Measurement of amplified binary-modulated chirped laser pulses generated by different acousto-optic pulse shaping algorithms

The paper belongs to the field of ultrafast optics. Acousto-optic pulse shaping has been studied experimentally for binary intensity modulation in a chirped pulse amplification laser system. Direct time-domain measurement of pulse front duration with a picosecond streak camera was performed for a Ti:sapphire regenerative amplifier. It was discovered that the sign of the second order dispersion produced by the acousto-optic dispersion delay line affects the modulation rise/fall time. Two algorithms for synthesis of ultrasonic waveforms for feeding the delay line, dispersive Fourier synthesis and the Gerchberg-Saxton algorithm, were compared. Minimum pulse front duration of 3.6 ps for 3 mJ pulses with the linear chirp of 6.2 ps/nm at the wavelength of 795 nm was obtained.