation via dual-gas multijet arrays

High harmonic generation (HHG) is a central driver of the rapidly growing field of ultrafast science. We present a novel quasiphase-matching (QPM) concept with a dual-gas multijet target leading, for the first time, to remarkable phase control between multiple HHG sources (>2) within the Rayleigh range. The alternating jet structure with driving and matching zones shows perfect coherent buildup for up to six QPM periods. Although not in the focus of the proof-of-principle studies presented here, we achieved competitive conversion efficiencies already in this early stage of development.

Yb:YAG Innoslab amplifier: efficient high repetition rate subpicosecond pumping system for optical parametric chirped pulse amplification

We report on a Yb:YAG Innoslab laser amplifier system for generation of subpicsecond high energy pump pulses for optical parametric chirped pulse amplification (OPCPA) at high repetition rates. Pulse energies of up to 20 mJ (at 12.5 kHz) and repetition rates of up to 100 kHz were attained with pulse durations of 830 fs and average power in excess of 200 W. We further investigate the possibility to use subpicosecond pulses to derive a stable continuum in a YAG crystal for OPCPA seeding.

Multi-gigawatt ultrashort pulses at high repetition rate and average power from two-stage nonlinear compression

We present simple and compact (1.5m x 0.5m footprint) post-compression of a state-of-the-art fiber chirped pulse amplification system. By using two stage nonlinear compression in noble gas filled hollow core fibers we shorten 1 mJ, 480 fs, 50 kHz pulses. The first stage is a 53 cm long, 200 µm inner diameter fiber filled with xenon with subsequent compression in a chirped mirror compressor. A 20 cm, 200 µm inner diameter fiber filled with argon further broadens the spectrum in a second stage and compression is achieved with another set of chirped mirrors. The average power is 24.5 W/19 W after the first/second stage, respectively. Compression to 35 fs is achieved. Numerical simulations, agreeing well with experimental data, yield a peak power of 5.7 GW at a pulse energy of 380 µJ making this an interesting source for high harmonic generation at high repetition rate and average power.

Femtosecond Yb:KGW MOPA driven broadband NOPA as a frontend for TW few-cycle pulse systems

White light continuum seeded noncollinear optical parametric amplifier driven by Yb:KGW master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) system is reported. The demonstrated design provides amplification of broadband pulses at 800 nm up to 20 µJ energy at 1 kHz repetition rate and can be used as simple and reliable frontend source for systems producing high intensity few-cycle pulses. The amplified spectral bandwidth allows for <7 fs pulse durations and preliminary compression of partial spectrum yields sub-10 fs pulse.

High-repetition-rate sub-5-fs pulses with 12 GW peak power from fiber-amplifier-pumped optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification

An optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification system delivering pulses with more than 12 GW peak power is presented. Compression to sub-5 fs, 87 μJ and 5.4 fs, 100 μJ is realized at the 30 kHz repetition rate. A high-energy fiber chirped-pulse amplification system operating at 1 mJ pulse energy and nearly transform-limited pulses is used to achieve ultrabroadband amplification in two 2mm beta-barium borate crystals. Precise pulse shaping is used to compress the pulses to a few percentages of their transform limit. Assuming diffraction limited focusing (d<2 μm), peak intensities as high as 10(18) W/cm(2) can be reached.

High average and peak power few-cycle laser pulses delivered by fiber pumped OPCPA system

We report on a high power optical parametric amplifier delivering 8 fs pulses with 6 GW peak power. The system is pumped by a fiber amplifier and operated at 96 kHz repetition rate. The average output power is as high as 6.7 W, which is the highest average power few-cycle pulse laser reported so far. When stabilizing the seed oscillator, the system delivered carrier-envelop phase stable laser pulses. Furthermore, high harmonic generation up to the 33(th) order (21.8 nm) is demonstrated in a Krypton gas jet. In addition, the scalability of the presented laser system is discussed.