Abstract

The pump-induced degradation of the temporal contrast of laser pulses amplified by optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification (OPCPA) is studied analytically. In OPCPA systems, the temporal fluctuations of the pump pulse are coupled to the spectrum of the chirped signal by the instantaneous parametric gain and lead to a reduction in the temporal contrast of the recompressed amplified signal. The intensity and shape of the induced temporal pedestal depend on the pump fluctuations and the parametric amplifier operating regime. General equations describing the contrast degradation are derived and applied to the case of sinusoidal pump-intensity modulation and pump amplified spontaneous emission. The reduction of the contrast in the amplified pulse is quantified analytically and via simulations for an OPCPA system.

© 2007 Optical Society of America

Pulse-contrast degradation due to pump phase-modulation in optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification system

Hongyan Ren, Liejia Qian, Heyuan Zhu, Dianyuan Fan, and Peng Yuan
Opt. Express 18(12) 12948-12959 (2010)

Analysis of pump-to-signal noise transfer in two-stage ultra-broadband optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification

C. Feng, C. Dorrer, C. Jeon, R. Roides, B. Webb, and J. Bromage
Opt. Express 29(24) 40240-40258 (2021)

Surface-reflection-initiated pulse-contrast degradation in an optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifier

Jing Wang, Peng Yuan, Jingui Ma, Yongzhi Wang, Guoqiang Xie, and Liejia Qian
Opt. Express 21(13) 15580-15594 (2013)

Degradation of temporal contrast from post-pedestal interference with a chirped pulse in an optical parametric amplifier

B. Webb, C. Feng, C. Dorrer, C. Jeon, R. G. Roides, S. Bucht, and J. Bromage
Opt. Express 32(7) 12276-12290 (2024)

Scattering pulse-induced temporal contrast degradation in chirped-pulse amplification lasers

Zhaoyang Li, Shigeki Tokita, Satoshi Matsuo, Keiichi Sueda, Takashi Kurita, Toshiyuki Kawasima, and Noriaki Miyanaga
Opt. Express 25(18) 21201-21215 (2017)