Milestones

New world-record result in high-average power mid-infrared (mid-IR) optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifier (OPCPA): 100 kHz, 16.5 fs (2.2 optical cycles), 25 W, 2.2 µm and soft X-ray generation with a cut-off at >0.6 keV Download [Ref. 466] (PDF, 1.8 MB)

Related Newsitem: High harmonic generation in the water window with a high average power mid-infrared OPCPA at 100 khz

2019

Programmable pulse shaping for time-gated amplifiers Download [Ref. 452] (PDF, 3.7 MB)

2018

Record performance of high-power mid-IR ultrafast 100-kHz OPCPA: 126 µJ, 2.5 µm, 14.4 fs (1.7 cycles) Shortest pulse duration ever demonstrated at high repetition rate in the mid-IR spectral region without relying on nonlinear self-compression. Without nonlinear compression we obtained a cleaner temporal profile where most of the energy is contained within the compressed peak.
Download Ref. [448] (PDF, 2 MB)

2017

First time optical parametric amplification using tilted quasi-phase-matching (QPM) gratings: Adding a transverse k-vector component to the QPM grating allows for decoupling the geometrical layout of the amplification stage from its bandwidth. This acts as a new design degree of freedom, where the group velocity mismatch (GVM) can be minimized around the chosen wavelength without having to resort to modifying the geometrical layout of the OPA stage.
Download Ref. [438] (PDF, 2.4 MB)

2013

Sub-four-cycle pulses (41.6 fs) with 12 μJ of pulse energy in the mid-infrared spectral range (center wavelength 3.4 μm) from a high-repetition-rate, collinear three-stage OPCPA operating at 50 kHz and using apodized aperiodically poled MgO:LiNbO3 crystals.
Download Ref. [358] (PDF, 592 KB)

2012

75 MW few-cycle, mid-infrared pulses with record high average power and pulse
Download Ref. [339] (PDF, 863 KB)