Devices and methods for carrier envelope phase stabilization of ultrashort amplifier systems

1. A laser amplifier system having a carrier envelope phase stabilization architecture for generating ultrashort laser pulses, comprising:

at least one oscillator configured to output at least one oscillator output signal;

at least one stretcher configured to temporally stretch the pulse width of the oscillator output signal to produce at least one stretcher output signal;

at least one beam splitter configured to generate at least one amplifier input signal and at least one forward bypass signal;

at least one amplifier configured to receive and amplify the at least one amplifier input signal and produce at least one amplifier output signal;

at least one compressor configured receive and temporally compress the amplifier output signal and the forward bypass signal and output at least one fast loop signal, and at least one compressor output signal;

at least one fast loop analyzing device configured to receive the at least one fast loop signal and measure at least one of a carrier envelope offset frequency (f ce ) and a carrier envelope noise (f noise ) introduced by stretcher and compressor;

at least one analyzing device in communication with the at least one fast loop analyzing device, the at least one analyzing device configured to generate at least one correction signal based on at least one of a carrier envelope offset frequency (f ce ) and a carrier envelope noise (f noise ); and

at least one frequency shifting device configured to selectively vary at least one frequency characteristic of the at least one of the at least one oscillator output signal, the at least one stretcher output signal.

2. The laser amplifier system of claim 1 wherein the at least one oscillator comprises at least one Ti:sapphite oscillator.

3. The laser amplifier system of claim 1 wherein the at least one oscillator output signal has a pulse duration of ten (10) femtoseconds to three hundred (300) femotseconds.

4. The laser amplifier system of claim 1 wherein the at least one oscillator has a repetition rate of ten (10) megahertz to two hundred (200) megahertz.

5. The laser amplifier system of claim 1 wherein the at least one stretcher has a repetition rate of ten (10) megahertz to two hundred (200) megahertz.

6. The laser amplifier system of claim 1 wherein the at least one stretcher output signal has a pulse width of ten (10) picoseconds or more.

7. The laser amplifier system of claim 1 wherein the at least one stretcher output signal has a pulse width of one hundred (100) picoseconds or more.

8. The laser amplifier system of claim 1 wherein the amplifier comprises a regenerative amplifier.

9. The laser amplifier system of claim 1 further comprising at least one slow loop analyzing device configured to receive at least a portion of the at least one compressor output signal and measure at least one of a carrier envelope phase of the at least one compressor output signal and to generate at least one phase correction signal.

10. The laser amplifier system of claim 9 wherein the at least one phase correction signal is provided to at least one of the at least one stretcher, at least one compressor and the frequency shifting device.

11. The laser amplifier system of claim 1 wherein the at least one fast loop analyzing device further comprises at least one f-to-2f interferometer configured to measure at least one of the carrier envelope offset frequency (f ce ) and the carrier envelope noise (f noise ) introduced into the at least one amplifier output signal by at least one of the at least one stretcher and at least one compressor.

12. The laser amplifier system of claim 1 wherein the at least one slow loop analyzing device comprises at least one slow loop f-to2f interferometer configured to measure the carrier envelope phase drift of the at least one slow loop signal; and

at least one measuring device configured to measure at least one spectral characteristic of the slow loop signal.

13. A method of stabilizing the carrier envelope phase of an ultrashort laser pulse from a laser amplifier system, comprising:

providing at least one oscillator output signal;

temporally stretching the oscillator output signal to produce at least one stretcher output signal;

forming at least one amplifier input signal and at least one forward bypass signal from the stretcher output signal;

directing the at least one amplifier input signal into at least one amplifier configured to output at least one amplifier output signal;

directing the at least one forward signal to the at least one compressor;

compressing the amplifier output signal with a compressor to form at least one compressor output signal;

compressing the forward bypass signal with the compressor to form at least one fast loop signal;

measuring the fast loop signal with at least one analyzing device to determine at least one carrier envelope offset frequency (f ce ), and the carrier envelope noise (f noise );

generating at least one correction signal based on at least one of the at least one of the carrier envelope offset frequency (f ce ), the carrier envelope noise (f noise ); and

adjusting at least one frequency characteristic of at least one of the oscillator signal and the stretcher output signal based on the at least one correction signal.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

directing the at least one correction signal to the at least one oscillator; and

adjusting at least one frequency characteristic of the at least one oscillator output signal based on the at least one correction signal.

15. The method of claim 13 further comprising directing the at least one correction signal to at least one frequency shifter device and adjusting the at least one frequency characteristic of the stretcher output signal with the frequency shifting device prior to amplification of the stretcher output signal.

16. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

forming to at least one slow loop signal from at least a portion of the at least one compressor output signal;

analyzing the at least one slow loop signal with at least one f-to-2f interferometer configured to measure at least one phase characteristic of the at least one slow loop signal;

generating the at least one phase correction signal with at least one phase shifter;

directing the at least one phase correction signal to at least one of the at least one stretcher, the at least one compressor, and at least one frequency shifting device; and

adjusting at least one phase characteristic of at least one of the at least one oscillator output signal, at least one stretcher output signal, at least one amplifier output signal, and at least one compressor output signal based on the at least one correction signal.

17. A method of stabilizing the carrier envelope phase of an ultrashort laser pulse from a laser amplifier system, comprising:

outputting at least one oscillator output signal from at least one oscillator;

temporally stretching the at least one oscillator output signal with at least one stretcher to form at least one stretcher output signal;

forming at least one amplifier input signal and at least one forward bypass signal from the at least one stretcher output signal;

amplifying the at least one amplifier input signal with at least one amplifier to form at least one amplifier output signal;

compressing the at least one amplifier output signal and at least one forward bypass signal with at least one compressor to produce at least one compressor output signal and at least one fast loop signal;

measuring the carrier envelope offset frequency (f ce ) and the carrier envelope noise (f noise ) of the at least one fast loop signal and generating at least one correction signal; and

adjusting at least one frequency characteristic of the at least one amplifier input signal based on the at least one correction signal.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

forming at least one slow loop signal from at least a portion of the at least one compressor output signal;

measuring the at least one slow loop signal with at least one f-to-2f interferometer configured to measure phase drift of the at least one slow loop signal;

generating the at least one phase correction signal with at least one phase shifter based on the measure phase drift;

directing the at least one phase correction signal to at least one of the at least one stretcher, the at least one compressor, and at least one frequency shifting device; and

adjusting at least one phase characteristic of at least one of the at least one oscillator output signal, at least one stretcher output signal, at least one amplifier output signal, and at least one compressor output signal based on the at least one correction signal.

19. A laser amplifier system having a carrier envelope phase stabilization architecture for generating ultrashort laser pulses, comprising:

at least one oscillator configured to output at least one oscillator output signal;

at least one stretcher configured to temporally stretch the pulse width of the oscillator output signal to produce at least one stretcher output signal;

at least one beam splitter configured to generate at least one amplifier input signal and at least one forward bypass signal;

at least one amplifier configured to receive and amplify the at least one amplifier input signal and produce at least one amplifier output signal;

at least one compressor configured receive and temporally compress the amplifier output signal and the forward bypass signal and output at least one fast loop signal, and at least one compressor output signal;

at least one fast loop analyzing device configured to receive the at least one fast loop signal and measure at least one of a carrier envelope frequency and a carrier envelope of frequency noise introduced by stretcher and compressor of the at least one fast loop signal;

at least one analyzing device in communication with the at least one fast loop analyzing device and the at least one oscillator, the at least one analyzing device configured to generate at least one correction signal based on a at the carrier envelope frequency and a carrier envelope of frequency of the at least one fast loop signal and provide the at least one correction signal to the at least one oscillator.

20. A method of stabilizing the carrier envelope phase of an ultrashort laser pulse from a laser amplifier system, comprising:

providing at least one oscillator output signal;

temporally stretching the oscillator output signal to produce at least one stretcher output signal;

forming at least one amplifier input signal and at least one forward bypass signal from the stretcher output signal;

directing the at least one amplifier input signal into at least one amplifier configured to output at least one amplifier output signal;

directing the at least one amplifier output signal being to at least one compressor;

directing the at least one forward signal to the at least one compressor;

compressing the amplifier output signal with at least one compressor to form at least one compressor output signal;

compressing the forward bypass signal with the at least one compressor to form at least one fast loop signal;

measuring the fast loop signal with at least one analyzing device to determine at least one carrier envelope offset frequency (f ce ) and the carrier envelope noise (f noise );

generating at least one correction signal based on at least one of the at least one of the carrier envelope offset frequency (f ce ) the carrier envelope noise (f noise ); and

adjusting the at least one oscillator to vary at least one frequency characteristic of at least one of the oscillator signal based on the at least one correction signal.