Open AccessTemporal contrast enhancement of femtosecond pulses by a self-diffraction process in a bulk Kerr medium
Author(s) -
Jun Liu,
Kotaro Okamura,
Yuichiro Kida,
Takayoshi Kobayashi
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.18.022245
Subject(s) - femtosecond , optics , femtosecond pulse shaping , materials science , picosecond , laser , diffraction , regenerative amplification , multiphoton intrapulse interference phase scan , pulse (music) , pulse duration , self focusing , chirped pulse amplification , pulse shaping , kerr effect , self phase modulation , diffraction efficiency , nonlinear optics , physics , laser beams , optical amplifier , nonlinear system , quantum mechanics , detector
We demonstrated for the first time the application of a self-diffraction (SD) process in a bulk Kerr medium to improve the temporal, spectral, and spatial qualities of femtosecond laser pulses. A proof-of-principle experiment succeeded in improving the temporal contrast of a femtosecond pulse by four orders of magnitude even in the picosecond region using a 0.5-mm-thick fused silica glass plate by this technique. The energy conversion efficiency from the incident pulses to the two first-order SD signals is about 12%. By the SD process, a laser pulse with smoother spectral shape, higher beam quality, and shorter pulse duration than those of the input pulse was generated. This technique is expected to be used to design background-free petawatt laser system in the future.
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