Abstract

We demonstrate a compact source of energetic and phase-locked multi-terahertz pulses at a repetition rate of 190 kHz. Difference frequency mixing of the fundamental output of an Yb:KGW amplifier with the idler of an optical parametric amplifier in GaSe and ${\mathrm{LiGaS}}_2$ crystals yields a passively phase-locked train of waveforms tunable between 12 and 42 THz. The shortest multi-terahertz pulses contain 1.8 oscillation cycles within the intensity full width at half-maximum. Pulse energies of up to 0.16 μJ and peak electric fields of 13 MV/cm are achieved. Electro-optic sampling reveals a phase stability better than 0.1 π over multiple hours, combined with free carrier-envelope phase tunability. The scalable scheme opens the door to strong-field terahertz optics at unprecedented repetition rates.

© 2017 Optical Society of America

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