Improvement in the temporal contrast in the tens of ps range of the multi-PW Apollon laser front-end.

We demonstrate the impact of the optics roughness in Offner stretchers used in chirped pulse amplification laser chains and how it is possible to improve the temporal contrast ratio in the temporal range of 10-100 ps by adequately choosing the optical quality of the key components. Experimental demonstration has been realized in the front-end source of the multi-petawatt (PW) laser facility Apollon, resulting in an enhancement of the contrast ratio by two to three orders of magnitude. (C) 2020 Optical Society of America