Active stabilization for optically synchronized optical parametric chirped pulse amplification

Abstract

The development of new high power laser sources tends toward optical parametric chirped pulse amplification (OPCPA) in recent years. One of the difficulties in OPCPA is the the temporal overlap between pump and seed pulses. In this work we characterize our timing jitter on a single-shot basis using spectrally resolved cross-correlation in combination with a position sensitive detector. A commercial beam stabilization is adapted to actively enhance temporal overlap. This delay-stabilizer reduces the RMS jitter from σ = 127fs down to σ = 24fs. The enhanced temporal overlap is demonstrated in our frontend and we propose the scheme to be applicable in many optically synchronized high-repetition-rate OPCPA systems. © 2012 Optical Society of America.