Abstract: Disclosed is a laser system including a source, for generating a source signal, and an optical amplifier system. The laser system includes a pulse selection or variation device configured to select or vary the source signal so as to form a main signal composed of one or more light pulses. The main signal is temporally variable in terms of rhythm and/or amplitude. The laser system is configured to inject the main signal and a secondary signal into the optical amplifier system. The secondary signal is varied on the basis of the temporal variation in terms of rhythm and/or amplitude of the main signal so as to stabilize the power stored in the optical amplifier system in a time-dependent manner, and the laser system is configured to spatially separate the amplified main signal from the amplified secondary signal.

Abstract: Disclosed is a nonlinear optical system for generating or amplifying light pulses by N-wave mixing, including a nonlinear optical medium suitable for receiving at least one first light pulse and one second light pulse. The system includes a fast modulation device for modulating a time delay between the second light pulse and the first pulse light in the nonlinear optical medium, the time delay modulation device being placed upstream of the nonlinear optical medium, and the time delay modulation device being modulated at least between a first delay value and a second delay value, so as to modulate the generation or amplification of a light pulse by N-wave mixing of the at least one first light pulse et one second light pulse in the nonlinear optical medium.

Abstract: Disclosed is a laser system including a source, for generating a source signal, and an optical amplifier system. The laser system includes a pulse selection or variation device configured to select or vary the source signal so as to form a main signal composed of one or more light pulses. The main signal is temporally variable in terms of rhythm and/or amplitude. The laser system is configured to inject the main signal and a secondary signal into the optical amplifier system. The secondary signal is varied on the basis of the temporal variation in terms of rhythm and/or amplitude of the main signal so as to stabilize the power stored in the optical amplifier system in a time-dependent manner, and the laser system is configured to spatially separate the amplified main signal from the amplified secondary signal.

Abstract: Disclosed is a UV-visible laser system having ultrashort pulses with high power and/or high energy. The laser system includes at least one non-linear optical crystal (1) adapted for receiving two distinct ultrashort laser pulses (31, 32) in the visible or infrared domain emitted respectively by two distinct laser pulse sources (11, 12) and a temporal synchronization unit (41, 42) adapted so that the two ultrashort laser pulses (31, 32) are superimposed in time and space in the non-linear optical crystal (1) with any phase shift, and generate, by sum frequency, an ultrashort laser pulse (131) having an optical frequency equal to the sum of the respective optical frequencies of the two distinct laser pulses (31, 32).

Abstract: A system and method for generating a burst of ultra-short, high-power laser pulses, the system includes elements for generating laser pulses having a repetition period ?1, amplification elements including an optical amplifier medium, a regenerative optical cavity, elements for injecting the laser pulses into the regenerative optical cavity, and elements for extracting the laser pulses from the regenerative optical cavity. The regenerative optical cavity has a total length such that the duration of a round trip of each pulse is between N?1 and N times the period ?1, wherein N is an integer higher than or equal to 2, the injection elements are adapted for trapping a burst of N laser pulses in the regenerative optical cavity, the extraction elements are suitable to extract the burst of N laser pulses from the regenerative optical cavity, and the optical amplifier medium is suitable for forming a burst of amplified laser pulses.

Abstract: A system for the optical amplification of high-energy ultrashort light pulses, includes: an oscillator that can emit light pulses of sub-picosecond duration ?0, a pre-compensator, and a solid optical amplifier that can amplify the chirped light pulses. The pre-compensator has a negative group velocity dispersion, the pre-compensator being capable of generating negatively chirped light pulses, and the optical amplifier has a positive group velocity dispersion, the optical amplifier being disposed such as to receive and amplify the negatively chirped light pulses. The optical amplifier is configured such that the light pulses can induce a broadening of the spectral gain band ?? by self-phase modulation, such as to generate amplified, time-compressed light pulses of duration ?3, which is shorter than the duration ?=1/?? of the bandwidth limitation of the optical amplifier.

Abstract: A method and passive device for the coherent combination of two amplified and/or spectrally broadened optical beams using at least one bidirectional optical component (A1, A2), the device includes an amplitude division ring interferometer having optical splitting and recombining elements disposed so as to receive an incident optical beam (S0) and to split it spatially into a first secondary input beam (H1) and a second secondary input beam (H2), optical guiding elements disposed so as to define an optical path in the form of a ring in the interferometer, the at least one bidirectional optical component being disposed on the optical path of the ring interferometer, the splitting and recombining elements being disposed in such a way as to receive and to recombine spatially, temporally and coherently the first secondary output beam (H1?) and the second secondary output beam (H2?), so as to form a coherent output beam.

Abstract: A high-gain optical amplifier for a wave to be amplified at a wavelength referred to as the emission wavelength, includes: optical pumping elements (4) producing a pump wave at a wavelength referred to as the pump wavelength; a solid amplifying medium (1) that is doped with active ions, the solid amplifying medium being capable of emitting laser radiation at the emission wavelength when the medium is pumped by the pumping elements; cooling elements (2) capable of cooling the solid amplifying medium to a temperature of no higher than 250 Kelvin; and optical multiplexing elements capable of coupling together the pump wave and the wave to be amplified in the amplifying medium. The amplifying medium has Stark sublevels contained within a spectral domain ranging over less than 200 cm?1 (approximately 20 nm, when expressed in wavelength). A laser including a resonant optical cavity and an amplifier are also described.

Abstract: A method and passive device for the coherent combination of two amplified and/or spectrally broadened optical beams using at least one bidirectional optical component (A1, A2), the device includes an amplitude division ring interferometer having optical splitting and recombining elements disposed so as to receive an incident optical beam (S0) and to split it spatially into a first secondary input beam (H1) and a second secondary input beam (H2), optical guiding elements disposed so as to define an optical path in the form of a ring in the interferometer, the at least one bidirectional optical component being disposed on the optical path of the ring interferometer, the splitting and recombining elements being disposed in such a way as to receive and to recombine spatially, temporally and coherently the first secondary output beam (H1?) and the second secondary output beam (H2?), so as to form a coherent output beam.

Abstract: A chirped pulse fiber amplifier with nonlinear compensation, includes elements for generating a light pulse having an initial peak-power P0 and an initial duration T, a stretcher including at least one optical diffraction network having a line density higher than 1200 lines/mm and suitable for time-stretching the pulse and of inserting a time asymmetry in the stretched pulse, an amplifying fiber including a doped optical fiber section coupled with an optical pumping element and suitable for amplifying the stretched pulse for producing a pulse having a power, a compressor with optical diffraction grating suitable for time-compressing the amplified pulse so that the stretcher and the compressor are mismatched, the mismatch between the stretcher and the compressor being suitable for simultaneously compensating the second- and third-order nonlinear dispersions in the amplifying fiber during the propagation of a pulse having an initial power P0 through the chirped pulse amplifier.

Abstract: A high-gain optical amplifier for a wave to be amplified at a wavelength referred to as the emission wavelength, includes: optical pumping elements (4) producing a pump wave at a wavelength referred to as the pump wavelength; a solid amplifying medium (1) that is doped with active ions, the solid amplifying medium being capable of emitting laser radiation at the emission wavelength when the medium is pumped by the pumping elements; cooling elements (2) capable of cooling the solid amplifying medium to a temperature of no higher than 250 Kelvin; and optical multiplexing elements capable of coupling together the pump wave and the wave to be amplified in the amplifying medium. The amplifying medium has Stark sublevels contained within a spectral domain ranging over less than 200 cm?1 (approximately 20 nm, when expressed in wavelength). A laser including a resonant optical cavity and an amplifier are also described.

Abstract: An ultra-short high-power light pulse source including a first laser pump source (1), a mode-locked laser oscillator (2), a second laser pump source (4), a waveguide (6) capable of inserting spectral phases into the light pulses, and a compressor (8) capable of generating predetermined spectral phases into the light pulses. The waveguide (6) includes an element capable of compensating the predetermined spectral phases generated at least by the compressor (8), the second laser pump source (4) being capable of delivering a second pump light flow (5) having a power PL such that the spectral phases generated by the wave guide (6) are opposed or quasi opposed to the predetermined spectral phases generated by the compressor (8) in order to generate compressed ultra-short light pulses (9) at the output of the compressor (8) with a planar or quasi planar spectral phase.

Abstract: A chirped pulse fiber amplifier with nonlinear compensation, includes elements for generating a light pulse having an initial peak-power P0 and an initial duration T, a stretcher including at least one optical diffraction network having a line density higher than 1200 lines/mm and suitable for time-stretching the pulse and of inserting a time asymmetry in the stretched pulse, an amplifying fiber including a doped optical fiber section coupled with an optical pumping element and suitable for amplifying the stretched pulse for producing a pulse having a power, a compressor with optical diffraction grating suitable for time-compressing the amplified pulse so that the stretcher and the compressor are mismatched, the mismatch between the stretcher and the compressor being suitable for simultaneously compensating the second- and third-order nonlinear dispersions in the amplifying fiber during the propagation of a pulse having an initial power P0 through the chirped pulse amplifier.

Abstract: An ultra-short high-power light pulse source including a first laser pump source (1), a mode-locked laser oscillator (2), a second laser pump source (4), a waveguide (6) capable of inserting spectral phases into the light pulses, and a compressor (8) capable of generating predetermined spectral phases into the light pulses. The waveguide (6) includes an element capable of compensating the predetermined spectral phases generated at least by the compressor (8), the second laser pump source (4) being capable of delivering a second pump light flow (5) having a power PL such that the spectral phases generated by the wave guide (6) are opposed or quasi opposed to the predetermined spectral phases generated by the compressor (8) in order to generate compressed ultra-short light pulses (9) at the output of the compressor (8) with a planar or quasi planar spectral phase.

Abstract: A rare earth ion ultrashort laser source includes a resonant cavity having a first output face partially reflecting and a second reflecting face. The source also includes a first active material, which receives a pump luminous flux transmitted via a first solid laser pump source. The resonant cavity exhibits a length of optical path travelled by the pulses greater than 7.5 m so that the pulsed energy EL is greater than 100 nJ, the optical path including at least one passage in the active material and the ultrashort laser source includes elements for lengthening the resonant cavity thereby enabling to extend the length of the optical path travelled by the luminous pulses in the resonant cavity, the ABCD propagation matrix of the resonant cavity being close to the unit matrix so that the features of the luminous beam going back and forth in the resonant cavity remain unchanged.

Abstract: A wide-spectrum compact ultrabrief laser source includes a rare-earth ion primary laser. The source is pumped by a pump light flux centered on a wavelength ?D, the flux being emitted by a solid laser pump source. The primary source emits a primary light flux centered on a wavelength ?L of spectral width ??L. The latter is injected via an optical injection into a photonic crystal fiber having a length L, a cross-section d, and a set of cavities of diameter ?. A coupling optics collects the light flux at the output of the photonic crystal fiber. The light flux is centered on a wavelength ?F and has a spectral width ??F. The spectrum is subjected in the photonic crystal fiber to an enlargement which is due for more than 50% to phase self-modulation.