Dynamic space shaping of intense ultrashort laser light with blazed-type gratings

A beam shaper for dynamic transversal shaping of broadband laser pulses that utilizes a blazed ruled grating and a blazed-type grating simulated on Spatial Light Modulator was demonstrated. The introduced shaper scheme is an extension of 2f-2f scheme [Mariyenko, et al., Opt. Express 13, 7599 (2005)] where the two thin holograms with matched grating constants performed light shaping. The new scheme utilizes the diffraction gratings with different grating constants. Dispersion-free light shaping is achieved by means of the intermediate transversal light beam magnification. The magnification balances the mismatch in the grating constants resulting in total residual angular dispersion compensation. In turn, the magnified beam covers a greater area on the modulator matrix thus reducing the incident light power density by a value equal to square of the magnification factor. It translates to the safe-operation threshold extension of the modulator allowing shaping pulses that are powerful enough to be used in the applications. With a proper components selection, the throughput efficiency of the shaper can be well above 40%. A proper shaper operation was demonstrated with the 140-fs Ti:Sapphire oscillator. Theoretical calculations support the conclusions.