Multi-millijoule, nonlinear preamplifier for high intensity femtosecond Yb:YAG chirped-pulse amplification lasers at 1030 nm

Suzuki, Masayuki; Kiriyama, Hiromitsu; Daito, Izuru; Okada, Hajime; Nakai, Yoshiki; Orimo, Satoshi; Sato, Masatoshi*; Tamaoki, Yoshinori*; Yoshii, Takehiro*; Maeda, Junya*; Matsuoka, Shinichi*; Kan, Hirofumi*; Bolton, P.; Daido, Hiroyuki; Kawanishi, Shunichi

We report the highest energy broadband laser pulses at a center wavelength of 1030 nm based on optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification (OPCPA). We have demonstrated amplification of 1030 nm femtosecond laser pulses from a broadband Yb oscillator to over 6.5 mJ with a total gain of greater than 10 achieved in a single pass through only 56 mm of gain material at a 10 Hz repetition rate. The amplified spectral bandwidth of 10.8 nm affords recompression to a 230 fs pulse duration following amplification. As an alternative to the regenerative amplifier (RA) this system is one of the more promising candidates for realizing compact, high intensity, direct diode pumped, high repetition rate femtosecond Yb:YAG chirped-pulse amplification (CPA) in laser systems.