50-mJ macro-pulses at 1064 nm from a diode-pumped picosecond laser system

Pulse-picking from a 100-mW cw mode-locked seeder, a hybrid master-oscillator power-amplifier (MOPA) system, based on Nd:YVO4 and Nd:YAG amplifier modules, has been developed, delivering single-pulses of 8.6 ps at 455-MHz repetition-rate, bunched into ~1-μs trains of 50 mJ ("macro-pulses"). The output beam is linearly polarized and nearly diffraction limited up to the maximum macro-pulse repetition-rate of 50 Hz. The single-pulse peak power and the macro-pulse duration and energy are quite suitable for high-energy nonlinear optical applications such as low-threshold synchronously-pumped parametric converters in the mid infrared. The impact on the overall efficiency of saturation distortion of the macro-pulse envelope as well as of amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) is considered. The managing of the envelope distortion compensation and of the ASE suppression by means of fast saturable absorbers is reported.