Amplification of high-fidelity laser pulses

We report on the first experimental measurement of high-dynamic-range pulse contrast of compressed optical parametric chirped-pulse-amplification (OPCPA) pulses on the picosecond scale. The measured –80-dB OPCPA contrast at 1054 nm agrees well with theoretical predictions and exceeds the estimated and measured levels for comparable amplification in a Ti:sapphire regenerative amplifier by approximately 10 dB. A key to achieving better contrast with OPCPA is the simpler experimental setup that promotes more-efficient coupling of seed pulse energy into the amplification system. ©2007 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: 140.7090 (Ultrafast lasers), 190.4970 (Parametric oscillators and amplifiers), 320.7100 (Ultrafast measurements), 320.5520 (Pulse compression). References and links 1. D. Umstadter, “Review of physics and applications of relativistic plasmas driven by ultra-intense lasers,” Phys. Plasmas 8, 1774−1785 (2001). 2. D. Strickland and G. Mourou, “Compression of amplified chirped optical pulses,” Opt. Commun. 55, 447−449 (1985). 3. G. N. Gibson, R. Klank, F. Gibson, and B. E. Bouma, “Electro-optically cavity-dumped ultrashort-pulse Ti:Sapphire oscillator,” Opt. Lett. 21, 1055−1057 (1996). 4. A. Fernandez, T. Fuji, A. Poppe, A. Fürbach, F. Krausz, and A. Apolonski, “Chirped-pulse oscillators: A route to high-power femtosecond pulses without external amplification,” Opt. Lett. 29, 1366−1368 (2004). 5. J. Itatani, J. Faure, M. Nantel, G. Mourou, and S. Watanabe, “Suppression of the amplified spontaneous emission in chirped-pulse-amplification lasers by clean high-energy seed-pulse injection,” Opt. Commun. 148, 70−74 (1998). 6. A. Jullien, F. Augé-Rochereau, G. Chériaux, J.-P. Chambaret, P. d’Oliveria, T. Auguste, and F. Falcoz, “High-efficiency, simple setup for pulse cleaning at the millijoule level by nonlinear induced birefringence,” Opt. Lett. 29, 2184−2186 (2004). 7. M. Nantel, J. Itatani, A. -C. Tien, J. Faure, D. Kaplan, M. Bouvier, T. Buma, P. Van Rompay, J. A. Nees, P. P. Pronko, D. Umstadter, and G. A. Mourou, “Temporal contrast in Ti:Sapphire lasers: Characterization and control,” IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron. 4, 449−458 (1998). 8. A. Jullien, O. Albert, F. Burgy, G. Hamoniaux, J.-P. Rousseau, J.-P. Chambarét, F. Augé-Rochereau, G. Cheriaux, J. Etchepare, N. Minkovski, and S. M. Saltiel, “10 temporal contrast for femtosecond ultraintense lasers by cross-polarized wave generation,” Opt. Lett. 30, 920-922 (2006). 9. M. P. Kalashnikov, E. Risse, H. Schönnagel, and W. Sander, “Double chirped-pulse-amplification laser: A way to clean pulses temporally,” Opt. Lett. 30, 923−925 (2005). 10. A. Dubietis, G. Jonusauskas, and A. Piskarskas, “Powerful femtosecond pulse generation by chirped and stretched pulse parametric amplification in BBO crystal,” Opt. Commun. 88, 437−440 (1992). 11. L. J. Waxer, V. Bagnoud, I. A. Begishev, M. J. Guardalben, J. Puth, and J. D. Zuegel, “High-conversionefficiency optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification system using spatiotemporally shaped pump pulses,” Opt. Lett. 28, 1245−1247 (2003). #77130 $15.00 USD Received 15 Nov 2006; revised 21 Feb 2007; accepted 2 Mar 2007; published 20 Apr 2007 (C) 2007 OSA 30 Apr 2007 / Vol. 15, No. 9 / OPTICS EXPRESS 5504 2.5. PEER-REVIEWED ARTICLES 2. TEMPORAL CONTRAST