Self-compression at 1 µm wavelength in all-bulk multi-pass geometry

Abstract

We present directly oscillator-driven self-compression inside an all-bulk Herriott-type multi-pass cell in the near-infrared spectral range. By utilizing precise dispersion management of the multi-pass cell mirrors, we achieve pulse compression from 300 fs down to 31 fs at 11 µJ pulse energy and 119 W average power with a total efficiency exceeding 85%. This corresponds to an increase in peak power by more than a factor of three and a temporal compression by almost a factor of ten in a single broadening stage without necessitating subsequent dispersive optics for temporal compression. The concept is scalable towards millijoule pulse energies and can be implemented in visible, near-infrared and infrared spectral ranges. Importantly, it paves a way towards exploiting Raman soliton self-frequency shifting, supercontinuum generation and other highly nonlinear effects at unprecedented high peak power and pulse energy levels.