Compression of long-cavity Ti:sapphire oscillator pulses with large-mode-area photonic crystal fibers

Motivated by the pulse compression challenge of novel long-cavity, high-pulse-energy Ti:sapphire laser oscillators, we report on ~280 nm supercontinuum generation and 4.5-times compression of close to transform limited, high-energy oscillator pulses using different large-mode-area photonic crystal fibers and standard chirped mirrors. As input, we used pulses of a long-cavity Ti:sapphire oscillator with 190 nJ pulse energy, 70 fs pulse length and 3.6 MHz repetition rate. Compressed pulses at the fiber/compressor output had a duration of 15–18 fs with up to 100 nJ pulse energy representing as much as 53 % throughput for the fiber/chirped mirror system. Using transform-limited input pulses, we could use short fiber pieces and thus a simple, low-dispersion chirped mirror compressor comprised of one pair of mirrors.     

钛宝石激光器中用优化Gires-Tournois镜产生15 fs脉冲

根据飞秒脉冲锁模钛宝石激光器脉冲压缩的要求,介绍了负色散镜补偿色散的基本原理及其特点。详细阐述了优化Gires-Tournois(OG-T)镜的设计过程,并通过计算机优化得到理想设计膜系。采用离子束溅射的方法镀制了优化Gires—Tournois镜。测量了优化Gires-Tournois镜(编号为OGT#1)的透射率和群延迟色散,并与设计值进行了比较,分析了实测值产生偏差的原因,从而对镀膜参量进行了相应的调整,制造了第二批优化Gires—Tournois镜(编号为OGT#2)。将优化Gires—Tournois镜用于钛宝石激光器振荡级内,单程5次通过三个优化Gires-Tournois镜,补偿了激光器腔内色散,实现了飞秒锁模脉冲运转。用OGT#1先进行了实验,获得32fs的脉冲和46nin的光谱宽度。用调整参量后的OGT#2进行了实验,获得了15fs的超短脉冲和91nm的光谱宽度。实验很好的验证了负色散镜补偿色散的优点,为国内啁啾镜的研制创造了条件。     

钛宝石激光器9.5 fs脉冲输出中的啁啾镜色散补偿

根据钛宝石激光器的要求,实验设计了中心波长800 nm带宽200 nm的啁啾镜,在700—900 nm波长范围内提供约-60 fs²群延迟色散(group delay dispersion,GDD).采用双射频离子束溅射方法进行制备,用实验室搭建的白光干涉仪进行色散性能测试,从测试结果可以看出,制备的啁啾镜的性能和设计值符合得比较好.制备得到的非成对啁啾镜在钛宝石激光谐振腔中进行色散补偿,锁模后分别获得了12 fs和9.5 fs的激光脉冲输出.这是目前报道的使用国产啁啾镜获得的最短的 关键词： 啁啾镜 群延迟色散 色散补偿 钛宝石激光器     

Multi-terawatt laser system generating 12-fs pulses at 100 Hz repetition rate

We have developed a laser system generating high peak-power ultrashort pulses based on the chirped pulse amplification of a Ti:sapphire laser. The pulse duration of the laser is reduced to 12 fs, owing to the successful compensation of gain narrowing during amplification with novel optics. The pulse energy and the repetition rate are 40 mJ and 100 Hz, respectively, as a consequence of sufficient energy extraction from a laser medium in the final stage of a multipass amplifier chain, which is designed to balance focusing with a thermal lens against defocusing with convex mirrors without cryogenic cooling for Ti:sapphire crystals. The laser pulses delivered from this laser system are suitable for generating an intense attosecond pulse train in a vacuum ultraviolet or extreme ultraviolet region.     

Generation of high average power, 7.5-fs blue pulses at 5 kHz by adaptive phase control

The spectral width of a 5-kHz Ti:sapphire laser system was broadened by spectral control in a regenerative amplifier consisting of broadband chirped mirrors. The dispersion over the wide spectral range was compensated by a deformable mirror along with a genetic algorithm, resulting in a pulse width of 15 fs. The pulse width is the shortest, to our knowledge, in chirped pulse amplification systems with a regenerative amplifier. The phase distortion of broadband frequency doubling in addition to the Ti:sapphire laser was compensated by using the self-diffraction intensity in sapphire as the feedback signal into the genetic algorithm, resulting in a pulse width of 7.5 fs. The average power of the second harmonic was 1 W with a fundamental input of 7 W.     

Femtosecond pulse parametric amplification at narrowband high power gas laser pumping

In ultrashort pulse amplification a narrowband gas pump pulse laser has been used for the first time. An all-stage optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier (OPCPA) was driven by a single-shot iodine photodissociation laser. For the first time a broadband amplification was achieved in potassium dihydrogen phosphate crystal at 800 nm seeding. Ti:sapphire laser pulses stretched from 12.5 fs to 250 ps were amplified and compressed to 27 fs at a 0.5 TW output power. The results suggest using narrowband high power gas lasers as OPCPA drivers to generate petawatt beams.     

基于交叉偏振波产生的脉冲净化技术研究与应用

本文利用交叉偏振波产生技术(XPW)对800 nm波段钛宝石飞秒激光器输出的激光脉冲进行时域净化, 提高脉冲时域对比度, 并测量验证了10¹¹对比度的脉冲, 达到测量仪器的动态范围极限, 比初始脉冲时域对比度有三个量级的提高, XPW的效率为22%. 同时发现净化后脉冲光谱宽度也得到一定展宽, 进一步利用啁啾镜对和补偿片对净化后的脉冲进行色散补偿, 得到25 fs脉宽的脉冲. 利用该净化后的激光脉冲作为种子注入已有的太瓦级钛宝石啁啾脉冲放大系统中, 在输出脉冲能量250 mJ, 宽度50 fs, 对应峰值功率5 TW的情况下, 在主脉冲前100 ps以外的范围内测量验证了10¹¹的脉冲对比度.     

用SPIDER法测量超宽带钛宝石振荡器的激光脉宽研究

用SPIDER方法测量了超宽带钛宝石振荡器输出激光的脉宽，得到7.86 fs的测量结果，这是目前国内所报道的仅用啁啾镜补偿色散、直接从振荡器输出的最短激光脉冲.简要介绍了振荡器的基本结构和SPIDER方法测量装置，并对计算得到的光谱相位进行了讨论和分析.     

高功率超短脉冲激光系统中用AOPDF实现增益窄化补偿的实验研究

超短脉冲激光系统中，足够宽的带宽是获得超短脉冲的先决条件.高增益放大器，特别是再 生放大器的增益窄化效应严重制约着输出激光脉冲的时间特性.将可编程声光色散滤波器(AO PDF)应用到高功率激光系统中，能有效地克服增益窄化效应.实验表明，再生放大器的光谱 宽度由未应用前的27?nm增加到了44?nm，压缩脉冲的宽度减小了一半，从而也使峰值功率 提高了一倍. 关键词： 超短脉冲 增益窄化 光谱整形 可编程声光色散滤波器     

Semiconductor saturable-absorber mirror assisted Kerr-lens mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser producing pulses in the two-cycle regime

Pulses of sub-6-fs duration have been obtained from a Kerr-lens mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser at a repetition rate of 100 MHz and an average power of 300 mW. Fitting an ideal sech(2) to the autocorrelation data yields a 4.8-fs pulse duration, whereas reconstruction of the pulse amplitude profile gives 5.8 fs. The pulse spectrum covers wavelengths from above 950 nm to below 630 nm, extending into the yellow beyond the gain bandwidth of Ti:sapphire. This improvement in bandwidth has been made possible by three key ingredients: carefully designed spectral shaping of the output coupling, better suppression of the dispersion oscillation of the double-chirped mirrors, and a novel broadband semiconductor saturable-absorber mirror.     

Generation of a Sub-10fs Laser Pulse by a Ring Oscillator with a High Repetition Rate

A compact femtosecond Ti：sapphire ring oscillator composed of chirped mirrors is designed. By accurately optimizing the intra-cavity dispersion and the mode locking range of the ring configuration, we generate laser pulses as short as 7.7fs with a repetition rate as high as 745 MHz. The spectrum spans from 660nm to 94Ohm and the average output power is 480mW under the cw pump laser of 7.5 W.     

可编程声光色散滤波器在10 Hz飞秒再生放大系统中的应用

报道了在10 Hz飞秒再生放大超快激光系统中,运用可编程声光色散滤波器(AOPDF)对注入再生放大的种子光进行频谱整形和色散预补偿,使钛宝石激光系统输出光脉冲谱线半峰全宽由原来的38 nm展宽到66 nm,压缩后输出脉冲宽度从35 fs减小到20 fs。实验结果表明,利用可编程声光色散滤波器能够同时独立进行光谱整形和大范围内色散补偿的特性,可以有效抑制啁啾脉冲放大过程中存在的谱线增益窄化效应,补偿钛宝石激光系统中存在的残留色散。这为进一步研制小于20 fs,10 TW量级钛宝石激光系统奠定了基础。     

全啁啾镜色散补偿的亚8 fs钛宝石激光器

报道了一种基于全啁啾镜腔内色散补偿的、可长期稳定运行的亚8 fs钛宝石激光器.在4 W绿光抽运下, 可获得300 mW、86 MHz脉冲输出.腔内用于色散补偿的两对啁啾镜是国内自主设计自行镀膜的, 其对色散的精确控制可以在腔内不加尖劈对的情况下获得半宽超过150 nm超宽带输出.利用腔外色散补偿, 脉冲宽度被压缩至7.9 fs, 这是目前采用国产啁啾镜获得的最短脉宽, 也是无尖劈对谐振腔获得的最短脉宽.同时, 利用电路系统提供实时反馈调节, 可保证钛宝石激光器长期稳定运行, 24 h内功率抖动约0.6%.     

High-Efficiency Generation of 0.12 mJ,8.6 Fs Pulses at 400 nm Based on Spectral Broadening in Solid Thin Plates

We demonstrate efficient generation of continuous spectrum centered at 400 nm from solid thin plates. By frequency doubling of 0.8 mJ, 30 fs Ti:sapphire laser pulses with a BBO crystal, 0.2 mJ, 33 fs laser pulses at400 nm are generated. Focusing the 400-nm pulses into 7 thin fused silica plates, we obtain 0.15 mJ continuous spectrum covering 350-450 nm. After compressing by 3 pairs of chirped mirrors, 0.12 mJ, 8.6 fs pulses are achieved.To the best of our knowledge,this is the first time that sub-10-fs pulses centered at 400 nm are generated by solid thin plates, which shows that spectral broadening in solid-state materials works not only at 800 nm but also at different wavelengths.     

基于啁啾镜色散补偿技术的超宽带飞秒激光脉冲

在精确计算包括空气在内的钛蓝宝石激光器腔内色散的基础上，通过合理选取啁啾反射镜，直接用简单的四镜腔结构获得了光谱覆盖540—1030nm波段的超连续激光光谱.进一步探讨分析了实现超过一个倍频程光谱宽度的有关物理与技术. 关键词： 超连续 啁啾镜 飞秒     

Generation of 11 fs pulses by using hollow-core gas-filled fibers at a 100 kHz repetition rate

Using self-phase modulation in a hollow-core fiber filled with xenon, we were able to produce 2.3 microJ laser pulses with a duration of 10.9 fs at a repetition rate of up to 100 kHz. We started with 45 fs, 4.4 microJ, 800 nm pulses generated by a Coherent RegA Ti:sapphire regenerative amplifier system, then spectrally broadened the 30 nm bandwidth to more than 100 nm. Dispersion compensation was achieved with two pairs of chirped mirrors. This is believed to be the first time this type of compression was achieved at a repetition rate as high as 100 kHz. This brings the advantages of few-cycle laser pulses to experiments that require high-repetition-rate, low-energy laser systems, for example, coincidence experiments.     

Performance of gain-switched all-solid-state quasi-continuous-wave tunable Ti:sapphire laser system

We have made a gain-switched all-solid-state quasi-continuous-wave （QCW） tunable Ti：sapphire laser system, which is pumped by a 532 nm intracavity frequency-doubled Nd：YAG laser. Based on the theory of gain-switching and the study on the influencing factors of the output pulse width, an effective method for obtaining high power and narrow pulse width output is proposed. Through deliberately designing the pump source and the resonator of the Ti：sapphire laser, when the repetition rate is 6 kHz and the length of the cavity is 220 mm, at an incident pump power of 22 W, the tunable Ti：sapphire laser from 700 to 950nm can be achieved. It has a maximum average output power of 5.6W at 800nm and the pulse width of 13.2 ns, giving an optical conversion efficiency of 25.5% from the 532 mn pump laser to the Ti：sapphire laser.     

Generation of 50-fs, 5-nJ pulses at 1.03 micrometre from a wave-breaking-free fiber laser

We report the generation of 6-nJ chirped pulses from a mode-locked Yb fiber laser at 1.03 micrometre. A linear anomalous-dispersion segment suppresses wave-breaking effects of solitonlike pulse shaping at high energies. The dechirped pulse duration is 50 fs, and the energy is 5 nJ. This laser produces twice the pulse energy and average power, and approximately five times the peak power, of the previous best mode-locked fiber laser. It is to our knowledge the first fiber laser that directly offers performance similar to that of solid-state lasers such as Ti:sapphire.     

Synchronously Pumped Femtosecond Optical Parametric Oscillator Based on MgO-Doped Periodically Poled LiNbO3

We report a femtosecond optical parametric oscillator based on MgO-doped PPLN synchronously pumped by a mode-locked Ti：sapphire laser. The wavelengths of the signal and idler are continuously tuned from 1100 to 1300hm and from 2080 to 2930nm, respectively, by changing the pump wavelength and the OPO cavity length. The maximum signal output power of 130mW at the wavelength of 1225nm is obtained, pumped by 900roW of 800hm laser radiation. This corresponds to a total conversion efficiency of 22.1%. The signal pulse duration is measured to be 167fs by intensity autocorrelation with chirped mirrors for intracavity dispersion compensation.     

利用SBR实现自启动锁模钛宝石飞秒激光脉冲的产生

利用国内生长的低损耗双量子阱结构的可饱和布拉格反射器在掺钛蓝宝石激光器中实现了可饱和吸收体被动锁模、孤子锁模和KLM锁模状态的自启动稳定运转.当抽运功率为4.5W时，用啁啾镜进行色散补偿，获得了18fs的KLM锁模脉冲，输出功率为150mW. 关键词： 可饱和布拉格反射器 啁啾镜 飞秒 钛宝石激光器