Spectral anomalies of diffracted chirped Gaussian pulses and their potential applications

Starting from the Rayleigh-Sommerfeld diffraction integral and without invoking the paraxial approximation, analytical expressions for the field distribution, far-field power spectrum and temporal far-field distribution of chirped Gaussian pulses diffracted at a circular aperture are derived, which enables us to study the spectral anomalous behavior of diffracted chirped Gaussian pulses in the far field. The potential applications of spectral anomalies of ultrashort pulses are discussed. It is found that at the critical angle the spectral switch appears. The frequency difference between the two equal heights of spectral switches increases and the corresponding critical diffraction angle slightly increases as the chirp parameter increases and pulse duration decreases. In a certain region of the truncation parameter, the critical angle decreases with increasing truncation parameter. By suitably varying the pulse duration, chirp parameter and truncation parameter, information encoding and transmission are achievable in the use of chirped Gaussian pulses.     

Femtosecond terahertz radiation from femtoslicing at BESSY

Femtosecond far-infrared radiation pulses in the THz spectral range were observed as a consequence of the energy modulation of 1.7 GeV electrons by femtosecond laser pulses in the BESSY storage ring in order to generate femtosecond x-ray pulses ("femtoslicing"). In addition to being crucial for diagnostics of the laser-electron interaction, the THz radiation itself is useful for experiments where intense ultrashort THz pulses of well-defined temporal and spectral characteristics are required.     

圆偏振光和线偏振光在正常色散材料中的时空自压缩

实验研究了圆偏振和线偏振高强度飞秒激光脉冲在正常色散材料中传输时的时空自压缩现象。实验中利用BK7玻璃作为正色散材料,比较研究了不同偏振入射情况下脉冲波形及频谱的变化规律。圆偏振光入射时,可以获得更短脉冲宽度的压缩脉冲和更窄的光谱宽度。在圆偏振光入射条件下,50 fs入射脉冲成功地自压缩到了19 fs,获得了大于2.5倍的压缩倍率。所以利用圆偏振光可以获得更短压缩脉冲,更大能量,更好光束质量的激光。     

Generation of tunable 7-fs ultraviolet pulses: achromatic phase matching and chirp management

Ultraviolet pulses with a duration of 7 fs are efficiently generated by frequency doubling the output of a noncollinear optical parametric amplifier. The ultraviolet pulses are tunable between 275 to 335 nm. The acceptance bandwidth of the doubling crystal is increased by a factor of 80 through high-order achromatic phase matching. The chirp of the visible pulses and the dispersion introduced along the beam path are compensated partially before and partially after the doubling crystal. For the design of the dispersion management, we investigate the second harmonic generation of pulses with mixed orders of chirp and explicitly discuss the transfer of the spectral phase in frequency doubling. A simple analytic theory is derived that correctly describes frequently observed spectral narrowing effects. We find that chirped SHG avoids spectral narrowing and allows for precompression of dispersion encountered in the ultraviolet beam path. We apply chirped SHG to generate 18.7 fs ultraviolet pulses in an extremely simple setup. PACS 42.65.Re; 42.65.Ky; 42.65.Yj     

Off-resonance effects of the radiofrequency pulses used in spectral editing with double-quantum coherence transfer

Spectral editing using gradient selected double-quantum (DQ) coherence transfer is often used for the selective observation of metabolites in vivo. In attempting to optimize the detection sensitivity of a conventional DQ spectral editing sequence, the effects of using radiofrequency (RF) pulses that are not at the resonance frequency of the observed peaks were investigated both theoretically and experimentally. The results show that spectral editing using pulses at the frequency of the observed resonance does not necessarily give the optimal detection sensitivity. At 7 T, the detection sensitivity of lactate observed using a DQ editing method can be increased by up to 30% by setting the RF pulses off resonance at the proper frequency. The results also suggest that slice selective RF pulses used in DQ spectral editing combined with PRESS localization may have slice profiles different from those when the same pulses are used for standard PRESS spatial localization.     

Programmable phase control of femtosecond pulses by use of a nonpixelated spatial light modulator

Programmable spectral phase modulation of femtosecond pulses by use of a nonpixelated spatial light modulator is reported. This light valve, based on the optical addressing of a continuous layer of liquid crystal, allows the operation of spectral phase modulation when optical frequency components are spatially dispersed within a grating-and-lenses pulse-shaping apparatus. Characterization and feedback control of this device were determined by use of spectral interferometry. Demonstrations of the capabilities of this device are given in the spectral and the temporal domains, and recompression of chirped pulses was performed.     

Nonlinear pulse propagation in semiconductors: hole burning within a homogeneous line

Features reminiscent of spectral hole burning in a homogeneous line are predicted to result from the interaction of small area pulses with the semiconductor exciton resonance. The small area pulses may be designed through pulse shaping or evolve naturally in bulk semiconductors via polaritonic effects. The spectral features exhibit signatures that are characteristic for the underlying material nonlinearity and should occur in any system with isolated spectral resonances and coherent nonlinearities.     

Numerical simulation for characterizing femtosecond optical pulses with the SPIDER algorithm

In this article based on the spectral phase interferometry for direct electric-field reconstruction (SPIDER), the femtosecond pulses with various phase characters are numerically simulated. The spectral phases and amplitudes of the transform-limited pulse, the linear chirped pulse, the cubic dispersion pulse, the quartic dispersion pulse, the self-phase modulation pulse and the pulses with the combination of different chirped characters are retrieved. These characterized pulses are applicable to the real-time measurement as samples for diagnosing the chirped characters of pulses quickly.     

啁啾脉冲频域相移的模拟与实验研究

在超快光学瞬态相移的测量中,结合线性啁啾脉冲与频谱干涉技术,可以获得啁啾脉冲相移随频谱的变化规律。光脉冲经过光栅色散和透镜聚焦后,不同的频率成分以空间上的不同坐标展开。当两束脉冲频谱同时在空间上展开时,相同的频谱成分会产生干涉。基于傅里叶变换频谱干涉技术,从频谱干涉图中提取相移,并对其进行了数值模拟和实验研究。结果表明,通过对不同类型频域相移进行重构所得到的结果反映出了相移随脉冲频谱变化的特性。实验结果表明了这种重构算法是有效的,与模拟结果具有较好的一致性。     

Stimulated Raman hyperspectral imaging based on spectral filtering of broadband fiber laser pulses

We demonstrate a technique of hyperspectral imaging in stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy using a tunable optical filter, whose transmission wavelength can be varied quickly by a galvanometer mirror. Experimentally, broadband Yb fiber laser pulses are synchronized with picosecond Ti:sapphire pulses, and then spectrally filtered out by the filter. After amplification by fiber amplifiers, we obtain narrowband pulses with a spectral width of <3.3 cm(-1) and a wavelength tunability of >225 cm(-1). By using these pulses, we accomplish SRS imaging of polymer beads with spectral information.     

Anomalous spectral behaviour of diffracted chirped Gaussian pulses in the near field

By using the Fourier transform method, analytical expressions for the axial power spectrum and near-field intensity in the spacetime domain of chirped Gaussian pulses diffracted at an aperture are derived, which permit us to study changes in spectral and temporal profiles of the chirped Gaussian pulses both analytically and numerically. Detailed numerical results and physical analysis show that spectral anomalies take place in the neighbourhood of certain critical distances, and the shifting of maximum and splitting of temporal intensity profiles appear. In particular, for ultrashort chirped pulses, there exists also spectral switch. Besides the truncation parameter, the chirp parameter and pulse duration affect the behaviour of spectral switches.     

Ponderomotive shearing for spectral interferometry of extreme-ultraviolet pulses

We propose a novel method for completely characterizing ultrashort pulses at extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) wavelengths by adapting the technique of spectral phase interferometry for direct electric-field reconstruction to this spectral region. Two-electron wave packets are coherently produced by photoionizing atoms with two time-delayed replicas of the XUV pulse. For one of the XUV pulses, photoionization occurs in the presence of a strong infrared pulse that ponderomotively shifts the binding energy, thereby providing the spectral shear needed for reconstruction of the spectral phase of the XUV pulse.     

Multiphoton intrapulse interference. IV. Ultrashort laser pulse spectral phase characterization and compensation

We introduce a noninterferometric single beam method to characterize and compensate the spectral phase of ultrashort femtosecond pulses accurately. The method uses a pulse shaper that scans calibrated phase functions to determine the unknown spectral phase of a pulse. The pulse shaper can then be used to synthesize arbitrary phase femtosecond pulses or it can introduce a compensating spectral phase to obtain transform-limited pulses. This method is ideally suited for the generation of tailored spectral phase functions required for coherent control experiments.     

Compression of single-cycle mid-infrared pulses by Raman-active molecular modulators

We show theoretically how high-order stimulated Raman scattering in the impulsive pump-probe regime can be used for generation of single mid-infrared (MIR) single-cycle pulses. The propagation of MIR probe pulses in a hollow waveguide filled with a Raman-excited gaseous medium, with a probe delay in the maximum of the molecular oscillations, results in spectral broadening covering almost 2 octaves. The spectral phases of this broadening can be compensated for by use of an output glass window with anomalous dispersion in the MIR. The spectral and temporal characteristics of the output pulses and the mechanism of pulse compression are studied by use of numerical and analytical solutions, and compression of a 70-fs input pulse at 4 microm to a single-cycle 6.5-fs output pulse is shown.     

Generation of high-quality 10-femtosecond laser pulses with intracavity spatial and spectral control

Spatial and spectral control, using an intracavity capillary and a slit, is applied to improve the output pulse quality of a Ti:sapphire laser. Satellite-free 10-fs optical pulses with a smooth spectral and spatial profile have been generated. Employing a root-mean-square formalism for pulse characterization, spatial, spectral and temporal intensity distributions are analyzed for laser pulses with a duration as short as three to four optical cycles. Received: 11 June 2001 / Published online: 18 July 2001     

Generation of high-energy, sub-20-fs pulses in the deep ultraviolet by using spectral broadening during filamentation in argon

Generation of sub-20-fs UV pulses with more than 300 μJ energy at 268 nm is reported. First, the UV pulses are produced by successive second-harmonic and third-harmonic (TH) generation of 805 nm pulses of a 1 kHz Ti:sapphire laser amplifier. The spectral broadening of TH pulses is realized in a filament, generated in argon. The produced pulses are compressed in a simple double-pass prism-pair compressor. Starting from 100 fs pulses, we achieve a fivefold pulse shortening.     

粒子数密度对飞秒Gauss型脉冲传播及光谱特性的影响

利用预估校正-时域有限差分(PC-FDTD)法求解全波Maxwell-Bloch方程,研究介质粒子数密度(N)对飞秒Gauss型激光脉冲在Λ型三能级原子介质中传播及光谱特性的影响.结果表明:小面积2π脉冲在不同N介质中都不发生分裂,脉冲频谱基本没有新的高频成分产生,随N增大中心频率附近光谱强度明显减小.面积4π脉冲,在N较大的稀疏介质及稠密介质中都产生分裂,在稀疏介质中随N增大频谱展宽幅度及高频成分强度增大,但在稠密介质中频谱展宽变小且远小于N较大时的稀疏介质情况.大面积8π脉冲,脉冲分裂情况与4π脉冲情况相似,但随N增大频谱展宽幅度及高频成分强度单调增大,且在稠密介质中的频谱展宽幅度及高频成分强度远大于N较小的稀疏介质情况.     

飞秒光脉冲在光子晶体光纤不同色散区产生超连续谱的数值分析

采用预测校正分步傅里叶方法数值模拟了飞秒光脉冲在光子晶体光纤中的非线性传输和超连续谱产生,分析了初始光脉冲的中心波长、峰值功率和光纤长度在光子晶体光纤正、反常色散区对超连续谱形状和带宽的影响。结果表明,当初始光脉冲的中心波长在光纤的反常色散区时,产生的超连续谱宽要远宽于正常色散区,但是光谱的平坦性较差;当光脉冲中心波长在靠近零色散波长的反常色散区且其他脉冲参数不变的情况下,存在一个产生宽且平坦的超连续谱的最佳峰值功率和最佳光纤长度。对于超连续谱系统的优化设计与实际应用具有参考意义。     

Theory of a laser-plasma method for detecting terahertz radiation

A theory is developed for calculating the spectrum and the shape of a terahertz wave packet from the temporal profile of the energy of the second harmonic of the laser field generated during nonlinear interaction of laser and terahertz pulses in an optical-breakdown plasma. The spectral and temporal characteristics of the second-harmonic envelope and a terahertz pulse are shown to coincide only for short laser pulses. For long laser pulses, the second-harmonic spectral line shifts to the red and its temporal profile is determined by the time integral of the electric field of terahertz radiation.     

Spectral phase and amplitude interferometry for direct electric-field reconstruction

An extension of the well-known technique for spectral phase interferometry for direct electric-field reconstruction (SPIDER) has been developed that permits the reconstruction of the spectral amplitude and the spectral phase of ultrashort laser pulses from the acquisition of only one spectrum. Temporal intensity and temporal phase can therefore easily be retrieved. The characterization of pulses from a Ti:sapphire oscillator by use of an extended SPIDER is discussed. Advantages and drawbacks of the modified technique are also discussed.