Multi-gigawatt peak power post-compression in a bulk multi-pass cell at a high repetition rate
Ann-Kathrin Raab, Marcus Seidel, Chen Guo, Ivan Sytcevich, Gunnar Arisholm, A. L’Huillier, Cord L. Arnold, Anne‐Lise Viotti
Abstract
The output of a <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mn>200</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mspace width="thinmathspace"/> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mtext>kHz</mml:mtext> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> , <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mn>34</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mspace width="thinmathspace"/> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mtext>W</mml:mtext> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> , <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mn>300</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mspace width="thinmathspace"/> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mtext>fs</mml:mtext> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> ytterbium amplifier is compressed to <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mn>31</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mspace width="thinmathspace"/> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mtext>fs</mml:mtext> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> with <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mo>></mml:mo> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mn>88</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">%</mml:mi> </mml:math> efficiency to reach a peak power of <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mn>2.5</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mspace width="thinmathspace"/> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mtext>GW</mml:mtext> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> , which to date is a record for a single-stage bulk multi-pass cell. Despite operation 80 times above the critical power for self-focusing in bulk material, the setup demonstrates excellent preservation of the input beam quality. Extensive beam and pulse characterizations are performed to show that the compressed pulses are promising drivers for high harmonic generation and nonlinear optics in gases or solids.