Temporal contrast in Ti:sapphire lasers, characterization andcontrol

摘要

As ultrafast lasers achieve ever higher focused intensities onntarget, the problem of ensuring a clean laser-solid interaction becomesnmore pressing. In this paper, we give concrete examples of thendeleterious effects of low-contrast interactions, and address thenproblem of subpicosecond laser intensity contrast ratio on bothncharacterization and control fronts. We present the new technique ofnhigh-dynamic-range plasma-shuttered streak camera contrast measurement,nas well as two efficient and relatively inexpensive ways of improvingnthe contrast of short pulse lasers without sacrificing on the outputnenergy: a double-pass Pockels cell (PC), and clean high-energy-pulsenseeding of the regenerative amplifier