Ultrashort Pulse Nd: Glass Lasers

Abstract

The present status of high power, ultrashort pulse generation in Nd: glass lasers is reviewed. Genera-tion mechanism of a pedestal component and a new technique for pedestal reduction are discussed. Results of a 30-TW, 1.0-ps laser pulse at 1053 nm generated by chirped-pulse amplification in a large-aperture Nd: glass laser system are presented. A peak-to-prepulse intensity ratio of better than 10⁷ was obtained by temporal windowing of a self-phase-modulated chirped pulse before amplification and compression.