Supercontinuum-seeded, carrier-envelope phase-stable, 45-W, 38-μm, 6-cycle, KTA optical parametric amplifier driven by a 14-ps Yb:YAG thin-disk amplifier for nonperturbative spectroscopy in solids

• DOI: 10.1364/josab.36.002407
• Publication Date: 2019-08-09T21:13:01Z
• Authors: Tsuneto Kanai; Yeon Lee; Meenkyo Seo; Dong Eon Kim
• Keywords: Supercontinuum; Optical parametric amplifier; Carrier-envelope phase; Envelope (radar)

We demonstrate a carrier-envelope phase (CEP)-stable, KTA (KTiOAsO4)-based optical parametric amplifier (OPA) delivering 6-cycle (79 fs), 3.8-μm pulses at 100-kHz repetition rate with an average power of 4.5 W. The pivotal achievement is the stable generation supercontinuum (SC) seed in YAG 1.4-ps pulses, which are longest for SC on its longer wavelength side to 2.2 μm. This technology offers robust and simplified OPA architecture characteristics passively stabilized CEPs, dispersion management bulk materials, tunability 1.3–4.5 μm spectroscopy, proof concept scaling kilowatt-class pump lasers. total output 17 W (signal plus idler) achieved, this high photon flux opens novel statistics-driven spectroscopy rare events strong-field physics.