ABSTRACT
Misalignment of the stretcher-compressor stages of chirped pulse amplification (CPA) lasers can aggravate the spatiotemporal shape of ultrashort pulses. We demonstrate a simple technique for angular dispersion measurement, which offers real-time single-shot two-dimensional characterization across the entire beam profile. The accuracy of our pilot experiment approaches its current theoretical limit of 0.1 µrad/nm. Unlike the current one-dimensional techniques working in the near field, the method works in the far field; hence, it is especially appropriate for assisting the most accurate alignment of a CPA laser compressor ensuring the maximum intensity on the target.
ABSTRACT
We demonstrate the highest intensity - 300 TW laser by developing booster amplifying stage to the 50-TW-Ti:sapphire laser (HERCULES). To our knowledge this is the first multi-100TW-scale laser at 0.1 Hz repetition rate.
Subject(s)
Aluminum Oxide , Amplifiers, Electronic , Lasers , Lenses , Equipment Design , Equipment Failure AnalysisABSTRACT
We describe a method that overcomes the observed saturation effect in cross polarized wave (XPW) generation. The previously reported internal efficiencies for XPW generation are known to be limited to around 15% whatever the length of the nonlinear medium and/or the input intensity values are. At the opposite, the theoretical limit had been estimated to be close to 25%. Here we show that using two thin BaF(2) crystals separated at optimum distance the saturation level of XPW generation efficiency can be drastically increased. An internal efficiency of 30% is demonstrated experimentally using two BaF(2) crystals.
ABSTRACT
Femtosecond laser filamentation is studied in a broadband amplifying medium, sapphire doped with electronically excited Ti ions. Evidence for fluence amplification of self-guided pulses, increase of filamentation length, as well as a lowering of the input laser power necessary for filamentation is reported.
ABSTRACT
We correct the spectral phases of amplified femtosecond pulses by using a deformable mirror in the stretcher. After the correction the peak intensity is multiplied by 1.5 as a consequence of increasing the contrast by 100x . The spectral phase interferometry for direct electric field reconstruction is used to characterize the pulse temporally.
ABSTRACT
A 14 TW Ti:Sa laser furnishing pulses with a duration of 30 fs (full width at half maximum) at a repetition rate of 10 Hz was used to expose solid targets to intensities of up to 3x10(18) W/cm(2). Dosimetric techniques were employed to study the total x-ray yield, the spectral and angular distribution of the x-ray photons and the energy distribution of high-energy electrons injected into the solid target and emitted into the vacuum. Scans of laser pulse energy and duration were carried out to study the dependence of the x-ray generation efficiency on these parameters. The radiation transport processes in the target were modeled using the Monte Carlo method. The results of these calculations were used to interpret the measurement results and to critically discuss the applicability of dosimetric methods to the investigation of photon and electron emission from laser-produced plasmas.
ABSTRACT
By combining second-harmonic generation and wave-front correction of a hybrid Ti:sapphire-Nd:glass terawatt laser chain, we were able to generate a focused intensity above 10(19) W/cm(2), with an estimated 10(9):1 intensity contrast ratio. The frequency of the laser is doubled by use of a type I KDP crystal, and wave-front correction is achieved with a deformable mirror coupled to a wave-front sensor.
ABSTRACT
Wave-front correction and focal spot improvement of femtosecond laser beams have been achieved, for the first time to our knowledge, with a deformable mirror with an on-line single-shot three-wave lateral shearing interferometer diagnostic. Wave-front distortions of a 100-fs laser that are due to third-order nonlinear effects have been compensated for. This technique, which permits correction in a straightforward process that requires no feedback loop, is also used on a 10-TW Ti:sapphire-Nd:phosphate glass laser in the subpicosecond regime. We also demonstrate that having a focal spot close to the diffraction limit does not constitute a good criterion for the quality of the laser in terms of peak intensity.
ABSTRACT
A novel aberration-free pulse stretcher design is presented. This system permits the stretching of a 30-fs pulse to 300 ps and recompression to a duration of 33 fs, limited by the spectral clipping.
ABSTRACT
We report the characterization of a new pulse stretcher that provides a linear and positive variation of the group delay as a function of the optical frequency. It consists of a perpendicular chirped-grating pair introduced by Tournois [Opt. Commun. 106, 253 (1994)] that allows 20-fs pulses to be stretched to 100 ps. The system is tested by short-pulse spectral interferometry. We designed and realized the chirped gratings by phase volume holographic recording in a highly efficient photopolymer.
ABSTRACT
We have developed a femtosecond laser chain that generates 25-TW pulses of less than 35 fs at 10 Hz with focused intensities higher than 5 x 10(19) W/cm(2) and an average power of 8 W. This system is optimized for a broad transmission bandwidth and includes an aberration-free stretcher compressor.
ABSTRACT
We present time-resolved pump-probe experiments on a semiconductor in which the signal shape, dominated by perturbed free polarization decay, is strongly dependent on the probe pulse's spectral shape. This effect can be used efficiently to reduce large spectral oscillations that prevent the observation of weak signals near a narrow spectral structure.
