title: Picosecond optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier as a preamplifier to generate high-energy seed pulses for contrast enhancement.
abstract: We present the design, implementation, and testing of a novel picosecond optical parametric preamplifier system to generate high-energy seed pulses for the Vulcan laser facility. The preamplifier amplifies 100 fs pulses stretched to 3 ps pulses from 10 pJ to 70 μJ in a single stage of amplification before the pulses are further amplified in the Vulcan high-power Nd:glass laser facility to the petawatt power level. This increased seed energy has led to an improvement of the nanosecond amplified spontaneous emission contrast intensity to 10(-10) of the main pulse, without degrading the output of the laser system.
authors.affiliation: Central Laser Facility, Science and Technology Facilities Council, Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Didcot, Oxfordshire OX11 0QX, UK. ian.musgrave@stfc.ac.uk
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Musgrave
authors.forename: Waseem
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Shaikh
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Galimberti
authors.forename: Alexis
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Boyle
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hernandez-Gomez
authors.forename: Kate
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lancaster
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Heathcote