Broadband chirped volume Bragg grating for one-hundred-femtosecond pulse compression

In this work, a chirped volume Bragg grating (CVBG) with over 40 nm high efficiency broadband spectra for pulse compression of near 100 fs was studied. Based on the fundamental matrix method, the effects of various structural parameters of CVBG on its diffraction characteristics were analyzed and then a design of broadband and high efficiency CVBG was proposed. Afterward, the monolithic CVBG was utilized to stretch and recompress a 100 fs pulse with a center wavelength of 1030 nm. The result shows this device has a high diffraction efficiency (84%) and a fine reciprocity. For the fabrication of large-size broadband CVBGs, double cylindrical wave holographic interference in photo-thermorefractive (PTR) glass was applied to achieve a wide range uniform and stable light field, which could greatly minimize unnecessary space chirp.