Suppression of parasitic lasing in high energy, high repetition rate Ti:sapphire laser amplifiers.
Transverse parasitic lasing is well known for limiting the signal gain and the pulse energy that can be extracted from Ti:sapphire petawatt amplifiers. We have developed a technique for suppressing these parasitic lasing modes based on perfect refractive index-matching liquid doped with a broad-bandwidth absorber to suppress the transverse lasing while ensuring proper heat removal from the Ti:sapphire crystal. The 800 nm laser output with a bandwidth of 41 nm (FWHM) and peak energy of 22.7 J at a repetition rate of 1 Hz is demonstrated.
THALES Optronique S.A., Laser Solutions Unit, 2 Avenue Gay-Lussac, 78995 Elancourt Cedex, France. sebastien.laux@fr.thalesgroup.com
Sebastien
S
Laux
François
F
Lureau
Christophe
C
Radier
Olivier
O
Chalus
Frederic
F
Caradec
Olivier
O
Casagrande
Emilie
E
Pourtal
Christophe
C
Simon-Boisson
Françoise
F
Soyer
Pierre
P
Lebarny