Adaptive pulse compression for transform-limited 15-fs high-energy pulse generation

Area of Science:

• Ultrafast optics
• Nonlinear optics
• Laser physics

Background:

• High-order residual phase aberrations limit femtosecond laser performance.
• Minimizing pulse duration and prepulse energy is crucial for applications.
• Spectral-domain correction offers a potential solution for laser pulse shaping.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate the effectiveness of a deformable-mirror pulse shaper combined with evolutionary optimization for correcting phase aberrations.
• To reduce the output pulse duration and temporal prepulse energy of a femtosecond laser amplifier.
• To increase the peak intensity of the laser pulse.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a deformable-mirror pulse shaper integrated with an evolutionary optimization algorithm.
• Employed frequency-resolved optical gating (FROG) measurements to characterize the laser pulses.
• Applied spectral-domain correction to address pulse pedestals.

Main Results:

• Achieved an output pulse duration of 15.2 fs, close to the theoretical transform limit.
• Significantly reduced the pulse duration and temporal prepulse energy.
• Increased the peak intensity of the laser pulse by 26%.

Conclusions:

• The combination of a deformable-mirror pulse shaper and evolutionary optimization effectively corrects high-order phase aberrations.
• Spectral-domain correction is a viable method for mitigating pulse pedestals in laser amplifiers.
• This technique enhances femtosecond laser performance by optimizing pulse duration, prepulse energy, and peak intensity.