High average power chirped pulse amplification systems
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Femtosecond pulse manipulation techniques have made it possible to take advantage of the superior energy storage characteristics of solid-state materials in order to produce energetic, and robust high peak power laser systems. In particular, femtosecond kilohertz Ti:Al2O3amplifier systems have been developed which produce average powers of 2 W or greater. One of the interesting capabilities of these chirped pulse amplification systems is the ability to produce shaped, amplified pulses. Plane simultaneous amplitude and phase control of the frequency components of the pulse is possible. This method of producing programmable optical pulse shapes was first demonstrated by Weiner et al. We have adapted this technique and designed two liquid crystal modulators which provide independent amplitude and phase control and can work within the diffractive stretcher system of the laser. This system has enabled us to produce amplified, shaped pulses. One of the most critical diagnostics in a laser system capable of producing arbitrarily shaped pulses is a correlation technique for determining the amplitude and phase of the amplified light. This enables us to determine how closely the shaped pulse approximates the ideal target pulse shape. We incorporate spectrally resolved autocorrelations, and/or frequency resolved optical gates in our system in order to accomplish this.
