Temporal shaping of narrow-band picosecond pulses via non-colinear sum-frequency mixing of dispersion-controlled pulses

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel nonlinear optical technique for shaping narrow-band picosecond laser pulses, improving electron source performance by enhancing temporal control during upconversion.

Contribution

It presents a new method using opposite-chirp sum-frequency mixing for efficient pulse shaping of challenging narrow-band pulses.

Findings

Achieved effective intensity-envelope shaping during nonlinear upconversion.

Numerical case-study indicates at least 25% improvement in electron emittance.

Demonstrated potential for enhanced photocathode laser pulse control.

Abstract

A long sought-after goal for photocathode electron sources has been to improve performance by temporally shaping the incident exitation laser pulse. The narrow bandwidth, short wavelength, and picosecond pulse duration make it challenging to employ conventional spectral pulse shaping techniques. We present a novel and efficient intensity-envelope shaping technique achieved during nonlinear upconversion through opposite-chirp sum-frequency mixing. We also present a numerical case-study of the LCLS-II photoinjector where transverse electron emittance is improved by at least 25%.