High-power few-cycle Cr:ZnSe mid-infrared source for attosecond soft x-ray physics
Abstract
The development of mid-infrared, high-energy pulses of extremely short pulse duration is of great importance to the strong-field physics community, as it enables extension of the high-harmonic cutoff towards the keV range of photon energies. Here we demonstrate a C r 2 + : Z n S e laser amplifier delivering 7 mJ, 100 fs pulses at 1 kHz repetition rate and 2.4 µm central wavelength with excellent energy stability and beam quality. These pulses are post-compressed to 39 fs, 6.2 mJ, and 115 GW peak power in a novel nonlinear compression scheme. The laser system was used to generate coherent soft x-ray radiation up to 0.6 keV covering the entire water window, which is of high importance for bio-relevant applications. The obtained results open a wide range of applications in nonlinear optics, attosecond and strong-field physics, and remote sensing.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Aug 10, 2020
- Source ID
- 10.1364/optica.393377
Entities
People
- Bradford K. Talbert
- Cosmin I. Blaga
- G. Alexander Smith
- Louis F. DiMauro
- Pierre Agostini
- Sha Li
- Stephen J. Hageman
- Vyacheslav Leshchenko
- Yaguo Tang
- Yu Hang Lai
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- Office of Science