Abstract
Substantial power scaling of a travelling-wave femtosecond optical parametric amplifier, pumped near 800 nm by a 1 kHz Ti:sapphire laser amplifier, is demonstrated using monoclinic BiB(3)O(6) in a two stage scheme with continuum seeding. Total energy output (signal plus idler) exceeding 1 mJ is achieved, corresponding to an intrinsic conversion efficiency of approximately 32% for the second stage. The tunability extends from 1.1 to 2.9 microm. The high parametric gain and broad amplification bandwidth of this crystal allowed the maintenance of the pump pulse duration, leading to pulse lengths less than 140 fs, both for the signal and idler pulses, even at such high output levels.
Highlights
The first high-energy femtosecond optical parametric generators and amplifiers (OPGs and OPAs) of the travelling-wave type, pumped by amplified Ti:sapphire laser systems operating near 800 nm at 1 kHz repetition rate, were demonstrated in the early 1990’s [1, 2]
The highest output energy reported at 1-kHz was about 150 μJ for a signal wavelength near 1250 nm (3 stages of BBO type-II OPG and OPA) which corresponds to a total conversion efficiency of 30% for the last stage and 20% for the entire set-up [6]
In this work we investigate large aperture bismuth triborate, BiB3O6 (BIBO), crystals for energy scaling of a high power white light continuum (WLC) seeded OPA in the 1.1-2.9 μm spectral range, pumped at 1 kHz by the fundamental of a specially designed regenerative/multipass Ti:sapphire amplifier
Summary
“Generation of high-power femtosecond light pulses at 1 kHz in the mid-infrared spectral range between 3 and 12 μ m by second-order nonlinear processes in optical crystals,” J. The first high-energy femtosecond optical parametric generators and amplifiers (OPGs and OPAs) of the travelling-wave type, pumped by amplified Ti:sapphire laser systems operating near 800 nm at 1 kHz repetition rate, were demonstrated in the early 1990’s [1, 2].
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