Generation and Characterization of Mid-Infrared Supercontinuum in Bulk YAG Pumped by Femtosecond 1937 nm Pulses from a Regenerative Amplifier

Abstract

We have demonstrated the generation of supercontinuum (SC) pulses in bulk, using femtosecond pulses directly derived from a Tm:YAP regenerative amplifier. The SC spans from 380 nm−4 μ m. Such an SC combined with the applied 1937-nm pump pulse can be used in a mid-infrared optical parametric amplifier (MIR-OPA). A full characterization of the phase and stability of the SC provides important insight into the performance of such MIR-OPA systems. Using cross-correlation frequency-resolved optical gating (XFROG), we characterized the properties of the MIR section of the SC that can be used as a seed pulse in an MIR-OPA system. The pulse-to-pulse instability rooted in the intrinsic properties of the self-phase modulation process was observed in the retrieved trace and spectrum of the SC. In addition, the effect of the pump pulse quality was studied on the obtainable SC pulses.

Keywords

• solid-state lasers
• supercontinuum generation generation
• mid-infrared optical parametric amplifiers