Abstract
We report on a broadband, picosecond two-stage optical parametrical chirped pulse amplification system, pumped at 515 nm by a frequency doubled Yb regenerative amplifier. The system, designed to be part of the new petawatt picosecond front end, delivers $30\text{ }\text{ }\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{J}$ pulses at a central wavelength of 870 nm with about 200 nm bandwidth at 100 Hz. The overall efficiency of the system (pump signal) is 8% while the second stage presents $\ensuremath{\sim}17%$ conversion efficiency.
Highlights
Intense ultrashort pulses are an attractive resource for a wide range of experiments, contributing significantly to the advancement of new research areas like laboratory astrophysics [1], high energy density physics [2], schemes for particle acceleration [3,4], and so on
The chirped-pulse amplification (CPA) [12] method was initially developed for the ultrashort pulse amplification with laser amplifiers, but in the past few decades the method was generalized to be applied to optical parametric amplifiers (OPAs) [13], as OPCPA
This will be fully based on OPCPA as an amplification technique and it will demonstrate the technology feasibility for larger systems opening the path for a ultrashort pulse system limited exclusively by the pump laser available
Summary
Intense ultrashort pulses are an attractive resource for a wide range of experiments, contributing significantly to the advancement of new research areas like laboratory astrophysics [1], high energy density physics [2], schemes for particle acceleration [3,4], and so on. The OPCPA concept presents some disadvantages/setup difficulties with respect to the classical CPA with laser amplifiers such as: the temporal duration matching and synchronization between the pump and signal pulses to maintain high gain; the high quality of the pump beam; the limited aperture of most available nonlinear crystals in highenergy stages and the demanding phase-matching conditions. At the central laser facility (RAL), a new PW laser beam line for the Vulcan laser is being developed, matching the requirements needed from the laser-based accelerator community This will be fully based on OPCPA as an amplification technique and it will demonstrate the technology feasibility for larger systems opening the path for a ultrashort pulse system limited exclusively by the pump laser available. The overall efficiency of the system (pump signal) is 8% while the second stage presents ∼17% conversion efficiency
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
