Aberration-free, all-reflective laser pulse stretcher

Details Aberration-free, all-reflective laser pulse stretcher Aberration-free, all-reflective laser pulse stretcher

1997-06-05

1999-09-28

Lee, John D.

Coherent light generators

Particular beam control device

Control of pulse characteristics

359572, 372 99, 372102, H01S 31055

Patent

active

059600160

ABSTRACT:
An all-reflective pulse stretcher for laser systems employing chirped-pulse amplification enables on-axis use of the focusing mirror which results in ease of use, significantly decreased sensitivity to alignment and near aberration-free performance. By using a new type of diffraction grating which contains a mirror incorporated into the grating, the stretcher contains only three elements: 1) the grating, 2) a spherical or parabolic focusing mirror, and 3) a flat mirror. Addition of a fourth component, a retro-reflector, enables multiple passes of the same stretcher resulting in stretching ratios beyond the current state of the art in a simple and compact design. The pulse stretcher has been used to stretch pulses from 20 fsec to over 600 psec (a stretching ratio in excess of 30,000).

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