HAPPIE Highlights

In order to characterize the spectral phase of a supercontinuum light source, the Instituto Superior Téchnico, Lisbon, Portugal assembled an SFG-XFROG diagnostic, using the compressed 1053 nm pulses as probe. The first results were obtained at the end of 2010. Such a trace is shown in figure 1. It reveals that the observed broad spectrum will allow a significant pulse compression (down from 250 fs) after Optical Parametric Chirp Pulse Amplification (OPCPA).

The Max Born Institute, Berlin, Germany pursues an energetic path toward the 1 Joule/100 Hz milestone with its thin disk CPA DPSSL system. Within this first period, 470 mJ/100 Hz have already been achieved. In Jena, Germany, at the Friedrich Schiller Universität, efforts are concentrating on improving efficiency of DPSSL by cooling down to cryogenic level the gain media. This strong impact is illustrated in figure 2.