Hybrid CO 2 -Ti:sapphire laser with tunable pulse duration for mid-infrared-pump terahertz-probe spectroscopy

• Published in: Optics express Vol. 29; no. 3; p. 3575
• Main Authors: Budden, M, Gebert, T, Cavalleri, A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01-02-2021
• ISSN: 1094-4087; 1094-4087
• DOI: 10.1364/OE.415140

We describe a mid-infrared pump - terahertz-probe setup based on a CO
laser seeded with 10.6 μm wavelength pulses from an optical parametric amplifier, itself pumped by a Ti:Al
O
laser. The output of the seeded CO
laser produces high power pulses of nanosecond duration, which are synchronized to the femtosecond laser. These pulses can be tuned in pulse duration by slicing their front and back edges with semiconductor-plasma mirrors irradiated by replicas of the femtosecond seed laser pulses. Variable pulse lengths from 5 ps to 1.3 ns are achieved, and used in mid-infrared pump, terahertz-probe experiments with probe pulses generated and electro-optically sampled by the femtosecond laser.