High-power two-cycle ultrafast source based on hybrid nonlinear compression

We demonstrate a hybrid dual-stage nonlinear compression scheme, which allows the temporal compression of 330 fs-pulses down to 6.8 fs-pulses, with an overall transmission of 61%. This high transmission is obtained by using a first compression stage based on a gasfilled multipass cell, and a second stage based on a large-core gas-filled capillary. The source output is fully characterized in terms of spectral. temporal. spatial, and short- and long-term stability properties. The system's compactness, stability, and high average power makes it ideally suited to drive high photon flux XUV sources through high harmonic generation. (C) 2019 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement