Generation of ultrabroadband energetic laser pulses by noncollinear optical parametric chirped pulse amplification

Optical parametric chirped pulse amplification (OPCPA) is currently one of the leading techniques for the generation of ultra-powerful laser pulses, from the multi-terawatt to the petawatt range, with extremely high peak intensities. A properly designed OPCPA setup is able to provide gain over bandwidths extending hundreds of nanometers in the visible and near-infrared, allowing the generation of high-quality, energetic, few-cycle pulses. In this paper we describe the design and performance of a compact laser amplifier that makes use of noncollinear, ultrabroadband amplification in the nonlinear crystal yttrium-calcium oxyborate (YCOB). The pump and the supercontinuum seed pulses are generated from a common diode-pumped amplifier, ensuring their optical synchronization. This laser will be used as a source of ultrashort (~20 fs), energetic (~20 mJ), tunable pulses in the near infrared.