Franz Tavella

Generation of sub-three-cycle, 16 TW light pulses by using noncollinear optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification

We present a two-stage noncollinear optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification system that generates 7.9 fs pulses containing 130 mJ of energy at an 805 nm central wavelength and 10 Hz repetition rate. These 16 TW light pulses are compressed to within 5% of their Fourier limit and are carefully characterized by the use of home-built pulse diagnostics. The contrast ratio before the main pulse has been measured as 10(-4), 10(-8), and 10(-11) at t=-3.3 ps, t=-5 ps, and t=-30 ps, respectively. This source allows for experiments in a regime of relativistic light-matter interactions and attosecond science.

90 mJ parametric chirped pulse amplification of 10 fs pulses

We demonstrate the amplification of broadband pulses from a Ti:Sapphire oscillator by non-collinear optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification technique in a type-I BBO crystal to energies of 90 mJ. Partial compression of the amplified pulses is demonstrated down to a 10 fs duration. These parameters come in combination with good spatial quality and focusability of the amplified beam.

Investigation of the superfluorescence and signal amplification in an ultrabroadband multiterawatt optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier system

We report on theoretical and experimental investigation of the signal and superfluorescence amplification in a 7 TW optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier (OPCPA) system. We demonstrate that the compressed pulse contrast ratio can be improved by using larger seed pulse energies and by careful adjustment of the pump intensity in each amplification stage. Comparison of the measured amplified signal and superfluorescence energies yielded good agreement between calculations and experiments.

Dispersion management for a sub-10-fs, 10 TW optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifier

We report the amplification of three-cycle, 8.5 fs optical pulses in a near-infrared noncollinear optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifier (OPCPA) up to energies of 80 mJ. Improved dispersion management in the amplifier by means of a combination of reflection grisms and a chirped-mirror stretcher allowed us to recompress the amplified pulses to within 6% of their Fourier limit. The novel ultrabroad, ultraprecise dispersion control technology presented in this work opens the way to scaling multiterawatt technology to even shorter pulses by optimizing the OPCPA bandwidth.

Investigation of two-beam-pumped noncollinear optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification for the generation of few-cycle light pulses.

We demonstrate a new and compact Phi-plane-pumped noncollinear optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification (NOPCPA) scheme for broadband pulse amplification, which is based on two-beam-pumping (TBP) at 532 nm. We employ type-I phase-matching in a 5 mm long BBO crystal with moderate pump intensities to preserve the temporal pulse contrast. Amplification and compression of the signal pulse from 675 nm - 970 nm is demonstrated, which results in the generation of 7.1-fs light pulses containing 0.35 mJ energy. In this context, we investigate the pump-to-signal energy conversion efficiency for TBP-NOPCPA and outline details for few-cycle pulse characterization. Furthermore, it is verified, that the interference at the intersection of the two pump beams does not degrade the signal beam spatial profile. It is theoretically shown that the accumulated OPA phase partially compensates for wave-vector mismatch and leads to extended broadband amplification. The experimental outcome is supported by numerical split-step simulations of the parametric signal gain, including pump depletion and parametric fluorescence.

Generation of 8 fs, 125 mJ Pulses through Optical Parametric Chirped Pulse Amplification

We report generation of three-cycle, 8 fs, 125 mJ optical pulses in a noncollinear optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifier (NOPCPA). These 16 TW laser pulses are compressed to within 6% of their Fourier limit.

Kilowatt level burst-mode OPCPA pump amplifier concepts

Analytical and experimental results of an Yb:YAG thin-disk laser amplifier capable of amplifying pulses to a maximum average power of 4.45 kW at burst operation mode as pump amplifier for an OPCPA system are presented.

High repetition rate 5 GW peak power fiber laser pumped few-cycle OPCPA with CEP control

We report on a 96 kHz repetition rate sub-10 fs, optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier system with 6.7 W average power and >5 GW peak power. Furthermore the oscillator is CEP stabilized and the CEP of the amplified pulses is measured.

High Average Power 5 GW Peak Power Fiber Laser Pumped Few-Cycle OPCPA System

We report on a few-cycle OPCPA-system delivering 8 fs, 70 µJ pulses at 96 kHz repetition rate. Furthermore CEP stabilization is implemented and high harmonic generation up to the 35th order in demonstrated.

A multi-TW few-cycle optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier

We report on the generation of 8 fs, 125 mJ pulses in a noncollinear optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier with a temporal contrast reaching 10 orders of magnitude at 5 ps before the main pulse.