Chirped-pulse amplification with flashlamp-pumped Ti:sapphire amplifiers

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Ti:Sapphire (Ti:Al2O3) amplifier stages are typically pumped with Q-switched Nd:YAG lasers doubled to 532 nm because of good spectral overlap, short temporal width, high repetition rate (i.e., 10 Hz to > 5 kHz), and the problems associated with flashlamp pumping a material with a relatively short upper state lifetime. Limitations to this pumping method arise due to the 1 to 1.5 joule/pulse ceiling found in most commercial high rep rate Nd:YAG lasers. The availability of high quality, large aperture Ti:Sapphire rods has made the flashlamp-pumping scheme an attractive option. The front end of our laser relies on chirped pulse amplification (CPA) in laser pumped Ti:Sapphire to generate 55 mJ, 90 fsec pulses at a 10 Hz rate. We report the use of a flashlamp pumped Ti:Sapphire head to further amplify the output of our system, producing 90 fsec, 250 mJ pulses at 5 Hz. The excellent output spatial profile yields a near diffraction-limited 5 micrometers spot size and peak irradiance in excess of 5 X 1018 W/cm2.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: