Temporal compression of high-power IR laser pulses in a KDP crystal.

ABSTRACT

It is shown that a KDP crystal can be used for temporal compression of powerful pulses of the near-IR range. A method of searching for laser beam and crystal parameters suitable for compression is proposed. Temporal compression of laser pulses at a central wavelength of 1034 nm from 266 fs to 94 fs during propagation along the optical axis in a 21 cm thick KDP crystal is demonstrated experimentally.