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

Herrmann, Daniel; Veisz, László; Tautz, Raphael; Tavella, F.; Schmid, Karl; Pervak, V.; Krausz, Ferenc

doi:10.1364/ol.34.002459

Cited by 241 publications

(130 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…25) focused onto a supersonic helium gas jet (see Methods), where electron bunches with a quasi-monoenergetic spectrum of E peak = (19.2 ± 6.7) MeV were produced. A 2-mJ probe pulse with the same duration τ probe was split from the beam through a hole in one of the plane mirrors before focusing and directed onto the gas jet perpendicularly to the main beam (Fig.…”

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confidence: 99%

Real-time observation of laser-driven electron acceleration

et al. 2011

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Electron acceleration by laser-driven plasma waves 1,2 is capable of producing ultra-relativistic, quasi-monoenergetic electron bunches 3-5 with orders of magnitude higher accelerating gradients and much shorter electron pulses than state-of-the-art radio-frequency accelerators. Recent developments have shown peak energies reaching into the GeV range 6 and improved stability and control over the energy spectrum and charge 7 . Future applications, such as the development of laboratory X-ray sources with unprecedented peak brilliance 8,9 or ultrafast time-resolved measurements 10 critically rely on a temporal characterization of the acceleration process and the electron bunch. Here, we report the first real-time observation of the accelerated electron pulse and the accelerating plasma wave. Our time-resolved study allows a single-shot measurement of the 5.8 +1.9 −2.1 fs electron bunch duration full-width at half-maximum (2.5 +0.8 −0.9 fs root mean square) as well as the plasma wave with a density-dependent period of 12-22 fs and reveals the evolution of the bunch, its position in the surrounding plasma wave and the wake dynamics. The results afford promise for brilliant, sub-ångström-wavelength ultrafast electron and photon sources for diffraction imaging with atomic resolution in space and time 11 .The recent development in laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) is made feasible by transverse breaking of the plasma wave 12 , which results in self-injection and trapping of electrons in the accelerating structure 2,13,14 . Whereas beam parameters such as the energy spectrum, accelerated charge, beam divergence and pointing are now being measured routinely with methods adopted from conventional accelerator technology, the duration of electron bunches arising from LWFA has so far defied accurate determination. Bunch duration measurements up to now have relied on techniques using THz radiation emitted by the electrons, yielding upper limits for the electron pulse length corresponding to the temporal resolution of ≥30 fs (refs 15-18). The plasma wave has been observed so far in single-shot, yet time-integrating schemes 19,20 . Thus, the measurements were incapable of providing insight into the relevant plasma wave dynamics and of timing the accelerated electron bunch with respect to the plasma wave.In this work we present snapshots of the magnetic field generated by the accelerated electron bunch and-simultaneously-of the plasma wave by the combination of two techniques: time-resolved polarimetry 21,22 and plasma shadowgraphy 23 . The novelty in our experimental investigation is the few-cycle duration of our laser pulses, which is even shorter than half of the plasma period. This, in combination with a high spatial resolution, allows

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confidence: 99%

Real-time observation of laser-driven electron acceleration

et al. 2011

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“…As discussed above, the first-order phase-mismatch ∆k 1 is proportional to the group velocity mismatch (GVM) between the signal and idler pulses δ si = 1/v gs − 1/v gi . The idea of removing GVM to realize first-order phase-matching leads to the development of noncollinear OPA (NOPA) schemes [58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74]. In NOPA, the pump and seed beams enter the nonlinear crystal with a noncollinear angle α in between.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ultrafast Mid-IR Laser Pulses Generation via Chirp Manipulated Optical Parametric Amplification

et al. 2018

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Abstract:Over the past decades, optical parametric amplification (OPA) has become one of the most promising sources of ultrafast Mid-IR laser, owing to its outstanding properties including ultrabroad bandwidth, superior tunability, good beam quality, and scalable energy. In this paper, we review the recent progress in ultrashort laser pulse generation via chirp manipulated OPA, which improves the energy scalability and gain bandwidth by strategically chirping both pump and seed pulses. The gain mechanism is theoretically analyzed and the OPA processes are numerically simulated. In addition, the concept is verified experimentally. Femtosecond pulses with hundreds of mJ are generated in a high energy dual-chirped-OPA (DC-OPA), and ultrabroadband µJ-level spectra supporting sub-2-cycle pulse durations are achieved in BBP-OPA. Furthermore, the obtained pulses show excellent tunability through the NIR to Mid-IR regions, which makes them a suitable seeding source for further amplification as well as powerful tools in various applications such as strong field physics, attosecond science, and ultrafast spectroscopy.

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“…The amplification bandwidth is further extended by the multi-wavelength pumping scheme [3,4]. The high amplification gain reached by the parametric amplification has led to the generation of sub-10-fs optical pulses with terawatt peak powers [5,6]. Such a highly intense pulse has been applied to initiate the relativistic light-matter interaction generating monoenergetic electrons [7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Four-Wave Optical Parametric Amplification in a Raman-Active Gas

Kida

Imasaka

2015

Photonics

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Four-wave optical parametric amplification (FWOPA) in a Raman-active medium is experimentally investigated by use of an air-filled hollow fiber. A femtosecond pump pulse shorter than the period of molecular motion excites the coherent molecular motion of the Raman-active molecules during the parametric amplification of a signal pulse. The excited coherent motion modulates the frequency of the signal pulse during the parametric amplification, and shifts it to lower frequencies. The magnitude of the frequency redshift depends on the pump intensity, resulting in intensity-dependent spectral characteristics that are different from those in the FWOPA induced in a noble-gas-filled hollow fiber.

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

Cited by 241 publications

References 23 publications

Real-time observation of laser-driven electron acceleration

Real-time observation of laser-driven electron acceleration

Ultrafast Mid-IR Laser Pulses Generation via Chirp Manipulated Optical Parametric Amplification

Four-Wave Optical Parametric Amplification in a Raman-Active Gas

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