Generator of short optical pulses having a very high temporal contrast

A system for generating short optical pulses, with a spectrum centered at a wavelength λ, using parametric amplification, the system comprising:

• a first generator of optical pulses outputting pulses of a duration less than 10picoseconds at a wavelength substantially equal to λ;
• a second generator of optical pulses outputting pulses of a duration less than 10picoseconds at a wavelength substantially equal to 2*λ/3;
• a recombination device configured to collinearly recombine the pulses from the first and second generators;
• a parametric amplification device receiving the output of said recombination device as input;
• a first filter extracting from the output of the parametric amplification device a band centered about a wavelength substantially equal to 2*λ;
• a second harmonic generator receiving the output of said first filter as input;
• and
• a second filter centered about a wavelength substantially equal to λ, extracting the second harmonic wavelengths of the pulses produced by said second harmonic generator.