Nonlinear compression of naturally down-chirped superradiance pulses from a free-electron laser oscillator by thick germanium plates

Naturally down-chirped superradiance pulses, with mirco-pulse energy, peak wavelength, and micropulse duration of 40 mu J, 8.7 mu m, and 5.1 optical cycles, respectively, emitted from a free-electron laser (FEL) oscillator were nonlinearly compressed down to 3.7 optical cycles using a 30-mm-thick Ge plate. The peak power enhancement owing to nonlinear compression was found to be 40%. The achieved peak power and pulse duration were comparable to those of recently developed high-intensity and few-cycle long-wavelength infrared sources based on solid-state lasers. FEL oscillators operating in the superradiance regime can serve as unique tools for studying strong-field physics in long-wavelength infrared regions.