Keywords

Laser pulses, Ultrashort, Parametric amplifiers

Abstract

The emergence of mode-locked oscillators providing pulses with durations as short as a few electric-field cycles in the near infra-red has paved the way toward electric-field sensitive physics experiments. In addition, the control of the relative phase between the carrier and the pulse envelope, developed in the early 2000’s and rewarded by a Nobel price in 2005, now provides unprecedented control over the pulse behaviour. The amplification of such pulses to the millijoule level has been an on-going task in a few world-class laboratories and has triggered the dawn of attoscience, the science of events happening on an attosecond timescale. This work describes the theoretical aspects, modeling and experimental implementation of HERACLES, the Laser Plasma Laboratory optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier (OPCPA) designed to deliver amplified carrier-envelope phase stabilized 8-fs pulses with energy beyond 1 mJ at repetition rates up to 10 kHz at 800 nm central wavelength. The design of the hybrid fiber/solid-state amplifier line delivering 85-ps pulses with energy up to 10 mJ at repetition rates in the multi-kHz regime tailored for pumping the optical parametric amplifier stages is presented. The novel stretcher/compressor design of HERACLES, suitable for handling optical pulses with spectra exceeding 300 nm of bandwidth with unprecedented flexibility, is fully modeled and also presented in the frame of this thesis. Finally, a 3D model of the multistage non-collinear optical parametric amplifier is also reported. The current and foreseen overall performances of HERACLES are presented. This facility is designed to enable attosecond physics experiments, high-harmonic generation and physics of plasma studies.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2011

Semester

Spring

Advisor

Richardson, Martin

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

College of Optics and Photonics

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0003576

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0003576

Language

English

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access)

Subjects

Dissertations, Academic -- Optics and Photonics, Optics and Photonics -- Dissertations, Academic

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