Abstract
Over the last few decades, the investigation of ultrafast phenomena occurring in atoms, molecules and solid-state systems under a strong-field regime of light-matter interaction has attracted great attention. The increasing request for a suitable optical technology is significantly boosting the development of powerful ultrafast laser sources. In this framework, Optical Parametric Amplification (OPA) is currently becoming a leading solution for applications in high-power ultra-broadband light burst generation. The main advantage provided by the OPA scheme consists of the possibility of exploring spectral ranges that are inaccessible by other laser technologies, as the InfraRed (IR) window. In this paper, we will give an overview on recent progress in the development of high-power few-optical-cycle parametric amplifiers in the near-IR and in the mid-IR spectral domain. In particular, the design of the most advanced OPA implementations is provided, containing a discussion on the key technical aspects. In addition, a review on their application to the study of strong-field ultrafast physical processes is reported.
Highlights
Ultrafast laser technology is rapidly developing under the impulse of exciting perspectives of applications
The sources based on Hollow Core Fiber (HCF), as well as filamentation have the main advantage of providing more degrees of freedom to the users for achieving an optimum control on the spectral bandwidth of the output radiation, allowing for sub-two-cycle pulse generation
We present here a novel parametric source recently developed in our laboratories and capable of providing enhanced performances with respect to the Optical Parametric Amplification (OPA) systems described in Section 3.1.1, in terms of repetition rate and tunability
Summary
Ultrafast laser technology is rapidly developing under the impulse of exciting perspectives of applications. The interest in investigating the ultrafast light-matter interaction regime under strong-field perturbations boosted the power scaling of solid-state sources. In this framework, the Chirped Pulse Amplification (CPA) [2] scheme was proposed, which enabled single pulse energy enhancement up to three orders of magnitude, attaining the mJ-level. Since solid-state sources provide pulses centered at a well-defined wavelength, typically in the visible part of the spectrum, a great effort has been dedicated to the development of tunable sources. In this sense, Optical Parametric Amplification (OPA) provides a practicable strategy for intense.
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