Patent ID: 8064131

Claim:
Device for amplifying high-energy ultrashort light pulses, said device comprising: a generator ( 1 ) supplying initial high-energy ultrashort light pulses ( 7 ), a first amplifying/time-stretching means ( 2 ), comprising: a time-stretching means ( 3 ) adapted to time-stretch light pulses to generate time-stretched light pulses ( 8 , 16 ), a regenerative amplifier ( 4 ) pre-amplifying the time-stretched light pulses ( 8 , 16 ) to generate stretched and pre-amplified light pulses ( 19 , 20 ), a multipass amplifier ( 5 ) amplifying the stretched and pre-amplified light pulses ( 19 , 20 ) to generate amplified pulses ( 9 , 17 ), a compressor ( 6 ) time-compressing the amplified pulses ( 9 , 17 ) to generate compressed pulses ( 10 , 18 ) having a duration close to that of the initial light pulses ( 7 ), and a second amplifying/time-stretching means ( 11 ), arranged at the output of the generator ( 1 ), suitable for amplifying and time-stretching the initial light pulses ( 7 ) for generating amplified and time-stretched pulses ( 13 ), characterized in that it comprises: a first filtering means ( 12 ) comprising a passive component, said passive component comprising at least one saturable absorbent material, said first filtering means ( 12 ) being arranged between the second amplifying/time-stretching means ( 11 ) and the first amplifying/time-stretching means ( 2 ), suitable for blocking the low-amplitude light signals ( 14 ) of the amplified and time-stretched pulses ( 13 ), and a second compression means ( 23 ), arranged after the first filtering means ( 12 ), and a second filtering means ( 24 ) arranged after the second compression means ( 23 ), said second filtering means ( 24 ) comprising a non-linear crystal ( 29 ) suitable for transferring a part of the energy of the compressed pulses ( 19 ) to a cross-polarization (XPW) and a polarizer ( 32 ) suitable for filtering said polarization.