Amplification of femtosecond pulses with AI-assisted spectral phase modulation

Abstract: We report our investigation on ultrashort laser pulse optimization using an AI algorithm in a system consisting of a mode-locked oscillator, a spectral phase shaper, and a highly nonlinear amplifier. We analyzed the performance of the pulse optimization process as a function of two main parameters: the resolution of spectral phase modulation and the number of agents in the algorithm. We showed that the algorithm could find an optimum phase profile for the seed pulse, which allowed for a reduction of the FWHM of the amplified pulse by 10 fs (from 46 to 36 fs), and significantly reduced the intensity of the side-pulse by a factor of 4.6. Importantly, the algorithm used does not require any training and optimizes the pulse shape without any knowledge about the input pulse parameters or the parameters of the amplifier. We believe the proposed system might be a convenient test bed for evaluating various AI-based algorithms in a pulse optimization task.