Open AccessInsertable pulse cleaning module with a saturable absorber pair and a compensating amplifier for high-intensity ultrashort-pulse lasers
Author(s) -
Akifumi Yogo,
Kiminori Kondo,
M. Mori,
Hiromitsu Kiriyama,
Koichi Ogura,
Takuya Shimomura,
Norihiro Inoue,
Yuji Fukuda,
H. Sakaki,
S. Jinno,
Masato Kanasaki,
P. R. Bolton
Publication year - 2014
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.22.002060
Subject(s) - materials science , optics , chirped pulse amplification , laser , femtosecond pulse shaping , amplifier , ultrashort pulse , bandwidth limited pulse , pulse (music) , optoelectronics , ti:sapphire laser , saturable absorption , pulse duration , amplified spontaneous emission , multiphoton intrapulse interference phase scan , sapphire , fiber laser , physics , cmos , detector
We demonstrate the performance of an efficient insertable pulse cleaning module (IPCM) that uses a saturable absorber (SA) pair with a compensating multi-pass amplifier. IPCM consists of a first SA, a grating compressor, a second SA, a stretcher and a compensating Ti:sapphire amplifier. It is implemented with a conventional chirped pulse amplification (CPA) Ti:sapphire laser system, resulting in a double CPA system architecture, and suppresses the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) level of the pulse pedestal by about three orders of magnitude while preserving the output pulse energy and repetition-rate of the overall laser system. The duration of recompressed cleaned pulses is comparable to that obtained without the cleaning module. The effectiveness of the cleaning module is confirmed in laser-driven proton acceleration experiments. At the 10(9) W/cm2 pedestal level, the surface structure and electrical resistivity of an insulator target (100 nm silicon nitride) are preserved prior to the arrival of the intense ultrashort pulse.