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A. Piskarskas coauthored the 1992 demonstration of optical parametric chirped pulse amplification with A. Dubietis and G. Jonušauskas. The paper amplified chirped, stretched pulses in beta barium borate and reported compression to $70\mathrm{fs}$.^[ref]

The method combines two useful operations. A chirp correlates optical frequency with position within an optical pulse, permitting the pulse to be stretched before amplification and recompressed afterward. An optical parametric amplifier transfers energy from a pump wave to a signal and an idler through an interaction governed by nonlinear optics. Stretching limits the instantaneous signal intensity during amplification while leaving a route to short final duration.

For an original rectangular-pulse estimate, take laser pulse energy $E=1\mathrm{mJ}$. A duration of $100\mathrm{fs}$ gives $P=E/\tau =10\mathrm{GW}$, whereas stretching to $10\mathrm{ps}$ gives $100\mathrm{MW}$ at the same energy. The factor of 100 follows from the stipulated pulse shape and duration ratio. Real shaped pulses require the corresponding relation between laser pulse energy, peak power and pulse duration; amplification and recompression also introduce losses. These numbers illustrate the design principle, not the 1992 apparatus's energy or pump conditions.

G. Jonušauskas coauthored the 1992 beta barium borate experiment with A. Dubietis and A. Piskarskas, demonstrating parametric amplification of chirped and stretched femtosecond pulses.^[ref]

An optical parametric amplifier must satisfy both frequency relations and phase matching. For a pump, signal and idler with angular frequencies ${\omega }_p,{\omega }_s,{\omega }_i$, the three-wave process obeys ${\omega }_p={\omega }_s+{\omega }_i$. Coherent buildup also depends on their wavevectors: ideally ${\mathbf{k}}_p={\mathbf{k}}_s+{\mathbf{k}}_i$. Matching frequencies alone does not ensure that fields generated at different positions add constructively.

For an original undepleted-pump, weak-conversion illustration, suppose the driving amplitude is uniform along a crystal of length $L$. A scalar phase mismatch $\Delta k$ makes the generated field proportional toAt exact phase matching the limiting amplitude is proportional to $L$. At $\Delta kL=2\pi$ the idealized integral is zero because contributions cancel. This elementary coherent-sum model explains the need to control crystal orientation and optical frequencies; it is not the full high-gain solution or a reported setting from Jonušauskas's experiment.

Optical parametric chirped pulse amplification combines the stretch–amplify–compress sequence of chirped pulse amplification with an optical parametric amplifier. A stretched signal pulse overlaps a strong pump pulse in a nonlinear crystal. Three-wave mixing transfers pump energy into the signal and an idler; subsequent pulse compression brings the amplified signal's frequencies back together. The pump supplies the added energy, rather than a stored population inversion.^[ref]

A. Dubietis, G. Jonušauskas and A. Piskarskas reported chirped and stretched pulse parametric amplification in beta barium borate in 1992. Their paper establishes a concrete early implementation of the parametric route; its published title identifies the nonlinear crystal.^[ref]

For pump, signal and idler angular frequencies, the conversion obeysEfficient amplification also requires phase matching, so contributions generated along the crystal reinforce. For collinear propagation the corresponding wave-vector relation is $k_p=k_s+k_i$; a noncollinear geometry requires the vector relation. Crystal dispersion and the chosen geometry determine which signal bandwidth is efficiently amplified.

An original energy-accounting example uses a 515-nanometre pump and an 800-nanometre signal. Their vacuum wavelengths giveSuppose 40 percent of a 2-millijoule pump is converted into signal–idler pairs, with negligible seed energy and other losses in this chosen model. Each conversion divides photon energy according to frequency, so the added signal energy isThe idler receives the remaining 0.285 millijoule. Assigning all depleted pump energy to the signal would violate this accounting.

If a compressor transmits 80 percent of that signal energy into a 50-femtosecond Gaussian pulse, the surviving energy is 0.412 millijoule. The chirped pulse amplification energy budget givesThese are stipulated teaching values, not a reconstruction of the 1992 experiment. Stretching lowers peak power during amplification; it does not remove the need to manage pump intensity or optical damage.

A useful apparatus check varies pump–signal delay while recording signal and idler spectra and energies. This tests temporal overlap and the frequency-conversion relation. Measuring the compressed pulse separately checks whether amplified bandwidth and residual spectral phase support the claimed pulse duration. Gain alone does not demonstrate successful compression, and an energy measurement alone does not establish peak power.