Abstract
Development of laser systems for generation of ultra-short, ultra-high intensity pulses is one of the recent trends in the laser physics. There are various techniques that can lead to output intensities of multiple petawatts; one of them is the optical parametric chirped pulse amplification (OPCPA), which is currently tested in our laboratory1 to provide a necessary know-how for future petawatt upgrade of the Prague Asterix Laser System (PALS).2 The OPCPA allows utilization of a high-power gas laser chain as the pump for the parametric amplification. However, the front-end of this photodissociation gas amplifier chain must be a solid-state laser to enable nanosecond time synchronization with the signal laser. We use a commercially available optical parametric oscillator (OPO), tuned to the iodine laser line, for this purpose. Since the line is extremely narrow (20 pm FWHM), tuning of the OPO with this precision and long-term stability is an issue. We developed an automated closed-loop control system for this purpose, as shown in Fig. 1a.
© 2007 IEEE
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