High-energy bow tie multi-pass cells for nonlinear spectral broadening applications

Multi-pass cells have emerged as very attractive tools for spectral broadening and post-compression applications. We discuss pulse energy limitations of standard multi-pass cells considering basic geometrical scaling principles and introduce a novel energy scaling method using a multi-pass cell arranged in a bow tie geometry. Employing nonlinear pulse propagation simulations, we numerically demonstrate the compression of 125mJ, 1 ps pulses to 50 fs using a compact 2 m long setup and outline routes to extend our approach into the Joule-regime.