High-Ratio Nonlinear Compression of Picosecond Lasers Based on Thin Plates

Nonlinear compression, as a newly developed post-processing technique, holds the potential to overcome the limitations of gain media and significantly reduce the pulse width of emitted laser pulses. While most existing research has focused on the compression of femtosecond pulses, the methods employed differ substantially from those used for picosecond laser nonlinear compression. In this study, we experimentally investigated the high-ratio nonlinear compression of a picosecond laser using a thin-plate-based approach. A 1 ps, 0.55 mJ laser pulse was successfully compressed to 69.6 fs with an energy of 0.26 mJ through a two-stage nonlinear compression process. Beam spatial quality was well preserved by employing apertures to eliminate conical emissions. These results pave the way for advancements in high-peak-power, high-repetition-rate laser systems, offering a promising route for future applications.