Pulse width compression via multi-plate arrangement

Abstract

Multi-Plate Compression (MPC) is a method which reduce laser pulse duration. This method is composed of spectral broadening of the pulse and compensating the Group Delay Dispersion (GDD). To confirm whether the pulse is compressed via MPC as much as possible, we need a method which allows for checking the pulse duration. Frequency Resolved Optical Gating (FROG) is a suitable one. This thesis explains the basic principle of the Second Harmonic Generation (SHG) FROG and the MPC, the process to optimize the experimental setup, and the results from the various MPC configurations with the self-modified FROG software. With the upgraded SHG FROG software, we estimate our 450 fs laser pulse duration to be 458 fs which is 2% error respect to 450 fs. Maximum spectrum achieved was approximately 5 times broader than the initial pulse spectrum, and thus, the temporal duration of the pulse has been compressed down to 128 fs. Nevertheless, we find that every configuration show instability to some extent due to the long interaction time that easily beyond the linear regime. Even some configuration shows the spatiotemporal break-up of the incident beam. We find that although the spectral broadening is important for MPC, but the stability is much more crucial factor. Therefore, in the last part of this thesis, some alternatives are presented.