Broad-bandwidth high-temporal-contrast carrier-envelope-phase-stabilized laser seed for 100 PW lasers

Abstract

We demonstrate in this Letter the generation of carrier-envelope-phase (CEP)-stabilized laser pulses at 910 nm with simultaneously high-temporal-contrast, broad spectral bandwidths and few-cycle pulse durations. Through combining the techniques of cascaded optical parametric amplification (OPA) and second-harmonic generation (SHG) in the laser setup, a pulse temporal contrast as high as ${ \gt }{{10}^{12}}$>1012 has been obtained at the laser output. During the OPA and SHG processes, both the pulse chirp and gain bandwidth are perfectly optimized, leading to the generation of 170 µJ pulses with ${ \gt }{200}\;{\rm nm}$>200nm bandwidth and ${\sim}{15}\;{\rm fs}$∼15fs pulse duration. Moreover, the CEP of the laser is stabilized passively to a noise level of less than 340 mrad. This high-quality pulsed light source, as the seed laser of the deuterated potassium dihydrogen phosphate (DKDP)-based 100 PW system, will be integrated into the Station of Extreme Light facility in the near future.