Further_questions_in_regards_to_point.docx

Further questions in regards to point #4, pulse width specification:

A. Is short pulse duration required or broad spectrum required, or both?

B. If 20s can’t be achieved, what is the minimum that is acceptable?

C. Is the end user planning to broaden the spectrum and compress the pulses externally themselves or are they requiring the supplier to do this?

The sought laser source will be used as the seed for an existing amplifier system. The source pulse will pass through a stretcher for temporal dispersion of the pulse. The pulse will then be amplified by three different amplification stages. Some of them are cavity based while others are single pass and cryogenically cooled. The final pulse is then temporally compressed. The required source spectrum has to be adequate, so that after all the stages, the final amplified pulse duration is approximately 30 fs. Generally, we have been using >70 nm FHWM bandwidth from the source, which can be compressed to <20 fs. We are not requiring any extra components to broaden or compress the pulse, since those elements already exist in the amplifier system.