High-repetition-rate picosecond pump laser based on a Yb:YAG disk amplifier for optical parametric amplification

Abstract

We report an optically synchronized picosecond pump laser for optical parametric amplifiers based on an Yb:YAG thin-disk amplifier. At 3 kHz repetition rate, pulse energies of 25 mJ with 1.6 ps pulse duration were achieved with an rms fluctuation in pulse energy of <0.7% by utilizing a broadly intermittent single-energy regime in the deterministic chaos of a continuously pumped regenerative amplifier.