Title :
Kilohertz gain-switched laser operation and femtosecond regenerative amplification in Cr:forsterite
Author :
Shcheslavskiy, Vladislav ; Zhavoronkov, Nickolay ; Petrov, Valentin ; Noack, Frank ; Bouvier, Marcel
Author_Institution :
Max-Born-Inst. for Nonlinear Opt. & Ultrafast Spectroscopy, Berlin, Germany
fDate :
8/1/1999 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
We present a comprehensive study of the optimum operating regime in a gain-switched Cr:forsterite laser at a repetition frequency of 1 kHz with special attention to temperature-dependent and parasitic absorption effects and proper resonator design. On the basis of the results achieved, me demonstrate highly efficient (13% extraction efficiency) operation of a femtosecond regenerative amplifier based on Cr:forsterite and operating near room temperature with a novel BBO Pockels cell that is highly resistant to optical damage. Chirped pulse amplification raises the pulse energy to 355 μJ in ≈30 cavity round trips which corresponds to an amplification factor of ≈5.5×105. The nearly transform limited 200-μJ 135-fs compressed pulses near 1.25 μm have a peak power of ≈1.5 GW. Frequency doubling with 52% conversion efficiency in LBO produces femtosecond pulses of 104-μJ energy in the visible near 625 nm
Keywords :
Q-switching; chirp modulation; chromium; laser beams; laser cavity resonators; laser tuning; magnesium compounds; optical harmonic generation; optical pulse compression; optical pulse generation; solid lasers; 1 kHz; 1.25 mum; 1.5 GW; 104 muJ; 13 percent; 135 fs; 200 muJ; 298 K; 355 muJ; 52 percent; 625 nm; BBO; BaB2O4; BaB2O4; Cr:forsterite laser; LiB3O5; Mg2SiO4:Cr; Pockels cell; amplification factor; cavity round trips; chirped pulse amplification; conversion efficiency; extraction efficiency; femtosecond pulses; femtosecond regenerative amplification; femtosecond regenerative amplifier; frequency doubling; gain-switched laser; highly efficient operation; kilohertz gain-switched laser operation; nearly transform limited compressed pulses; optical damage; optimum operating regime; parasitic absorption effects; peak power; pulse energy; repetition frequency; resonator design; room temperature; temperature-dependent effects; visible range; Absorption; Frequency; Optical design; Optical pulses; Optical resonators; Pulse amplifiers; Pulse compression methods; Repeaters; Semiconductor optical amplifiers; Ultrafast optics;
Journal_Title :
Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of
