Daolong Tang

Temperature- and wavelength-insensitive parametric amplification enabled by noncollinear achromatic phase-matching

Optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification (OPCPA) has been demonstrated to be a promising approach for pushing femtosecond pulses towards ultra-high peak powers. However, the future success of OPCPA strongly relies on the ability to manipulate its phase-matching (PM) configuration. When a high average power pump laser is involved, the thermal effects in nonlinear crystals induce phase-mismatch distortions that pose an inherent limitation on the conversion efficiency. Here, we demonstrate that the noncollinear configuration previously adopted for wavelength-insensitive PM can be employed for temperature-insensitive PM when the noncollinear angle is properly reset. Simultaneous temperature- and wavelength-insensitive PM is realized for the first time by imposing such a temperature-insensitive noncollinear configuration with an angularly dispersed seed signal. Based on the lithium triborate crystal, the proposed noncollinear achromatic PM has a thermal acceptance 6 times larger than that of the conventional wavelength-insensitive noncollinear PM and has a sufficient spectral acceptance to support pulse durations of ~20 fs at 800 nm. These achievements open new possibilities for generating ultra-high peak power lasers with high average power.

Scattering-initiated parametric noise in optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification

We experimentally study a new kind of parametric noise that is initiated from signal scattering and enhanced through optical parametric amplification. Such scattering-initiated parametric noise behaves similarly to parametric super-fluorescence in the spatial domain, yet is typically much stronger. In the time domain it inherits the chirp of signal pulses and can be well compressed. We demonstrate that scattering-initiated parametric noise has little influence on the pulse contrast but can degrade the energy conversion efficiency substantially.

Nonlinear beat noise in optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification

The pulse contrast of state-of-the-art petawatt lasers is limited by coherent noise. This paper reports on a new family of noise, termed nonlinear beat noise, which is generated by the nonlinear mixing of two kinds of coherent noise in optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification (OPCPA). We theoretically study the various nonlinear beat noises and reveal their intensity evolutions in an OPCPA amplifier. The results suggest that nonlinear beat noise will be destructive to the future hundred-petawatt lasers.

High-power femtosecond mid-infrared laser generated by non-collinear OPCPA

A two-stage 2.2 μm OPCPA system is built with amplified chirped-pulse energy of 5 J. After compression, 1.8 J, 82 fs mid-IR pulses will be potentially obtained, providing an important driving source for strong-field physics. Article not available.