Generation of 10-W average-power, 40-TW peak-power, 24-fs pulses from a Ti: sapphire amplifier system

We developed a compact, three-stage, multipass Ti:sapphire laser amplifier system that generates >40-TW pulses, with 24-fs pulse duration, at a repeti tion rate of 10 Hz, and with an average power of 10 W. Output intensities i n excess of 1 x 10(19) W cm(-2) were produced. The technique of frequency-r esolved optical gating was used to fully characterize the output pulses and to carefully compare theoretical models with experiment. High dynamic rang e frequency-resolved optical-gating measurements were performed, for the fi rst time to our knowledge, to characterize the temporal wings of the output pulses. (C) 1999 Optical Society of America [S0740-3224(99)01010-3].