Femtosecond parametric generation in ZnGeP(2)

We report traveling-wave optical parametric generation in short (2-mm) ZnGeP(2) samples with reduced anomalous absorption, using femtosecond pump pulses near 2 mum . The signal and the idler waves generated could be tuned from 2.5 to 10 mum , and they extend the tunability of the beta-barium borate optical parametric generator used as a pump source to the mid-infrared. At a single-pass internal conversion efficiency of 2.5% we estimate pulse durations of 75 fs (signal near 3 mum) and 200 fs (idler near 6 mum).     

Numerical study on pulse contrast enhancement in a short-pulse-pumped optical parametric amplifier

We investigate pulse cleaning behaviors in short-pulse-pumped optical parametric amplifiers (OPA). We theoretically study the contrast enhancement of amplified signal pulse and generated idler pulse, and reveal their dependence on the parametric gain in both the regimes of small signal and saturated amplifications. The signal contrast enhancement is nearly equal to the parametric gain, while the idler contrast is approximately equal to the product of the contrasts of the pump and signal pulses in a low gain OPA and increases with the gain. The effects of group-velocity mismatch and group-velocity dispersion on the contrast enhancement are also investigated. The results presented in this paper are of value for pulse cleaning.     

Simple and versatile dual-signal wave optical parametric oscillator

A synchronously pumped optical parametric oscillator that is able to deliver a signal pulse at two different wavelengths either simultaneously or even one at a time is presented. As the operation exploits the group-velocity mismatch between the interacting signal and pump pulses, just a cavity-length adjustment is required to switch between the three regimes. The widely tunable signal pulses are shown to be synchronous and near transform limited.     

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.     

Parametric amplification of chirped optical pulses under pump depletion

We present simple analytical solutions of coupled wave equations describing chirped pulse parametric amplification under pump depletion. The evolution of the duration and spectrum of amplified pulses in OPA pumped by Gaussian and supergaussian pulses has been investigated both numerically and analytically. Also, the dependence of the energy conversion efficiency from pump to signal was determined for a range of parameter values, and an optimum ratio of signal and pump pulse durations was evaluated.     

Optical parametric amplification of a supercontinuum in a gas

Amplification of supercontinuum light via four-wave optical parametric amplification in a gas-filled hollow fiber is investigated. By pumping with a femtosecond pulse in the near-infrared, amplification was observed in the wavelength range 500–700 nm, with an amplification gain up to 100. The amplification bandwidth obtained here supports sub-10-fs pulse durations. The wavelength and gas-pressure dependence of the amplification gain in this regime significantly differ from those predicted from only the linear phase mismatch. The nonlinear phase mismatch, arising from nonlinear phase modulations induced by a pump pulse, dominates the features observed for the amplification, i.e., a low phase-matching pressure and an amplification gain depending on wavelength. To investigate the effect of phase modulations on the parametric amplification, numerical analysis and simulations are used to reproduce the measured wavelength dependence of the amplification gain.     

A CW seeded femtosecond optical parametric amplifier

1 Introduction Optical parametric amplification (OPA) based on femtosecond Ti:sapphire regen-erative amplifiers has been widely adopted in wavelength extension of ultrashort opticalpulses[1]. While BBO-based femtosecond optical parametric amplifiers have alreadycommercialized, the tuning range of such an 800 nm-pumped OPA is typically between1.15 μm and 2.6 μm due to the limited transparent range of BBO. From application’spoint of view, ultrashort pulses near 1 μm and between 3 and 4 …     

啁啾脉冲参量放大特性的数值模拟研究

 根据啁啾脉冲激光参量放大技术,数值模拟了光参量放大在啁啾脉冲放大中的应用。研究啁啾脉冲参量放大增益及时间特性,特别是在大信号注入与小信号注入两种有代表意义的情况下,详细地分析了群速度失配、相位失配对放大过程的影响。研究了泵浦光脉冲与信号光脉冲的时间同步要求,讨论了放大系统的稳定性。     

用于宽带啁啾脉冲光参量放大系统精确同步的新方法

基于非共线光参量放大,以波长800 nm飞秒激光的倍频光为抽运光,以激光二极管640 nm连续波激光为信号光,产生了与800 nm飞秒激光精确同步的无直流本底的1064 nm脉冲光。实验结果显示该1064 nm的光脉冲在脉冲能量和空间光束质量上均可作为1064 nm波长脉冲放大器的种子光。仅通过一级简单紧凑的非共线参量放大就可实现光周期量级的光参量啁啾脉冲放大系统的抽运激光和种子光的精确同步。     

Optical parametric generation in CdSiP2

We report efficient generation of picosecond pulses in the near- and mid-IR in the new nonlinear material CdSiP(2) pumped at 1.064 μm by an amplified mode-locked Nd:YVO(4) laser at a 100 kHz repetition rate. By using single-pass optical parametric generation in 8-mm-long crystal cut for type I(e→oo) noncritical phase matching, an average idler power of 154 mW at 6.204 μm together with 1.16 W of signal at 1.282 μm has been obtained for 6.1 W of pump at photon conversion efficiencies of 15% and 23%, respectively. Signal pulse durations of 6.36 ps are measured for 9 ps pump pulses.     

A CW seeded femtosecond optical parametric amplifer

A CW seeded femtosecond optical parametric amplifier, a compromise between OPG/OPA and strongly seeded OPA configurations, has been demonstrated. An independent CW Nd: YAG laser with sub-watt power decreases the pump threshold of the OPA and improves the stability of the output pulses considerably. Output signal energies as high as 30 μJ with pulse durations less than 250 fs near 1 μm are reported. from this two-stage device.     

Broadband, rapidly tunable Ti:sapphire-pumped BiB₃O₆ femtosecond optical parametric oscillator

We report a femtosecond optical parametric oscillator (OPO) based on the nonlinear material BiB?O? (BIBO) pumped directly by a Kerr lens mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser. Using a 1.5 mm long BIBO crystal cut at θ=11.4° for collinear type I (e→o+o) phase matching in the xz optical plane, femtosecond signal pulses across 1.4-1.6 μm, and idler pulses across 1.6-1.87 μm spectral range are generated, limited by the reflectivity bandwidth of the OPO mirrors. The high nonlinear gain and large spectral acceptance for type I interaction in the xz plane of BIBO permit rapid and continuous tuning across the entire range by simple fine adjustment of OPO cavity delay or through small changes in the pump wavelength, without varying any other parameters. Additionally, owing to the near-zero group velocity mismatch and dispersion, the OPO supports broad spectrum as wide as 33 nm, which results in self-compressed signal pulses. For 150 fs pump pulses, signal pulses with durations down to 106 fs with a time-bandwidth product of 0.48 are obtained without the need for intracavity dispersion compensation.     

Multiterawatt laser system based on optical parametric chirped pulse amplification

A compact multiterawatt laser system based on optical parametric chirped pulse amplification is demonstrated. Chirped pulses are amplified from 20 pJ to 900 mJ by two lithium triborate optical parametric preamplifiers and a final KDP optical parametric power amplifier with a pump energy of 5 J at 532 nm from Nd:YAG-Nd:glass hybrid amplifiers. After compression, we obtained a final output of 570-mJ-155-fs pulses with a peak power of 3.67 TW, which is the highest output power from an optical parametric chirped pulse amplification laser, to the best of our knowledge.     

Sub-20-fs pulses tunable across the visible from a blue-pumped single-pass noncollinear parametric converter

Femtosecond pulses with center wavelengths between 470 and 750 nm are generated in a single-stage type I BBO optical parametric amplifier pumped by a frequency-doubled 1-kHz Ti:sapphire amplifier. A high-quality white-light continuum is used as the seed. Pulse durations as short as 16 fs and pulse energies of as much as 11 microJ are observed. The quantum efficiency is ~25% for both 7- and 40-microJ pump pulses. This unique combination of ultrashort pulse duration and high conversion is made possible by noncollinear phase matching that permits a sufficiently large amplification bandwidth. Simultaneously the group velocities of the signal and the idler are effectively matched. As a result widely tunable sub-20-fs pulses can be generated in a nonlinear crystal as thick as 2 mm.     

Broadband difference frequency mixing between visible and near-infrared pulses for few-cycle pulse generation with stable carrier-envelope phase

Difference frequency generation between broadband visible noncollinear optical parametric amplifier (NOPA) pulses and the fundamental pump laser pulses allows the generation of ultrashort infrared pulses with passively stabilized carrier-envelope phase. A simple prism compressor for the visible NOPA pulses is sufficient to generate few-cycle pulses in the infrared and no additional compression is needed. We theoretically investigate the concept, explain the principles, and demonstrate it for high repetition rate, long pulse durations, and various wavelengths by applying it to a Ti:sapphire and an Yb:KYW-based laser systems. For the latter sub-15 fs phase stable pulses around 1.8 μm with an energy of 100 nJ are obtained at 100 kHz repetition rate.     

KBe2BO3F2飞秒光参量放大中的群速匹配

提出了KBe₂BO₃F₂ （KBBF）飞秒光参量放大中三波群速完全匹配的方法.对于Ⅰ类相位匹配方式采用非共线结构及倾斜抽运光脉冲波面,对于Ⅱ类相位匹配方式采用共线结构同时倾斜抽运光和信号光脉冲波面,可实现参量带宽最大时三波群速的完全匹配,从而获得更高增益,更窄脉宽的参量光. 关键词： 群速匹配 相位匹配 脉冲波面倾斜 飞秒光参量放大     

Carrier-phase control among subharmonic pulses in a femtosecond optical parametric oscillator

We have generated femtosecond subharmonic pulses by using an optical parametric oscillator. The optical frequencies of the idler and the signal are one third and two thirds, respectively, of the optical frequency of the pump pulse. The carrier phase of the signal pulse relative to that of the pump pulse was locked by electronic feedback. The carrier-envelope phase slip frequency of the signal pulse relative to that of the pump was locked to F/6 , where F is defined as the repetition frequency.     

Broadband femtosecond OPCPA system driven by the single-shot narrow-band iodine photodissociation laser SOFIA

A two-stage optical parametric amplifier driven by a frequency-tripled beam from the high-energy iodine laser system SOFIA was built. This single-shot Optical Parametric Chirped Pulse-Amplification facility (OPCPA) and the system synchronizing the pump and signal pulses are described in detail. The chirped seed pulse of a Ti:sapphire oscillator running at the central wavelength of 800?nm is amplified in the two-stage (LBO and KDP) optical parametric amplifier over 10⁸ times. The amplified spectral bandwidth of 68?nm corresponds to the pulse duration of 14?fs when a transform-limited pulse is assumed. This implies a compressed pulse of TW power. Systematic gain measurements reveal a good match with the theoretical predictions. Signal and idler beam fluence profiles are presented. The suitability of the iodine photo-dissociation laser as a pump source for the OPCPA technique is thus proved for the first time experimentally. A distinctive feature of the iodine laser is its very narrow gain bandwidth (<0.1?cm^?1) and, therefore, the conventional chirped-pulse amplification technique does not lead to pulse durations at the femtosecond level.     

Hybrid chirped-pulse amplification

Conversion efficiency in optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification is limited by spatiotemporal characteristics of the pump pulse. We have demonstrated a novel hybrid chirped-pulse amplification scheme that uses a single pump pulse and combines optical parametric amplification and laser amplification to achieve high gain, high conversion efficiency, and high prepulse contrast without utilization of electro-optic modulators. We achieved an overall conversion efficiency of 37% from the hybrid amplification system at a center wavelength of 820nm. Generation of multiterawatt pulses is possible by use of this simple method and commercial Q -switched pump lasers.     

与794nm飞秒激光精确同步的无直流背底的1064nm脉冲光的产生

基于非共线光参量放大(NOPA)，以宽带794nm飞秒激光的倍频光为抽运光，以连续的He-Ne激光为信号光，产生了与宽带794nm飞秒激光精确同步的无直流背底的1064nm的脉冲光.实验结果显示该1064nm的光脉冲可作为光参量啁啾脉冲放大系统的抽运激光链的种子光，从而实现用全光学方法实现OPCPA系统抽运光和信号光的精确同步.还将非共线光参量放大器置于经特殊设计的He-Ne激光腔内，也同样成功得到了无直流背底的1064nm的光脉冲.经一次光参量放大后所得到的1064nm光的光谱和空间啁啾特性与非共线光参量放大器置于He-Ne激光腔外时得到的1064nm的光脉冲相同，而其单脉冲能量约为腔外NOPA的10倍. 关键词： 非线性光参量放大 光参量啁啾脉冲放大 时间同步