A -- Hybrid Chirped Pulsed Amplification Technology

LAWRENCE LIVERMORE NATIONAL LABORATORY SEEKS LICENSEE TO PRODUCE LASERS USING A HYBRID CHIRPED PULSE AMPLIFICATION TECHNOLOGY Announcement: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), operated by the University of California under contract with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), seeks to license the technology to build a high power, short pulse laser using Hybrid Chirped Pulsed Amplification. Researchers at LLNL have a new approach for building a high power, short pulse laser. Traditionally, high power, short pulse laser designs fall into one of two types. The first type of laser uses a large multipass or regenerative solid state laser amplifier which is pumped by a Q-switched laser. These designs use a Pockels cell to switch a chirped pulse output either prior to or following amplification. The problems with this design are its high cost (mainly due to the use of a Pockels cell), the need for electronic drive circuitry, and the problem of narrowing the gain bandwidth which distorts the compressed output signal. The alternate type of laser uses an Optical Parametric Amplifier (OPA). The OPA offers the advantage of broadband large single pass gain and simplicity. However, it suffers from the disadvantage of extremely low efficiency when commercial pump lasers are used (maximum demonstrated efficiency is 6%). The new LLNL Hybrid Chirped Pulse Amplification system works in the following manner. The system uses an oscillator, which feeds its signal into a stretcher. The output of the stretcher then goes into an OPA. This OPA amplifies the signal using a seeded Q-switched laser as a pump source. The amplified OPA pulse and the residual pump beam then go into a multi-pass solid-state Ti:sapphire amplifier (or equivalent). Ti:sapphire stores the total integrated pump energy and efficiently amplifies the output pulse. The output pulse of the Ti:sapphire amplifier then goes through a pulse compressor to create a short femtosecond pulse output. This design requires the following major subsystems: ? Oscillator ? Stretcher ? Seeded Q-switched pump laser or for kHz systems a single longitudinal mode pump laser ? OPA amplifier ? Ti:sapphire (or equivalent) amplifier ? Pulse Compressor This new LLNL Hybrid Chirped Pulse Amplification system offers the following advantages: ? Reduced cost (No Pockels cell or electronic drive circuit needed) ? Simplified passive design ? No gain narrowing and possible gain broadening ? High efficiency (should approach 50%) ? Compact design LLNL has developed a prototype multi-terawatt capable hybrid OPA-Ti:sapphire CPA system [1] based on a 7ns Q-switched 532 nm pump laser and an 820 nm, 30 fs oscillator. Using 225mJ of pump energy, the two stage OPA based on a beta-barium borate amplifies the pulse to 2 mJ, while the final highly efficient multipass Ti:sapphire amplifier utilizes this same pump pulse produces 65 mJ of amplified pulse. With Joule level pump pulses, peak powers in excess of 20TW can be produced using this simple technique. Prototype systems operating at 1mm and utilizing Nd:glass as the amplifier media are also under construction. Ref. 1. I. Jovanovic, C. Ebbers, C. Barty; Optics Letters 27, p1622, 2002 Note: THIS IS NOT A PROCUREMENT. Companies interested in commercializing LLNL's Hybrid Chirped Pulsed Amplification system for high power, short pulse lasers should provide a written statement of interest, which includes the following: 1. Company Name and address. 2. The name, address, and telephone number of a point of contact. 3. A description of corporate expertise and facilities relevant to commercializing the technology. Written responses should be directed to: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Industrial Partnerships and Commercialization P.O. Box 808, L-795 Livermore, CA 94551-0808 Attention: FBO00008-03 Please provide your written statement within thirty (30) days from the date this announcement is published to ensure consideration of your interest in LLNL's Hybrid Chirped Pulsed Amplification system for high power, short pulse lasers.