A highly efficient broadband picosecond pump high-gain OPCPA system for Ti-sapphire seed pulses; an ideal seed for high-contrast, large-energy/aperture CPA laser system: Vulcan

W. Shaikh; I. O. Musgrave; M. Galimberti; A. Boyle

doi:10.1117/12.908385

15 February 2012 A highly efficient broadband picosecond pump high-gain OPCPA system for Ti-sapphire seed pulses; an ideal seed for high-contrast, large-energy/aperture CPA laser system: Vulcan

W. Shaikh, I. O. Musgrave, M. Galimberti, A. Boyle

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 8240, Nonlinear Frequency Generation and Conversion: Materials, Devices, and Applications XI; 82400T (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.908385
Event: SPIE LASE, 2012, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

The achievement of high contrast, high efficiency OPCPA systems has been a long established goal. We achieve close to ~20% conversion in a picosecond OPCPA system. This is now the standard seed for our petawatt pre-amplifier laser system which had a conventional 10⁸ nanosecond gain. We thereby eliminate the need to the first nanosecond gain stage. We achieve a contrast at the 10^-8 level when using the petawatt system in this configuration. We have also demonstrated a second stage of picosecond amplification with an extra gain of >2, maintaining the bandwidth and transform limited nature of the pulses, providing the potential for further improvements.

Citation Download Citation

W. Shaikh, I. O. Musgrave, M. Galimberti, and A. Boyle "A highly efficient broadband picosecond pump high-gain OPCPA system for Ti-sapphire seed pulses; an ideal seed for high-contrast, large-energy/aperture CPA laser system: Vulcan", Proc. SPIE 8240, Nonlinear Frequency Generation and Conversion: Materials, Devices, and Applications XI, 82400T (15 February 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.908385

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available