Chirped-Pulse Amplification with flashlamp-pumped Ti:Sapphire amplifiers
Ti:Sapphire (Ti:Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}) amplifier stages are typically pumped with Q-switched Nd:YAG lasers doubled to 532 nm because of good spectral overlap, short temporal width, high repetition rate (i.e., 10 Hz to > 5 kHz) and the problems associated with flashlamp pumping a material with a relatively short upper state lifetime. Limitations to this pumping method arise due to the 1 to 1.5 joule/pulse ceiling found in most commercial high rep rate Nd:YAG lasers. The availability of high quality, large aperture Ti:Sapphire rods has made the flashlamp-pumping scheme an attractive option. The excellent thermal properties of Ti:Sapphire also allows an amplifier to be operated at high repetition rates. The front end of our laser relies on Chirped Pulse Amplification (CPA) in laser pumped Ti:Sapphire to generate 55 NJ, 90 fsec pulses at a 10 Hz rate. We report the use of a flashlamp pumped Ti:Sapphire head to further amplify the output of our system, producing 90 fsec, 250 NJ pulses at 5 Hz. The excellent output spatial profile yields a near diffraction-limited 5 {mu}m spot size and peak irradiance in excess of 5 {times} 10{sup 18} W/cm{sup 2}.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 10136618
- Report Number(s):
- UCRL-JC-116292; CONF-940142-31; ON: DE94009101
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: OE/LASE `94: conference on optics, electro-optics, and laser applications in science and engineering,Los Angeles, CA (United States),22-29 Jan 1994; Other Information: PBD: Jan 1994
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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