Open AccessImproving coherent contrast of petawatt laser pulses
Author(s) -
C. J. Hooker,
Y. Tang,
O. Chekhlov,
John Collier,
E. J. Divall,
Klaus Ertel,
S. Hawkes,
B. Parry,
P. P. Rajeev
Publication year - 2011
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.19.002193
Subject(s) - optics , laser , pedestal , picosecond , physics , chirped pulse amplification , diffraction , diffraction grating , scattering , contrast (vision) , materials science , pulse (music) , femtosecond , archaeology , detector , history
We report on an experimental study of the "coherent" contrast feature that frequently appears in petawatt(PW)-class laser pulses as an exponentially-rising pedestal within a few tens of picoseconds of the compressed pulse. We show that scattering from the diffraction gratings in the stretcher is the principal source of this feature. Replacing the gratings by new, higher-quality components resulted in an order-of-magnitude reduction in the intensity of the pedestal.