Affiliation:
1. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
Abstract
We proposed spectrally temporally cascaded optical parametric amplification (STOPA) using pump energy recycling to simultaneously increase spectral bandwidth and conversion efficiency in optical parametric amplification (OPA). Using BiB3O6 and KTiOAsO4 nonlinear crystals, near-single-cycle mid-infrared (MIR) pulses with maximum energy conversion efficiencies exceeding 25% were obtained in simulations. We successfully demonstrated sub-two-cycle, CEP-stable pulse generation at 1.8 µm using a four-step STOPA system in the experiment. This method provides a solution to solve the limitations of the gain bandwidth of nonlinear crystals and the low conversion efficiency in broadband OPA systems, which is helpful for intense attosecond pulse generation and strong laser field physics studies.
Funder
National Key Research and Development Program of China
National Natural Science Foundation of China
the Young Scientist Basic Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
Natural Science Basic Research Program of Shaanxi Province
the Major Science and Technology Infrastructure Pre-research Program of the CAS
Key Deployment Research Program of XIOPM
Innovation Team in Shaanxi Province