9-cycle duration, micro-Joule energy, mid-IR pulses from a 100 kHz OPCPA

The authors have devised a completely new source of ultrashort laser pulses (9 cycles) in the mid-IR (3.2 mum) with a repetition rate of 100 kHz. This novel design is compact, solid-state, solely based on OPCPA, and incorporates a fibre seeder as well as solid-state pump laser, thereby ensuring maximum reliability and hands-off operation. The pulse energy, measured after compression, is 1.2 muJ and already sufficient for some strong field experiment as well as spectroscopy.