High average power and single-cycle pulses from a mid-IR optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier

In attosecond and strong-field physics, the acquisition of data in an acceptable time demands the combination of high peak power with high average power. We report a 21 W mid-IR optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier (OPCPA) that generates 131 mu J and 97 fs (sub-9-cycle) pulses at a 160 kHz repetition rate and at a center wavelength of 3.25 mu m. Pulse-to-pulse stability of the carrier envelope phase (CEP)-stable output is excellent with a 0.33% rms over 288 million pulses (30 min) and compression close to a single optical cycle was achieved through soliton self-compression inside a gas-filled mid-IR antiresonant-guiding photonic crystal fiber. Without any additional compression device, stable generation of 14.5 fs (1.35-optical-cycle) pulses was achieved at an average power of 9.6 W. The resulting peak power of 3.9 GW in combination with the near-single-cycle duration and intrinsic CEP stability makes our OPCPA a key-enabling technology for the next generation of extreme photonics, strong-field attosecond research, and coherent x-ray science. (C) 2017 Optical Society of America