Simulations of petawatt-class few-cycle optical-parametric chirped-pulse amplification, including nonlinear refractive index effects.
We present three-dimensional simulations of optical-parametric chirped-pulse amplification stages for a few-cycle petawatt-class laser. The simulations take into account the effects of depletion, diffraction, walk-off, quantum noise, and the nonlinear refractive index (n(2)). In the absence of n(2) effects, we show these stages can generate 3.67J pulses supporting 4fs transform-limited pulse durations. Adding the nonlinear refractive index to the simulation, the energy output is reduced by ~11% and the bandwidth narrows by ~129nm, increasing the Fourier limit by ~17.5%.
ICFO–Institut de Ciències Fotòniques, Mediterranean Technology Park, 08860 Castelldefels, Barcelona, Spain. alexandre.thai@icfo.es
Alexandre
A
Thai
Christoph
C
Skrobol
Philip K
PK
Bates
Gunnar
G
Arisholm
Zsuzsanna
Z
Major
Ferenc
F
Krausz
Stefan
S
Karsch
Jens
J
Biegert