Temporal contrast enhancement of energetic laser pulses by filtered self-phase-modulation-broadened spectra

We present a novel approach for temporal contrast enhancement of energetic laser pulses by filtered self-phasemodulation- broadened spectra. A measured temporal contrast enhancement by at least seven orders of magnitude in a simple setup has been achieved. This technique is applicable to a wide range of laser parameters and poses a highly efficient alternative to existing contrast-enhancement methods. (C) 2017 Optical Society of America