OPCPA pump laser based on a regenerative amplifier with volume Bragg grating spectral filtering

A novel Nd:YVO4-based regenerative amplifier system operating in the picosecond regime featuring a volume Bragg grating (VBG) as an intracavity spectral narrowing element is described. This compact amplifier provides pulses with duration of similar to 85 ps operating at repetition rates ranging from single shot to 10 kHz. The VBG is used to passively tailor the pulse duration and achieve transform-limited pulses with 50 pm FWHM of spectral linewidth. A Gaussian output beam profile is obtained from the amplifier at all repetition rates. The intracavity VBG also guarantees a high spectral purity by efficiently preventing the build-up of out-of-band ASE. The spectral, spatial and temporal properties of this amplifier make it highly suitable for OPCPA pumping applications.