Optical Pulse Compression Schemes That Use Nonlinear Bragg Gratings

Nonlinear optical pulse compression of picosecond pulses typically requires long lengths of optical fiber and multiple components. Periodic structures, such as fiber Bragg gratings, are highly dispersive at wavelengths outside of the photonic bandgap. This implies that such gratings can be used as very short all-fiber compressors. In this paper a number of such compression schemes are reviewed involving uniform and nonuniform fiber Bragg gratings, relying on both soliton and nonsoliton compression principles. Experimental results supporting the corresponding underlying theory are also presented. Finally, an extension of one of the compression schemes is shown, which allows the generation of adjustable high-repetition rate soliton trains.     

Optical Pulse Compression Schemes That Use Nonlinear Bragg Gratings

Nonlinear optical pulse compression of picosecond pulses typically requires long lengths of optical fiber and multiple components. Periodic structures, such as fiber Bragg gratings, are highly dispersive at wavelengths outside of the photonic bandgap. This implies that such gratings can be used as very short all-fiber compressors. In this paper a number of such compression schemes are reviewed involving uniform and nonuniform fiber Bragg gratings, relying on both soliton and nonsoliton compression principles. Experimental results supporting the corresponding underlying theory are also presented. Finally, an extension of one of the compression schemes is shown, which allows the generation of adjustable high-repetition rate soliton trains.     

Two-dimensional extremely short optical pulses with a Bessel cross section in inhomogeneous medium of carbon nanotubes

The problem of dynamics of propagation of extremely short optical pulses (light bullets) with a Bessel cross section in inhomogeneous medium of carbon nanotubes has been considered. It is numerically shown that the optical pulse propagation is stable and steady.     

Transient grating optical nonlinearities in nematic,cholesteric and smectic liquid crystals

The transients of Kerr-like optical nonlinearities in various liquid crystals observed with picosecond light-induced dynamic gratings are discussed. It is shown that relatively high intensities and strong optical fields of short laser pulses lead to rapid molecular reorientation, ultrasound generation, multiphoton absorption, cholesteric helix deformation and other new phenomena which are not only of interest for basic liquid-crystal research but also determine photonic switching times in liquid crystalline all-optical devices.     

Generation of double pulses in-line by using reflective Dammann gratings

Doubled femtosecond laser pulses in-line are needed in the collinear pump-probe technique, collinear second harmonic generation frequency-resolved optical gating (SHG FROG) and the spectral phase interferometry for direct electric-field reconstruction (SPIDER), etc. Normally, it is generated by using a Michelson's structure. In this paper, we proposed a novel structure with two-layered reflective Dammann gratings and the reflective mirrors to generate doubled femtosecond laser pulses in line without transmission optical elements. Angular dispersion and spectral spatial walk-off are both compensated. In addition, this structure can also compress the positive chirped pulse, which cannot be realized with a Michelson's structure. By adopting triangular grating and blazed gratings, the efficiency of the system would in principle be increased as the Michelson's scheme. Experiments demonstrated that this method should be an alternative approach for generation of the double compressed pulses of femtosecond laser for practical applications.     

Tailoring Chirped MoirÉ Fiber Bragg Gratings for Wavelength-Division-Multiplexing and Optical Code-Division Multiple-Access Applications

The design and fabrication of chirped Moiré fiber Bragg gratings (CMGs) are presented, which can be used in either (1) transmission as passband filters for providing wavelength selectivity in wavelength-division-multiplexed (WDM) systems or (2) reflection as encoding/decoding elements to decompose short broadband pulses in both wavelength and time in order to implement an optical code-division multiple-access (OCDMA) system. In transmission, the fabricated CMGs have single or multiple flattened passbands (< 0.5 dB ripple) and exhibit > 12 dB isolation and near constant in-band group delay. It is shown that these filters do not produce any measurable dispersion-induced power penalties when used to provide wavelength selectivity in 2.5 Gbit/s systems. It is also demonstrated how CMGs can be used in reflection to encode/decode short pulses from a wavelength-tunable mode-locked Er-doped fiber laser.     

交叉传播激光脉冲与等离子体相互作用产生的等离子体密度光栅

理论上研究了两束交叉传播的激光束与等离子体相互作用产生的电子和离子密度调制. 用一维粒子模拟程序(particle-in-cell,PIC)研究了两束激光脉冲产生的干涉场激发的等离子体布拉格光栅. 研究表明等离子体初始密度、脉冲强度和宽度共同影响等离子体布拉格光栅的演化. 光栅的密度峰值可以达到初始等离子体密度的8倍以上,并且可以维持几皮秒的时间. 等离子体布拉格光栅可以囚禁由受激拉曼散射形成的电磁孤子,从而形成准稳态的孤子结构,很大程度上降低了形成电磁孤子所要求的激光脉冲强度. 关键词： 等离子体布拉格光栅 电磁孤子 交叉传播激光束 粒子模拟     

Self-focusing and defocusing of self-similar π pulses in an amplifying two-level medium

The effect of transverse perturbations on the propagation of electromagnetic π pulses in an amplifying two-level medium is studied. The cases of quasi-monochromatic and extremely short pulses are considered. The equations describing the behavior of the transverse size of the pulse during its propagation in the medium are derived. It is shown that, if the ratios of the diffraction length to the length of dispersion spreading are smaller than certain critical values, self-focusing regimes are realized for both types of pulses. Otherwise, at a finite distance, blowup of defocusing occurs, after which the amplified pulse propagates as if it is a one-dimensional pulse, with the velocity equal to the velocity of light in vacuum. Similarities and distinctions in the dynamics of propagation of extremely short and quasi-monochromatic pulses are indicated.     

Influence of the external mechanical load on the formation of nanopores in an optical fiber under pulsed UV light

The joint action of an external tensile mechanical stress applied to a fiber and high-power UV light pulses on a photosensitive optical fiber has been investigated. The mechanism of formation of fiber Bragg gratings of the type IIA in photosensitive optical fibers has been revealed, and a theoretical model of their formation has been constructed. This mechanism has been confirmed by a series of experiments on the formation of fiber gratings. It has been established that the actions of UV light pulses on stressed and unstressed fibers differ fundamentally. The critical value of the tensile stress of the fiber at which structural defects intensively nucleate in the fiber under the joint action of the irradiation and external load has been determined. This stress coincides with the breaking stress in our experiments.     

Population Difference Gratings Induced in a Resonant Medium by a Pair of Short Terahertz Nonoverlapping Pulses

Optics and Spectroscopy - We show that, using a pair of short terahertz pulses, it is possible to form light-induced gratings of the population difference, which can be applied to control terahertz...     

Slow-light optical bullets in arrays of nonlinear Bragg-grating waveguides

We demonstrate that propagation direction and velocity of optical pulses can be controlled independently in the structures with multiscale modulation of the refractive index in transverse and longitudinal directions. We reveal that, in arrays of waveguides with phase-shifted Bragg gratings, the refraction angle does not depend on the speed of light, allowing for efficient spatial steering of slow light. In this system, both spatial diffraction and temporal dispersion can be designed independently, and we identify the possibility for self-collimation of slow light when spatial diffraction is suppressed for certain propagation directions. We also show that broadening of pulses in space and time can be eliminated in nonlinear media, supporting the formation of slow-light optical bullets that remain localized irrespective of propagation direction.     

高斯光脉冲在非线性增益介质中的孤子特性

本文从理论上分析了高斯光脉冲在非线性增益介质中的传播特性,从而解释高斯光脉冲的压缩及展宽和形成光孤子的机理。用计算机模拟了不同参数的高斯光脉冲在非线性增益介质中的传播过程,并获得了脉宽沿传播方向变化的定量关系。结果表明,以不同能量向增益介质中注入高斯脉冲,有可能产生各阶光孤子,但由于增益的存在,光孤子的传输距离受到限制。     

Nonlinear optics of extremely short pulses in photonic crystals with controlled dispersion

The propagation of optical pulses with few oscillations in quadratically nonlinear media with modulated dispersion has been studied. It is shown that a periodic change in the velocity mismatch and the third-order dispersion coefficient makes it possible to suppress the walk-off and decompression of pulses, as a result of which the efficiency of interaction of extremely short pulses significantly increases.     

Phase and group synchronization in second-harmonic generation of ultrashort light pulses in one-dimensional photonic crystals

It is shown, on the basis of an analysis of the dispersion relation for an infinite one-dimensional periodic multilayer structure and direct numerical integration of Maxwell’s equations by the finite-difference method, that structures with photonic band gaps (PBGs) make it possible to provide simultaneously conditions for phase and group synchronizations for second-harmonic generation with participation of extremely short light pulses. The phase and group detunings, which arise as a result of the dispersion of the nonlinear medium, are compensated by the dispersion of the PBG structure. The use of this regime of nonlinearly optical interactions opens up the possibility of attaining high frequency conversion efficiencies irrespective of the synchronization length in the interior volume of a nonlinear material.     

互注入锁定产生双波长可调谐光脉冲的实验研究

报道了两个增益开关调制的法布里-珀罗半导体激光器互注入锁定实验方案,可产生双波长可调谐光脉冲。该装置对两个结构基本相同的法布里珀罗半导体激光器做增益开关调制,产生多模光脉冲输出;然后利用两个光纤光栅作为滤波元件,通过调节可调谐光延迟线(VODL2),可使得双波长光脉冲在两个法布里-珀罗激光器之间相互注入锁定．从而在输出端得到高边模抑制比的双波长光脉冲输出。然后再通过应力作用在两个光纤光栅上以改变它们的反射波长和适当调整另一个可调谐光延迟线(VODLI)长度．可得到不同的双波长的光脉冲输出,而重复频率保持524．6MHz不变。在13．2nm调谐范围内边模抑制比高于25dB．系统稳定且波长调节方便。     

Generation of Extremely Short Pulses upon Excitation of a Resonant Medium by a Superluminal Light Spot

The possibility of generation of quasi-unipolar extremely short pulses (with a duration of several periods of field oscillations) is theoretically analyzed for the excitation of a circular, nonlinear, and resonant medium with a light spot. The light spot rotates along a circle with a velocity that exceeds the speed of light in vacuum, while particles of the medium are distributed uniformly along the circle. It is shown that, by introducing a delay in the form of a phase plate into the system, one can control the shape, the duration, and the amplitude of generated pulses.     

Self-action dynamics of ultrashort electromagnetic pulses

The self-action dynamics of three-dimensional wave packets whose width is on the order of the carrier frequency is studied under fairly general assumptions concerning the dispersion properties of the medium. The condition for the wave field collapse is determined. Self-action regimes in a dispersion-free medium and in media with predominance of anomalous or normal group velocity dispersions are numerically investigated. It is shown that, for extremely short pulses, nonlinearity leads not only to the self-compression of the wave field but also to a “turn-over” of the longitudinal profile. In a dispersionless medium, the formation of a shock front within the pulse leads to the nonlinear dissipation of linearly polarized radiation and to self-focusing stabilization. For circularly polarized radiation, the wave collapse is accompanied by the formation of an envelope shock wave.     

Talbot effect of a high-density grating under femtosecond laser illumination

The Talbot effect of a high-density grating under femtosecond laser illumination is analyzed with rigorous electromagnetic theory which is based on the Fourier decomposition and the rigorous coupled-wave analysis (RCWA). Numerical simulations show that the contrast of the Talbot images steadily decreases as the transmitted femtosecond laser pulses propagate forward and with wider spectrum width of the femtosecond laser pulses. The Talbot images of high-density gratings have much higher sensitivity of the spectrum widths of the incident laser pulses than those of the traditional low-density gratings. In experiments, the spectrums and the pulse widths of the incident pulses are measured with a frequency-resolved optical grating (FROG) apparatus. The Talbot images are detected by using a Talbot scanning near-field optical microscopy (Talbot-SNOM) technique, which are in coincidence with the numerical simulations. This effect should be useful for developing new femtosecond laser techniques and devices.     

Collisions of Single-Cycle and Subcycle Attosecond Light Pulses in a Nonlinear Resonant Medium

By numerically solving the system of Maxwell–Bloch equations, we have examined theoretically collisions of extremely short single-cycle and unipolar subcycle pulses in a nonlinear resonant medium under conditions that the light interacts coherently with the medium. The dynamics of the electric field of structures of light-induced polarization and inversion difference has been considered in the situation in which pulses are overlapped in the medium. We show that the states of the medium (to the right and to the left of the overlap region of the pulses) may differ. In particular, we show that polarization waves with different characteristics can exist in the regions of the medium that are located on opposite sides of the overlap region of the pulses. These waves travel in different directions and have different spatial frequencies.     

Optical pulse compression and amplitude noise reduction using a non-linear optical loop mirror including a distributed Gires-Tournois etalon

We propose and analyse numerically a novel dispersion-imbalanced non-linear optical loop mirror (NOLM) scheme allowing simultaneous compression and amplitude noise reduction of chirped ultrashort-pulsed signals. An all-fibre distributed Gires-Tournois etalon (DGTE) made of two uniform fibre Bragg gratings is inserted asymmetrically in the loop, and is used both to dispersion imbalance the NOLM and to compress the pulses. The results show that the output pulses are accompanied by side lobes, which originate from the no-uniformity of the DGTE dispersion spectrum. We analyse the formation of these side lobes and show that, in the case of highly chirped input pulses, side lobes are strongly reduced by the NOLM architecture. In this case, the device operates well even when the signal optical spectrum extends over an entire free spectral range of the DGTE. We believe that this work will be useful for the design of all-optical regeneration schemes for highly chirped data streams in optical transmission systems.