Energy and average power scalable optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification in yttrium calcium oxyborate

Optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification (OPCPA) in nonlinear crystals has the potential to produce extremes of peak and average power but is limited either in energy by crystal growth issues or in average power by crystal thermo-optic characteristics. Recently, large (7.5 cm diameter X 25 cm length) crystals of yttrium calcium oxyborate (YCOB) have been grown and utilized for high-average-power second-harmonic generation. Further, YCOB has the necessary thermo-optic properties required for scaling OPCPA systems to high peak and average power operation for wavelengths near 1 mu m. We report what is believed to be the first use of YCOB for OPCPA. Scalability to higher peak and average power is addressed. (c) 2006 Optical Society of America.