Chirped-pulse stimulated Raman scattering in barium nitrate with subsequent recompression.

We report a 30% internal conversion efficiency for the first Stokes pulse in stimulated Raman scattering of femtosecond pulses that are dispersively stretched to 250 ps, obtained by use of an all-solid-state laser system. A transfer of the linear chirp is observed, leading to a Raman pulse duration of 190 fs after recompression. Compressed pulse energies of 80 muJ at a repetition rate of 1 kHz are obtained, with a potential for an easy increase to more than 150 muJ. The temporal and spectral characteristics of the Raman and pump pulses are calculated, and the results explain the observed transient features in the presence of chirp.