Energy scaling in a compact bulk multi-pass cell enabled by Laguerre-Gaussian single-vortex beams

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates pulse energy scaling in a compact bulk multi-pass cell using Laguerre-Gaussian vortex beams, achieving higher peak powers and spectral broadening with precise beam control.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method of using reconfigurable Laguerre-Gaussian beams for spectral broadening in a short multi-pass cell, enabling significant pulse energy scaling.

Findings

Achieved 180 fs pulses with 610 μJ energy

Boosted laser peak power from 2.5 GW to 9.1 GW

Conserved topological charge after compression

Abstract

We report pulse energy scaling enabled by the use of Laguerre-Gaussian single-vortex ($\text{LG}_{0,l}$) beams for spectral broadening in a sub-40 cm long Herriott-type bulk multi-pass cell. Beams with orders ${l= 1-3}$ are generated by a spatial light modulator, which facilitates rapid and precise reconfiguration of the experimental conditions. 180 fs pulses with 610 uJ pulse energy are post-compressed to 44 fs using an $\text{LG}_{0,3}$ beam, boosting the peak power of an Ytterbium laser system from 2.5 GW to 9.1 GW. The spatial homogeneity of the output $\text{LG}_{0,l}$ beams is quantified and the topological charge is spectrally-resolved and shown to be conserved after compression by employing a custom spatio-temporal coupling measurement setup.