Abstract

The concept of a hybrid (solid/gas) laser chain allows combining a highly developed and robust solid-state laser technology for the femtosecond pulse generation and pre-amplification with a gaseous gain medium, which allows the direct injection and amplification of high-intensity ultrashort optical pulses and is considered to be applied in the final stages of a laser chain. Moreover, application of the photochemically driven ultra broadband laser transitions of excimer molecules, such as XeF(C-A) (transition center wavelength λ₀= 480 nm, spectral bandwidth ∆λ= 70 nm, saturation fluence ε_s= 0.05 J/cm²), Kr₂F (λ₀= 420 nm, ∆λ= 80 nm, ε_s= 0.2 J/cm²), and/or Xe₂Cl (λ₀= 510 nm, ∆λ= 100 nm, ε_s= 0.15 J/cm²), promises obtaining optical pulses exceeding petawatt peak powers with pulse duration shorter than 10 fs. [1,2] The spectral bandwidths of the cited transitions match the second harmonic of the Ti:Sapphire laser offering a rather simple and robust technical solution for the seed pulse generation, which consists in the use of a femtosecond Ti:Sa master oscillator with further frequency doubling after the pre-amplification stage. [3,4] Note also, that the nonlinear frequency conversion also favors attaining a high temporal contrast of amplified pulses.

© 2009 IEEE