Ultrabroadband high contrast frontend for high-intensity Ti:Sa lasers

Robust frontend architectures are essential for high intensity Ti:Sa laser systems with high temporal contrast before the main stretcher. Here we present a novel design based on a OPCPA seeder with 100 µJ output energy, negative stretching and positive compression, and ultrabroadband Ti:Sa multipass amplifiers. Capability of delivering 6 mJ pulses with <15 fs duration at 100 Hz repetition rate and with a 1010 intensity contrast at -7 ps is demonstrated.