Abstract

Third generation femtosecond technology (3FST), based on short-pulse-pumped optical parametric chirped pulse amplification (OPCPA) holds promise for providing few-femtosecond pulses with terawatt-scale peak powers and kilowatt-scale-average powers simultaneously [1]. OPCPAs pumped by near-1-ps pulses support efficient amplification of few-cycle pulses due to the combination of the high gain per unit length enabled by the high intensity damage threshold of the nonlinear crystal for shorter pump pulse durations and efficient harmonic generation. Short pump pulses also simplify dispersion management and improve the temporal contrast of the amplified signal.

© 2015 IEEE