Nonlinear pulse compression of a 200 mJ and 1 kW ultrafast thin-disk amplifier.

We present a high-energy laser source consisting of an ultrafast thin-disk amplifier followed by a nonlinear compression stage. At a repetition rate of 5 kHz, the drive laser provides a pulse energy of up to 200 mJ with a pulse duration below 500 fs. Nonlinear broadening is implemented inside a Herriott-type multipass cell purged with noble gas, allowing us to operate under different seeding conditions.

Nonlinear pulse compression of a thin-disk amplifier and contrast enhancement via nonlinear ellipse rotation.

We demonstrate pulse compressibility from 840 fs to 38 fs of 10 mJ pulses from a thin-disk amplifier at a repetition rate of 3 kHz after nonlinear broadening in a multipass cell. In addition, the temporal-intensity contrast is enhanced via nonlinear ellipse rotation of more than a factor 50 with an optical efficiency of 56%. We believe this is the first published experimental combination of multipass cell-based nonlinear compression and nonlinear ellipse rotation-based contrast enhancement preserving both pulse compressibility and beam quality.