Six-cycle mid-infrared source with 38 μJ at 100 kHz

Chalus, Olivier; Thai, Alexandre; Bates, Philip K.; Biegert, J.

doi:10.1364/ol.35.003204

Cited by 50 publications

(29 citation statements)

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“…High-energy pump and seed for OPA eventually relies on CPA schemes followed by nonlinear spectral broadening [15,16]. However, access to the long MIR wavelengths has been limited due to the nearly exclusive use of near-infrared (NIR) pump sources at 800 nm and 1 μm [17]. Moreover, accessing long MIR wavelengths (>5 μm) requires OPAs based on non-oxide crystals, as most oxide crystals are either not transparent above 4-5 μm or have very low conversion efficiency [18] with a NIR pump.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Kagome-fiber-based pulse compression of mid-infrared picosecond pulses from a Ho:YLF amplifier

Murari¹,

Stein²,

Çankaya³

et al. 2016

Optica

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Over the last decade, the development of ultrafast laser pulses in the mid-infrared (MIR) region has led to important breakthroughs in attosecond science and strong-field physics. However, as most such broadband MIR laser sources are near-IR pumped, the generation of high-intensity, long-wavelength MIR pulses is still a challenge, especially starting from picosecond pulses. Here we report, both experimentally and numerically, nonlinear pulse compression of sub-millijoule picosecond pulses down to sub-300 fs at 2050 nm wavelength in gas-filled Kagome-type hollow-core photonic crystal fibers for driving MIR optical parametric amplifiers. The pump laser is comprised of a compact fiber laser-seeded 2 μm chirped pulse amplification system based on a Ho:YLF crystal at 1 kHz repetition rate. Spectral broadening is studied for different experimental conditions with variations of gas pressure and incident pulse energies. The spectrally broadened 1.8 ps pulses with a Fourier-limited duration of 250 fs are compressed using an external prism-based compressor down to 285 fs and output energy of 125 μJ.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Kagome-fiber-based pulse compression of mid-infrared picosecond pulses from a Ho:YLF amplifier

Murari¹,

Stein²,

Çankaya³

et al. 2016

Optica

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“…The calculation shows that a bandwidth of 43 THz (−10 dB) centered at 3.5 μm can be obtained with negligible angular dispersion (200 μrad across the full amplification bandwidth). The transform-limited pulse duration of such a bandwidth is 19 fs (1.6cycle), more than a factor of 2 shorter than the state-of-the-art, 1 μm pumped, 3-5 μm OPCPA pulses [9,10].…”

mentioning

confidence: 97%

“…We identify the potential of the scheme to generate a broadband 3.5 μm idler, with a bandwidth supporting a sub-two-cycle pulse. Due to the lack of mid-IR laser media, differencefrequency generation or optical parametric amplification (OPA) have been largely employed to down-convert visible or near-IR light sources [7][8][9][10]. It has been shown that mid-IR crystals such as LiIO 3 , KNbO 3 , and MgO:LiNbO 3 have group-velocity matched wavelengths, when pumped at 800 nm, between 950 nm and 1050 nm, and thus allow the direct generation of a broadband mid-IR idler with spectra supporting three-cycle pulses [7].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A broadband (1.8-2.4 μm), angular-dispersion-free idler pulse, which can be used to seed a 2.15 μm optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier (OPCPA) [6,13], is demonstrated as a proof of principle. Furthermore, we identify the potential of the scheme to generate a broadband 3.5 μm idler from a 1 μm pumped OPCPA, with a bandwidth more than a factor of 2 broader than the current state-of-the-art [9,10]. Figure 1 shows the principle of the scheme and defines the angles α, β, and Ω between interacting wavevectors k s , k i , and k p .…”

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confidence: 99%

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Broadband noncollinear optical parametric amplification without angularly dispersed idler

2012

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We report a new scheme for direct generation of broadband angular-dispersion-free mid-IR idler pulses via noncollinear optical parametric amplification when group-velocity matched wavelengths cannot be found and the traditional noncollinear geometry fails to increase the phase-matching bandwidth. The scheme does not require any post-amplification idler angular dispersion compensation. We derive and interpret the condition for broadband amplification and absence of idler angular dispersion. A broadband angular-dispersion-free 2.15 μm idler pulse is generated as an experimental demonstration. We identify the potential of the scheme to generate a broadband 3.5 μm idler, with a bandwidth supporting a sub-two-cycle pulse. Due to the lack of mid-IR laser media, differencefrequency generation or optical parametric amplification (OPA) have been largely employed to down-convert visible or near-IR light sources [7][8][9][10]. It has been shown that mid-IR crystals such as LiIO 3 , KNbO 3 , and MgO:LiNbO 3 have group-velocity matched wavelengths, when pumped at 800 nm, between 950 nm and 1050 nm, and thus allow the direct generation of a broadband mid-IR idler with spectra supporting three-cycle pulses [7]. For wavelengths where signal and idler group velocities (V gs and V gi ) are not matched, a noncollinear geometry can be employed so that V gs V gi cos Ω. This achieves a broad phase-matching bandwidth at the cost of introducing idler angular dispersion [11]. It has been shown that once its angular dispersion is compensated, the idler can also be utilized for experiments [12].However, there is no guarantee that the condition of the traditional noncollinear OPA, i.e., V gs V gi cos Ω , can be satisfied and thus broadband amplification is sometimes prohibited. For example, when pumped at 1 μm, the condition cannot be fulfilled for all signal wavelengths below the degenerate wavelength in mid-IR crystals such as LiIO 3 , KNbO 3 , and MgO:LiNbO 3 . The same is true in lithium triborate (LBO) for signal wavelengths shorter than 720 nm, pumping at 523 nm. On the other hand, pumping at 1 μm or its second harmonic is advantageous for power and energy scalability because it is compatible with high-power ytterbium (Yb) fiber technology and high-energy Yb:YAG laser technology.In this Letter, we present a new scheme for direct generation of broadband, angular-dispersion-free mid-IR idler pulses when signal-idler group velocity matching cannot be achieved and the traditional noncollinear geometry fails to increase the phase-matching bandwidth. The conditions for broadband amplification and absence of idler angular dispersion can be fulfilled simultaneously by introducing not only noncollinear geometry but also signal angular dispersion. A broadband (1.8-2.4 μm), angular-dispersion-free idler pulse, which can be used to seed a 2.15 μm optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier (OPCPA) [6,13], is demonstrated as a proof of principle. Furthermore, we identify the potential of the scheme to generate a broadband 3.5 μm idler from a 1 μm ...

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“…138,139 Indeed, NIR OPCPA sources have demonstrated that they can directly produce amplified few-cycle pulses as short as 5.5 fs 140 and have already been reported at 2.1 µm 141 and in the mid-IR at 3.2 µm. 142 The novel design of the latter OPCPA directly produces CEP stable pulses and allows self-compression to sub-3-cycle duration by nonlinear propagation in the anomalous dispersion regime in dielectric media. 42 Another interesting approach to ultra-broadband MIR coherent radiation uses four-wave mixing through filamentation in air.…”

Section: Ultrafast Nir To Mir Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nonlinear Pulse Compression

Paschotta¹

Field Guide to Optical Fiber Technology

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In this thesis I investigate two methods for generating ultrashort laser pulses in spectral regions which are ordinarily difficult to achieve by the existing techniques. These pulses are especially attractive in the study of ultrafast (few femtosecond) atomic and molecular dynamics.The first involves Optical Parametric Amplification (OPA) mediated by four-wave-mixing in gas and supports the generation of ultrashort pulses in the Near-InfraRed (NIR) to the Mid-InfraRed (MIR) spectral region. By combining pulses at a centre wavelength of 800 nm and their second harmonic in an argon-filled hollow-core fibre, we demonstrate near-infrared pulses, peaked at 1.4 µm, with 5 µJ energy and 45 fs duration at the fibre output. The four-wave-mixing process involved in the OPA is expected to lead to carrier-envelope phase stable pulses which is of great importance for applications in extreme nonlinear optics. These NIR to MIR pulses can be used directly for nonlinear light-matter interactions making use of its long-wavelength characteristics.The second method allows the compression of intense femtosecond pulses in the ultraviolet (UV) region by sum-frequency mixing two bandwidth limited NIR pulses in a noncollinear phasematching geometry under particular conditions of group-velocity mismatch. Specifically, the crystal has to be chosen such that the group velocities of the NIR pump pulses, 1 and 2 , and of the sum-frequency generated pulse, SF , meet the following condition: 1 < SF < 2 . In case of strong energy exchange and an appropriate pre-delay between the pump waves, the leading edge of the faster pump pulse and the trailing edge of the slower one are depleted. As a consequence the temporal overlap region of the pump pulses remains narrow, resulting in the shortening of the upconverted pulse. The noncollinear beam geometry allows the control of the relative group velocities while maintaining the phasematching condition. To ensure parallel wavefronts inside the crystal and the generation of untilted sum-frequency pulses, precompensation of the NIR pulse-front tilts is essential. I show that these pulse-front tilts can be achieved using a very compact setup based on i transmission gratings and a more complex setup based on prisms combined with telescopes. UV pulses as short as 32 fs (25 fs) have been generated by noncollinear nonlinear pulse compression in a type II phasematching BBO crystal, starting with NIR pulses of 74 fs (46 fs) duration. This is of interest, because there is no crystal that can be used for nonlinear pulse compression at wavelengths near 800 nm in a collinear geometry. Compared to state-of-the-art compression techniques based on self-phase modulation, pulse compression by sum-frequency generation is free of aperture limitation, and thus scalable in energy. Such femtosecond pulses in the visible and in the ultraviolet are very desirable for studying ultrafast dynamics of a variety of (bio)molecular systems.ii ResumenEn esta tesis he investigado dos métodos para generar pulsos láser ultracortos ...

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Six-cycle mid-infrared source with 38 μJ at 100 kHz

Abstract: We report on the shortest pulses to date from a mid-IR optical parametric chirped pulse amplification: 67 fs duration with 3.8 μJ energy operating at 3.2 μm. The system is all solid state and diode pumped and operates at 100 kHz with unprecedented power stability of 0.75%rms over 30 min.

Cited by 50 publications

References 13 publications

Kagome-fiber-based pulse compression of mid-infrared picosecond pulses from a Ho:YLF amplifier

Kagome-fiber-based pulse compression of mid-infrared picosecond pulses from a Ho:YLF amplifier

Broadband noncollinear optical parametric amplification without angularly dispersed idler

Nonlinear Pulse Compression

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