Optical Parametric Chirped-Pulse Amplification (OPCPA)

The chirped-pulse amplification (CPA) technique mitigated these difficulties and permitted to reach much higher laser energies and intensities. A certain spectrum supports a minimum pulse duration, which is a natural lower limit defined by the Fourier transformation. Optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification (OPCPA) as an alternative light amplification technique has certain advantages over as well as challenges compared with conventional laser systems. Birefringent crystals have two characteristic linear polarization states. The former analytical results show how the amplitude of various waves changes during OPA in the non-saturated regime and how it is influenced by phase-matching. An alternative approach still uses the split-step Fourier method but combines all electric fields in an ordinary and an extraordinary component and describes dispersion, diffraction and walk-off in the temporal and spatial Fourier domain. The high-dynamic range temporal contrast is the ratio of the intensity at a given time instant to the peak intensity of the pulse.