Generation of accurately synchronized pump source for optical parametric chirped pulse amplification

Abstract

We demonstrate the generation of ultra-short pulses at 1064 nm by continuous-wave seeded non-collinear optical parametric amplification in a β-barium borate crystal pumped by the second harmonics of a femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser. After two stages of seeded parametric amplifiers, the generated pulses at 1064 nm were accurately synchronized with the fundamental pump pulses, which could be used as seeding pulses for further amplification and then frequency doubling to produce an accurately synchronized pump source for optical parametric amplification of chirped pulses from the same Ti:sapphire laser.