Compact large-chirp stretcher for narrowband high-energy high-repetition-rate short-pulse lasers

In order to adapt to the development of compact narrowband high-energy high-repetition-rate short-pulse lasers, we report a compact chirped volume Bragg grating (CVBG)-based large-chirp stretcher that had stretched the duration of narrowband sub-picosecond laser pulses from approximate 530 fs to 1.54 ns (>2900<i>t</i><i>i</i><i>m</i><i>e</i><i>s</i>) with a very small space, while maintaining good output quality. The energy stability (<i>R</i><i>M</i><i>S</i>∼1.5<i>%</i>), beam quality (<i>M</i>²<1.5), beam pointing stability (<i>S</i><i>T</i><i>D</i>∼3.05µ<i>r</i><i>a</i><i>d</i>), and throughput efficiency (23%) were demonstrated. Because CVBGs were used, by changing the incidence direction, a matched compressor can be easily installed. Furthermore, by replacing commercial mounts with custom mechanical holders, the overall size of this large-chirp stretcher/compressor can be further reduced to 150<i>m</i><i>m</i>×75<i>m</i><i>m</i>, which is highly valuable for dispersion management of compact narrowband high-energy high-repetition-rate short-pulse laser systems.