High-Power, Few-Cycle, Angular Dispersion Compensated Mid-Infrared Pulses From a Noncollinear Optical Parametric Amplifier

Abstract

We demonstrate a scheme for correcting the angular dispersion of the 3.1- $\mu$m idler beam from a high repetition rate, KTiOAsO $_4$ (KTA) based noncollinear optical parametric amplifier pumped at 1.03 $\mu$m and seeded by broadband signal pulses at 1.55 $\mu$m. Following angular dispersion correction, successful temporal chirp compensation was possible, and a close to transform-limited pulse duration of 70 fs and a pulse energy of 30  $\mu$J at a repetition rate of 100 kHz were obtained. The angular chirp compensated KTA-based scheme is scalable to higher pulse energies and average powers and has various advantages compared to periodically poled and angle-tuned LiNbO$_3$ -based amplifiers, which exhibit low resistance to photorefractive damage.

Keywords

• Mid-wave infrared (MWIR) devices
• ultrafast technology