Design of a 10 kHz, mJ-Level mid-IR OPCPA System

In the past decade ultrafast mid-IR laser sources have experienced fast growing, due to the fact that many applications benefit from long wavelength driving pulses. For instance the cut-off energy for high harmonic generation can be extended to the keV range [1], however the conversion efficiency varies as ~λ
^-6
[2]. Consequently, the generation of few-tens of mJ mid-IR driving pulses is essential together with high repetition rate in order to compensate the low efficiency in strong field experiments. Commercially available ytterbium-based thin-disk pump lasers are now capable of delivering 200 mJ pulses at 1 kHz repetition rate [3], and it is expected that the average power of these pump lasers will be promoted to the 2 kW range soon. These are ideal sources for pumping mid-IR chirped pulse optical parametric amplifier (OPCPA) systems, thus making it possible to produce multi-mJ pulses in the mid-IR range beyond 1 kHz repetition rate.