Abstract
Instrument-limited suppression of out-of-band Amplified Spontaneous Emission (ASE) is demonstrated in a Nd:YLF Diode-Pumped Regenerative Amplifier (DPRA) using a Volume Bragg Grating (VBG) as a spectrally selective reflective element. A VBG with 99.4% diffraction efficiency and 230-pm-FWHM reflection bandwidth produced a 43-pm- FWHM output spectral width in an unseeded DPRA compared to 150-pm FWHM in the same DPRA with no VBG. Instrument-limited ASE suppression is even observed when the DPRA seed pulse energy approaches the ASE background.
Highlights
Holographic Volume Bragg Gratings (VBG’s) represent a new class of robust, highly efficient and spectrally selective optical elements that are recorded in photo-thermo-refractive glass [1]
VBG’s are stable at elevated temperatures, have a high optical damage threshold similar to that of bulk glass materials, and have high diffraction efficiency and low losses allowing their use in laser resonators
In this article we demonstrate for the first time that employing a VBG as a spectrally selective reflective element in a regenerative amplifier resonator significantly improves the spectral quality of the regenerative amplifier output by suppressing out-of-band amplified spontaneous emission
Summary
Holographic Volume Bragg Gratings (VBG’s) represent a new class of robust, highly efficient and spectrally selective optical elements that are recorded in photo-thermo-refractive glass [1]. Employing VBG’s in an external resonator of laser diodes makes it possible to produce high-brightness, near-diffraction-limited beams and coherently combine them [2]. In this article we demonstrate for the first time that employing a VBG as a spectrally selective reflective element in a regenerative amplifier resonator significantly improves the spectral quality of the regenerative amplifier output by suppressing out-of-band amplified spontaneous emission. This spectrally filtered regenerative amplifier should be very beneficial for applications where high spectral quality of pulsed radiation is required, such as pump lasers for high-contrast OPCPA systems [11]
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