Nonlinear compression of the GW level femtosecond pulse in a solid-state multi-pass cell

We demonstrate the nonlinear compression of the GW level femtosecond pulse in a solid-state multi-pass cell (MPC) by pre-chirp management method. When the laser pulse is pre-positively chirped, the 200 μJ 170 fs input pulse is compressed to 163 μJ 45 fs at the output, corresponding to a transmission efficiency of 81% and a pulse shortening factor of 3.8. When the laser pulse is pre-negatively chirped, the spectral evolution, as the pulse propagates in the MPC, is characterized, and eventually the pulse duration is compressed to 51 fs, corresponding to a pulse shortening factor of 3.3. After the driving laser is through the pre-chirp managed MPC device, the power stability and beam quality are almost preserved. To the best of our knowledge, this is a nonlinear compression of the highest peak power laser pulse ever accessible in a solid-state MPC device.