Stable Low-Repetition-Rate Time-Lens Picosecond Seed Source

The design and performance of a sub-10-picosecond source based on temporal focusing implemented with a lithium niobate phase modulator and a grating compressor are presented. The source is optimized taking into account spectral gain narrowing in subsequent amplifiers. It advantageously delivers low-repetition-rate pulses with tunable pulse duration, and its short-term jitter and long-term drift over extended periods of time are of the order of a few picoseconds.