Multi-gigawatt ultrashort pulses at high repetition rate and average power from two-stage nonlinear compression

We present simple and compact (1.5m x 0.5m footprint) post-compression of a state-of-the-art fiber chirped pulse amplification system. By using two stage nonlinear compression in noble gas filled hollow core fibers we shorten 1 mJ, 480 fs, 50 kHz pulses. The first stage is a 53 cm long, 200 mu m inner diameter fiber filled with xenon with subsequent compression in a chirped mirror compressor. A 20 cm, 200 mu m inner diameter fiber filled with argon further broadens the spectrum in a second stage and compression is achieved with another set of chirped mirrors. The average power is 24.5 W / 19 W after the first / second stage, respectively. Compression to 35 fs is achieved. Numerical simulations, agreeing well with experimental data, yield a peak power of 5.7 GW at a pulse energy of 380 mu J making this an interesting source for high harmonic generation at high repetition rate and average power. (C)2011 Optical Society of America