High repetition rate and high power picosecond terahertz parametric amplifier with a KTiOPO4 crystal

Abstract

A high repetition rate, high power, and widely tunable THz parametric amplifier (TPA) with a KTiOPO4 crystal has been demonstrated in this work. A peak power of 1.7 kW and an average power of 89 μW have been obtained at a frequency of 5.74 THz and a repetition rate of 10 kHz. The radiation is expected to be Fourier transform limited, with a pulse duration (full width at half maximum, FWHM) of 5.4 ps and a bandwidth (FWHM) of 81 GHz, and has an M2 parameter close to the pump laser. We have also tested the TPA at a repetition rate of 100 kHz, and the results indicate that mW-level (average power) THz radiation output is feasible with a stronger pump laser that is commercially available.