High-Energy OPCPA Systems
- Multi-TW peak-power pulses at up to 1 kHz
- 800 nm, 1600 nm, or 2000 nm output
- Few-cycle pulse duration and high pre-pulse contrast
- Robust design with a warm-up time of < 1 hour
- Exceptional CEP and pulse energy stability
- Spectral-temporal pulse shaping options
Applications such as high-energy attosecond pulse generation, high-harmonic generation from solid targets, and laser electron acceleration benefit from few-cycle pulse durations and excellent pulse contrast, while requiring multi-millijoule pulse energy.
Our most powerful high-energy OPCPA systems are scalable to multi-TW peak powers at kHz repetition rates, all while maintaining few-cycle pulse durations. This combination enables them to meet the most demanding requirements, delivering an unprecedented level of stability and reliability for systems of this scale.
Furthermore, a pre-pulse contrast of > 10¹² is achieved without the need for complex and lossy nonlinear pulse-cleaning techniques. At the same time, < 250 mrad CEP stability and < 1.5% pulse energy stability are maintained throughout a full day of operation, making this a robust and reliable multi-TW system.
OPCPA-HE high-dynamic-range third order autocorrelation measurement.
OPCPA-HE output spectrum.
OPCPA-HE pulse energy, f-2f interferogram and CEP stability measured over 16 h.
OPCPA-HE temporal profile of output pulses measured with a self-referenced spectral interferometry device.
OPCPA-HE temporal profile of output pulses at 2 µm.
OPCPA-HE pulse-to-pulse energy stability at 2 µm.
SYLOS 3 for ELI-ALPS – 15 TW, 1 kHz OPCPA system.
5 TW, 100 Hz OPCPA system.
Dual-channel OPCPA system – 6/26 TW at 100/10 Hz.
Dual-channel 800 nm/2000 nm OPCPA system at 1 kHz.
Main window of the ORPHEUS-HE control application, Argos.
Layout of SYLOS 3.
SYLOS 3 for ELI-ALPS – 15 TW, 1 kHz OPCPA system.
SYLOS 3 is a record-breaking OPCPA system, delivering high peak power (>15 TW) and high average power (>120 W) pulses. Developed by the Light Conversion and Ekspla consortium, it is the third OPCPA system built for ELI-ALPS.
Applications
- Coherent X-ray generation
- Surface HHG
- Particle acceleration
| OPCPA system | SYLOS 3 |
|---|---|
| Central wavelength | ~ 826 nm |
| Pulse repetition rate | 1000 Hz |
| Pulse energy | 122 mJ |
| Pulse energy stability (RMS) | 0.62 % (8 h) |
| Pulse duration (FWHM) | 7.9 fs |
| CEP stability | 161 mrad (8 h) |
| Pre-pulse contrast | 1011 > 50 ps 109 > 10 ps |
| Spatial mode | Super-Gaussian |
| Strehl ratio | 0.9 |
| Beam pointing stability | ~0.5 μrad (1 h) |
Dual-channel OPCPA system – 6/26 TW at 100/10 Hz.
Dual-channel OPCPA system – 6/26 TW at 100/10 Hz.
Light Conversion’s highest peak power OPCPA system to date (> 25 TW), installed at Lund University’s Division of Atomic Physics.
Applications
- Relativistic intensity experiments
- Particle acceleration
- X-ray pulse generation.
- Attosecond EUV pump-probe experiments
| Channel | 100 Hz | 10 Hz |
|---|---|---|
| Central wavelength | 839 nm | 857 nm |
| Pulse energy | 53 mJ | 250 mJ |
| Pulse energy stability (RMS) | 0.74 % (8 h), 0.6 % (1 h) | 0.97 % (1 h) |
| Pulse duration (FWHM) | 8.9 fs | 9.4 fs |
| Temporal pulse quality | 95 % | 92.3 % |
| Pre-pulse contrast | 1010 > 50 ps 109 > 10 ps | 9.510 > 50 ps >109 > 10 ps |
| CEP stability | 177 mrad (8 h) | 251 mrad (1 h) |
| Spatial mode and Strehl factor | Super-Gaussian 0.74 without deformable optics | Super-Gaussian 0.56 without deformable optics |
| Beam pointing stability | X: 2.1 μrad (8 h) Y: 3.7 μrad (8 h) | X: 2.1 μrad (1 h) Y: 1.7 μrad (1 h) |
The Light Conversion and Ekspla consortium’s SYLOS laser system, built at the ELI-ALPS facility in 2019, generated four times higher peak power pulses at a 1 kHz repetition rate compared to other state-of-the-art systems at that time.
The SYLOS laser system is based on Light Conversions’s optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifiers (OPCPAs), driven by the PHAROS femtosecond laser and Ekspla’s picosecond laser.
The PHAROS laser pumps two femtosecond OPAs:
- The first OPA produces a passively CEP-stabilized pulse at 1.3 µm, which is used for generating a CEP-stable white-light continuum (WLC).
- The second OPA amplifies the WLC in the 700 – 1000 nm spectral range, providing a high-contrast seed pulse for the subsequent OPCPA stages.
The amplified pulse, reaching 50 mJ pulse energy at 850 nm central wavelength, is then compressed using a sequence of glass blocks and chirped mirrors, achieving a pulse duration as short as 10 fs.
References:
- R. Budriūnas et al., 53 W average power CEP-stabilized OPCPA system delivering 5.5 TW few cycle pulses at 1 kHz repetition rate, Opt. Express 5, 5797-5806 (2017).
- Sz. Toth et al., SYLOS lasers–the frontier of few-cycle, multi-TW, kHz lasers for ultrafast applications at extreme light infrastructure attosecond light pulse source, Journal of Physics: Photonics 2, 045003 (2020).
SYLOS laser system installed in ELI-ALPS facility in Hungary, 2019.
SYLOS OPCPA system block diagram. Blue blocks indicate components manufactured by Light Conversion.