Contrast degradation in a chirped-pulse amplifier due to generation of prepulses by postpulses
Optics Express, Vol. 16, Issue 5, pp. 3178-3190 (2008)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/OE.16.003178
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Abstract
Experiment and modeling show that the refractive index nonlinearity can significantly degrade the contrast of a chirped-pulse amplifier seeded with a pulse and a single postpulse. Multiple powerful non-equidistant pre- and postpulses are generated. For a Gaussian pulse and a hat-top beam, an incident postpulse of energy W results in a prepulse of energy 0.58B2W, where B is the nonlinear phase (B-integral) of the main pulse. Calculations show that level of satellites due to gain saturation is negligibly small. Experimental results for Ti:Sapphire regenerative and multipass amplifiers and prepulse generation in fused silica agree well with the theory.
© 2008 Optical Society of America
OCIS Codes
(140.7090) Lasers and laser optics : Ultrafast lasers
(320.2250) Ultrafast optics : Femtosecond phenomena
(320.7100) Ultrafast optics : Ultrafast measurements
(320.7110) Ultrafast optics : Ultrafast nonlinear optics
ToC Category:
Ultrafast Optics
History
Original Manuscript: November 15, 2007
Revised Manuscript: February 15, 2008
Manuscript Accepted: February 18, 2008
Published: February 21, 2008
Citation
N. V. Didenko, A. V. Konyashchenko, A. P. Lutsenko, and S. Y. Tenyakov, "Contrast degradation in a chirped-pulse amplifier due to generation of prepulses by postpulses," Opt. Express 16, 3178-3190 (2008)
http://www.opticsinfobase.org/oe/abstract.cfm?URI=oe-16-5-3178
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