Analysis of ultra-broadband high-energy optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier based on YCOB crystal

A new type of optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier is designed and analyzed for the amplification of pulse centered at 808 nm. A novel crystal, yttrium calcium oxyborate YCa4O(BO3)3 (YCOB), is utilized in the power amplification stage of optical parametric amplification (OPA). Noncollinear phase matching parameters in the xoz principle plane of YCOB, compared with those in BBO and DKDP, are analyzed by numerical simulation. The results show that YCOB rather than DKDP can be used in the power amplification stage of OPA to realize the amplification of chirped pulse to several joules with a gain bandwidth exceeding 100 nm. This can be used to gain a high intensity pulse of ~10 fs after the compressor.