Noise evolution in an optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifier (OPCPA) differs essentially from that of an optical parametric or a conventional laser amplifier, in that an incoherent pedestal is produced by superfluorescence that can overwhelm the signal under strong saturation. Using a model for the nonlinear dynamics consistent with quantum mechanics, we numerically study the evolution of excess noise in an OPCPA. The observed dynamics explain the macroscopic characteristics seen previously in experiments in the practically important saturation regime.

© 2011 OSA

1. A. Dubietis, G. Jonusauskas, and A. Piskarskas, “Powerful femtosecond pulse generation by chirped and stretched pulse parametric amplification in BBO crystal,” Opt. Commun. 88(4-6), 437–440 (1992). [CrossRef]
2. S. Witte, R. Th. Zinkstok, A. L. Wolf, W. Hogervorst, W. Ubachs, and K. S. E. Eikema, “A source of 2 terawatt, 2.7 cycle laser pulses based on noncollinear optical parametric chirped pulse amplification,” Opt. Express 14(18), 8168–8177 (2006). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
3. S. Adachi, N. Ishii, T. Kanai, A. Kosuge, J. Itatani, Y. Kobayashi, D. Yoshitomi, K. Torizuka, and S. Watanabe, “5-fs, Multi-mJ, CEP-locked parametric chirped-pulse amplifier pumped by a 450-nm source at 1 kHz,” Opt. Express 16(19), 14341–14352 (2008). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
4. D. Herrmann, L. Veisz, R. Tautz, F. Tavella, K. Schmid, V. Pervak, and F. Krausz, “Generation of sub-three-cycle, 16 TW light pulses by using noncollinear optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification,” Opt. Lett. 34(16), 2459–2461 (2009). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
5. X. Gu, G. Marcus, Y. Deng, T. Metzger, C. Teisset, N. Ishii, T. Fuji, A. Baltuska, R. Butkus, V. Pervak, H. Ishizuki, T. Taira, T. Kobayashi, R. Kienberger, and F. Krausz, “Generation of carrier-envelope-phase-stable 2-cycle 740-μJ pulses at 2.1-μm carrier wavelength,” Opt. Express 17(1), 62–69 (2009). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
6. J. Moses, S.-W. Huang, K.-H. Hong, O. D. Mücke, E. L. Falcão-Filho, A. Benedick, F. Ö. Ilday, A. Dergachev, J. A. Bolger, B. J. Eggleton, and F. X. Kärtner, “Highly stable ultrabroadband mid-IR optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifier optimized for superfluorescence suppression,” Opt. Lett. 34(11), 1639–1641 (2009). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
7. O. D. Mücke, S. Ališauskas, A. J. Verhoef, A. Pugžlys, A. Baltuška, V. Smilgevičius, J. Pocius, L. Giniūnas, R. Danielius, and N. Forget, “Self-compression of millijoule 1.5 microm pulses,” Opt. Lett. 34(16), 2498–2500 (2009). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
8. E. W. Gaul, M. Martinez, J. Blakeney, A. Jochmann, M. Ringuette, D. Hammond, T. Borger, R. Escamilla, S. Douglas, W. Henderson, G. Dyer, A. Erlandson, R. Cross, J. Caird, C. Ebbers, and T. Ditmire, “Demonstration of a 1.1 petawatt laser based on a hybrid optical parametric chirped pulse amplification/mixed Nd:glass amplifier,” Appl. Opt. 49(9), 1676–1681 (2010). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
9. T. T. Ditmire, J. Zweiback, V. P. Yanovsky, T. E. Cowan, G. Hays, and K. B. Wharton, “Nuclear fusion from explosions of femtosecond laser-heated deuterium clusters,” Nature 398(6727), 489–492 (1999). [CrossRef]
10. R. A. Snavely, M. H. Key, S. P. Hatchett, T. E. Cowan, M. Roth, T. W. Phillips, M. A. Stoyer, E. A. Henry, T. C. Sangster, M. S. Singh, S. C. Wilks, A. MacKinnon, A. Offenberger, D. M. Pennington, K. Yasuike, A. B. Langdon, B. F. Lasinski, J. Johnson, M. D. Perry, and E. M. Campbell, “Intense high-energy proton beams from Petawatt-laser irradiation of solids,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 85(14), 2945–2948 (2000). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
11. W. P. Leemans, B. Nagler, A. J. Gonsalves, C. Tóth, K. Nakamura, C. G. R. Geddes, E. Esarey, C. B. Schroeder, and S. M. Hooker, “GeV electron beams from a centimetre-scale accelerator,” Nat. Phys. 2(10), 696–699 (2006). [CrossRef]
12. V. Malka, J. Faure, Y. A. Gauduel, E. Lefebvre, A. Rousse, and K. T. Phuoc, “Principles and applications of compact laser–plasma accelerators,” Nat. Phys. 4(6), 447–453 (2008). [CrossRef]
13. F. Krausz and M. Ivanov, “Attosecond physics,” Rev. Mod. Phys. 81(1), 163–234 (2009). [CrossRef]
14. S. E. Harris, M. K. Oshman, and R. L. Byer, “Observation of tunable optical parametric fluorescence,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 18(18), 732–734 (1967). [CrossRef]
15. C. Dorrer, “Analysis of pump-induced temporal contrast degradation in optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification,” J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 24(12), 3048–3057 (2007). [CrossRef]
16. N. Forget, A. Cotel, E. Brambrink, P. Audebert, C. Le Blanc, A. Jullien, O. Albert, and G. Chériaux, “Pump-noise transfer in optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification,” Opt. Lett. 30(21), 2921–2923 (2005). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
17. I. N. Ross, P. Matousek, M. Towrie, A. J. Langley, and J. L. Collier, “The prospects for ultrashort pulse duration and ultrahigh intensity using optical parametric chirped pulse amplifiers,” Opt. Commun. 144(1-3), 125–133 (1997). [CrossRef]
18. F. Tavella, K. Schmid, N. Ishii, A. Marcinkevičius, L. Veisz, and F. Krausz, “High-dynamic range pulse-contrast measurements of a broadband optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifier,” Appl. Phys. B 81(6), 753–756 (2005). [CrossRef]
19. J. Yong-Liang, L. Yu-Xin, Z. Bao-Zhen, W. Cheng, L. Xiao-Yan, L. Hai-He, and X. Zhi-Zhan, “High and stable conversion efficiency obtaining in single-stage multi-crystal optical parametric chirped pulse amplification system,” Chin. Phys. Lett. 22(11), 2840–2842 (2005). [CrossRef]
20. F. Tavella, A. Marcinkevicius, and F. Krausz, “Investigation of the superfluorescence and signal amplification in an ultrabroadband multiterawatt optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier system,” N. J. Phys. 8(10), 219 (2006). [CrossRef]
21. C. W. Gardner, Quantum Noise (Springer-Verlag, 1991).
22. A. Gatti, H. Wiedemann, L. A. Lugiato, I. Marzoli, G.-L. Oppo, and S. M. Barnett, “Langevin treatment of quantum fluctuations and optical patterns in optical parametric oscillators below threshold,” Phys. Rev. A 56(1), 877–897 (1997). [CrossRef]
23. J. Chwedeńczuk and W. Wasilewski, “Intensity of parametric fluorescence pumped by ultrashort pulses,” Phys. Rev. A 78(6), 063823 (2008). [CrossRef]
24. R. Graham, “Quantum statistics in optics,” in Solid State Physics (Springer-Verlag, 1973), Vol. 66, pp. 79–81.
25. F. X. Kärtner, R. Schack, and A. Schenzle, “Consistent linearization for quasiprobabilities,” J. Mod. Opt. 39(5), 917–925 (1992). [CrossRef]
26. F. X. Kaertner and P. Russer, “Generation of squeezed microwave states by a dc-pumped degenerate parametric Josephson junction oscillator,” Phys. Rev. A 42(9), 5601–5612 (1990). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
27. F. X. Kärtner, T. Langer, Ch. Ginzel, and A. Schenzle, “Input-output analysis of nonlinear dissipative quantum systems in the Fokker-Planck approximation,” Phys. Rev. A 45(5), 3228–3241 (1992). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
28. P. D. Drummond, “Quantum optical tunneling: A representation-free theory valid near the state-equation turning points,” Phys. Rev. A 33(6), 4462–4464 (1986). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
29. P. Kinsler, “Testing quantum mechanics using third-order correlations,” Phys. Rev. A 53(4), 2000–2008 (1996). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
30. G. Cirmi, C. Manzoni, D. Brida, S. De Silvestri, and G. Cerullo, “Carrier-envelope phase stable, few-optical-cycle pulses tunable from visible to near IR,” J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 25(7), B62–B69 (2008). [CrossRef]
31. C. Manzoni, G. Cirmi, D. Brida, S. De Silvestri, and G. Cerullo, “Optical-parametric-generation process driven by femtosecond pulses: timing and carrier-envelope phase properties,” Phys. Rev. A 79(3), 033818 (2009). [CrossRef]
32. S. A. Akhmanov, V. A. Vysloukh, and A. S. Chirkin, Optics of Femtosecond Laser Pulses (American Institute of Physics, 1992).
33. Boyd, Nonlinear Optics, 3rd ed. (Academic Press, 2008).
34. J. Moses, C. Manzoni, S.-W. Huang, G. Cerullo, and F. X. Kaertner, “Temporal optimization of ultrabroadband high-energy OPCPA,” Opt. Express 17(7), 5540–5555 (2009). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
35. F. Haake, H. King, G. Schröder, J. Haus, R. Glauber, and F. Hopf, “Macroscopic quantum fluctuations in superfluorescence,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 42(26), 1740–1743 (1979). [CrossRef]

Appl. Opt.

• E. W. Gaul, M. Martinez, J. Blakeney, A. Jochmann, M. Ringuette, D. Hammond, T. Borger, R. Escamilla, S. Douglas, W. Henderson, G. Dyer, A. Erlandson, R. Cross, J. Caird, C. Ebbers, and T. Ditmire, “Demonstration of a 1.1 petawatt laser based on a hybrid optical parametric chirped pulse amplification/mixed Nd:glass amplifier,” Appl. Opt. 49(9), 1676–1681 (2010). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Appl. Phys. B

• F. Tavella, K. Schmid, N. Ishii, A. Marcinkevičius, L. Veisz, and F. Krausz, “High-dynamic range pulse-contrast measurements of a broadband optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifier,” Appl. Phys. B 81(6), 753–756 (2005). [CrossRef]

Chin. Phys. Lett.

• J. Yong-Liang, L. Yu-Xin, Z. Bao-Zhen, W. Cheng, L. Xiao-Yan, L. Hai-He, and X. Zhi-Zhan, “High and stable conversion efficiency obtaining in single-stage multi-crystal optical parametric chirped pulse amplification system,” Chin. Phys. Lett. 22(11), 2840–2842 (2005). [CrossRef]

J. Mod. Opt.

• F. X. Kärtner, R. Schack, and A. Schenzle, “Consistent linearization for quasiprobabilities,” J. Mod. Opt. 39(5), 917–925 (1992). [CrossRef]

J. Opt. Soc. Am. B

• G. Cirmi, C. Manzoni, D. Brida, S. De Silvestri, and G. Cerullo, “Carrier-envelope phase stable, few-optical-cycle pulses tunable from visible to near IR,” J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 25(7), B62–B69 (2008). [CrossRef]
• C. Dorrer, “Analysis of pump-induced temporal contrast degradation in optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification,” J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 24(12), 3048–3057 (2007). [CrossRef]

N. J. Phys.

• F. Tavella, A. Marcinkevicius, and F. Krausz, “Investigation of the superfluorescence and signal amplification in an ultrabroadband multiterawatt optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier system,” N. J. Phys. 8(10), 219 (2006). [CrossRef]

Nat. Phys.

• W. P. Leemans, B. Nagler, A. J. Gonsalves, C. Tóth, K. Nakamura, C. G. R. Geddes, E. Esarey, C. B. Schroeder, and S. M. Hooker, “GeV electron beams from a centimetre-scale accelerator,” Nat. Phys. 2(10), 696–699 (2006). [CrossRef]
• V. Malka, J. Faure, Y. A. Gauduel, E. Lefebvre, A. Rousse, and K. T. Phuoc, “Principles and applications of compact laser–plasma accelerators,” Nat. Phys. 4(6), 447–453 (2008). [CrossRef]

Nature

• T. T. Ditmire, J. Zweiback, V. P. Yanovsky, T. E. Cowan, G. Hays, and K. B. Wharton, “Nuclear fusion from explosions of femtosecond laser-heated deuterium clusters,” Nature 398(6727), 489–492 (1999). [CrossRef]

Opt. Commun.

• A. Dubietis, G. Jonusauskas, and A. Piskarskas, “Powerful femtosecond pulse generation by chirped and stretched pulse parametric amplification in BBO crystal,” Opt. Commun. 88(4-6), 437–440 (1992). [CrossRef]
• I. N. Ross, P. Matousek, M. Towrie, A. J. Langley, and J. L. Collier, “The prospects for ultrashort pulse duration and ultrahigh intensity using optical parametric chirped pulse amplifiers,” Opt. Commun. 144(1-3), 125–133 (1997). [CrossRef]

Opt. Express

• J. Moses, C. Manzoni, S.-W. Huang, G. Cerullo, and F. X. Kaertner, “Temporal optimization of ultrabroadband high-energy OPCPA,” Opt. Express 17(7), 5540–5555 (2009). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• S. Witte, R. Th. Zinkstok, A. L. Wolf, W. Hogervorst, W. Ubachs, and K. S. E. Eikema, “A source of 2 terawatt, 2.7 cycle laser pulses based on noncollinear optical parametric chirped pulse amplification,” Opt. Express 14(18), 8168–8177 (2006). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• S. Adachi, N. Ishii, T. Kanai, A. Kosuge, J. Itatani, Y. Kobayashi, D. Yoshitomi, K. Torizuka, and S. Watanabe, “5-fs, Multi-mJ, CEP-locked parametric chirped-pulse amplifier pumped by a 450-nm source at 1 kHz,” Opt. Express 16(19), 14341–14352 (2008). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• X. Gu, G. Marcus, Y. Deng, T. Metzger, C. Teisset, N. Ishii, T. Fuji, A. Baltuska, R. Butkus, V. Pervak, H. Ishizuki, T. Taira, T. Kobayashi, R. Kienberger, and F. Krausz, “Generation of carrier-envelope-phase-stable 2-cycle 740-μJ pulses at 2.1-μm carrier wavelength,” Opt. Express 17(1), 62–69 (2009). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Opt. Lett.

• J. Moses, S.-W. Huang, K.-H. Hong, O. D. Mücke, E. L. Falcão-Filho, A. Benedick, F. Ö. Ilday, A. Dergachev, J. A. Bolger, B. J. Eggleton, and F. X. Kärtner, “Highly stable ultrabroadband mid-IR optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifier optimized for superfluorescence suppression,” Opt. Lett. 34(11), 1639–1641 (2009). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• O. D. Mücke, S. Ališauskas, A. J. Verhoef, A. Pugžlys, A. Baltuška, V. Smilgevičius, J. Pocius, L. Giniūnas, R. Danielius, and N. Forget, “Self-compression of millijoule 1.5 microm pulses,” Opt. Lett. 34(16), 2498–2500 (2009). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• D. Herrmann, L. Veisz, R. Tautz, F. Tavella, K. Schmid, V. Pervak, and F. Krausz, “Generation of sub-three-cycle, 16 TW light pulses by using noncollinear optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification,” Opt. Lett. 34(16), 2459–2461 (2009). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• N. Forget, A. Cotel, E. Brambrink, P. Audebert, C. Le Blanc, A. Jullien, O. Albert, and G. Chériaux, “Pump-noise transfer in optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification,” Opt. Lett. 30(21), 2921–2923 (2005). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Phys. Rev. A

• C. Manzoni, G. Cirmi, D. Brida, S. De Silvestri, and G. Cerullo, “Optical-parametric-generation process driven by femtosecond pulses: timing and carrier-envelope phase properties,” Phys. Rev. A 79(3), 033818 (2009). [CrossRef]
• A. Gatti, H. Wiedemann, L. A. Lugiato, I. Marzoli, G.-L. Oppo, and S. M. Barnett, “Langevin treatment of quantum fluctuations and optical patterns in optical parametric oscillators below threshold,” Phys. Rev. A 56(1), 877–897 (1997). [CrossRef]
• J. Chwedeńczuk and W. Wasilewski, “Intensity of parametric fluorescence pumped by ultrashort pulses,” Phys. Rev. A 78(6), 063823 (2008). [CrossRef]
• F. X. Kaertner and P. Russer, “Generation of squeezed microwave states by a dc-pumped degenerate parametric Josephson junction oscillator,” Phys. Rev. A 42(9), 5601–5612 (1990). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• F. X. Kärtner, T. Langer, Ch. Ginzel, and A. Schenzle, “Input-output analysis of nonlinear dissipative quantum systems in the Fokker-Planck approximation,” Phys. Rev. A 45(5), 3228–3241 (1992). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• P. D. Drummond, “Quantum optical tunneling: A representation-free theory valid near the state-equation turning points,” Phys. Rev. A 33(6), 4462–4464 (1986). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• P. Kinsler, “Testing quantum mechanics using third-order correlations,” Phys. Rev. A 53(4), 2000–2008 (1996). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Phys. Rev. Lett.

• S. E. Harris, M. K. Oshman, and R. L. Byer, “Observation of tunable optical parametric fluorescence,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 18(18), 732–734 (1967). [CrossRef]
• F. Haake, H. King, G. Schröder, J. Haus, R. Glauber, and F. Hopf, “Macroscopic quantum fluctuations in superfluorescence,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 42(26), 1740–1743 (1979). [CrossRef]
• R. A. Snavely, M. H. Key, S. P. Hatchett, T. E. Cowan, M. Roth, T. W. Phillips, M. A. Stoyer, E. A. Henry, T. C. Sangster, M. S. Singh, S. C. Wilks, A. MacKinnon, A. Offenberger, D. M. Pennington, K. Yasuike, A. B. Langdon, B. F. Lasinski, J. Johnson, M. D. Perry, and E. M. Campbell, “Intense high-energy proton beams from Petawatt-laser irradiation of solids,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 85(14), 2945–2948 (2000). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Rev. Mod. Phys.

• F. Krausz and M. Ivanov, “Attosecond physics,” Rev. Mod. Phys. 81(1), 163–234 (2009). [CrossRef]

Other

• C. W. Gardner, Quantum Noise (Springer-Verlag, 1991).
• S. A. Akhmanov, V. A. Vysloukh, and A. S. Chirkin, Optics of Femtosecond Laser Pulses (American Institute of Physics, 1992).
• Boyd, Nonlinear Optics, 3rd ed. (Academic Press, 2008).
• R. Graham, “Quantum statistics in optics,” in Solid State Physics (Springer-Verlag, 1973), Vol. 66, pp. 79–81.

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