Pulse shaping in a midwave-IR OPCPA for multi-µJ few-cycle pulse generation at 12 µm via DFG.

We report on dispersion management in mid-IR optical parametric chirped pulse amplifiers (OPCPA) aiming for high-energy few-cycle pulses beyond 4 µm. The available pulse shapers in this spectral region limit the feasibility of sufficient higher-order phase control. Intending the generation of high energy pulses at 12 µm via DFG driven by the signal and idler pulses of a midwave-IR OPCPA, we introduce alternative approaches for mid-IR pulse shaping, namely a germanium-prism pair and a sapphire-prism Martinez compressor.

10-µJ few-cycle 12-µm source based on difference-frequency generation driven by a 1-kHz mid-wave infrared OPCPA.

We report on high-energy, few-cycle pulse generation in the long-wave infrared spectral region via difference-frequency generation (DFG) in GaSe and AgGaSe nonlinear crystals. The DFG is driven by the signal at 3.5 µm and idler at 5 µm of a high-power mid-wave infrared optical parametric chirped pulse amplification (OPCPA) system operating at a 1-kHz repetition rate.

Cr:ZnS-based soliton self-frequency shifted signal generation for a tunable sub-100 fs MWIR OPCPA.

We present a tunable, high-energy optical parametric chirped pulse amplification system with a front-end based on a femtosecond Cr:ZnS laser. By taking advantage of the broad emission spectrum of the femtosecond Cr:ZnS master oscillator, we are able to directly seed the holmium-based pump around 2 µm. At the same time, the signal pulses for the parametric process are generated via Raman self-frequency shifting of the red end of the spectrum centered at 2.

Compact OPCPA system seeded by a Cr:ZnS laser for generating tunable femtosecond pulses in the MWIR.

A compact mid-wavelength infrared (MWIR) optical parametric chirped pulse amplification (OPCPA) system generates sub-150 fs pulses at wavelengths from 5.4 to 6.8 µm with >400µ energy at a 1 kHz repetition rate.