Multi-pass cell-based nonlinear pulse compression of Yb:YAG pump-probe lasers at FLASH

Abstract

The majority of user experiments at the high repetition-rate free electron laser (FEL) facility FLASH are of pump-probe type, combining the extreme ultraviolet (XUV) or soft x-ray radiation from the FEL with ultrashort pulses generated by optical lasers. In this contribution, we demonstrate the advantages of using high-power Yb:YAG lasers with subsequent nonlinear pulse compression stages based on multi-pass cells (MPC). The approach enables the combination of hundreds of kHz to MHz repetition-rates, hundreds of watts of average powers and excellent intensity stabilities. We present the characteristics of the MPC-based pump-probe laser at the FLASH plane-grating beamlines. Furthermore, we report pulse compression to 8.2 fs pulse duration and the seeding of an optical parametric amplifier generating mid-IR radiation tunable from 1.4 µm to 16 µm.