High-power femtosecond Raman frequency shifter

We report on the generation of broadband, high-energy femtosecond pulses centered at 1.28 mu m by stimulated Raman scattering in a pressurized hydrogen cell. Stimulated Raman scattering is performed by two chirped and delayed pulses originating from a multi-mJ Ti:sapphire amplifier. The Stokes pulse carries record-high energy of 4.4 mJ and is recompressed down to 66 fs by a reflective grating pair. We characterized the short-wavelength mid-infrared source in view of energy stability, beam profile, and conversion efficiency at repetition rates of 100 and 10Hz. The demonstrated high-energy frequency shifter will benefit intense THz sources based on highly nonlinear organic crystals. (C) 2016 Optical Society of America