title: Comparative study on the temporal contrast of femtosecond mode-locked laser oscillators.
abstract: We have investigated the temporal intensity contrast characteristics from a broad range of mode-locked short-pulse oscillators used for seeding high-power terawatt and petawatt-class laser systems. Saturable absorber (SESAM), Kerr lens (KLM), nonlinear polarization evolution (NPE) in optical fibers and synchronously pumped optical parametric oscillator (OPO) mode-locked sources have been measured using a third-order autocorrelator with up to 1010dynamic range. We restricted the temporal characterization to features <30  ps about the laser pulse that reflect fundamental mode-locking processes. We find additional nonlinear terms and residual higher-order dispersion limits the performance of KLM and NPE sources up to the 105contrast level, while >108contrast was observed from the SESAM and OPO laser pulse trains.
authors.forename: Nicholas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Stuart
authors.forename: Timothy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Robinson
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hillier
authors.forename: Nick
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hopps
authors.forename: Bryn
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Parry
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Musgrave
authors.forename: Gagik
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Nersisyan
authors.forename: Ahmed
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sharba
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zepf
authors.forename: Roland A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Smith