Sectional chirped volume Bragg grating compressors for high-power chirped-pulse amplification

Abstract

Chirped Bragg Gratings (CBGs) recorded in photo-thermo-refractive (PTR) glass have been successfully used as ultrashort pulse stretchers and compressors in a variety of solid-state and fiber chirped pulse amplification (CPA) laser systems. Compared to traditional pairs of surface gratings, CBG-based stretchers and compressors offer significant advantage in compactness and robustness. They are insensitive to polarization, require virtually no alignment and can handle high average and peak power. At the current technology stage PTR-glass CBGs can provide up to 30 nm spectral bandwidth and up to 300 ps stretched pulse duration. In this paper we propose a concept of sectional CBGs, where multiple CBGs with different central wavelengths recorded in separate PTR-glass wafers are stacked and phased to form a single grating with effective thickness and bandwidth larger than each section. We present results of initial experiment in which pulses from a femtosecond oscillator centered at 1028 nm are stretched by a 32-mm thick CBG to about 160 ps and recompressed by a monolithic 32-mm CBG with 11 nm bandwidth and by a sectional CBG with two 16-mm thick sections each having ~ 5 nm bandwidth and offset central wavelengths: 1025.5 and 1031 nm. In both cases, compressed pulse duration of 350-400 fs, ~ 1.1 × transform-limit was obtained. These results allow CBG-based pulse stretchers and compressors with high stretch ratio and wide bandwidth to be constructed from multiple sections.