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Pulse shaping in a midwave-IR OPCPA for multi-µJ few-cycle pulse generation at 12 µm via DFG

Martin Bock, Lorenz von Grafenstein, Pia Fuertjes, Dennis Ueberschaer, Martin Duda, Ondřej Novák, Nikolay Abrosimov, and Uwe Griebner

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Abstract

We report on dispersion management in mid-IR optical parametric chirped pulse amplifiers (OPCPA) aiming for high-energy few-cycle pulses beyond 4 µm. The available pulse shapers in this spectral region limit the feasibility of sufficient higher-order phase control. Intending the generation of high energy pulses at 12 µm via DFG driven by the signal and idler pulses of a midwave-IR OPCPA, we introduce alternative approaches for mid-IR pulse shaping, namely a germanium-prism pair and a sapphire-prism Martinez compressor. Furthermore, we explore the limits of bulk compression in Si and Ge for multi-mJ pulse energies.

© 2023 Optica Publishing Group under the terms of the Optica Open Access Publishing Agreement

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Data availability

Data underlying the results presented in this paper are not publicly available at this time but may be obtained from the authors upon reasonable request.

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Figures (7)
Fig. 1.
Fig. 1. (a) Setup of the MWIR OPCPA and the LWIR difference frequency generation (DFG). It comprises the 3-color front-end, the 2.05 µm Ho:YLF chirped pulse amplifier (CPA) as pump, the four optical parametric amplifier (OPA) stages based on ZGP crystals. SLM, spatial light modulator; DM, dichroic mirrors; LF, long-pass filter; S, bulk stretcher (CaF2 or Al2O3). (b-d) Different pulse shaping configurations used in this work: spectral shaper + OPCPA (last stage) + Compressor; color code: red – pump, green – signal, violet – idler, black – LWIR DFG.

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Fig. 2.
Fig. 2. SH-FROG characterization of the idler pulse at 4.9 µm with CaF2 bulk compression and SLM for a pulse energy of 3.4 mJ. (a), (b) SH-FROG trace measured and retrieved, FROG error: 0.5%; (c) optical spectrum, measured (grey), retrieved (violet) and phase (red); (d) retrieved temporal pulse shape for the SLM in operation and switched off.

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Fig. 3.
Fig. 3. SH-FROG characterization of the signal pulse at 3.4 µm with Si bulk compression and SLM for a pulse energy of 40 µJ. (a), (b) SH-FROG trace measured and retrieved, FROG error: 0.3%; (c) optical spectrum, measured (grey), retrieved (green) and phase (turquoise); (d) retrieved temporal pulse shape and phase (turquoise).

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Fig. 4.
Fig. 4. Beam profile of the propagating signal pulse at 3.4 µm before and after the Si compressor. (a-d) Intensity distribution at four distinct positions z: field-of-view of 10.6 mm x 10.6 mm. (e) Measured beam waists in dependence on the propagation distance the x- and y-planes and the corresponding fits.

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Fig. 5.
Fig. 5. SH-FROG characterization of the idler pulse at 4.9 µm with CaF2 bulk compression and Ge-prism pair as shaper for a pulse energy of 1.9 mJ. (a), (b) SH-FROG trace measured and retrieved, FROG error: 0.5%; (c) optical spectrum, measured (grey), retrieved (violet) and phase (red); (d) retrieved temporal pulse shape (violet) and phase (red).

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Fig. 6.
Fig. 6. SH-FROG characterization of the signal pulse at 3.4 µm with a Ge-prism pair as shaper and a Martinez-type compressor for a pulse energy of 0.7 mJ. (a), (b) SH-FROG trace measured and retrieved, FROG error: 0.3%; (c) optical spectrum, measured (grey), retrieved (green) and phase (turquoise); (d) retrieved temporal pulse shape (green) and phase (turquoise).

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Fig. 7.
Fig. 7. Pulse characterization of the generated DFG at 12 µm in AGSe. Measured autocorrelation trace and spectrum (inset).

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Tables (2)

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Table 1. Dispersion values for the signal at 3.4 µm and idler pulses at 4.9 µm in the MWIR OPCPA with SLM and bulk compression (OPCPA dispersion is given by the stretcher and the OPA chain, τp denotes the resulting recompressed pulse duration)

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Table 2. Dispersion values for the signal at 3.4 µm and idler pulses at 4.9 µm in the MWIR OPCPA with Ge prism pair as pulse shaper (OPCPA dispersion is given by the stretcher and the OPA chain, τp denotes the resulting recompressed pulse duration)

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