Spatial chirp in Ti:sapphire multipass amplifier

The spatial chirp generated in the Ti:sapphire multipass amplifier is numerically investigated based on the onedimensional(1D) and two-dimensional(2D) Frantz–Nodvik equations. The simulation indicates that the spatial chirp is induced by the spatially inhomogeneous gain, and it can be almost eliminated by utilization of proper beam profiles and spot sizes of the signal and pump pulses, for example, the pump pulse has a top-hatted beam profile and the signal pulse has a super-Gaussian beam profile with a relatively larger spot size. In this way, a clear understanding of spatial chirp mechanisms in the Ti:sapphire multipass amplifier is proposed, therefore we can effectively almost eliminate the spatial chirp and improve the beam quality of a high-power Ti:sapphire chirped pulse amplifier system.     

Nonlinear spectral cleaning effect in cross-polarized wave generation

The underlying mechanism of the spectral cleaning effect of the cross-polarized wave(XPW) generation process was theoretically investigated. This study shows that the spectral noise of an input spectrum can be removed in the XPW generation process and that the spectral cleaning effect depends on the characteristics of the input pulses, such as the chirp and Fourier-transform-limited duration of the initial pulse, and the modulation amplitude and frequency of the spectral noise. Though these factors codetermine the output spectrum of the XPW generation process, the spectral cleaning effect is mainly affected by the initial pulse chirp. The smoothing of the spectrum in the XPW generation process leads to a significant enhancement of the coherent contrast.     

Long-distance characterization of high-quality laser-wakefield-accelerated electron beams

Beam quality degradation during the transition from a laser wakefield accelerator to the vacuum is one of the reasons that cause the beam transport distortion, which hinders the way to compact free-electron-lasers. Here,we performed transition simulation to initialize the beam parameters for beam optics transport. This initialization was crucial in matching the experimental results and the designed evolution of the beamline. We experimentally characterized properties of high-quality laser-wakefield-accelerated electron beams, such as transverse beam profile, divergence, and directionality after long-distance transport. By installing magnetic quadrupole lenses with tailored strength gradients, we successfully collimated the electron beams with tunable energies from 200 to 600 MeV.     

Numerical investigation of the nonlinear spectral broadening aiming at a few-cycle regime for 10 ps level Nd-doped lasers

We present a cascaded nonlinear spectral broadening scheme for Nd-doped lasers, featuring with long pulse duration and high average power. This scheme is based on two multi-pass cells (MPCs) and one multiple-plate supercontinuum generation (MPSG), and the numerical investigation is driven by a home-made Nd-doped fiber laser with 12 ps pulse duration, 50 kHz repetition rate and 100 W average power. The MPC-based first two stages allow us to broaden the pulse spectrum to 4 nm and 43 nm respectively, and subsequently, the MPSG-based third stage allows us to reach 235 nm spectral bandwidth. This broadened spectrum can support a Fourier-transfer-limited pulse duration of 9.8 fs, which is shorter than three optical cycles. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first time to demonstrate the possibility of few-cycle pulses generation based on the 10 ps level Nd-doped lasers. Such few-cycle and high average power laser sources should be attractive and prospective, benefiting from the characteristics of structure compact, low-cost and flexibility.     

Nonlinear compression of picosecond chirped pulse from thin-disk amplifier system through a gas-filled hollow-core fiber

We theoretically study the nonlinear compression of a 20-m J, 1030-nm picosecond chirped pulse from the thin-disk amplifier in a krypton gas-filled hollow-core fiber. The chirp from the thin-disk amplifier system has little influence on the initial pulse, however, it shows an effect on the nonlinear compression in hollow-core fiber. We use a large diameter hollow waveguide to restrict undesirable nonlinear effects such as ionization; on the other hand, we employ suitable gas pressure and fiber length to promise enough spectral broadening; with 600-μm, 6-bar(1 bar = 105Pa), 1.8-m hollow fiber,we obtain 31.5-fs pulse. Moreover, we calculate and discuss the optimal fiber lengths and gas pressures with different initial durations induced by different grating compression angles for reaching a given bandwidth. These results are meaningful for a compression scheme from picoseconds to femtoseconds.