Pump-noise transfer in optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification.

We report on direct observation of temporal contrast degradation of short pulses amplified by optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification. We show that, despite injection seeding, quantum-noise-induced fast modulations (<50 ps) of the temporal profile of the pump pulse are imprinted on the spectrum of the amplified chirped pulse and give rise to a large picosecond pedestal in the time domain. (c) 2005 Optical Society of America.