Dynamics of fiber optical parametric chirped pulse amplifiers

We numerically and experimentally investigate the complete dynamics of the amplification process occurring in fiber optical parametric chirped pulse amplifiers. We show that, in the linear amplification regime, more than 30% of the pump can be converted into the signal with a very good temporal contrast higher than 65 dB. Under strong saturation, this efficiency is kept constant but the temporal contrast of the signal significantly degrades. (C) 2011 Optical Society of America