title: Multimillijoule chirped parametric amplification of few-cycle pulses.
abstract: The concept of optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification is applied to attain pulses with energies up to 8 mJ and a bandwidth of more than 100 THz. Stretched broadband seed pulses from a Ti:sapphire oscillator are amplified in a multistage noncollinear type I phase-matched beta-barium borate parametric amplifier by use of an independent picosecond laser with lock-to-clock repetition rate synchronization. Partial compression of amplified pulses is demonstrated down to a 10-fs duration with a down-chirped pulse stretcher and a nearly lossless compressor comprising bulk material and positive-dispersion chirped mirrors.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Photonik, Technische Universität Wien, Gusshausstrasse 27/387, A-1040 Vienna, Austria. nobuhisa.ishii@mpq.mpg.de
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ishii
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Turi
authors.forename: V S
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Yakovlev
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fuji
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Krausz
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Baltuska
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Butkus
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Veitas
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Smilgevicius
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Danielius
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Piskarskas