High repetition rate fiber amplifier pumped sub-20 fs optical parametric amplifier

We report on a high repetition rate noncollinear optical parametric amplifier system (NOPA) based on a cavity dumped Ti:Sapphire oscillator providing the signal, and an Ytterbium-doped fiber amplifier pumping the device. Temporally synchronized NOPA pump pulses are created via soliton generation in a highly nonlinear photonic crystal fiber. This soliton is fiber amplified to high pulse-energies at high repetition rates. The broadband Ti:Sapphire laser pulses are parametrically amplified either directly or after additional spectral broadening. The approach of fiber-based pump-pulse generation from a femtosecond laser, that emits in the spectral region of NOPA-gain, offers enhanced long-term stability and pulse quality compared to conventional techniques, such as signal pulse generation from a high power laser system via filamentation in bulk media. The presented system produces high-energy ultra-short pulses with pulse-durations down to 15.6 fs and pulse-energies up to 500 nJ at a repetition rate as high as 2 MHz.