Generation of few-cycle terawatt light pulses using optical parametric chirped pulse amplification

We demonstrate the generation of 9.8 +/- 0.3 fs laser pulses with a peak power exceeding one terawatt at 30 Hz repetition rate, using optical parametric chirped pulse amplification. The amplifier is pumped by 140 mJ, 60 ps pulses at 532 nm, and amplifies seed pulses from a Ti: Sapphire oscillator to 23 mJ/ pulse, resulting in 10.5 mJ/ pulse after compression while amplified fluorescence is kept below 1%. We employ grating-based stretching and compression in combination with an LCD phase-shaper, allowing compression close to the Fourier limit of 9.3 fs. (C) 2005 Optical Society of America