High harmonic generation

Materials science

Infrared

Optical amplifier

Telecommunications

Amplifier

Computer science

Laser

Physics

Optics

Optical parametric amplifier

Pulse compression

Nonlinear optics

Radar

CMOS

Optoelectronics

Attosecond

Chirp

Ultrashort pulse

Optics Express

We report the generation of extremely broadband and inherently phase-locked mid-infrared pulses covering the 5 to 11 µm region.The concept is based on two stages of optical parametric amplification starting from a 270-fs Yb:KGW laser source.A continuum seeded, second harmonic pumped pre-amplifier in β-BaB 2 O 4 (BBO) produces tailored broadband near-infrared pulses that are subsequently mixed with the fundamental pump pulses in LiGaS 2 (LGS) for mid-infrared generation and amplification.The pulse bandwidth and chirp is managed entirely by selected optical filters and bulk material.We find an overall quantum efficiency of 1% and a mid-infrared spectrum smoothly covering 5-11 µm with a pulse energy of 220 nJ at 50 kHz repetition rate.Electro-optic sampling with 12-fs long white-light pulses directly from self-compression in a YAG crystal reveals near-single-cycle mid-infrared pulses (32 fs) with passively stable carrier-envelope phase.Such pulses will be ideal for producing attosecond electron pulses or for advancing molecular fingerprint spectroscopy.

Octave-spanning single-cycle middle-infrared generation through optical parametric amplification in LiGaS<sub>2</sub>

Octave-spanning single-cycle middle-infrared generation through optical parametric amplification in LiGaS2

Octave-spanning single-cycle middle-infrared generation through optical parametric amplification in LiGaS₂