2.05 µm chirped pulse amplification system at a 1 kHz repetition rate—2.4 ps pulses with 17 GW peak power

Abstract

Ho-doped yttrium lithium fluoride chirped pulse amplification (CPA) is implemented with a high-gain regenerative amplifier (RA) and a two-stage booster amplifier. We demonstrate the generation of 52.5 mJ pulses with a duration of 2.4 ps at a 1 kHz repetition rate. A peak power of 17 GW is achieved for the 2050 nm pulses. The CPA displays a remarkably high stability with a pulse-to-pulse rms as low as 0.23%. The RA operates without any signs of bifurcation and delivers 12 mJ pulses. Seeding the booster amplifier with the RA output scales the pulse energy linearly up into the 50–60 mJ range. The amplifier system is operated at room temperature and shows a high optical-to-optical efficiency of 20.3% with respect to the optical pump power.