High-efficiency, simple setup for pulse cleaning at the millijoule level by nonlinear induced birefringence.
Nonlinear elliptical polarization rotation is used to improve the contrast of femtosecond pulses by several orders of magnitude. Using nonlinear induced birefringence in air, we produced cleaned pulses with an energy of a few hundreds of microjoules. This technique presents several major advantages, such as convenience and stability of the setup. We investigated the phase profile required for obtaining high-energy pulses. No phase distortion is observed, and the spatial quality of the beam is preserved.
Jullien
Aurélie
A
Laboratoire d'Optique Appliquée, Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Techniques Avancées-Ecole Polytechnique, 91761 Palaiseau Cedex, France. Aurelie.Jullien@ensta.fr
Augé-Rochereau
Frédérika
F
Chériaux
Gilles
G
Chambaret
Jean-Paul
JP
d'Oliveira
Pascal
P
Auguste
Thierry
T
Falcoz
Franck
F