Ultrabroadband TW-class Ti:sapphire laser system with adjustable central wavelength, bandwidth and multi-color operation
TL;DR: A versatile tunable and highly stable ultrabroadband Ti:sapphire chirped pulse amplification system with unique wavelength tunability capabilities expanded into the UV and deep-UV by second and third harmonic generation with excellent energy stability.
Abstract: We demonstrate a versatile tunable and highly stable ultrabroadband Ti:sapphire chirped pulse amplification system with a compressed pulse energy of 20 mJ at 100 Hz repetition rate. High power Ti:Sa systems in principle do not offer wavelength tunability due to gain narrowing. Here we demonstrate transform limited pulse generation from 15 fs to 94 fs with tunable central wavelength (λc from 755 nm to 845 nm) and bandwidth (130nm<Δλ<16 nm) as well as multi-color, time synchronized, sub-100 fs pulses with user defined central wavelength separation. The unique wavelength tunability capabilities have been expanded into the UV and deep-UV by second and third harmonic generation with excellent energy stability. Enhanced energy stability is achieved by multiplexing six ultrastable diode-based solid state pump lasers.
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TL;DR: High-field terahertz transients with 0.9-mJ pulse energy produced in a 400 mm² partitioned organic crystal by optical rectification of a 30-m J laser pulse centered at 1.25 μm wavelength are reported on.
Abstract: We report on high-field terahertz transients with 0.9-mJ pulse energy produced in a 400 mm² partitioned organic crystal by optical rectification of a 30-mJ laser pulse centered at 1.25 μm wavelength. The phase-locked single-cycle terahertz pulses cover the hard-to-access low-frequency range between 0.1 and 5 THz and carry peak fields of more than 42 MV/cm and 14 Tesla with the potential to reach over 80 MV/cm by choosing appropriate focusing optics. The scheme based on a Cr:Mg₂SiO₄ laser offers a high conversion efficiency of 3% using uncooled organic crystal. The collimated pump laser configuration provides excellent terahertz focusing conditions.
260 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a single-cycle carrier-envelope phase locked THz pulses at a central frequency of 2.1 THz with MV/cm electric field strengths and magnetic field strengths beyond 0.3 T were presented.
Abstract: We present high-power single-cycle carrier-envelope phase locked THz pulses at a central frequency of 2.1 THz with MV/cm electric field strengths and magnetic field strengths beyond 0.3 T. The THz radiation is generated by optical rectification in an organic salt crystal 4-N,N-dimethylamino-4′-N′-methyl stilbazolium tosylate called DAST pumped with the signal wavelength of a powerful optical parametric amplifier. Conversion efficiencies of more than 2% are reported.
199 citations
TL;DR: The generation of high-power single-cycle terahertz pulses in the organic salt crystal 2-[3-(4-hydroxystyryl)-5.5-dimethylcyclohex-2-enylidene]malononitrile or OH1.5 is presented and an approach toward the realization of higher field strength is discussed.
Abstract: We present the generation of high-power single-cycle terahertz (THz) pulses in the organic salt crystal 2-[3-(4-hydroxystyryl)-5.5-dimethylcyclohex-2-enylidene]malononitrile or OH1. Broadband THz radiation with a central frequency of 1.5 THz (λc=200 μm) and high electric field strength of 440 kV/cm is produced by optical rectification driven by the signal of a powerful femtosecond optical parametric amplifier. A 1.5% pump to THz energy conversion efficiency is reported, and pulse energy stability better than 1% RMS is achieved. An approach toward the realization of higher field strength is discussed.
94 citations
TL;DR: Fluence-dependent conversion efficiency and damage threshold are reported, as well as optimized OR at visible wavelengths in organic crystals producing high-energy terahertz pulses.
Abstract: High-energy terahertz pulses are produced by optical rectification (OR) in organic crystals 4-dimethylamino-N-methyl-4-stilbazolium tosylate (DAST) and 4-N, N-dimethylamino-4'-N'-methyl-stilbazolium 2,4,6-trimethylbenzenesulfonate (DSTMS) by a Ti:sapphire amplifier system with 0.8 μm central wavelength. The simple scheme provides broadband spectra between 1 and 5 THz, when pumped by a collimated 60 fs near-IR pump pulse, and it is scalable in energy. Fluence-dependent conversion efficiency and damage threshold are reported, as well as optimized OR at visible wavelengths.
53 citations
TL;DR: The SwissFEL Injector Test Facility operated at the Paul Scherrer Institute between 2010 and 2014, serving as a pilot plant and testbed for the development and realization of Swiss FEL, the X-ray Free-Electron Laser facility under construction at the same institute as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The SwissFEL Injector Test Facility operated at the Paul Scherrer Institute between 2010 and 2014, serving as a pilot plant and testbed for the development and realization of SwissFEL, the X-ray Free-Electron Laser facility under construction at the same institute. The test facility consisted of a laser-driven rf electron gun followed by an S-band booster linac, a magnetic bunch compression chicane and a diagnostic section including a transverse deflecting rf cavity. It delivered electron bunches of up to 200 pC charge and up to 250 MeV beam energy at a repetition rate of 10 Hz. The measurements performed at the test facility not only demonstrated the beam parameters required to drive the first stage of an FEL facility, but also led to significant advances in instrumentation technologies, beam characterization methods and the generation, transport and compression of ultra-low-emittance beams. We give a comprehensive overview of the commissioning experience of the principal subsystems and the beam physics measurements performed during the operation of the test facility, including the results of the test of an in-vacuum undulator prototype generating radiation in the vacuum ultraviolet and optical range.
51 citations
Cites methods from "Ultrabroadband TW-class Ti:sapphire..."
...The laser is equipped with advanced pulse shaping technology based on acousto-optic programmable modulators (Fastlite, Dazzler and Mazzler) that allows the production of broadband (Δλ 1⁄4 100 nm) or alternatively narrow-band pulses tunable within a range of 770–830 nm [37]....
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References
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TL;DR: In this article, a parametrically amplified chirped pulses have been parametric amplified by a factor of ∼2×10 4 without bandwidth limitation in BBO crystal, and a special technique to match temporal profiles of signal and pump pulses was used.
814 citations
TL;DR: It is demonstrated experimentally that an arbitrary phase and amplitude profile can be applied to an ultrashort pulse by use of an acousto-optic programmable dispersive filter (AOPDF) that has a large group-delay range and a 30% diffraction efficiency over 150 THz.
Abstract: We demonstrate experimentally that an arbitrary phase and amplitude profile can be applied to an ultrashort pulse by use of an acousto-optic programmable dispersive filter (AOPDF). Our filter has a large group-delay range that extends over 3 ps and a 30% diffraction efficiency over 150 THz. Experiments were conducted on a kilohertz chirped-pulse amplification laser chain capable of generating 30-fs pulses without additional pulse shaping. Compensating for gain narrowing and residual phase errors with an AOPDF in place of the stretcher results in 17-fs transform-limited pulses. Arbitrary shaping of these 17-fs pulses is also demonstrated in both the temporal and the spectral domains.
529 citations
TL;DR: This novel regenerative amplifier has been used to amplify pulses to the 5-mJ level with a bandwidth sufficient to support ~ 10-fs pulses, nearly three times wider than the traditional gain-narrowing limit.
Abstract: Regenerative pulse shaping is used to alleviate gain narrowing during ultrashort-pulse amplification. Amplification bandwidths of ~100 nm, or nearly three times wider than the traditional gain-narrowing limit, are produced with a modified Ti:sapphire regenerative amplifier. This novel regenerative amplifier has been used to amplify pulses to the 5-mJ level with a bandwidth sufficient to support ~10-fs pulses.
176 citations
TL;DR: It is demonstrated, for what is believed to be the first time, that the problem of pedestals in laser amplifiers can be addressed by spectral-domain correction.
Abstract: We demonstrate the use of a deformable-mirror pulse shaper, combined with an evolutionary optimization algorithm, to correct high-order residual phase aberrations in a 1-mJ, 1-kHz, 15-fs laser amplifier. Frequency-resolved optical gating measurements reveal that the output pulse duration of 15.2 fs is within our measurement error of the theoretical transform limit. This technique significantly reduces the pulse duration and the temporal prepulse energy of the pulse while increasing the peak intensity by 26%. It is demonstrated, for what is believed to be the first time, that the problem of pedestals in laser amplifiers can be addressed by spectral-domain correction.
134 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the time-dependent Schrodinger equation describing the interaction of an HCN molecule with intense, ultrashort, chirped infrared laser pulses is solved numerically.
73 citations