Abstract

A highly efficient pulse cleaner based on nonlinear ellipse rotation (NER) in a liquid medium of ${\mathrm{CS}}_2$ is investigated for the temporal contrast enhancement of ultrashort pulses. In theory, a nonlinear transmissivity higher than 60% can be achieved with the temporal contrast improved by about four orders of magnitude, on the condition that the extinction ratio of the polarizer–analyzer pair is better than ${10}^4$. In a proof of principle experiment, the cleaned pulses at the mJ level with total transmissivity as high as 30% are obtained via NER, in which the temporal contrast is enhanced by about three orders of magnitude. This provides a simple and feasible technology for improving the temporal contrast of an ultrashort and ultraintense laser system in the future.

© 2013 Optical Society of America

Nonlinear pulse compression of a thin-disk amplifier and contrast enhancement via nonlinear ellipse rotation

Yanik Pfaff, Carola Forster, Gaia Barbiero, Michael Rampp, Sandro Klingebiel, Jonathan Brons, Catherine Y. Teisset, Haochuan Wang, Robert Jung, Jasna Jaksic, Abel H. Woldegeorgis, Clara J. Saraceno, and Thomas Metzger
Opt. Express 30(7) 10981-10990 (2022)

Discriminating thermal effect in nonlinear-ellipse-rotation-modified Z-scan measurements

Zhi-Bo Liu, Shuo Shi, Xiao-Qing Yan, Wen-Yuan Zhou, and Jian-Guo Tian
Opt. Lett. 36(11) 2086-2088 (2011)

Contrast improvement of sub-4 fs laser pulses using nonlinear elliptical polarization rotation

N. Smijesh, X. Zhang, P. Fischer, A. A. Muschet, R. Salh, A. Tajalli, U. Morgner, and L. Veisz
Opt. Lett. 44(16) 4028-4031 (2019)

Single-beam technique for ultrashort pulse characterization based on the nonlinear ellipse rotation signal

R. M. Moysés, E. C. Barbano, and L. Misoguti
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 40(6) 1518-1524 (2023)

Temporal contrast enhancement of picosecond pulses based on phase-conjugate wave generation

S. G. Liang, H. J. Liu, N. Huang, Q. B. Sun, Y. S. Wang, and W. Zhao
Opt. Lett. 37(2) 241-243 (2012)