Direct measurement of wave-front distortion induced during second-harmonic generation: application to breakup-integral compensation

Wavefront retrieval of amplified femtosecond beams by second-harmonic generation

We present a new approach for wavefront characterization of near transform-limited intense femtosecond beams using the angular and spectral dependences of the second-harmonic generation conversion efficiency in uniaxial crystals. The method is applied to different aberrated beams and results are compared with the measurements performed with a commercial sensor, finding very good agreement. The phase retrieval dependence with different parameters (e.g. crystal thickness) is discussed. Successful application to sharpen intensity profiles is also demonstrated.

Beam breakup integral measurement on high-power laser chains

We experimentally demonstrate the efficiency of a single-shot method to measure the beam breakup integral (B) accumulated across a high power chain. The technique uses spectrally shaped strongly chirped femtosecond pulses and takes advantage of time-to-spectral coupling generated by nonlinear effects. We performed B measurements on regenerative amplifiers (Ti:sapphire) and on the ALISE 200 J facility currently installed at CEA-CESTA (France).