Broadband, high gain two-stage optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier using BBO crystals for a femtosecond high-power Ti:sapphire laser system

Abstract

We design a two-stage non-collinear optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier using BBO crystals for a high-power Ti:sapphire laser system, and numerically analyze the output characteristics of the OPCPA system. We find optimal phase-matching conditions and calculate the parametric gains as a function of pump intensity and interaction length. By constructing a two-stage OPCPA system using two BBO crystals, we obtain 12 mJ output energy corresponding to a high gain of 10(7), a pulse duration of 37 fs, and a contrast ratio of 5 X 10(-8). (C) 2011 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.