Chirped pulse Raman amplification in Ba(NO3)2 crystals

• We report a maximum conversion efficiency of 35.5% at the first Stokes component during chirped pulse Raman amplification in a Ba(NO3)2 crystal.
• We report a maximum energy of 4.22 mJ with 3.82% rms stability at the first Stokes pulse during chirped pulse Raman amplification in a Ba(NO3)2 crystal.
• We report the chirped pulse Raman amplification experiment with good beam quality.

In this study, 35.5% conversion efficiency is obtained at the first Stokes component frequency (873 nm) upon two-stage chirped pulse Raman amplification in a Ba(NO3)2 crystal by an 8 mJ, 620 ps, 800 nm pump laser. A maximum energy of 4.22 mJ with 3.82% rms stability at the first Stokes pulse can be obtained under 35 mJ pump energy. Moreover, the chirped first Stokes pulse can be compressed to 143 fs.