A route to high peak power and energy scaling in the mid-IR chirped-pulse oscillator-amplifier laser systems

TL;DR

This paper proposes a novel hybrid mid-IR laser system that enables high peak power and energy scaling without increasing pulse duration or energy loss, using a chirped pulse oscillator as a seed and a universal CPA technique.

Contribution

It introduces a new approach combining a dissipative soliton energy scaling with a CPA method in a Cr2+:ZnS-based system, avoiding destructive nonlinearities and enabling energy-scalable ultrafast pulses.

Findings

Experimental and theoretical results show effective energy scaling.

The approach maintains pulse duration while increasing energy.

Potential for generating intense ultrashort pulses and frequency combs.

Abstract

The paper introduces a new route towards the ultrafast high laser peak power and energy scaling in a hybrid mid-IR chirped pulse oscillator-amplifier (CPO-CPA) system, without sacrificing neither the pulse duration nor energy. The method is based on using a CPO as a seed source allowing the beneficial implementation of a dissipative soliton (DS) energy scaling approach, coupled with a universal CPA technique. The key is avoiding a destructive nonlinearity in the final stages of an amplifier and compressor elements by using a chirped high-fidelity pulse from CPO. Our main intention is to realize this approach in a Cr2+:ZnS-based CPO as a source of energy-scalable DSs with well-controllable phase characteristics for a single-pass Cr2+:ZnS amplifier. A qualitative comparison of experimental and theoretical results provides a road map for the development and energy scaling of the hybrid CPO-CPA laser systems, without compromising pulse duration. The suggested technique opens up a route towards extremely intense ultra-short pulses and frequency combs from the multi-pass CPO-CPA laser systems that are particularly interesting for real-life applications in the mid-IR spectral range from 1 to 20 um.