Coherent combining of femtosecond pulses parametrically amplified in BBO crystals

We report on the first experimental realization of coherent combining of parametrically amplified femtosecond pulses. The proposed and implemented two-loop active stabilization system allows us to achieve 110 as relative timing jitter between combined pulses, which is necessary for efficient coherent beam combining. In each channel of the two-channel laser setup, pulses were parametrically amplified in β-BaB2O4 (BBO) crystals to 50 μJ energy, compressed to 49 fs duration, and then coherently combined with efficiency as high as 97%. Currently, it is the shortest duration of amplified pulses for which coherent combining is demonstrated.