FOPCPA

The general principle is based on optical parametric amplification of chirped pulses with a broad band in a fibre to combine the parametric high-gain bandwidth and fibre technologies. The process relies on the third-order nonlinearity, which can provide both large gain bandwidth and high gain values in a compact, rugged geometry]. The general idea is to “combine” the useful properties of two distinct laser pulses (one high energy but narrow bandwidth, the other broad spectrum but low energy) and use them to engineer a “perfect” targeted pulse (high energy and broad spectrum) through a phase-matched four wave mixing process. The instantaneous energy transfer from an intense pump pulse with narrow bandwidth to a low energy broad bandwidth pulse is achieved by using a photonic crystal fibre. The signal is stretched beforehand to avoid optical damage in the fibre and then recompressed after amplification since spurious phase generated during the amplification process should not be predominant. The spectrum, temporal and beam profile will be characterized to both aid system optimization, and allow close matching to potential demanding applications.

Experiment at 1 µm and 1.5 µm for pulse duration >100 fs

D. BigourdL. Lago, A. Mussot, A. Kudlinski, J.F. Gleyze, E. Hugonnot “High gain fiber optical parametric chirped pulse amplification of femtosecond pulses at 1 µm.” Optics Letters, 35, 3480 (2010)

C. Caucheteur, D. Bigourd, E. Hugonnot, P. Szriftgiser, A. Kudlinski, M. Gonzalez-Herraez, A. Mussot “Experimental demonstration of Optical Parametric Chirped Pulse Amplification in an Optical Fiber.”  Optics Letters, 35, 1786 (2010).

Few tests to amplify ultra-short pulses

D. Bigourd, P. d'Augerès, J. Dubertrand, E. Hugonnot, A. Mussot,  “Ultra-broadband fiber optical parametric amplifier pumped by chirped pulses” Optics Letters, 39, 3782 (2014)

Numerical investigations and analytical models

D. Bigourd, C. Fourcade Dutin, O. Vanvincq, E. Hugonnot "Numerical analysis of broadband fiber optical parametric amplifiers pumped by two chirped pulses" Journal of the Optical Society of America B,  33 1800 (2016).

C. Fourcade-Dutin, O. Vanvincq, A. Mussot, E. Hugonnot, D. Bigourd  “Ultra-broad band fiber optical parametric amplifier pumped by chirped pulses Part II : Sub-30 fs pulse amplification at high gain” J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 32, 1488 (2015)

O. Vanvincq, C. Fourcade-Dutin, A. Mussot, E. Hugonnot, D. Bigourd, “Ultra-broad band fiber optical parametric amplifiers pumped by chirped pulses Part I : Analytical model” J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 32, 1479 (2015)

D. Bigourd, L. Lago, A. Kudlinski, E.  Hugonnot, A.  Mussot “Dynamics of fiber optical parametric chirped pulse amplifiers.” Journal of Optical Society of America B, 28, 2848 (2011).