TY  - JOUR
AU  - Sanchez, D.
AU  - Hemmer, M.
AU  - Baudisch, M.
AU  - Cousin, S. L.
AU  - Zawilski, K.
AU  - Schunemann, P.
AU  - Chalus, O.
AU  - Simon-Boisson, C.
AU  - Biegert, J.
TI  - 7  μm, ultrafast, sub-millijoule-level mid-infrared optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier pumped at 2 μm
JO  - Optica
VL  - 3
IS  - 2
SN  - 2334-2536
CY  - Washington, DC
PB  - OSA
M1  - PUBDB-2017-00242
SP  - 147 - 150
PY  - 2016
AB  - We present a novel all-fiber pumped optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier (OPCPA) architecture to generate self-carrier-to-envelope-phase stable, sub-eight-optical-cycle duration pulses at 7 μm wavelength approaching millijoulelevel pulse energy at 100 Hz repetition rate. The system yields a peak power of 1.1 GW and, if focused to the diffraction limit, would reach a peak intensity of 7 × 10<sup>14</sup> W∕cm<sup>2</sup>. The OPCPA is pumped by a 2 μm Ho:YLF chirped pulse amplifier to leverage the highly efficient and broadband response of the nonlinear crystal ZGP. The 7 μm seed at 100 MHz is generated via difference frequency generation from an Er:Tm:Ho multi-arm fiber frequency comb, and a fraction of its output optically injects the Ho:YLF amplifier. Whilethe pulse bandwidth at 7 μm is perfectly suited for nonlinear and spectroscopic applications, current parameters offer, for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, the possibility to explore strong-field physics in an entirely new wavelength range with a ponderomotive force 77 times larger than from an 800 nm source. The overall OPCPA system is very compact and provides a new tool for investigations directly in the molecular fingerprint region of the electro-magnetic spectrum or to drive high harmonic generation to produce fully coherent x-rays in the multi-kiloelectron-volt range and possibly zeptosecond temporal waveforms.
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
UR  - <Go to ISI:>//WOS:000370815900007
DO  - DOI:10.1364/OPTICA.3.000147
UR  - https://bib-pubdb1.desy.de/record/316850
ER  -