We present a high peak and average power optical parametric chirped pulse amplification system driven by diode-pumped Yb:KGW and Nd:YAG lasers running at 1 kHz repetition rate. The advanced architecture of the system allows us to achieve >53 W average power combined with 5.5 TW peak power, along with sub-220 mrad CEP stability and sub-9 fs pulse duration at a center wavelength around 880 nm. Broadband, background-free, passively CEP stabilized seed pulses are produced in a series of cascaded optical parametric amplifiers pumped by the Yb:KGW laser, while a diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser system provides multi-mJ pump pulses for power amplification stages. Excellent stability of output parameters over 16 hours of continuous operation is demonstrated.
We present implementation of the energy-efficient and flexible laser beam shaping technique in a high-power and high-energy laser amplifier system. The beam shaping is based on a spatially variable wave plate (SVWP) fabricated by femtosecond laser nanostructuring of glass. We reshaped the initially Gaussian beam into a super-Gaussian (SG) of the 12th order with efficiency of about 50%. The 12th order of the SG beam provided the best compromise between large fill factor, low diffraction on the edges of the active media, and moderate intensity distribution modification during free-space propagation. We obtained 150 mJ pulses of 532 nm radiation. High-energy, pulse duration of 85 ps and the nearly flat-top spatial profile of the beam make it ideal for pumping optical parametric chirped pulse amplification systems.
Chirped pulse amplification (CPA) technique was realized in Nd:YVO4 and Nd:YAG amplifiers. The front-end of the system consists of an Yb-doped fiber-optic master oscillator and a chirped fiber Bragg grating stretcher with a chain of Nd-based solid-state amplifiers followed by a grating compressor with custom high-dispersion multilayer dielectric gratings. This allowed us to implement a relatively compact and moderately complex master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) layout. 85 mJ of sub-20 ps pulses at 1 kHz repetition rate was obtained at the output. The amplifier features favourable parameters for OPCPA pumping.
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