Temporal waveform control of laser pulse by frequency chirping

Arbitrary temporal waveform control can be achieved by means of amplifier g ain control with chirped laser pulse. As lasers for fusion research are bro ad-band glass lasers, a chirping method of the THz region is required to ob tain arbitrary temporal waveform control. In order to precisely simulate am plification properties of chirped pulse, we have developed the simulation c ode for an inhomogeneous glass laser amplifier. Included physics are as fol lows: temporal chirping; relaxation of lower level; and change of distribut ion density between sub-levels. Chirping (0.9 THz) applied to a Gaussian pu lse increased the peak intensity of output in 20% to the case without chirp ing. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.