A New Method For The Delays Measurement Of The Complex Optical Pulses In A Petawatt Class Laser Systems

In this work, we present a high accuracy original method for measurement of delay between two complex optical pulses. This method was applied in an experimental case in which the delays between two signals are measured both by the derivative method and by determining the effective moments of signal generation. In this case, the measurements are free of errors generated by the amplitude of the signals and independent of the noise and parasitic reflections. These types of measurements are directly applicable in the optimization of the high power laser amplifiers, especially in the temporal synchronization of the seed and the pump pulses inside the amplifiers. For example, the high energy pump lasers are delivering double pulses per shot, temporally separated with tens of nanoseconds. The synchronization procedures of the amplifier were simplified by implementing an in-house customized delay measurement synchronization system. This paper introduces the concept and design of the control and synchronization system for the CETAL-PW laser system, as well as the experiments and results.