title: Pump-noise transfer in optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification.
abstract: We report on direct observation of temporal contrast degradation of short pulses amplified by optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification. We show that, despite injection seeding, quantum-noise-induced fast modulations (< 50 ps) of the temporal profile of the pump pulse are imprinted on the spectrum of the amplified chirped pulse and give rise to a large picosecond pedestal in the time domain.
authors.affiliation: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique, Ecole Polytechnique, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau, France. nicolas.forget@polytechnique.fr
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Forget
authors.forename: Arnaud
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cotel
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Brambrink
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Audebert
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Le Blanc
authors.forename: Aurélie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jullien
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Albert
authors.forename: Gilles
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chériaux