Compression of high-energy ultrashort laser pulses through an argon-filled tapered planar waveguide

• We propose a hollow tapered planar waveguide for compression of high-energy ultrashort laser pulses. Direct measurements suggest that it seems to find a very good trade-off among the energy throughput, the beam focusability, and the pulse compressibility. With a Ti:sapphire laser pulse of 12.0 mJ and 40 fs, our experiment produces an output pulse of 9: 4 fs duration with energy 9: 1 mJ (transverse magnetic mode) or 10: 0 mJ (transverse electric mode) in argon, each exhibiting a nice spatial mode. To evaluate such a tapered waveguide, the linear wave propagation theory and the solution to its complex propagation constant are also presented. c 2011 Optical Society of America

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik -- Atom- och molekylfysik och optik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences -- Atom and Molecular Physics and Optics (hsv//eng)

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art (subject category)

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