High-contrast 10 fs OPCPA-based front end for multi-PW laser chains

Applications using multi-PW lasers necessitate high temporal pulse quality with a tremendous contrast ratio (CR). The first crucial prerequisite to achieve multi-PW peak power is the generation of ultrashort pulses with good spectral phase quality. Second, to avoid any deleterious pre-ionization eff...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Optics letters 2017, Vol.42 (18)
Main Authors: Papadopoulos, D., Ramirez, P., Genevrier, K., Ranc, L., Lebas, N., Pellegrina, A., Le Blanc, C., Monot, P., Martin, L., Zou, J., Mathieu, F., Audebert, P., Georges, Patrick, Druon, F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Physics
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Summary:Applications using multi-PW lasers necessitate high temporal pulse quality with a tremendous contrast ratio (CR). The first crucial prerequisite to achieve multi-PW peak power is the generation of ultrashort pulses with good spectral phase quality. Second, to avoid any deleterious pre-ionization effect on targets, nanosecond contrast better than 10$^{12}$ is also targeted. In the framework of the Apollon 10 PW French laser program, we present a high-contrast 10 fs front-end design study to inject highly energetic Ti:sapphire PW lasers. The CR has been measured and analyzed in different time ranges highlighting the different major contributions for each scale.
ISSN:0146-9592
1539-4794
DOI:10.1364/OL.42.003530