Open AccessHigh Gain Frequency Domain Optical Parametric Amplification
Author(s) -
Philippe Lassonde,
Nicolas Thire,
Ladan Arissian,
Guilmot Ernotte,
Francois Poitras,
Tsuneyuki Ozaki,
Antoine Laramee,
Maxime Boivin,
Heide Ibrahim,
Francois Legare,
Bruno E. Schmidt
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
ieee journal of selected topics in quantum electronics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.131
H-Index - 159
eISSN - 1558-4542
pISSN - 1077-260X
DOI - 10.1109/jstqe.2015.2418293
Subject(s) - engineered materials, dielectrics and plasmas , photonics and electrooptics
The powerful technique of optical parametric amplification (OPA) experienced a huge advance with the invention of optical parametric chirped pulse amplification (OPCPA) and later noncollinear OPA. In this paper, we describe a radically different approach of performing parametric interaction in the frequency domain instead of the time domain. The frequency domain is reached via optical Fourier transformation, which provides a separation ansatz. It allows breaking down a big task into smaller ones which ultimately enables simultaneous up-scaling of peak power and bandwidth. The first proof-of-concept experiment yielding 1.4 mJ, two cycle pulses at 1.8-μm wavelength is complemented by a high gain (>2000) setup at 800-nm wavelength with 2.5 kHz repetition rate. A very low amount of parasitic superfluorescence without degradation of the picosecond pulse contrast within the pump pulse duration has been observed upon high gain conditions.