Rapidly developing areas of high field physics, generation of high order harmonics or isolated attosecond pulses, require high peak power few-cycle pulse sources. Optical parametric chirped pulse amplification (OPCPA) has shown potential to satisfy these requirements and at present OPCPA is the leading technology for high energy few-cycle pulse table-top systems. The main objectives of this thesis were to investigate optical parametric amplification of broadband seed pulses in femtosecond and picosecond regimes, to develop and optimize a compact TW-scale OPCPA system intended for various applications in areas of high-field physics. In this thesis the main concept of such system is discussed, advantages and disadvantages of proposed approach are analyzed, the setup is compared to other world known systems. In this thesis an original approach for power scaling of regenerative amplifier by implementing several active elements in prolonged resonator has been proposed and investigated. Femtosecond pulse amplification in dual active element Yb:KGW regenerative amplifier has been demonstrated, resulting in boost of average output power to 30 W. Broad bandwidth pulse generation, parametric amplification and compression to transform limited values were analyzed both numerically and experimentally. White light continuum generation in bulk material for broadband seed formation, its further optical parametric amplification in noncollinear scheme were investigated and Yb:KGW driven... [to full text] / Stiprių laukų fizikos srities tyrimams, aukštų eilių harmonikų ir pavienių atosekundinių impulsų generavimui, yra reikalingos kompaktiškos teravatų smailinės galios kelių optinių ciklų išvadinių impulsų lazerinės sistemos. Optinis parametrinis „čirpuotų“ impulsų stiprinimas yra vienas pagrindinių metodų leidžiančiu pasiekti šiems taikymams reikalingus lazerinių sistemų parametrus. Šios disertacijos darbo tikslas – ištirti femtosekundinės ir pikosekundinės trukmės impulsų stiprinimą optiniuose parametriniuose stiprintuvuose užkratui naudojant ypač plataus spektro signalą, bei sukurti ir optimizuoti čirpuotų impulsų parametrinio stiprinimo sistemą, užtikrinančią patikimą teravatų smailinės galios impulsų formavimą. Disertacijoje aptariama bendra tokios sistemos architektūra, nagrinėjami privalumai ir trūkumai, palyginama su kitomis pasaulyje egzistuojančiomis sistemomis. Šiame darbe pasiūlytas ir ištirtas lazerių vidutinės išvadinės galios didinimo metodas, naudojant kelis aktyviuosius elementus viename rezonatoriuje, ir pademonstruotas femtosekundinių impulsų stiprinimas šio metodo pagrindu sukonstruotame dviejų Yb:KGW aktyvių elementų regeneratyviniame stiprintuve, tokiu būdu padidinant lazerio išvadinę galią iki 30 W. Darbo metu sukonstruota bei ištirta Yb:KGW femtosekundiniu lazeriu kaupinamos baltos šviesos kontinuumo generavimo ir nekolinearaus kaupinimo optinio parametrinio stiprinimo sistema, kurios išvadinių impulsų energiją siekia 20 mikrodžiaulių, o impulsai... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]

Laser high-order harmonic generation in the presence of relatively weak interfering light is investigated. The interfering pulses intersect the primary harmonic-generating laser pulse at the laser focus. The interfering light creates a standing intensity and phase modulation on the field, which disrupts microscopic phase matching and shuts down local high harmonic production. Suppression of the 23rd harmonic (by two orders of magnitude) is observed when a counter-propagating interfering pulse of light is introduced. A sequence of counter-propagating pulses can be used to shut down harmonic production in out-of-phase zones of the generating volume to achieve quasi phase matching. Harmonic emission is enhanced in this case. A new high-power laser system with higher pulse energy has been constructed to further investigate quasi phase matching of high-order harmonics generated in difficult-to-ionize atomic gases (e.g., neon as opposed to argon). The new system can also be used to study harmonic generation in ions. A new counter-propagating beam produces a train of 5 pulses with regulated timing. In preliminary tests, the new system has produced high harmonics up to the 65th order in neon. This should increase with additional adjustments to the laser system. The high-order harmonics have also demonstrated to be useful for polarized reflectometry measurements of optical surfaces in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) wavelength range.

High power thulium fiber lasers are useful for a number of applications in both continuous-wave and pulsed operating regimes. The use of thulium as a dopant has recently gained interest due to its large bandwidth, possibility of high efficiency, possibility of high power and long wavelength ~1.8 – 2.1 μm. The longer emission wavelength of Tm-doped fiber lasers compared to Yb- and/or Er-doped fiber lasers creates the possibility for higher peak power operation due to the larger nonlinear thresholds and reduced nonlinear phase accumulation. One primary interest in Tm-doped fiber lasers has been to scale to high average powers; however, the thermal and mechanical constraints of the fiber limit the average power out of a single-fiber aperture. One method to overcome the constraints of a single laser aperture is to spectrally combine the output from multiple lasers operating with different wavelengths into a single beam. In this thesis, results will be presented on the development of three polarized 100 W level laser systems that were wavelength stabilized for SBC. In addition to the development of the laser channels, the beams were combined using bandpass filters to achieve a single near diffraction-limited output. Concurrently, with the development of high average power systems there is an increasing interest in femotosecond pulse generation and amplification using Tm- doped fiber lasers. High peak power sources operating near 2 µm have the potential to be efficient pump sources to generate mid-infrared light through supercontinuum generation or optical parametric oscillators. This thesis focuses on the development of a laser system utilizing chirped pulse amplification (CPA) to achieve record level energies and peak powers for ultrashort pulses in Tm-doped fiber. iv A mode-locked oscillator was built to generate femtosecond pulses operating with pJ energy. Pulses generated in the mode-locked oscillator were limited to low energies and contained spectral modulation due to the mode-locking mechanism, therefore, a Raman-soliton self-frequency shift (Raman-SSFS) amplifier was built to amplify pulses, decrease the pulse duration, and spectrally clean pulses. These pulses were amplified using chirped pulse amplification (CPA) in which, limiting factors for amplification were examined and a high peak power system was built. The primary limiting factors of CPA in fibers include the nonlinear phase accumulation, primarily through self-phase modulation (SPM), and gain narrowing. Gain narrowing was examined by temporally stretching pulses in a highly nonlinear fiber that both stretched the pulse duration and broadened the spectrum. A high peak power CPA system amplified pulses to 1 µJ energy with 300 fs compressed pulses, corresponding to a peak power >3 MW. High peak power pulses were coupled into highly nonlinear fibers to generate supercontinuum

This dissertation details the development of the world’s first cryogenically cooled Fe:ZnSe-based chirped pulse amplifier, a mid-wave infrared source for strong-field physics experimentation. The long upper-state lifetime provided by cryogenically cooling the Fe:ZnSe gain medium allows free-running, diode-pumped Er:YAG lasers to be used as pump lasers. The amplifier is seeded by a novel two-stage optical parametric amplifier pumped at 1 μm, which is potentially carrier-envelope phase-stable. The system is capable of producing 247-fs pulses at 333 Hz and 4.6 mJ with a center wavelength of 4.07 μm, although exact characteristics vary for different repetition rates and arrangements. The spectral bandwidth avoids strong atmospheric CO2 absorption centered around 4.3 μm, allowing operation in ambient air with good beam quality. The laser is simple, stable, reliable, and boasts a high repetition rate and average power compared to other systems. By focusing the 18-GW beam in air, harmonics up to the ninth order were observed indicating its potential for use in strong-field experimentation. Few-cycle pulses were generated by passing the beam, at a repetition rate of 400 Hz, through a large-diameter gas-filled hollow-core fiber followed by dispersion compensating bulk CaF2. A krypton-filled fiber at 370 kPa yielded 1.14-mJ, 42-fs pulses centered at 4.07-μm, while an oxygen-filled fiber at 310 kPa delivered 0.78-mJ, 39-fs pulses spanning 3 to 5.5 μm. This work is a step toward a high repetition rate mid-wave infrared driver of isolated attosecond, keV-level, X-ray pulses. Fe:ZnSe is a unique gain medium with potential to become a disruptive technology across a variety of fields, especially in strong-field science, in which many physical phenomena are enhanced at longer wavelengths.

This thesis deals with the design of a stretcher and compressor systems used for the chirped pulse amplification method for the L4 beamline. The L4 beamline is being developed for the ELI Beamlines project and aims to deliver pulses with peak power of 10 petawatt, central wavelength of 1060 nanometers, pulse duration of 150 femtoseconds and energy of 1500 Joules. Since the laser induced damage threshold and aperture of commercial diffraction gratings is currently a limiting factor in reaching higher peak powers, it was necessary to increase the effective aperture of the compressor using either tiled grating or object-image-grating self tiling methods. These two methods are compared for two compressor configurations using either 1740 ln/mm or 1136 ln/mm diffraction gratings, methods for their alignment are discussed and the selected alignment method is experimentally tested. Moreover, an analytical theory connecting the Seidel aberrations of the stretcher imaging system with the spectral phase deviation of the stretched pulse is presented. This theory is applied to commonly used Banks and Offner stretcher designs and it is demonstrated how it can be employed for the suppression of residual spectral phase of compressed pulses. Next, the design of the stretcher for the L4 beamline based on this theory is...

La chaîne laser Apollon 10PW est un projet de grande envergure visant à fournir des impulsions de 10 PW et atteindre des intensités sur cibles de 10^22 W/cm^2. Dans l’état de l'art actuel, les lasers à dérive de fréquence (CPA) de haute intensité à base de cristaux titane saphir (Ti:Sa), sont limités à des puissances de crête de 1,3 PW pour des impulsions de 30-fs, en raison du rétrécissement spectral par gain dans les amplificateurs. Pour accéder au régime multipetawatt, le rétrécissement de gain doit être évité. Pour cela une technique alternative d’amplification appelée amplification paramétrique optique d'impulsions à dérive de fréquence (OPCPA) est utilisée. Elle offre la possibilité d’amplifier sur des très larges bandes spectrales de gain et d’accéder à des durées d'impulsion aussi courtes que 10 fs. Le laser Appolon 10 PW exploite une technologie hybride d’OPCPA et de Ti:Sa-CPA pour atteindre in fine des impulsions de 15 fs avec une énergie de 150 J. L’OPCPA est réalisé essentiellement sur les étages d'amplification de basse énergie et de très fort gain (ou le rétrécissement par le gain se fait le plus ressentir), ceci pour obtenir des impulsions de 100 mJ, 10 fs. Deux étages OPCPA sont préus ; le premier en régime picoseconde, le second en régime nanoseconde, et subséquemment on utilisera le Ti:Sa pour l'amplification de très haute énergie pour atteindre le régime multi-Joule.Les travaux de cette thèse porte sur le pilote OPCPA du laser Apollon-10 PW et se concentre sur le développement d’une source d’impulsions ultra-courtes avec un contraste élevé. Pour atteindre l’objectif final de 15 fs, 150 J, le pilote doit permettre l’obtention d’impulsions dont le spectre supporte des durées de 10 fs, ceci avec un contraste temporel d'au moins 10^10. Dans cette thèse nous nous intéressons à la mise en œuvre des premiers étages du pilote. Ce travail concerne les étages de compression, de nettoyage d’impulsions et d’amplification OPCPA en régime picoseconde. Ainsi, en partant d'une source commerciale Ti:Sa délivrant des impulsions de 25-fs avec un contraste de 10^8, nous réalisons tout d’abord un élargissement spectral par auto-modulation de phase et une amélioration du contraste par génération de polarisation croisée (XPW). Ensuite, nous nous intéressons aux différents étireurs ps possibles incluant un filtre dispersif programmable (dazzler) en vue d’injecter l’OPCPA picoseconde de manière optimale. La solution directe utilisant un bloc de verre BK7 a été retenue et son association avec un compresseur compact pour le diagnostique de la compressibilité a été étudiée. Enfin, l’amplificateur OPCPA ps a été mis en œuvre dans des configurations à simple et double étages. / The Apollon-10 PW laser chain is a large-scale project aimed at delivering 10 PW pulses to reach intensities of 10^22 W/cm^2. State of the art, high intensity lasers based solely on chirped pulse amplification (CPA) and titanium sapphire (Ti:Sa) crystals are limited to peak powers reaching 1.3 PW with 30-fs pulses as a result of gain narrowing in the amplifiers. To access the multipetawatt regime, gain narrowing can be suppressed with an alternative amplification technique called optical parametric chirped pulse amplification (OPCPA), offering a broader gain bandwidth and pulse durations as short as 10 fs. The Apollon-10 PW laser will exploit a hybrid OPCPA-Ti:Sa-CPA strategy to attain 10-PW pulses with 150 J and 15 fs. It will have two high-gain, low-energy amplification stages (10 fs ,100 mJ range) based on OPCPA in the picosecond and nanosecond timescale and afterwards, and will use Ti:Sa for power amplification to the 100-Joule level.Work in this thesis involves the progression of the development on the Apollon-10 PW front end and is focused on the development of a high contrast, ultrashort seed source supporting 10-fs pulses, stretching these pulses prior to OPCPA and the implementation of the picosecond OPCPA stage with a target of achieving 10-mJ pulses and maintaining its bandwidth. To achieve the final goal of 15-fs, 150-J pulses, the seed source must have a bandwidth supporting 10-fs and a temporal contrast of at least 10^10. Thus from an initial commercial Ti:Sa source delivering 25-fs pulses with a contrast of 10^8, spectral broadening via self-phase modulation and contrast enhancement with cross polarized (XPW) generation was performed. Subsequently, the seed pulses were stretched to a few picoseconds to match the pump for picosecond OPCPA. Strecher designs using an acousto-optic programmable dispersive filter (dazzler) for phase control in this purpose are studied. A compact and straightforward compressor using BK7 glass is used and an associated compressor for pulse monitoring was also studied. Lastly, the picosecond OPCPA stage was implemented in single and dual stage configurations.

Disertacija yra skirta išnagrinėti ir paaiškinti impulsinių šviesos pluoštų parametrinio stiprinimo metu vykstančius reiškinius. Ypatingas dėmesys yra skiriamas erdvinei-laikinei impulsinio šviesos pluošto dinamikai stiprinimo metu. Visi nagrinėjamų reiškinių tyrimai buvo atliekami taikant skaitmeninio modeliavimo metodus. Modelyje panaudotos lygtys buvo išvestos iš Maksvelo lygčių, išsamiai aptariant lygčių išvedimo metu daromas prielaidas. Naudojantis pateiktu modeliu buvo gauti skaitmeniniai rezultatai, kurie parodė, jog nekolineariame parametriniame stiprintuve, kuomet kaupinimo ir signalinio impulsų frontai nėra sutapatinti, signalinis impulsas tampa pakrypęs ir be kampinės dispersijos taip pat įgyja ir erdvinį čirpą. Nustatyta, kad indukuotų erdvinės ir kampinės dispersijų mažėjimo sparta, didinant signalinio impulso laikinį čirpą, yra skirtinga. Pagrindiniai šio teorinio tyrimo rezultatai buvo patvirtinti eksperimentiškai. Taip pat šioje disertacijoje yra pristatomas naujas ir universalus impulsinių kūginių bangų parametrinio stiprinimo metodas, kuriame sustiprinti impulsai patys susispaudžia laike ir erdvėje paprasčiausiai sklisdami laisvoje erdvėje. Šis metodas leidžia formuoti didelio smailinio intensyvumo invariantiškus bangų paketus, galinčius nusklisti daugelį Relėjaus nuotolių norimoje medžiagoje. Priešingai nei įprastame čirpuotų impulsų stiprinimo metode, šis metodas nereikalauja impulsų spaustuvo, o tai žymiai palengvina parametrinį kelių optinių ciklų... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / This thesis is aimed to provide an extensive picture of the phenomena encountered in optical parametric amplification of pulsed light beams. The particular attention is paid for the spatio-temporal dynamics of the pulsed light beams being amplified. All the research has been done by means of numerical methods. The equations used in the model were derived from the Maxwell’s equations and the assumptions made along the derivation of equations were discussed. Using the presented model it has been numerically demonstrated, that in noncollinear optical parametric amplifier, when pulse fronts of pump and signal are not matched, the signal pulse becomes tilted and aside from angular dispersion acquires a spatial chirp. It has been shown, that the magnitudes of the induced spatial and angular dispersions decrease at different rates with the increase of the signal pulse temporal chirp. The main results of this study were verified experimentally. Additionally, in this thesis we have proposed a novel and versatile method for pulsed conical wave parametric amplification with subsequent spatio-temporal compression during propagation in free space. It allows to form ultra-intense and propagation invariant wave-packets capable to propagate over many Rayleigh range in the desired material. In contrast to ordinary chirped-pulse amplification technique it does not require a pulse compressor, thus greatly facilitates the parametric amplification of few-cycle light pulses.

This thesis is aimed to provide an extensive picture of the phenomena encountered in optical parametric amplification of pulsed light beams. The particular attention is paid for the spatio-temporal dynamics of the pulsed light beams being amplified. All the research has been done by means of numerical methods. The equations used in the model were derived from the Maxwell’s equations and the assumptions made along the derivation of equations were discussed. Using the presented model it has been numerically demonstrated, that in noncollinear optical parametric amplifier, when pulse fronts of pump and signal are not matched, the signal pulse becomes tilted and aside from angular dispersion acquires a spatial chirp. It has been shown, that the magnitudes of the induced spatial and angular dispersions decrease at different rates with the increase of the signal pulse temporal chirp. The main results of this study were verified experimentally. Additionally, in this thesis we have proposed a novel and versatile method for pulsed conical wave parametric amplification with subsequent spatio-temporal compression during propagation in free space. It allows to form ultra-intense and propagation invariant wave-packets capable to propagate over many Rayleigh range in the desired material. In contrast to ordinary chirped-pulse amplification technique it does not require a pulse compressor, thus greatly facilitates the parametric amplification of few-cycle light pulses. / Disertacija yra skirta išnagrinėti ir paaiškinti impulsinių šviesos pluoštų parametrinio stiprinimo metu vykstančius reiškinius. Ypatingas dėmesys yra skiriamas erdvinei-laikinei impulsinio šviesos pluošto dinamikai stiprinimo metu. Visi nagrinėjamų reiškinių tyrimai buvo atliekami taikant skaitmeninio modeliavimo metodus. Modelyje panaudotos lygtys buvo išvestos iš Maksvelo lygčių, išsamiai aptariant lygčių išvedimo metu daromas prielaidas. Naudojantis pateiktu modeliu buvo gauti skaitmeniniai rezultatai, kurie parodė, jog nekolineariame parametriniame stiprintuve, kuomet kaupinimo ir signalinio impulsų frontai nėra sutapatinti, signalinis impulsas tampa pakrypęs ir be kampinės dispersijos taip pat įgyja ir erdvinį čirpą. Nustatyta, kad indukuotų erdvinės ir kampinės dispersijų mažėjimo sparta, didinant signalinio impulso laikinį čirpą, yra skirtinga. Pagrindiniai šio teorinio tyrimo rezultatai buvo patvirtinti eksperimentiškai. Taip pat šioje disertacijoje yra pristatomas naujas ir universalus impulsinių kūginių bangų parametrinio stiprinimo metodas, kuriame sustiprinti impulsai patys susispaudžia laike ir erdvėje paprasčiausiai sklisdami laisvoje erdvėje. Šis metodas leidžia formuoti didelio smailinio intensyvumo invariantiškus bangų paketus, galinčius nusklisti daugelį Relėjaus nuotolių norimoje medžiagoje. Priešingai nei įprastame čirpuotų impulsų stiprinimo metode, šis metodas nereikalauja impulsų spaustuvo, o tai žymiai palengvina parametrinį kelių optinių ciklų... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]

The Apollon-10 PW laser chain is a large-scale project aimed at delivering 10 PW pulses to reach intensities of 10^22 W/cm^2. State of the art, high intensity lasers based solely on chirped pulse amplification (CPA) and titanium sapphire (Ti:Sa) crystals are limited to peak powers reaching 1.3 PW with 30-fs pulses as a result of gain narrowing in the amplifiers. To access the multipetawatt regime, gain narrowing can be suppressed with an alternative amplification technique called optical parametric chirped pulse amplification (OPCPA), offering a broader gain bandwidth and pulse durations as short as 10 fs. The Apollon-10 PW laser will exploit a hybrid OPCPA-Ti:Sa-CPA strategy to attain 10-PW pulses with 150 J and 15 fs. It will have two high-gain, low-energy amplification stages (10 fs ,100 mJ range) based on OPCPA in the picosecond and nanosecond timescale and afterwards, and will use Ti:Sa for power amplification to the 100-Joule level.Work in this thesis involves the progression of the development on the Apollon-10 PW front end and is focused on the development of a high contrast, ultrashort seed source supporting 10-fs pulses, stretching these pulses prior to OPCPA and the implementation of the picosecond OPCPA stage with a target of achieving 10-mJ pulses and maintaining its bandwidth. To achieve the final goal of 15-fs, 150-J pulses, the seed source must have a bandwidth supporting 10-fs and a temporal contrast of at least 10^10. Thus from an initial commercial Ti:Sa source delivering 25-fs pulses with a contrast of 10^8, spectral broadening via self-phase modulation and contrast enhancement with cross polarized (XPW) generation was performed. Subsequently, the seed pulses were stretched to a few picoseconds to match the pump for picosecond OPCPA. Strecher designs using an acousto-optic programmable dispersive filter (dazzler) for phase control in this purpose are studied. A compact and straightforward compressor using BK7 glass is used and an associated compressor for pulse monitoring was also studied. Lastly, the picosecond OPCPA stage was implemented in single and dual stage configurations.

The ultrashort chirped pulse amplification (CPA) laser technology opens the path to high intensities of 10^21 W/cm² and above in the laser focus. Such intensities allow laser-matter interaction in the relativistic intensity regime. Direct diode-pumped ultrashort solid-state lasers combine high-energy, high-power and efficient amplification together, which are the main advantages compared to flashlamp-pumped high-energy laser systems based on titanium-doped sapphire. Development within recent years in the field of laser diodes makes them more and more attractive in terms of total costs, compactness and lifetime. This work is dedicated to the Petawatt, ENergy-Efficient Laser for Optical Plasma Experiments (PENELOPE) project, a fully and directly diode-pumped laser system under development at the Helmholtz–Zentrum Dresden – Rossendorf (HZDR), aiming at 150 fs long pulses with energies of up to 150 J at repetition rates of up to 1 Hz. The focus of this thesis lies on the spectral and width manipulation of the front-end amplifiers, trivalent ytterbium-doped calcium fluoride (Yb3+:CaF2) as gain material as well as the pump source for the final two main amplifiers of the PENELOPE laser system. Here, all crucial design parameters were investigated and a further successful scaling of the laser system to its target values was shown. Gain narrowing is the dominant process for spectral bandwidth reduction during the amplification at the high-gain front-end amplifiers. Active or passive spectral gain control filter can be used to counteract this effect. A pulse duration of 121 fs was achieved by using a passive spectral attenuation inside a regenerative amplifier, which corresponds to an improvement by a factor of almost 2 compared to the start of this work. A proof-of-concept experiment showed the capability of the pre-shaping approach. A spectral bandwidth of 20nm was transferred through the first multipass amplifier at a total gain of 300. Finally, the predicted output spectrum calculated by a numerical model of the final amplifier stages was in a good agreement with the experimental results. The spectroscopic properties of Yb3+:CaF2 matches the constraints for ultrashort laser pulse amplification and direct diode pumping. Pumping close to the zero phonon line at 976nm is preferable compared to 940nm as the pump intensity saturation is significantly lower. A broad gain cross section of up to 50nm is achievable for typical inversion levels. Furthermore, moderate cryogenic temperatures (above 200K) can be used to improve the amplification performance of Yb3+:CaF2. The optical quality of the doped crystals currently available on the market is sufficient to build amplifiers in the hundred joule range. The designed pump source for the last two amplifiers is based on two side pumping in a double pass configuration. However, this concept requires the necessity of brightness conservation for the installed laser diodes. Therefore, a fully relay imaging setup (4f optical system) along the optical path from the stacks to the gain material including the global beam homogenization was developed in a novel approach. Beside these major parts the amplifier architecture and relay imaging telescopes as well as temporal intensity contrast (TIC) was investigated. An all reflective concept for the relay imaging amplifiers and telescopes was selected, which results in several advantages especially an achromatic behavior and low B-Integral. The TIC of the front-end was improved, as the pre- and postpulses due to the plane-parallel active-mirror was eliminated by wedging the gain medium.