System and method for compressing light pulses

Abstract

The invention relates to a system (5) for compressing light pulses emitted by a light source (2), comprising a dispersive optical system (10) configured to receive an incident light pulse (100) having a right incident wavefront of positive spectral dispersion, said dispersive optical system (10) being designed to deliver to an object point (A) a temporally compressed light pulse (110) having an inclined wavefront, said dispersive optical system (10) being designed to angularly disperse a propagation direction of the incident light pulse via at most four diffractions depending on the spectral dispersion of the incident light pulse (100), so as to form, at the object point (A), the angularly dispersed and temporally compressed light pulse (110) having an inclined wavefront.

Claims

Claims 1. Compression system (5) of light pulses emitted by a light source (2), comprising a dispersive optical system (10) adapted to receive an incident light pulse (100) having a straight incident wavefront with positive spectral dispersion, said dispersive optical system (10) being designed to provide at an object point (A) a temporally compressed light pulse (110) having an inclined wavefront, said dispersive optical system (10) being designed to angularly disperse a propagation direction of the incident light pulse by at most four diffractions as a function of the spectral dispersion of the incident light pulse (100), so as to form at the object point (A) the temporally compressed light pulse (110) with an inclined wavefront and angularly dispersed.

2. Compression system (5) according to claim 1, wherein the dispersive optical system (10) comprises three diffraction gratings (11, 12, 13) arranged in series on the path of the incident light pulse (100), each diffraction grating (11, 12, 13) of the dispersive optical system (10) being adapted to angularly disperse the direction of propagation of the incident light pulse (100) as a function of the spectral dispersion of the incident light pulse (100).

3. Compression system according to claim 2, in which the three diffraction gratings (11, 12, 13) each have a first dispersion.

4. Compression system (5) according to claim 1, wherein the dispersive optical system (10) comprises a single diffraction grating and an optical element configured to angularly disperse a propagation direction of the incident light pulse by at most three successive diffractions on said diffraction grating.

5. Compression system (5) according to claim 4, wherein said optical element comprises a retro-reflecting prism or a mirror optical system.

6. Compression system (5) according to one of claims 1 to 5, comprising a mirror (16) arranged at the object point (A) or upstream of said object point (A), said mirror (16) being positioned to reflect the tilted wavefront time-compressed light pulse (110).

7. Compression system (5) according to one of claims 1 to 5, comprising another diffraction grating arranged at the object point (A) or upstream of said object point (A), said other diffraction grating being positioned to adjust the angle of inclination of the wavefront of the light pulse (110) temporally compressed with inclined wavefront.

8. Compression system (5) according to claim 7, wherein said other network has a second dispersion.

9. Compression system (5) according to one of claims 1 to 8, comprising an optical imaging system (15) configured to form an image of the light pulse (110) compressed in time with an inclined wavefront and angularly dispersed at an image point (B) and to form at this image point (B) a light pulse (150) shaped spatially, compressed in time and with an inclined wavefront according to a determined inclination.

10. Compression system (5) according to claim 9 taken in dependence on claim 3, in which the optical imaging system (15) comprises a last diffraction grating (18) arranged at the image point (B) in the plane of the inclined wavefront of the light pulse (150) spatially shaped, temporally compressed and with rectified wavefront, said last diffraction grating (18) having the first dispersion.

11. Frequency drift laser amplifier system comprising a source (2) of light pulses and a compression system (5) according to one of claims 1 to 10, the source (2) comprising an optical amplifier system arranged upstream of the compression system (5).

12. Optical parametric amplification system comprising an optical parametric amplifier and a compression system (5) according to one of the claims 1 to 10, the optical parametric amplifier being arranged upstream of the compression system (5).

13. Method for compressing light pulses emitted by a light source (2) comprising steps of: - receiving an incident light pulse (100) having a straight incident wavefront with positive spectral dispersion, and - generation, by a dispersive optical system (10), of a temporally compressed light pulse (110) having an inclined wavefront, said dispersive optical system (10) being designed to angularly disperse a propagation direction of the incident light pulse (100) by at most four diffractions depending on the spectral dispersion of the incident light pulse (100), so as to form at an object point (A) the temporally compressed light pulse (110) with inclined wavefront and angularly dispersed.

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