Fourier plane Optical Parametric Amplifier (FOPA)

傅立叶平面光参量放大器 (FOPA)

• 批准号: 445383-2013
• 负责人: Légaré, François
• 金额: $ 2.91万
• 依托单位: Institut national de la recherche scientifique
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Idea to Innovation
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2015-01-01 至 2016-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=575046
• 关键词: Fourier; plane; Optical; Parametric; Amplifier

The universal dilemma of femtosecond amplifiers is gain narrowing (the more one amplifies a laser pulse, the longer gets its duration) which prevents ultra high power lasers from delivering few-cycle pulses. To overcome this problem, a new amplification concept is proposed. It enables simultaneous up-scaling of peak power and amplified spectral bandwidth (necessary to maintain few-cycle duration). The Fourier plane Optical Parametric Amplifier - FOPA can be operated at any wavelength range of conventional amplification schemes, however, with the capability to amplify a single optical cycle of light. The key idea for amplification of octave-spanning spectra without loss of spectral width is to amplify the broad spectrum "slice by slice". Opposed to traditional schemes where amplification takes place in time domain, we propose to amplify different spectral parts independently of each other in the spectral domain. Therefore, the pulse's input spectrum is spectrally dispersed and then several individual narrowband optical parametric crystals are used whereby each is tuned for optimal amplification of its corresponding spectral slice. The spectral dispersion is carried out according to a 4-f setup which performs an optical Fourier transformation of time domain input pulses into the spectral domain and vice versa. After amplification which takes place in the Fourier plane the pulses are transformed back into the time domain. Furthermore, this setup enables the opportunity to amplify input pulses which can be arbitrarily shaped in amplitude and phase without damage of optics. A laboratory prototype for the FOPA has been demonstrated at the Advanced Laser Light Source delivering 0.12TW sub-two cycle pulses at 1.8 micron wavelength. In the context of this project, we will improve this prototype to make a compact, robust, and automated system that can be integrated with laser sources of end-users and potential customers. This will provide the framework to establish a new spin-off company in Canada that will be dedicated to manufacture the FOPA.

飞秒放大器普遍面临的困境是增益变窄（激光脉冲放大得越多，其持续时间就越长），这阻碍了超高功率激光器提供少周期脉冲。为了克服这个问题，提出了一种新的放大概念。它可以同时提高峰值功率和放大的光谱带宽（维持少周期持续时间所必需的）。然而，傅里叶平面光参量放大器 - FOPA 可以在传统放大方案的任何波长范围内工作，并且能够放大单个光周期。 在不损失光谱宽度的情况下放大倍频程光谱的关键思想是“逐片”放大广谱。与在时域中进行放大的传统方案相反，我们建议在谱域中彼此独立地放大不同的频谱部分。因此，脉冲的输入光谱被光谱分散，然后使用几个单独的窄带光学参量晶体，其中每个晶体都被调谐以实现其相应光谱切片的最佳放大。光谱色散是根据 4-f 设置进行的，该设置执行时域输入脉冲到谱域的光学傅里叶变换，反之亦然。在傅里叶平面中发生放大之后，脉冲被变换回时域。此外，这种设置可以放大输入脉冲，这些脉冲的幅度和相位可以任意整形，而不会损坏光学器件。 FOPA 的实验室原型已在先进激光光源中进行了演示，可在 1.8 微米波长下提供 0.12TW 亚二周期脉冲。在这个项目的背景下，我们将改进这个原型，以制造一个紧凑、强大的自动化系统，可以与最终用户和潜在客户的激光源集成。这将为在加拿大建立一家新的分拆公司提供框架，该公司将致力于制造 FOPA。