53 W average power CEP-stabilized OPCPA system delivering 55 TW few cycle pulses at 1 kHz repetition rate

Abstract

We present a high peak and average power optical parametric chirped pulse amplification system driven by diode-pumped Yb:KGW and Nd:YAG lasers running at 1 kHz repetition rate. The advanced architecture of the system allows us to achieve >53 W average power combined with 5.5 TW peak power, along with sub-220 mrad CEP stability and sub-9 fs pulse duration at a center wavelength around 880 nm. Broadband, background-free, passively CEP stabilized seed pulses are produced in a series of cascaded optical parametric amplifiers pumped by the Yb:KGW laser, while a diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser system provides multi-mJ pump pulses for power amplification stages. Excellent stability of output parameters over 16 hours of continuous operation is demonstrated.

Ultrafast supercontinuum generation in bulk condensed media

“…A broader, spectrally flat SC was produced using pump wavelengths around the zero GVD point of sapphire (1.31 μm) [206]. Such SC was used to seed the OPCPA system driven by diode-pumped Yb:KGW and Nd:YAG lasers, finally producing carrier envelope phasestable sub-9 fs pulses with 5.5 TW peak power at 1 kHz repetition rate [52]. In the range of anomalous GVD of sapphire, the SC spectrum spanning wavelengths from 470 nm to more than 2.5 μm were reported with 15 fs pulses at 2 μm, however, showing a noticeable drop of the spectral intensity around 1 μm [161].…”

“…SC generation in laser host crystals with sub-picosecond and picosecond laser pulses paved a new avenue in the development of compact OPCPA systems, which are built around sole picosecond oscillator/amplifier systems [51]. Finally, the SC-seeded OPCPA system delivering carrier-envelope phase-stable few-optical-cycle pulses with high average and ultrahigh peak power has been recently demonstrated [52].…”

Generation and Parametric Amplification of Few‐Cycle Light Pulses at Relativistic Intensities

“…Moreover, it could 120 7 Summary and outlook be shown that owing to the sub-picosecond pump pulse duration, there is no pedestal around the main peak (at least not longer than ∼1 ps), a crucial advantage of the PFS over OPCPA systems with longer pump pulse durations (e.g. [164,165]) especially for the key application of surface high-harmonic generation.…”

“…This applies also for the ambitious OPAL and XCEL projects that seek to bring OPCPA at moderate bandwidth to the kilojoule-level. , LWS-pro [107], Ecole Polytechnique [126], LWS20 [44], ELI-ALPS Sylos [165], CELIA [34], ELI-ALPS HF [167], Apollon 10 PW [40], OPAL [168], ATLAS [169], ELI-NP HPLS [39], SIOM-SULF [12,38], XCEL [170], Astra-Gemeni [171], BELLA [32], Vulcan [43,172], POLARIS [173], PENELOPE [174], Texas PW [31]. It should be noted that the plot does not provide any information about the repetition rate.…”

“…Currently, the most powerful few-cycle light source at ∼20 TW is the LWS20 (Light Wave Synthesizer) [44], a two-color-pumped (2ω and 3ω of Nd:YAG) OPCPA system operating at 10 Hz that has recently moved from the MPQ to Umeå University. Other systems trying to reach a comparable peak power (at higher repetition rates) are the LWS-pro at the Laboratory for Extreme Photonics (LEX) [107] as well as the Sylos system as part of the ELI-ALPS (Extreme Light Infrastructure -Attosecond Light Pulse Source) project in Hungary [165].…”