Abstract

We demonstrate a four-stage optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification system that delivers carrier-envelope phase-stable $\sim 1.5\mu \mathrm{m}$ pulses with energies up to $12.5\mathrm{mJ}$ before recompression. The system is based on a fusion of femtosecond diode-pumped solid-state Yb technology and a picosecond $100\mathrm{mJ}$ Nd:YAG pump laser. Pulses with $62\mathrm{nm}$ bandwidth are recompressed to a $74.4\mathrm{fs}$ duration close to the transform limit. To show the way toward a terawatt-peak-power single-cycle IR source, we demonstrate self-compression of $2.2\mathrm{mJ}$ pulses down to $19.8\mathrm{fs}$ duration in a single filament in argon with a $1.5\mathrm{mJ}$ output energy and 66% energy throughput.

© 2009 Optical Society of America

Scalable Yb-MOPA-driven carrier-envelope phase-stable few-cycle parametric amplifier at 1.5 μm

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1.5 mJ, 6.4 fs parametric chirped-pulse amplification system at 1 kHz

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