Cord Arnold

Intense ultrashort-pulsed laser systems based on Ti:sapphire chirped pulse amplifiers (CPA) operating at 800 nm have been a workhorse of ultrafast science for several decades. More recently, driven by the progress in laser technology, sources with central wavelengths further in the infrared have emerged as powerful tools, in particular to generate soft X-ray (SXR) radiation via high-harmonic generation (HHG). Optical parametric chirped pulse amplification (OPCPA) is a prominent technique to generate few-cycle pulses in the infrared, allowing broad amplification bandwidth at high repetition rates. However, achieving high-flux coherent SXR emission remains challenging due to the unfavorable scaling of HHG conversion efficiency with longer wavelengths. Therefore, the development of high average power infrared drivers capable of efficient SXR generation, along with straightforward and accurate pulse characterization, remains an active area of research.