Conversion of high-power 15-fs visible pulses to the mid infrared

J.-P. Likforman (1, 2) , M. Mehendale (2) , D. M. Villeneuve (2) , Manuel Joffre (1) , P. B. Corkum (2)

1 LOA - Laboratoire d'optique appliquée
2 Steacie Institute of Molecular Sciences

We measure the efficiency of converting high-power 15-fs 0.8-mum pulses to the mid infrared in GaAs and GaSe as well as the pulse duration and the spectrum of the infrared radiation that is produced. Free-carrier production limits the conversion efficiency in GaAs to approximately 5 x 10(-7), allowing us to produce 2.5-pJ, 30-fs pulses spanning the spectral range from 6 to 14 mum. In GaSe we obtain, in a moderately saturated regime, a conversion efficiency of 7.5 x 10(-5), limited by two-photon absorption, allowing us to produce pulses of 100-fs duration containing 10 nJ of energy. (C) 2001 Optical Society of America.

J.-P. Likforman, M. Mehendale, D. M. Villeneuve, Manuel Joffre, P. B. Corkum. Conversion of high-power 15-fs visible pulses to the mid infrared. Optics Letters, 2001, 26 (2), pp.99. ⟨10.1364/OL.26.000099⟩. ⟨hal-00837028⟩