Dispersion management for OPCPA in the mid-IR spectral region

Abstract

This thesis deals with dispersion management for optical parametric chirped pulse ampli cation (OPCPA) systems in middle-infrared (mid-IR) spectral region. OPCPA pumped by a powerful near-IR laser is one of the most straightforward techniques that can be used for the generation of high-intensity femtosecond pulses in the mid-IR range. Our goal is to design and simulate a compressor/stretcher pair so that the dispersion in OPCPA system is compensated up to the third order dispersion (TOD). To provide the reader with the necessary prerequisites, we summarize dierent types of mid-IR light sources and their most important applications in science and technology. Then, we discuss optical parametric ampli cation (OPA), especially OPCPA, and inves- tigate it theoretically. Considering the dispersion introduced by OPCPA systems leads us to study the phase of a pulse and the dispersion lines (which change the phase) in detail. We focus on dispersion lines consisting of gratings, prisms and the combination of them (as a grism) and simulate them using ray tracing method by taking advantage of matrix formalism. This results in designing the required stretcher/compressor pair for our OPCPA system. At the end, we go further and improve the quality of the designed stretcher in regard to power eciency. Our simulation results show noticeable improvements when using dierent materials for prisms.