Amplificarea pulsurilor laser ultrascurte.

CPA in Ti:safir
sau OPCPA? Solutii pentru laserul ELI-RO.
(Partea II)
R. Dabu
Sectia Laseri, INFLPR
CUPRINS

1. Amplificarea pulsurilor laser cu deriva de frecventa (chirped pulse amplification -
CPA) in Ti:safir.
- Caractersiticile Ti:safir ca mediu amplificator laser.
- Probleme legate de amplificarea pulsurilor de femtosecunde de mare energie.
2. Ce este amplificarea parametrica si, in particular, OPCPA.
- Oscilatia, generarea si amplificarea parametrica ca fenomene in optica neliniara.
- Relatiile care guverneaza fenomenele parametrice.
- Castigul unui amplificator parametric, banda de frecventa.
3. Amplificare parametrica optica (OPA) de banda larga si de banda foarte larga.
- Conditiile de obtinere a amplificarii parametrice de banda larga sau foarte larga.
- Cum se calculeaza pentru un cristal dat parametrii de functionare in cele doua cazuri.
- Potentialul aplicarii pentru laserii cu pulsuri ultrascurte de mare putere.
- Amplificarea parametrica a pulsurilor largite cu deriva de frecventa OPCPA.
- Metode de obtinere a amplificarii de banda larga: la degenerescenta, amplificare
necoliniara, folosirea mai multor laseri de pompaj. Exemple.
- Metode de obtinere a amplificarii de banda foarte larga. Benzile de amplificare foarte larga
in cristale BBO si DKDP pentru laserii din clasa PW.
4. Prezentarea unor sisteme laser amplificatoare in domeniul PW:
- Laserul rusesc cu oscilator in fs la 1250 nm (Cr:forsterite) si amplificare in cristale DKDP.
- Laserul englez (910 nm) cu amplificare de mare energie in DKDP.
- Laserul german cu amplificare pe ~ 900 nm.
- Laserul francez cu amplificare pe 800 nm in BBO si Ti:safir.
- Comparatie intre diferite sisteme de amplificare (China, Korea, Japonia, Rusia, Franta,
Germania si Anglia). OPCPA versus amplificare in Ti-safir: avantaje si dezavantaje.
5. Care ar fi cea mai buna solutie pentru laserul ELI-RO? Ce e de facut pentru realizarea
la timp si la parametrii propusi a sistemului laser ELI-RO?

Second-order nonlinear wave mixing
Polarization - electric dipole moment per unit of volume
Polarization vector P induced in a medium:
where E is the electric field strength of an applied optical wave,
0
is the free-space permittivity,
) 3 ( ) 2 ( ) 1 (
, , _ _ _ and are the first-order (linear), second-order, third-order susceptibility of the medium.
| | ... ...
) 3 ( ) 2 ( ) 1 ( ) 3 ( ) 2 ( ) 1 (
0
+ + + = + + + = P P P E E E E E E P _ _ _ c
Second-order nonlinear optical processes are generated by the second-order nonlinear polarization:
E E P =
) 2 (
0
) 2 (
_ c
Second-order nonlinear three-wave interactions:
Second-harmonic generation (SHG)
Sum/difference frequency generation (SFG, DFG)
Optical parametric generation, amplification and oscillation (OPG, OPA, OPO)
1 2
2e e =
1 2 3
e e e =
i s p
e e e + =
Optical parametric amplification (OPA)
(a), (b), (c) - OPO; (d) - OPG; (e) - OPA
Non-linear crystal

p

p

p
=
s
+
i

p
>
s
>
i

p-pump
s signal
i - idler
p
k
s
k
i
k Collinear OPA

p
k
s
k
i
k
Non-collinear OPA - NOPA
Byer, R.L. Optical Parametric Oscillators. In Quantum Electronics: A Treatise, Rabin, H.; Tang, C.L., Eds; Academic Press, New-York, San Francisco,
London, 1975; Vol. 1, Nonlinear Optics, Part B, 587-702. R. Dabu, Parametric Oscillators and Amplifiers in Encyclopedia of Optical Engineering,
Marcel Dekker, New York, published online in 2004
Optical axis


Parametric process
Monochromatic plane wave propagating along z-axis:
( ) | | { } z k t j z A t z E
s s s s
= e exp ) ( Re ) , (
Nonlinear induced polarization at
i p s
e e e = ( ) | | { } t j z P t z P
s
NL
s
NL
s
e exp ) ( Re ) , ( =
z d
A d
k
z d
A d
s
s
s
2
2
2
<<
2
2
0
2
2
0
2
t
P
t
E
E
NL
c
c
+
c
c
= V c Equation of electric field propagation
Assuming: collinear wave-vectors
slowly-varying-amplitude approximation:
Propagation equation for the signal amplitude:
Coupled equations that describe the parametric amplification process (neglected waves absorption in crystal):
( ) | | ) exp( exp ) ( ) (
2
) exp( ) (
2
) 2 (
0
0 0
z k j z k k j z A z A
n
c
j z k j z P
n
c
j
z d
A d
s i p i p
s
s
s
NL
s
s
s s
= =
-
_ c
e e
) exp(
) exp(
) exp(
z k j A A
c n
d
j
dz
A d
z k j A A
c n
d
j
dz
A d
z k j A A
c n
d
j
dz
A d
i s
p
eff p p
s p
i
eff i
i
i p
s
eff s
s
A =
A =
A =
-
-
e
e
e
i s p
k k k k = A
2
) 2 (
_
=
eff
d , effective nonlinear optical coefficient [m/V]
, wave-vector mismatch
, 0 = Ak
perfect phase-matching
G. Cerullo at al, Rev. Sci. Instrum., 74, 1 (2003); R. Dabu et al, Optica neliniara, Editura Univ. Bucuresti, 2007
Efficient parametric process:
) ( ) ( ) ( 0
0
i i i s s s p p p i s p
i s p
n n n k k k e e e
e e e
=
=
Distinct features of laser medium amplification and OPA
Laser medium amplification OPA
During the existence of the inverted
population (energy accumulated on
the upper laser level)
For Ti:sapphire:
~ 1 s after the pump pulse
10-100 ns precision of pump and signal
pulse synchronisation
During the pump and signal pulse
temporal overlapping

Pump and signal pulse of the same
duration
Pump-signal pulse synchronisation
<(pump/signal pulse duration)/10
Thermal loading

Part of the pump energy (~ 33% in case of
Ti:sapphire) is dissipated in the amplifying
medium
No thermal loading

Nonlinear crystal are transparent for the
interacting beams wavelength
L p
h h v v >
Parametric gain
) 0 ( ) 0 (
p s
A A << small initial signal amplitude
0 ) 0 ( =
i
A no initial idler beam
) 0 ( ) (
p p
A L A ~
neglected pump depletion; L, length of nonlinear crystal
Parametric gain
where
2
2 2
2
|
.
|

\
| A
I =
k
g
c n n n
I d
c n n n
I d
i s p i s
p eff
p i s
p eff i s
0
2 2
3
0
2
2
8 2
c
t
c
e e
= = I
Low parametric gain,
2
k
g
A
~
2 2
2 2 2
2
2
2 2
) ( 0
2
sin
2
2
sin
) (
L L G k
L k
c L
L k
L k
L L G
S
S
I = = A
|
.
|

\
| A
I =
|
.
|

\
| A
|
.
|

\
| A
I ~
High parametric gain,
2
2
2
) ( sinh
) 0 (
) 0 ( ) (
) (
g
gL
I
I L I
L G
s
s s
s
I =

=
4
) 2 exp(
) ( 0
4
) 2 exp(
) (
2
) exp(
) sinh( , 1
2
2
L
L G k
g
L
L G
L g
L g gL
S
S
I
~ = A
I I
~ ~ >>
R. Dabu et al, Optica neliniara, Editura Univ. Bucuresti, 2007
OPA with ultrashort pulses
G. Cerullo at al, Rev. Sci. Instrum., 74, 1 (2003)
Frame of reference moving with GV of pump pulse,
gp
v
z
t = t
) exp(
) exp(
1 1
) exp(
1 1
z k j A A
c n
d
j
z
A
z k j A A
c n
d
j
A
v v z
A
z k j A A
c n
d
j
A
v v z
A
i s
p
eff p p
s p
i
eff i
i
gp gi
i
i p
s
eff s
s
gp gs
s
A =
c
c
A =
c
c
|
|
.
|

\
|
+
c
c
A =
c
c
|
|
.
|

\
|
+
c
c
-
-
e
e
t
e
t
GVM between pump and signal/idler pulses limits the interaction length of parametric amplification:
i s j
v v
L
gp gj
jp
, ,
1 1
=

=
t
GVM between signal and idler pulses determines the phase-matching band-width for the
parametric amplification process
Gain band-width is given by :
) 0 (
2
1
) ( = A = A k G k G
s s
Wave-vector mismatch, k:
Collinear OPA: phase-matching band-width within large gain approximation
1. First order wave-vector mismatch, k
(1)
0
FWHM phase matching band-width:
gi gs
i
i
s
s
v v
L
k k
L
1 1
1 ) 2 (ln 2 1 ) 2 (ln 2
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
) 1 (

|
.
|

\
| I
=
c
c

c
c
|
.
|

\
| I
= A
t
e e
t
v
...
) 3 ( ) 2 ( ) 1 (
> A > A > A k k k
... 0
... ) (
6
1
) (
2
1
) ( ) ( ) (
0 ) ( ) ( ) (
, 0
) 3 ( ) 2 ( ) 1 (
3
3
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
2
0 0
0 0
) 0 (
0 0 0 0
+ A + A + A +
= A
|
|
.
|

\
|
c
c

c
c
A
|
|
.
|

\
|
c
c
+
c
c
A
|
|
.
|

\
|
c
c

c
c
= A
= = A
A = A + = =
k k k
k k k k k k
k k k k
k k k k
i
i
s
s
i
i
s
s
i
i
s
s
i i s s p p
i i s s p p
i i s s i s p
e
e e
e
e e
e
e e
e e e
e e e
e e e e e e e e e
Phase matching
2. Second order wave-vector mismatch, k(1) = 0, k(2) 0
Broad band-width:
2
1
4
1
4
1
2
1
2
2
2
2
4
1
4
1
) 2 (
) ( ) (
1 ) 2 (ln 2 1 ) 2 (ln 2
i s
i
i
s
s
GVD GVD
L
k k
L
+
|
.
|

\
| I
=
c
c
+
c
c
|
.
|

\
| I
= A
t
e e
t
v
Basic papers
- A. Dubietis, G. Jonusauskas, and A. Piskarskas. Powerful femtosecond
pulse generation by chirped and stretched pulse parametric amplification in
BBO crystal. Optics Commun. 88, 437 (1992).
- Ross, I.N.; Matousek, P.; Towrie, M.; Langley, A.J.; Collier, J. The prospects
for ultrashort pulse duration and ultrahigh intensity using optical parametric
chirped pulse amplifiers. Optics Commun. 144, 125-133 (1997).
- Collier, J.; Hernandez-Gomez, C.; Ross, I.N.; Matousek, P.; Danson, C.N.;
Walczak, J. Evaluation of ultrabroadband high-gain amplification technique
for chirped pulse amplification facilities. Appl. Opt., 38, 7486-7493 (1999).
- I. N. Ross, J. L. Collier,, K. Osvay, Generation of terawatt pulses by use
of optical parametric chirped pulse amplification, Appl. Opt. 39, 2422 (2000).
Optical parametric chirped pulse amplification - OPCPA
Key principle of OPCPA:
A broad bandwidth linearly chirped signal pulse is amplified with an energetic and
relatively narrow-band pump pulse of approximately the same duration
Key features:
- High signal gain (up to ten orders of magnitude per cm)
- Broad bandwidth (ultrashort re-compressed pulses)
- Small B integral*
- Negligible thermal loading
- High signal - noise contrast ratio
- High energy pulses in available large non-linear crystals, no transversal lasing
- Unlike ultrafast pulses OPA, there is no practical restriction concerning GVM of
pump and signal/idler pulses (crystal length)
- Precise time/space synchronization of signal and pump pulses
- High intensity and high quality pump beams required
- Short (ps-ns) pump pulse duration
*B integral total on-axis nonlinear phase-shift accumulated through the amplifier chain:
}
= dz z I n B ) (
2
2

t
n
2
nonlinear index quantifying the Kerr nonlinearity, I(z) signal intensity
B <1; if B >3-5, self-focusing could appear
Broad-band OPCPA
a) Near degeneracy,
gi gs i s
v v ~ ~
0
1 1
) 1 (
~ A
|
|
.
|

\
|
= A
|
|
.
|

\
|
c
c

c
c
= A e e
e e
gi gs i
i
s
s
v v
k k
k
mm L cm GW I nm I type BBO
P P
8 , / 1 , 532 ,
2
= = =
2
1
4
1
4
1
2
1
2
2
2
2
4
1
4
1
) 2 (
) ( ) (
1 ) 2 (ln 2 1 ) 2 (ln 2
i s
i
i
s
s
GVD GVD
L
k k
L
+
|
.
|

\
| I
=
c
c
+
c
c
|
.
|

\
| I
= A
t
e e
t
v
Collinear OPCPA
Signal/idler
wavelength
[nm]

[degree]
Bandwidth
[nm]
Pulse
duration
[fs]

S
= 750

I
= 1830
21.6 4.4 189

S
= 800

I
= 1588
22.1 5.4 173

S
= 850

I
= 1422
22.4 7.7 137

S
= 900

I
= 1301
22.6 13.1 91

S
=
I
=
1064
22.8 99.8 17
Broad-band OPCPA
b) Non-collinear OPCPA - NOPCPA

p
k
i
k
s
k
0 sin sin ) (
0 cos cos ) (
= = A
= = A
| o
| o
i p y
i s p x
k k k
k k k k
Phase matching:
y
x

( )
s
i
s
i
p
i
gi gs
i
i
s
s
s
s
i s
i
i
y
s
s
i s
i
i
s
s
s
x
i s
n
n
v v
k k
k
k
k
k
k k
k
d d
k mismatch phase order First

|
o

| o
|
e
|
e
e
e
|
| e |
e
e
e
|
| e |
e
e
e
e e
+
~
+
=
= =
c
c
+
c
c

= A
c
c
A
c
c
= A
= A
c
c
+ A
c
c
+ A
c
c
= A
=
= A
1 1
1
sin sin
cos 0 cos
0 cos sin ) (
0 sin cos ) (
0
) 1 (
) 1 (
) 1 (

p
=532 nm
Noncollinear phase-matching in BBO crystal

s
= 800 nm
i
= 1588 nm


pump
signal

Crystal optical axis
0
0
0
8 . 6
3 . 2
7 . 23
~
~
~
|
o
u
(internal)
BBO crystal
R. Butkus, LEI-2009, Brasov
Dependence of spectrum on pump-signal angle
BBO-I noncollinear OPCPA
300 ps
Amplified signal spectra a, b, c for =41.5, 41and 30 mrad
X. Yang et al, Appl Phys B, 73, 219 (2001)
=24.5
0

=0
0

c) Multi-beam pumped OPCPA
E. eromskis et al, Opt. Commun. 203, 435 (2002).
Nd:glass pump (1 ps)
Broad band OPCPA
165 cm
-1
-> ~ 8.6 nm
Ultra-broad-band OPCPA
a) Noncollinear OPCPA,
first-order and second-order phase mismatch terms: 0 ) ( ) (
) 2 ( ) 1 (
~ A ~ A k k
b) Pre-chirp control collinear OPCPA,
relatively broad-band linearly chirped pump laser pulse,
nonlinearly ultra-broad bandwidth chirped signal pulse
a) Noncollinear OPCPA, first-order and second-order phase mismatch
terms 0,
~ 0 ) ( ) (
) 2 ( ) 1 (
~ A ~ A k k

p
k
i
k
s
k
y

0 sin sin ) (
0 cos cos ) (
= = A
= = A
| o
| o
i p y
i s p x
k k k
k k k k
(1) Phase matching, (k)
(0)
= 0
(2) First order phase-mismatch, (k)
(1)
= 0
|
e
|
e
cos 0 cos
gi gs
i
i
s
s
v v
k k
= =
c
c
+
c
c

(3) Second order phase-mismatch, (k)

(2)
= 0
Crystal optical axis
( ) ( ) 0
sin
cos
sin
cos
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
= + = +
i gs
i s
i gs i
i
s
s
k v
GVD GVD
k v d
k d
d
k d |
|
|
e
|
e
a) Noncollinear OPCPA, first-order and second-order phase mismatch
terms 0
0 ) ( ) (
) 2 ( ) 1 (
~ A ~ A k k
V.V. Lozhkarev et al, Laser Physics, Vol. 15, 1319 (2005)
-BaB
2
O
4
(BBO) I crystal:
~~
~
KD
2
PO
4
(DKDP,KD*P) I crystal: KH
2
PO
4
(KDP) I crystal:
I
P
= 1 GW/cm
2

Uniaxial negative crystals, n
e
< n
o

nm nm
nm nm
f s nm nm
S
S
S
110 910
70 750
6 , 155 850 800
0
0
0
~ A =
~ A =
= ~ A =


t
fs nm nm
s
9 , 135 , 910
0
= ~ A = t fs nm nm
s
20 , 75 , 1054
0
= ~ A = t
Conditions to obtain the ultra-broad-band amplification bandwidth
KDP DKDP BBO
Critical wavelength, *: 984 nm 1120 nm 1430 nm


(ultra-broad-band PM) Never
fulfiled
~ 910 nm ~ 800 nm
max 0
2
2
valoare v
d
k d
gs
=
e
nm
p
527 =
s

2
-
>

p
2
-
<

p
2
-
<

p
V.V. Lozhkarev et al, Laser Physics, Vol. 15, 1319 (2005)
The principle of pre-chirp control

If we adjust the chirp ratio between the pump and the signal to
compensate the group velocity mismatch and group velocity dispersion
mismatch, we could increase the energy transfer efficiency of the
parametric process.
At the same time, the gain bandwidth would match the parametric
bandwidth.

Collinear OPCPA, pumping by a relatively broad-band linearly chirped
pump laser pulse
Collinear chirp-compensated amplifier- ultra-broad-band generation around degeneracy
Linear chirp in the pump pulse requires a signal with quadratic chirp to provide
temporal overlap of phase matched spectral components.
J. Limpert et al, Opt. Express, Vol. 13, 7386 (2005)
J. Limpert et al, Opt. Express,
Vol. 13, 7386 (2005)
Collinear chirp-compensated amplifier- experimental set-up
UV pump pulses are positively
stretched in the prism sequence to
~ 550 fs
Supercontinuum is generated in a
5-cm length photonic crystal fiber
Short-pulse source at 910 nm suitable seed for high energy OPCPA system
Central Laser Facility, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, Oxon, UK
Linearly negative GVD stretched pump seed pulses ~ 2 nm/ps
SHG at 400 nm in 0.2 mm BBO crystal, ~ 6.8 nm bandwidth, 110 J pulse
energy, 1 nm/ps linear chirp
Signal seed pulse at 714 nm; the air and glass stretcher were adjusted to get
the desired combination of nonlinear and linear signal chirp (18 nm/ps)
Idler at 910 nm, 7 J pulse energy, 165 nm bandwidth, was obtained after two-
pass amplification. Calculated Fourier transform-limited pulse duration ~ 14.5 fs.
) 1 (
) 1 (
2
0
0
t c t b
t a
S S
P P
=
=
v v
v v
Y.Tang et al, Opt. Lett, Vol. 33, 2386 (2008)
OPCPA phase matching conditions in uniaxial nonlinear crystals
1. Collinear phase-matching s p
,
i
i i
s
s s
p
p p
i s p
n n
n

u

) ( ) (
) , (
1 1 1
+ =
+ =
u ,
i
2. Non-collinear phase-matching,
broad bandwidth

s p
,
| v
|

u
|

u

cos
0 cos
) ( ) (
cos
) , (
0 sin
) (
sin
) , (
1 1 1
gi gs
i
i i
s
s s
p
p p
i
i i
p
p p
i s p
v
n n
n
n
n
=
=
=
+ =
| o u , , , ,
i s


| o u , , ,
i
3. Non-collinear phase-matching,
ultra-broad bandwidth
p

Uniaxial crystal, Sellmeier equations: ) ( ), (

e o
n n
0
sin
cos
cos
0 cos
) ( ) (
cos
) , (
0 sin
) (
sin
) , (
1 1 1
2
2
2
2
2
2
= +
=
=
=
+ =
i gs i
i
s
s
gi gs
i
i i
s
s s
p
p p
i
i i
p
p p
i s p
k v d
k d
d
k d
v
n n
n
n
n
|
e
|
e
| v
|

u
|

u

Femtosecond PW class lasers over the world
1. OPCPA laser systems
- Nijnii-Novgorod, Russia
- Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK
- PFS, MPQ Garching, Germany
2. Ti:sapphire amplification
- XL III, Beijing, China
- Center for Femto-Atto Science and Technology & Advanced
Photonics Research Institute, Korea
3. Hybrid laser system
- Apollon 10, Paris, France