title: High power burst-mode optical parametric amplifier with arbitrary pulse selection.
abstract: We present results from a unique burst-mode femtosecond non-collinear optical parametric amplifier (NOPA) under development for the optical - x-ray pump-probe experiments at the European X-Ray Free-Electron Laser Facility. The NOPA operates at a burst rate of 10 Hz, a duty cycle of 2.5% and an intra-burst repetition rate of up to 4.5 MHz, producing high fidelity 15 fs pulses at a center wavelength of 810 nm. Using dispersive amplification filtering of the super-continuum seed pulses allows for selectable pulse duration up to 75 fs, combined with a tuning range in excess of 100 nm whilst remaining nearly transform limited. At an intra-burst rate of 188 kHz the single pulse energy from two sequential NOPA stages reached 180 µJ, corresponding to an average power of 34W during the burst. Acousto- and electro-optic switching techniques enable the generation of transient free bursts of required length and the selection of arbitrary pulse sequences inside the burst.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pergament
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kellert
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kruse
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Palmer
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wissmann
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Wegner
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Lederer