Pump-noise transfer in optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification

Opt Lett. 2005 Nov 1;30(21):2921-3. doi: 10.1364/ol.30.002921.

Abstract

We report on direct observation of temporal contrast degradation of short pulses amplified by optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification. We show that, despite injection seeding, quantum-noise-induced fast modulations (< 50 ps) of the temporal profile of the pump pulse are imprinted on the spectrum of the amplified chirped pulse and give rise to a large picosecond pedestal in the time domain.