Mr. Christophe Simon-Boisson Profile

Christophe Simon-Boisson

Product Line Manager at Thales LAS France SAS

SPIE Involvement:

Author

Proceedings Article | 20 April 2021 Presentation

10 petawatts laser operation within beam transport section at ELI-NP

François Lureau, Caroline Richard, Christophe Radier, Olivier Chalus, Guillaume Matras, Sandrine Ricaud, Sébastien Laux, Olivier Casagrande, Hervé Besaucele, Christophe Simon-Boisson

Proceedings Volume 11666, 1166605 (2021) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2582963

KEYWORDS: Pulsed laser operation, Mirrors, Laser beam propagation, Ranging, Transmittance, Optical inspection, Nuclear physics, Inspection, Imaging systems

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Proceedings Article | 21 February 2020 Presentation + Paper

10 petawatt lasers for extreme light applications

F. Lureau, O. Chalus, G. Matras, S. Laux, C. Radier, O. Casagrande, C. Derycke, S. Ricaud, G. Rey, T. Morbieu, A. Pellegrina, L. Boudjemaa, C. Simon-Boisson, A. Baleanu, R. Banici, A. Gradinariu, C. Caldararu, P. Ghenuche, A. Naziru, G. Kolliopoulos, L. Neagu, B. De Boisdeffre, D. Ursescu, I. Dancus

Proceedings Volume 11259, 112591J (2020) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2545652

KEYWORDS: Optical amplifiers, Picosecond phenomena, Crystals, Laser systems engineering, Laser crystals, Amplifiers, Mirrors, Oscillators, Liquids, Diagnostics

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Proceedings Article | 12 July 2019 Open Access

Improved conduction cooled compact laser for LIBS: Raman instruments

E. Durand, C. Derycke, A. Soujaeff, L. Boudjemaa, C. Simon-Boisson, L. Roucayrol, M. Boutillier, B. Faure, S. Maurice

Proceedings Volume 11180, 111802M (2019) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2536013

KEYWORDS: Oscillators, Raman spectroscopy, Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy, Optical amplifiers, Neodymium, Second-harmonic generation, Nd:YAG lasers, Diodes, Ferroelectric materials, Laser development

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Proceedings Article | 26 February 2018 Paper

Towards coherent combination of 61 fiber amplifiers

Anke Heilmann, Jérémy Le Dortz, Louis Daniault, Ihsan Fsaifes, Séverine Bellanger, Marie Antier, Jérôme Bourderionnet, Christian Larat, Eric Lallier, Eric Durand, Arnaud Brignon, Christophe Simon-Boisson, Jean-Christophe Chanteloup

Proceedings Volume 10512, 105120B (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2287862

KEYWORDS: Coherent beam combination, Fiber amplifiers, Amplifiers, Phase measurement, Fiber lasers, Femtosecond phenomena

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Proceedings Article | 21 November 2017 Open Access

Conduction cooled compact laser for the chemcam instrument

E. Durand, C. Derycke, C. Simon-Boisson, S. Muller, B. Faure, M. Saccoccio, M. Maurice

Proceedings Volume 10567, 105671D (2017) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2308147

KEYWORDS: Oscillators, Optical amplifiers, Diodes, Laser spectroscopy, Prototyping, Semiconductor lasers, Mars, Neodymium, Temperature metrology, Laser development

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Proceedings Article | 25 September 2017 Open Access

Conduction cooled compact laser for the supercam Libsraman instrument

Eric Durand, C. Derycke, L. Boudjemaa, C. Simon-Boisson, L. Roucayrol, R. Perez, B. Faure, S. Maurice

Proceedings Volume 10562, 105620O (2017) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2296037

KEYWORDS: Oscillators, Raman spectroscopy, Second-harmonic generation, Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy, Temperature metrology, Electro optical modeling, Semiconductor lasers, Astronomical imaging, Mars, Switches

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Proceedings Article | 17 February 2017 Presentation + Paper

High energy high repetition rate compact picosecond Holmium YLF laser for mid-IR OPCPA pumping

Daniel Sanchez, Jens Biegert, Guillaume Matras, Christophe Simon-Boisson

Proceedings Volume 10082, 100820N (2017) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2253059

KEYWORDS: Optical amplifiers, Picosecond phenomena, Mid-IR, Fiber amplifiers, Holmium, Pulsed laser operation, Physics, Nonlinear crystals, Crystals, Spectroscopy

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The development of coherent light sources with emission in the mid-IR is currently undergoing a remarkable revolution. The mid-IR spectral range has always been of tremendous interest, mainly to spectroscopists, due to the ability of mid-IR light to access rotational and vibrational resonances of molecules which give rise to superb sensitivity upon optical probing [1-3]. Previously, high energy resolution was achieved with narrowband lasers or parametric sources, but the advent of frequency comb sources has revolutionized spectroscopy by providing high energy resolution within the frequency comb structure of the spectrum and at the same time broadband coverage and short pulse duration [4-6]. Such carrier to envelope phase (CEP) controlled light waveforms, when achieved at ultrahigh intensity, give rise to extreme effects such as the generation of isolated attosecond pulses in the vacuum to extreme ultraviolet range (XUV) [7]. Motivated largely by the vast potential of attosecond science, the development of ultraintense few-cycle and CEP stable sources has intensified [8], and it was recognized that coherent soft X-ray radiation could be generated when driving high harmonic generation (HHG) with long wavelength sources [9-11]. Recently, based on this concept, the highest waveform controlled soft X-ray flux [12] and isolated attosecond pulse emission at 300 eV [13] was demonstrated via HHG from a 1850 nm, sub-2-cycle source [14]. Within strong field physics, long wavelength scaling may lead to further interesting physics such as the direct reshaping of the carrier field [15], scaling of quantum path dynamics [16], the breakdown of the dipole approximation [17] or direct laser acceleration [18]. The experimental development of long wavelength light sources therefore holds great promise in many fields of science and will lead to numerous applications beyond strong field physics and attosecond science.

In this paper, we present results about a high energy picosecond Holmium YLF laser developed in order to be used as the puming laser for the first mid-IR optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier (OPCPA) operating at a center wavelength of 7 μm with output parameters suitable already for strong-field experiments. It is also the first demonstration of an Optical Parametric Chirped Pulse Amplifier (OPCPA) using a 2 μm laser pump source which enables the use of nonoxide nonlinear crystals with typically limited transparency at 1 mm wavelength. This new OPCPA system is alloptically synchronized and generates 0.2 mJ energy, CEP stable optical pulses. The pulses are currently compressed to sub-8 optical cycles but support a sub-4 cycle pulse duration. The discrepancy in compression is due to uncompensated higher order phase from the grating compressor which will be addressed in the future.

Proceedings Article | 14 December 2016 Presentation

XCAN project : coherent beam combining of large number fibers in femtosecond regime (Conference Presentation)

Marie Antier, Jeremy Le Dortz, Jerome Bourderionnet, Christian Larat, Eric Lallier, Louis Daniault, Ihsan Fsaifes, Anke Heilmann, Severine Bellanger, Christophe Simon-Boisson, Jean-Christophe Chanteloup, Arnaud Brignon

Proceedings Volume 9992, 99920B (2016) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2240473

KEYWORDS: Optical fibers, Femtosecond phenomena, Fiber amplifiers, Mode locking, Phase measurement, Phase shifts, Laser development, Beam splitters, Oscillators, Optical amplifiers

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The XCAN project, which is a three years project and began in 2015, carried out by Thales and the Ecole Polytechnique aims at developing a laser system based on the coherent combination of laser beams produced through a network of amplifying optical fibers. This technique provides an attractive mean of reaching simultaneously the high peak and high average powers required for various industrial, scientific and defense applications. The architecture has to be compatible with very large number of fibers (1000-10000). The goal of XCAN is to overcome all the key scientific and technological barriers to the design and development of an experimental laser demonstrator. The coherent addition of multiple individual phased beams is aimed to provide tens of Gigawatt peak power at 50 kHz repetition rate. Coherent beam combining (CBC) of fiber amplifiers involves a master oscillator which is split into N fiber channels and then amplified through series of polarization maintaining fiber pre-amplifiers and amplifiers. In the so-called tiled aperture configuration, the N fibers are arranged in an array and collimated in the near field of the laser output. The N beamlets then interfere constructively in the far field, and give a bright central lobe. CBC techniques with active phase locking involve phase mismatch detection, calculation of the correction and phase compensation of each amplifier by means of phase modulators. Interferometric phase measurement has proven to be particularly well suited to phase-lock a very large number of fibers in continuous regime. A small fraction of the N beamlets is imaged onto a camera. The beamlets interfere separately with a reference beam. The phase mismatch of each beam is then calculated from the interferences’ position. In this presentation, we demonstrate the phase locking of 19 fibers in femtosecond pulse regime with this technique. In our first experiment, a master oscillator generates pulses of 300 fs (chirped at 200 ps). The beam is split into 19 passive channels. Prior to phase locking, the optical path differences are adjusted down to 10 μm with optical delay lines. Interferograms of the 19 fibers are recorded at 1 kHz with a camera. A dedicated algorithm is developed to measure both the phase and the delay between the fibers on a measurement path. The delay and phase shift are thus calculated collectively from a single image and piezo-electric fiber stretchers are controlled in order to ensure compensation of time-varying phase and delay variations. The residual phase shift error is below λ/60 rms. The coherent beam combining is obtained after propagation and compression. The combined pulse width is measured at 315fs. A second experiment was done to coherently combine two amplified channels of the XCAN demonstrator. A residual phase shift error of λ/30 rms was measured in this case.

Proceedings Article | 22 April 2016 Paper

Broadband 7 microns OPCPA pumped by a 2 microns picosecond Ho:YLF CPA system

Daniel Sanchez, Michael Hemmer, Matthias Baudisch, Jens Biegert, Olivier Chalus, Christophe Simon-Boisson, Kevin Zawilski, Peter Schunemann, Vadim Smirnov, Heinar Hoogland

Proceedings Volume 9730, 97300X (2016) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2213136

KEYWORDS: Mid-IR, Optical amplifiers, Picosecond phenomena, Fiber amplifiers, Physics, Nonlinear crystals, Crystals, Spectroscopy, Pulsed laser operation, Frequency combs

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The development of coherent light sources with emission in the mid-IR is currently undergoing a remarkable revolution. The mid-IR spectral range has always been of tremendous interest, mainly to spectroscopists, due to the ability of mid-IR light to access rotational and vibrational resonances of molecules which give rise to superb sensitivity upon optical probing [1-3]. Previously, high energy resolution was achieved with narrowband lasers or parametric sources, but the advent of frequency comb sources has revolutionized spectroscopy by providing high energy resolution within the frequency comb structure of the spectrum and at the same time broadband coverage and short pulse duration [4-6]. Such carrier to envelope phase (CEP) controlled light waveforms, when achieved at ultrahigh intensity, give rise to extreme effects such as the generation of isolated attosecond pulses in the vacuum to extreme ultraviolet range (XUV) [7]. Motivated largely by the vast potential of attosecond science, the development of ultraintense few-cycle and CEP stable sources has intensified [8], and it was recognized that coherent soft X-ray radiation could be generated when driving high harmonic generation (HHG) with long wavelength sources [9-11]. Recently, based on this concept, the highest waveform controlled soft X-ray flux [12] and isolated attosecond pulse emission at 300 eV [13] was demonstrated via HHG from a 1850 nm, sub-2-cycle source [14]. Within strong field physics, long wavelength scaling may lead to further interesting physics such as the direct reshaping of the carrier field [15], scaling of quantum path dynamics [16], the breakdown of the dipole approximation [17] or direct laser acceleration [18]. The experimental development of long wavelength light sources therefore holds great promise in many fields of science and will lead to numerous applications beyond strong field physics and attosecond science. In this paper, we present the first mid-IR optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier (OPCPA) operating at a center wavelength of 7 μm with output parameters suitable already for strong-field experiments. It is also the first demonstration of an Optical Parametric Chirped Pulse Amplifier (OPCPA) using a 2 μm laser pump source which enables the use of non-oxide nonlinear crystals with typically limited transparency at 1 mm wavelength. This new OPCPA system is all-optically synchronized and generates 0.55 mJ energy, CEP stable optical pulses. The pulses are currently compressed to sub-8 optical cycles but support a sub-4 cycle pulse duration. The discrepancy in compression is due to uncompensated higher order phase from the grating compressor which will be addressed in the future.

Proceedings Article | 16 March 2016 Paper

Latest results of 10 petawatt laser beamline for ELi nuclear physics infrastructure

F. Lureau, S. Laux, O. Casagrande, O. Chalus, A. Pellegrina, G. Matras, C. Radier, G. Rey, S. Ricaud, S. Herriot, P. Jougla, M. Charbonneau, P.A. Duvochelle, C. Simon-Boisson

Proceedings Volume 9726, 972613 (2016) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2213067

KEYWORDS: Amplifiers, Crystals, Pulsed laser operation, Optical amplifiers, Laser crystals, Laser stabilization, Nuclear physics, Oscillators, Laser systems engineering, Laser development

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Proceedings Article | 16 March 2016 Paper

High contrast broadband seeder for multi-PW laser system

O. Chalus, A. Pellegrina, S. Ricaud, O. Casagrande, C. Derycke, C. Radier, A. Soujaeff, G. Matras, G. Rey, L. Boudjemaa, C. Simon-Boisson, S. Laux, F. Lureau

Proceedings Volume 9726, 972611 (2016) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2212333

KEYWORDS: Pulsed laser operation, Laser systems engineering, Optical amplifiers, Picosecond phenomena, Ultrafast phenomena, Laser development, Oscillators, Laser applications, Nd:YAG lasers, Laser stabilization, Crystals, Fiber amplifiers, Optical filters, Laser crystals

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Proceedings Article | 15 February 2012 Paper

High-energy 1 Hz titanium sapphire amplifier for PetaWatt class lasers

François Lureau, Sébastien Laux, Olivier Casagrande, Christophe Radier, Olivier Chalus, Frédéric Caradec, Christophe Simon-Boisson

Proceedings Volume 8235, 823513 (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.908127

KEYWORDS: Amplifiers, Titanium, Sapphire, Pulsed laser operation, Crystals, Laser applications, Laser systems engineering, Glasses, Femtosecond phenomena, Diffraction gratings

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Proceedings Article | 4 March 2011 Paper

Noise performances of a high-power picosecond Nd:YVO4 oscillator

Marie-Christine Nadeau, Stéphane Petit, Philippe Balcou, Sébastien Montant, Christophe Simon-Boisson

Proceedings Volume 7912, 791223 (2011) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.873885

KEYWORDS: Oscillators, Neodymium lasers, Picosecond phenomena, High power lasers, Spectrum analysis, Mode locking, Photodiodes, Laser applications, Crystals, Interference (communication)

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Proceedings Article | 17 May 2010 Paper

High-power passively mode-locked Nd:YVO4 oscillator with adjustable pulse duration between 46 ps and 12 ps

Marie-Christine Nadeau, Stéphane Petit, Philippe Balcou, Romain Czarny, Sébastien Montant, Christophe Simon-Boisson

Proceedings Volume 7721, 77210E (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.853895

KEYWORDS: Picosecond phenomena, Oscillators, Output couplers, Mode locking, Neodymium lasers, Pulsed laser operation, Semiconductor lasers, Mirrors, X-rays, Continuous wave operation

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Showing 5 of 14 publications

Conference Committee Involvement (4)

High Power Lasers for Fusion Research VIII

29 January 2025 | San Francisco, California, United States

High Power Lasers for Fusion Research VII

1 February 2023 | San Francisco, California, United States

High Power Lasers for Fusion Research VI

6 March 2021 | Online Only, California, United States

High Power Lasers for Fusion Research V

6 February 2019 | San Francisco, California, United States

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