Femtosecond pulse parametric amplification at narrowband high power gas laser pumping

In ultrashort pulse amplification a narrowband gas pump pulse laser has been used for the first time. An all-stage optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier (OPCPA) was driven by a single-shot iodine photodissociation laser. For the first time a broadband amplification was achieved in potassium dihydrogen phosphate crystal at 800 nm seeding. Ti:sapphire laser pulses stretched from 12.5 fs to 250 ps were amplified and compressed to 27 fs at a 0.5 TW output power. The results suggest using narrowband high power gas lasers as OPCPA drivers to generate petawatt beams.     

Ultrafast thin-disk Yb:KY(WO4)2 regenerative amplifier with a 200-kHz repetition rate

We report an Yb:KYW thin-disk amplifier system that provides ultrashort pulses in the 10-microJ energy range at high repetition rates. The thin-disk concept uses large laser beam cross sections to avoid high peak intensities. Without using a traditional diffraction-grating stretcher, pulse energies of approximately 9 microJ with pulse durations of 280 fs at repetition rates of 200 kHz were generated.     

Adaptive pulse compression for transform-limited 15-fs high-energy pulse generation

We demonstrate the use of a deformable-mirror pulse shaper, combined with an evolutionary optimization algorithm, to correct high-order residual phase aberrations in a 1-mJ, 1-kHz, 15-fs laser amplifier. Frequency-resolved optical gating measurements reveal that the output pulse duration of 15.2 fs is within our measurement error of the theoretical transform limit. This technique significantly reduces the pulse duration and the temporal prepulse energy of the pulse while increasing the peak intensity by 26%. It is demonstrated, for what is believed to be the first time, that the problem of pedestals in laser amplifiers can be addressed by spectral-domain correction.     

Passively mode-locked Yb:KLu(WO4)2 thin-disk oscillator operated in the positive and negative dispersion regime

We demonstrate a passively mode-locked femtosecond Yb:KLu(WO(4))(2) thin-disk laser oscillator. Chirped-pulse operation in the positive dispersion regime as well as solitary operation have been realized, and the laser performance of both configurations are compared. In the solitary mode-locking regime the output power exceeds 25 W in a diffraction-limited beam, and pulse durations as short as 440 fs at a 34.7 MHz repetition rate have been generated. For the first time we present a chirped-pulse operation of a thin-disk oscillator that yields a maximum average output power of 9.5 W with a Fourier limit of 450 fs.     

高功率全光纤啁啾脉冲放大激光系统

采用基于非线性偏振旋转原理的光纤被动锁模激光器作为主振荡器。输出信号脉冲的重复频率为30MHz,脉冲半高全宽为265fs。信号脉冲通过全光纤啁啾脉冲激光放大系统展宽至100ps后,经过1级芯径10μm的光纤预放大器和1级芯径50μm的光纤功率放大器将脉冲平均功率放大至10W,斜率效率41.5%。输出脉冲经光栅压缩器将脉宽压缩至594fs。     

Bandwidth expansion and pulse shape optimized for 10 PW laser design via spectral shaping

We demonstrated a scheme of bandwidth expansion and pulse shape optimized to afford 10 PW laser design via spectral shaping, which uses the existing Nd:glass amplifier chain of the SG PW laser. Compared to the amplified pulse with a gain-narrowing effect, the required parameters of injected pulse energy, spectral bandwidth, and shape are analyzed, together with their influence on the system B-integral, energy output capability, and temporal intensity contrast. A bandwidth expansion to 7 nm by using LiNbO₃ birefringent spectral shaping resulted in an output energy of 2 kJ in a proof-of-principle experiment. The results are consistent with the theoretical prediction which suggests that the amplifier chain of SG PW laser is capable of achieving 6 kJ at the bandwidth of 7 nm and the B-integral < π . This will support a 10 PW laser with a compressed pulse energy of 4.8 kJ (efficiency=80%) at 480 fs.     

高能量环形长腔再生放大啁啾脉冲激光的研究

介绍了一种新型的高能量环形长腔再生放大器, 通过对谐振腔的模式分布进行计算, 建立了腔长为12 m的环形腔再生放大器, 在150 mJ的抽运能量下, 得到了单脉冲能量为20 mJ的放大激光输出, 对应的转化效率为13.3%, 其输出激光的能量远远超过了常规的再生放大器输出激光的单脉冲量. 放大激光的输出光谱为30 nm, 可以支持<40 fs的傅里叶转换极限脉宽. 关键词： 环形腔 再生放大 高能量     

采用光谱展宽技术的钛宝石飞秒激光放大器

报道了飞秒激光啁啾脉冲放大器中的激光脉冲光谱展宽技术，实验中使用了几种光谱展宽元件，结果表明使用激光光谱展宽元件能有效地将飞秒激光脉冲 光谱展宽，抑制了飞秒激光放大器中常见的激光脉冲光谱增益窄化现象，从飞秒放大系统的振荡级输出28fs种子脉冲，放大后得到了重复频率为10Hz、峰值功率为1．6TW、脉冲宽度37．5fs的超短强飞秒激光脉冲 。     

Octave-spanning carrier-envelope phase stabilized visible pulse with sub-3-fs pulse duration

The visible second harmonic of the idler output from a noncollinear optical parametric amplifier was compressed using adaptive dispersion control with a deformable mirror. The amplifier was pumped by and seeded in the signal path by a common 400 nm second-harmonic pulse from a Ti:sapphire regenerative amplifier. Thus, both the idler output and the second harmonic of the idler were passively carrier-envelope phase stabilized. The shortest pulse duration achieved was below 3 fs.     

Amplified low-repetition-rate fs pulsewidth measuring and DLA caused pulse broadening

Amplified low-repetition-rate fs pulse is generated with dye laser amplifier(DLA). The pulsewidth is measured with a computer-aided autocorrelator and the fs pulsewidth broadening caused by the dispersion of the DLA is analyzed. Furthermore, the autocorrelator introduced in this paper could be used as a low scanning autocorrelator to measure high-repetition-rate pulsewidth.     

采用环形再生腔结构的飞秒激光啁啾脉冲放大研究

采用环形再生腔结构的啁啾脉冲放大技术方案, 在重复频率100 Hz,单脉冲能量33.1 mJ的532 nm激光抽运下, 从钛宝石激光中获得了单脉冲能量9.84 mJ的放大输出, 对应的斜效率达33.1%.在重复频率10 Hz的情况下, 同样获得了单脉冲能量为9.64 mJ, 对应斜效率达36.8%的高效率放大结果. 通过色散补偿压缩该啁啾激光脉冲后的单脉冲能量为6.36 mJ, 脉冲宽度为59.7 fs. 测量结果表明典型的能量不稳定度为1.85%. 关键词： 啁啾脉冲放大 再生放大 飞秒激光 环形腔     

60-W average power in 810-fs pulses from a thin-disk Yb:YAG laser

We demonstrate a passively mode-locked diode-pumped thin-disk Yb:YAG laser generating 810-fs pulses at 1030 nm with as much as 60 W of average output power (without using an amplifier). At a pulse repetition rate of 34.3 MHz, the pulse energy is 1.75 microJ and the peak power is as high as 1.9 MW. The beam quality is close to the diffraction limit, with M2 < 1.1.     

高功率,高重复率飞秒光脉冲放大器

利用铜蒸气激光器泵浦碰撞锁模染料激光放大器,获得2.4μJ,70 fs低色散光脉冲,脉冲重复率为5kHz.     

利用三色组合脉冲激光获得孤立阿秒脉冲发射

孤立阿秒脉冲因可以跟踪和控制原子及分子内电子的运动过程而备受关注.本文从理论上开展了氦原子在3束飞秒脉冲激光组合场辐照下产生的高次谐波和阿秒脉冲辐射的研究.组合激光场由16 fs/1600 nm,15 fs/1100 nm和5.3 fs/800 nm的钛宝石脉冲构成.与前两束脉冲合成的双色场产生谐波谱相比,附加钛宝石脉冲的三色场产生的高次谐波发射谱呈现出高转换效率及宽带超连续特性,超连续谱范围覆盖从230—690次谐波,傅里叶变换后实现了128 as高强度孤立短脉冲的产生.该结果归因于合成的三色场呈现出高功率及少周期的中红外飞秒脉冲激光特性,可以有效控制原子电离以及复合发生在中红外飞秒脉冲的一个有效光学周期内.     

High-peak-power femtosecond pulse compression with polarization-maintaining ytterbium-doped fiber amplification

We report the generation of 140 fs pulses with a peak power of up to 270 kW using a fiber pulse source based on a polarization-maintaining ytterbium-doped fiber amplifier and a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror mode-locked fiber laser seed. The seed laser pulses were amplified and chirped in the fiber amplifier and subsequently compressed in an external transmission grating pair. The use of a polarization-maintaining amplifier addresses nonlinear polarization-induced limitations to the obtainable compressed pulse duration and quality that can arise if isotropic fiber amplification is used. Numerical simulations of the system support the experimental measurements and also confirm the role of fiber dispersion in obtaining high-quality compressed pulses.     

Analytically describing pulse deformation arising from frequency dependent filling factor of wave guide amplifiers

After neglecting the frequency dependence of the material gain, the analytical expressions to the output pulses from the amplifier for the input pulses of sinc-type and Gaussian have been derived. According to the derived results, the pulse deformation arising from frequency dependent filling factor can be analyzed: for the sinc-type pulse train, the light intensity peak remains unchanged, but the valleys between the output pulse peaks cannot touch the zero floor anymore; For the Gaussian pulse, the amplifier will impose a frequency shift on the pulse, which is proportional to the first derivative of the filling factor (Γ₁). Another, the analytical expression of Γ₁ for the semiconductor laser amplifier has been derived. And the calculated result shows that Γ₁ is a positive quantity, and the magnitude of it is about 10⁻³/nm. The result indicates that Γ₁ is an important parameter for theoretical describing the pulse deformation of wave guide amplifier such as the ps and fs pulse amplifier.     

Ultrafast noncollinear optical parametric chirped pulse amplification in KTiOAsO4

Amplification of femtosecond pulses at 1.56 microm based on noncollinear parametric chirped pulse amplification in a potassium titanyl arsenate (KTA) crystal with pumping at 1.05 microm is reported. The 100 fs pulses of an erbium fiber laser are parametrically amplified while synchronously pumped by an amplified mode-locked Nd:YLF laser. This amplifier has a saturated gain of 65 dB with 30% conversion efficiency and has produced 160 fs pulses with peak powers of up to 0.75 GW. The system produced 380 mW before compression and can be readily scaled to the multiwatt range with bandwidths to support sub-100 fs pulses.     

基于交叉偏振波产生的脉冲净化技术研究与应用

本文利用交叉偏振波产生技术(XPW)对800 nm波段钛宝石飞秒激光器输出的激光脉冲进行时域净化, 提高脉冲时域对比度, 并测量验证了10¹¹对比度的脉冲, 达到测量仪器的动态范围极限, 比初始脉冲时域对比度有三个量级的提高, XPW的效率为22%. 同时发现净化后脉冲光谱宽度也得到一定展宽, 进一步利用啁啾镜对和补偿片对净化后的脉冲进行色散补偿, 得到25 fs脉宽的脉冲. 利用该净化后的激光脉冲作为种子注入已有的太瓦级钛宝石啁啾脉冲放大系统中, 在输出脉冲能量250 mJ, 宽度50 fs, 对应峰值功率5 TW的情况下, 在主脉冲前100 ps以外的范围内测量验证了10¹¹的脉冲对比度.     

高重复频率飞秒掺镱光纤放大器

 数值分析了掺镱单模光纤放大器的最佳增益光纤长度,并在实验上对掺镱单模光纤放大器和光栅对压缩器进行了研究。以最大平均输出功率为7 mW、重复频率为25.4 MHz、脉宽为56 ps的被动锁模环形腔掺镱光纤激光器作为种子脉冲,用250 mW的976 nm单模半导体激光器分别泵浦3种不同长度的掺镱单模光纤,对种子光进行放大,并用光栅对压缩器对放大后的脉冲在不同光栅距离上进行了压缩实验研究。当掺镱单模光纤长度为1.2 m时得到了较好的放大效果,种子脉冲被放大到140 mW,相应的增益为13 dB,放大后的单脉冲能量为5.5 nJ。在光栅距离为14.1 cm时获得了最短440 fs的脉冲,压缩后的功率为43 mW,相应的峰值功率为3.8 kW。     

高稳定性、高质量脉冲压缩飞秒光纤激光系统研究

报道了一款用于眼科手术的高稳定性、高质量脉冲压缩飞秒光纤主振荡功率放大系统. 振荡器采用混合腔方式增加了光纤双折射, 改善了非线性偏振旋转锁模在低重复频率下无法自启动的缺点, 提高了飞秒光纤激光器自启动锁模的稳定性. 研究了脉冲预啁啾与飞秒脉冲压缩质量的关系, 通过实验证明了光纤放大器的入射脉冲保持负的预啁啾状态可以得到最好的脉冲压缩结果. 实验最终实现了满足自启动锁模条件的重复频率19.4 MHz、平均功率1.2 W、脉冲宽度183 fs的激光脉冲, 目前这台激光器是国内首台具有自主知识产权并应用于动物角膜实验的飞秒光纤激光器.