Nonlinear Optics in Multipass Cells

Abstract

The fundamental principles and experimental implementations of multipass cells used as a platform for nonlinear optics are reviewed. Embedding a nonlinear medium in a multipass cell allows for a distribution of the nonlinearity over large interaction distances, while the beam goes through multiple foci, conferring on the beam a robustness with respect to spatio-spectral coupling effects. Most of the research so far has been focused on temporal compression based on self-phase modulation, with excellent performances especially in terms of energy scaling and throughput. However, other nonlinear phenomena and functions are being increasingly investigated, such as supercontinuum generation, spectral compression, or Raman scattering. Nonlinear optics experiments in multipass cells bear some similarities with the work done in optical fibers over several decades, while allowing straightforward energy scaling potential, and unlocking engineering possibilities through the design of the cell mirrors, geometry, and nonlinear medium.

High-power, high-brightness solid-state laser architectures and their characteristics

“…As only the parameters of the injected pulse need to be in a reasonable LMA PCF [160] range to match the designed use of the stage, these stages are independent from the laser itself and can in principle be used with any architecture. Since this topic is out of the scope of this review, we recommend the review in reference [164] to the interested reader. Typical pulse energies, average powers and pulse widths achieved so far are shown in Table 7.…”

Factor 30 Pulse Compression by Hybrid Multipass Multiplate Spectral Broadening

“…Due to their excellent power-handling capabilities, bulk nonlinear media and multipass cells (MPCs) employing bulk-or gas-based nonlinear spectral broadening present a vital alternative to fibers or hollowcore capillaries. This was facilitated by the inventions of MPC spectral broadening [7][8][9] and multiplate continuum generation [10]. In both approaches, the introduced quasiwaveguide results in much better spatial homogeneities of the broadband spectra than in bare bulk experiments which were earlier proposed as a simple method for extending optical pulse bandwidths [11].…”

Divided-pulse nonlinear compression in a multipass cell

“…The needed parameters are usually generated by a high-power amplifier scheme based on thin-disk, slab or fiber, followed by a nonlinear pulse compression stage to access the sub-100 fs regime [1,4,5]. While different post-compression schemes have been developed over the past decades, recently multipass cell (MPC) based approaches have gained a lot of attention [6][7][8][9]. Typically, MPCs feature a high transmission and are mostly resistant to pointing instabilities of the driving laser, allowing reliable nonlinear compression of kilowatt level average powers [5] and multi-millijoule pulse energies [4].…”