Pulse contrast enhancement via non-collinear sum-frequency generation with the signal and idler of an optical parametric amplifier

Abstract

We outline an approach for improving the temporal contrast of a high-intensity laser system by $>$8 orders of magnitude using non-collinear sum-frequency generation with the signal and idler of an optical parametric amplifier. We demonstrate the effectiveness of this technique by cleaning pulses from a millijoule-level chirped-pulse amplification system to provide $>$10$^{12}$ intensity contrast relative to all pre-pulses and amplified spontaneous emission $>$5~ps prior to the main pulse. The output maintains percent-level energy stability on the time scales of a typical user experiment at our facility, highlighting the method's reliability and operational efficiency. After temporal cleansing, the pulses are stretched in time before seeding two multi-pass, Ti:sapphire-based amplifiers. After re-compression, the 1~J, 40~fs (25~TW) laser pulses maintain a $>$10$^{10}$ intensity contrast $>$30~ps prior to the main pulse. This technique is both energy-scalable and appropriate for preparing seed pulses for a TW- or PW-level chirped-pulse amplification laser system.