Multi-gigawatt peak power post-compression in a bulk multi-pass cell at a high repetition rate

Area of Science:

• Ultrafast lasers
• Nonlinear optics
• Laser physics

Background:

• High-power ultrafast lasers are crucial for advanced scientific research.
• Achieving high peak powers while maintaining pulse quality is a significant challenge.
• Bulk multi-pass cells offer a compact solution for laser amplification.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compress the output of a ytterbium amplifier to few-cycle durations.
• To achieve record peak power using a single-stage bulk multi-pass cell.
• To investigate the beam quality preservation at high power levels.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a 200kHz, 34W, 300fs ytterbium amplifier.
• Employed a single-stage bulk multi-pass cell for pulse compression.
• Conducted extensive beam and pulse characterizations.

Main Results:

• Compressed laser pulses to 31fs with over 88% efficiency.
• Reached a record peak power of 2.5GW from a single-stage bulk multi-pass cell.
• Demonstrated excellent preservation of input beam quality despite operating 80 times above critical power.

Conclusions:

• The developed system offers a new benchmark for high-power ultrafast laser sources.
• The compressed pulses are suitable for driving high harmonic generation.
• The technology shows promise for nonlinear optics experiments in various media.