High-energy, high-contrast, double-confocal multipass amplifier

doi:10.1364/OPEX.12.001383

Optics Express

Editor: Michael Duncan
Vol. 12, Iss. 7 — Apr. 5, 2004
pp: 1383–1388

High-energy, high-contrast, double-confocal multipass amplifier

Jeffrey Wojtkiewicz and Charles Durfee »View Author Affiliations

Optics Express, Vol. 12, Issue 7, pp. 1383-1388 (2004)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/OPEX.12.001383

View Full Text Article

Enhanced HTML Acrobat PDF (470 KB)

Journal Search
Article Lookup

Article Tools

Share

Citations

Alert me when this article is cited
Export Citation/Save

Abstract
Article Info
References (12)
Cited By
Figures (6)
Metrics
Related Content

Abstract

We have developed a high-contrast, high-beam-quality Ti:sapphire amplifier producing pulses of 10 mJ in a single stage with 19% efficiency. The amplifier has a double-confocal multipass ring configuration that allows for a large mode volume by use of a collimated beam in the gain medium. We have designed the amplifier optics to correct for aberrations and for spatial gain narrowing. The compressed output beam has an M² of 1.15. The use of an internal saturable absorber in the amplifier results in an intensity contrast of ~10⁹. We anticipate this design will be useful to extend the multipass architecture to low-gain media and to still higher output energy.

OCIS Codes
(140.3280) Lasers and laser optics : Laser amplifiers
(320.7090) Ultrafast optics : Ultrafast lasers

ToC Category:
Research Papers

History
Original Manuscript: March 4, 2004
Revised Manuscript: March 23, 2004
Published: April 5, 2004

Citation
Jeffrey Wojtkiewicz and Charles Durfee, "High-energy, high-contrast, double-confocal multipass amplifier," Opt. Express 12, 1383-1388 (2004)
http://www.opticsinfobase.org/oe/abstract.cfm?URI=oe-12-7-1383

Sort: Journal | Reset

References

S. Backus, C. Durfee, M. M. Murnane, and H. C. Kapteyn, "High power ultrafast lasers," Rev. Sci. Instrum. 69, 1207-1223 (1998) [CrossRef]
A. Rousse, C. Rishel, and J.-C. Gauthier, "Colloquium: Femtosecond x-ray crystallography," Reviews of Modern Physics 73, 17-31 (2001) [CrossRef]
M. Roth, T. E. Cowan, C. Brown, M. Christl, W. Fountain, S. Hatchett, J. Johnson, M. H. Key, D. M. Pennington, M. D. Perry, T. W. Phillips, and T. C. Sangster, "Intense ion beams accelerated by petawatt-class lasers," Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research A 464, 201-205 (2000) [CrossRef]
C. G. Durfee, S. Backus, M. M. Murnane, and H. C. Kapteyn, in Applications of High Field and Short wavelength Sources, ed. L. DiMauro, M. M. Murnane and A. l'Huillier (Plenum, New York, 1998), p. 71-78
A. Rundquist, C. G. Durfee, Z. Chang, C. Herne, S. Backus, M. M. Murnane, and H. C. Kapteyn, "Phasematched generation of coherent soft x-rays," Science 280, 1412-1415 (1998) [CrossRef] [PubMed]
S. Backus, J. Peatross, C. P. Huang, H. C. Kapteyn, and M. M. Murnane, "Ti:Sapphire Amplifier Producing Millijoule-Level, 21 fs Pulses at 1 kHz," Opt. Lett. 20, 2000-2002 (1995) [CrossRef] [PubMed]
A. Sullivan, H. Hamster, H. C. Kapteyn, S. Gordon, W. White, H. Nathel, R. J. Blair, and R. W. Falcone, "Multi-Terawatt 100 Femtosecond Laser," Opt. Lett. 16, 1406-1408 (1991) [CrossRef] [PubMed]
M. T. Asaki, C. P. Huang, D. Garvey, J. Zhou, H. C. Kapteyn, and M. M. Murnane, "Generation of 11-fs pulses from a modelocked Ti:sapphire laser," Opt. Lett. 18, 977 (1993) [CrossRef] [PubMed]
J. Zhou, C. P. Huang, C. Shi, M. M. Murnane, and H. C. Kapteyn, "Generation of 21-fs millijoule-energy pulses by use of Ti:sapphire," Opt. Lett. 19, 126-128 (1994) [CrossRef] [PubMed]
J. Zhou, C. P. Huang, M. M. Murnane, and H. C. Kapteyn, "Amplification of 26 fs, 3TW pulses near the gain narrowing limit in Ti:sapphire," Opt. Lett. 20, 64-66 (1995) [CrossRef] [PubMed]
C. Barty, G. Korn, F. Raksi, C. Rose-Petruck, J. Squier, A. Tian, K. Wilson, V. Yakovlev, and K. Yamakawa, "Regenerative pulse shaping and amplification of ultrabroadband optical pulses," Opt. Lett. 21, 219-221 (1996) [CrossRef] [PubMed]
C. G. Durfee, S. Backus, M. M. Murnane, and H. C. Kapteyn, "Design and implementation of a TW-class kilohertz amplifier system," IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron. 4, 395-406 (1998) [CrossRef]

Cited By

Alert me when this paper is cited

OSA is able to provide readers links to articles that cite this paper by participating in CrossRef's Cited-By Linking service. CrossRef includes content from more than 3000 publishers and societies. In addition to listing OSA journal articles that cite this paper, citing articles from other participating publishers will also be listed.

Click here to see a list of articles that cite this paper