Graduate Exam Abstract

Abstract: Ultrafast laser amplifiers based on Ti:Sapphire laser crystals to generate multi-Joule
femtosecond pulses have grown in popularity, and the pumping architectures used for these
amplifiers are of paramount importance. This thesis describes the design and implementation of
an efficient frequency doubling setup to be used to upgrade the ALEPH Ti:Sapphire laser at the
Advanced Beam Laboratory at Colorado State University. It includes substituting the front end of
the pump laser of ALEPH, which is based on a flashlamp-pumped Q-switch oscillator, to a diode-
pumped regenerative amplifier which is capable of generating a square temporal profile with a
super-gaussian spatial profile. The upgrade front end design produces 527nm pulses with 0.3J of
energy and a 10ns square temporal profile, at repetition rates up to 20Hz. This output is produced
from an Nd:YLF regenerative amplifier and Nd:YLF double-pass amplifier producing 400mJ
pulses of 1053nm radiation, which are subsequently frequency doubled using LBO as the
frequency doubling medium. The design was tested to produce 527nm pulses with 0.3J of energy
and a 10ns square temporal profile with a doubling efficiency of 79%. Details about the basic
concepts and design of this laser, including the regenerative amplifier, injection seeder, double-
pass amplifier, and frequency doubling setup are presented here, along with the recorded data from
the measurements conducted to evaluate the system’s performance.

Adviser: Jorge Rocca
Co-Adviser: N/A
Non-ECE Member: Azer Yalin
Member 3: Carmen Menoni
Addional Members: Siu Au Lee

Publications:
N/A

Program of Study:
ECE503
ECE504
ECE506
ECE541
ECE544
ECE572
ECE574
ECE604