Chirped Volume Bragg Grating Research Articles

Femtosecond Yb-fiber chirped-pulse-amplification system based on chirped-volume Bragg gratings

A 100 W amplified (75 W compressed) femtosecond (650 fs) Yb-fiber chirped-pulse-amplification system is demonstrated using broadband chirped-volume Bragg gratings (CVBGs) for the stretcher and compressor. With a 75% compression efficiency, the CVBG-based compressor exhibits an excellent average power handling capability and indicates the potential for further power scaling with this compact and robust technology.

Self-phase modulation compensated by positive dispersion in chirped-pulse systems

We experimentally demonstrate compensation of the impact of Kerr-nonlinearity with positive dispersion in chirped-pulse systems. The condition for the phase-compensation is derived and design guidelines are presented. The technique is shown with a fiber-based system employing conventional diffraction gratings as well in a system that is based on chirped volume Bragg-gratings. Practical requirements on the stretching unit are discussed.

Tunable narrowband optical parametric oscillator using a transversely chirped Bragg grating

We demonstrate a novel technique for locking and tuning of a near-degenerate nanosecond optical parametric oscillator (OPO) using a transversely chirped volume Bragg grating. When the grating was translated, the OPO signal wavelength could be tuned from 1011 to 1023 nm (3.5 THz). The OPO was based on a periodically poled KTiOPO(4) as a nonlinear crystal and was pumped at 532 nm with up to 1.9 mJ of energy. The generated signal at an energy of 0.37 mJ had a bandwidth of 0.50 nm and a suppression of broadband background of >30 dB. The demonstrated technique is widely applicable for the construction of narrowband tunable sources.

Generation of 287 W, 55 ps pulses at 78 MHz repetition rate from a cryogenically cooled Yb:YAG amplifier seeded by a fiber chirped-pulse amplification system

We generate linearly polarized, 287 W average-power, 5.5 ps pulses using a cryogenically cooled Yb:YAG amplifier at a repetition rate of 78 MHz. An optical-to-optical efficiency of 41% is obtained at 700 W pump power. A 6 W, 0.4 nm bandwidth picosecond seed source at 1029 nm wavelength is constructed using a chirped-pulse fiber amplification chain based on chirped volume Bragg gratings. The combination of a fiber amplifier system and a cryogenically cooled Yb:YAG amplifier results in good spatial beam quality at large average power. Low nonlinear phase accumulation as small as 5.1 x 10(-3) rad in the bulk Yb:YAG amplifier supports power scalability to a > 10 kW level without being affected by self-phase modulation. This amplification system is well suited for pumping high-power high-repetition-rate optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifiers.