A carrier-envelope-phase stabilized terawatt class laser at 1~kHz with a wavelength tunable option

ORAL

Abstract

We demonstrate a chirped-pulse-amplified Ti:Sapphire laser system operating at 1~kHz, with 20~mJ pulse energy, 26~femtosecond pulse duration (0.77~terawatt), and excellent long term carrier-envelope-phase (CEP) stability. A new vibrational damping technique is implemented to significantly reduce vibrational noise on both the laser stretcher and compressor, thus enabling a single-shot CEP noise value of 250~mrad RMS over 1~hour and 300~mrad RMS over 9~hours. This is, to the best of our knowledge, the best long term CEP noise ever reported for any terawatt class laser. This laser is also used to pump a white-light-seeded optical parametric amplifier, producing 6~mJ of total energy in the signal and idler. Due to preservation of the CEP in the white-light generated signal and passive CEP stability in the idler, this laser system promises synthesized laser pulses spanning multi-octaves of bandwidth at an unprecedented energy scale.

*NSF-MRI grant No:1229672, DOD-DURIP grant No. FA2386-12-1-3014, DOE grant No. DE-FG02-86ER13491, NSF Fellowship DGE-1247193 (DJW), and NDSEG Fellowship (AMS)

Authors

  • C.A. Trallero

    • Kansas State University
  • B. Langdon

    • Crunchtec Technologies
  • J. Garlick

    • KM Labs
  • X. Ren

    • Univ of Central Florida
    • Kansas State University
  • D.J. Wilson

    • Kansas State University
  • A.M. Summers

    • Kansas State University
    • J. R. Macdonald Laboratory, Department of Physics, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS USA 66506
    • J.R. Macdonald Laboratory, Physics Department, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas 66506, USA
  • S. Zigo

    • Kansas State University
  • M.F. Kling

    • Ludwig-Maximilians-Universit{\"a}t
  • S. Lei

    • Kansas State University
  • C.G. Elles

    • University of Kansas
  • E.D. Poliakoff

    • Louisiana State University
  • K.D. Carnes

    • Kansas State University
    • J. R. Macdonald Laboratory, Department of Physics, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS USA 66506
    • J.R. Macdonald Laboratory, Physics Department, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas 66506, USA
  • Vinod Kumarappan

    • Kansas State University
  • I. Ben-Itzhak

    • Kansas State University
    • J. R. Macdonald Laboratory, Department of Physics, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS USA 66506
    • J.R. Macdonald Laboratory, Physics Department, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas 66506, USA
    • J.R. Macdonald Laboratory, Kansas State University Manhattan KS 66506 USA
    • J.R. Macdonald Laboratory, Kansas State University, Manhattan KS 66506