METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR HIGH POWER PARAMETRIC AMPLIFICATION OF ULTRA-BROADBAND FEW-CYCLE LASER PULSES

摘要

A system and method for high power parametric amplification based on performing amplification in a frequency domain after time domain pulses are optically Fourier transformed, to overcome bandwidth limitations. In a nutshell, a first optical Fourier transformation of a seed spectrum is performed and parametric amplification is carried out in this spatially dispersed frequency plane. As a consequence, individual parts of the spectrum can be amplified using an optical amplification medium comprising a series of optical amplification units, such as different narrowband crystals, placed one next to each other. Each crystal is tuned independently to optimize its corresponding spectral slice. A second optical Fourier transformation recovers the time domain laser pulses. This method enables scalability of amplified bandwidth and pulse energy at the same time.

主权项

1. A system for high power ultrabroadband parametric amplification, comprising:
a first dispersive-and-collimator set; an optical amplification medium located in the frequency plane of said first dispersive-and-collimator set; and symmetric to said first dispersive-and-collimator set, one of: i) a second dispersive-and-collimator set and ii) a reflector at said frequency plane; wherein a first optical Fourier transformation of a time domain seed beam from a seed source is achieved at said first dispersive-and-collimator set, parametric amplification by overlap of the seed beam with a pump beam from a pump beam source in a spatially dispersed frequency plane using said optical amplification medium occurs in the frequency plane; and a second optical Fourier transformation is achieved at one of: i) said second dispersive-and-collimator set and ii) said first dispersive and collimator set after back refection at said reflector.