DIRECTED ENERGY PROFESSIONAL SOCIETY


Ultrashort Pulse Laser Workshop Short Course
19 September 2014 Boulder, Colorado

Ultrafast Lasers: Chirped Pulse Amplification for the 21st Century

Classification: Unclassified, Public Release

Instructor: Sterling Backus, KMLabs

Duration: Half-day course

CEUs awarded: 0.35

Topics to be Covered:

  • Principles of ultrafast pulses of light
  • Ultrafast laser oscillators
  • Intro to Chirped Pulse Amplification (CPA); Why is it needed?
  • Solid state gain material types needed for CPA, 4 level, and 3 level systems
  • What types of devices are used for CPA
  • ASE (Amplified Spontaneous Emission); death of a CPA system
  • Thermal effects
  • Distortions from CPA, spatio-temporal
  • Design considerations, engineering
  • OPCPA (Optical Parametric CPA) intro
  • Discussion

Intended Audience: Students should have an understanding of basic laser physics including laser oscillators and amplifiers. Students should be familiar with gain physics in solid state laser materials and saturation effects, and familiar with modelocking of laser oscillators, and some quantum mechanics. While the student does not need to be proficient in these areas, it will provide a better class experience.

Instructor Biography: Dr. Sterling Backus is well known as a pioneering developer of new ultrafast laser technologies. He has been full-time with KMLabs since 2002, as well as an Research Professor in the ECE Department at Colorado State University. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Physics and a PhD in Engineering Science from Washington State University in 1996. His work in the development of high peak-and-average power ultrafast Ti:sapphire lasers, and the use of cryogenic cooling for ultrafast laser systems, forms the basis for many of KMLabs' products. Currently, he is working on advanced ultrafast mid-IR laser systems, for use in high harmonic generation. Sterling is a Fellow of the Optical Society of America, and U.S. Army veteran.

 
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Last updated: 2 August 2014