Demonstration of a cavity-enhanced optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification system

Abstract

The use of a low finesse enhancement cavity resonant with a low average power (< 1W) and a high repetition rate (78MHz) pump source is shown to achieve 55% conversion efficiency into signal and idler from the coupled pump in an optical parametric process, whereas an equivalent amount of pump power in a single-pass configuration leads to negligible conversion. Careful comparison of the intracavity conversion process to the single-pass case is performed to assess the underlying impedance matching that yields the high conversion results. (C) 2011 Optical Society of America