ASE contrast improvement with a non-linear filtering Sagnac interferometer

Authors :: Jean-Paul Chambaret
Thierry Auguste
Amandine Renault
Pascal D'Oliveira
Thomas A. Planchon
Frédérika Augé-Rochereau
Gilles Chériaux
Laboratoire d'optique appliquée (LOA)
École Nationale Supérieure de Techniques Avancées (ENSTA Paris)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
Amplitude Technologies
Centre d'Etudes de Saclay
Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)
Source :: Optics Communications, Optics Communications, Elsevier, 2005, 248 (4-6), pp.535-541. ⟨10.1016/j.optcom.2004.12.038⟩, Optics Communications, 2005, 248 (4-6), pp.535-541. ⟨10.1016/j.optcom.2004.12.038⟩
Publication Year :: 2005
Publisher :: Elsevier BV, 2005.
Abstract: International audience; A new method to improve the temporal contrast of an ultra-short laser pulse has been developed. This technique uses a Sagnac interferometer in combination with a non-linear medium. A phase shift induced in the ultra-short pulse by non-linear effect separates it from the amplified spontaneous emission background. Experiments with a 1 kHz, 55 fs, 1 mJ Ti:Sa laser were performed. The temporal contrast measurements have shown a contrast improvement of four orders of magnitude.