Measurement of the intensity-dependent atomic dipole phase of a high harmonic by frequency-resolved optical gating

The temporal profile and phase of the fifth harmonic of a Ti:sapphire laser were fully characterized by two-photon ionization frequency-resolved optical gating technique for the first time. The fifth harmonic was found to have negative chirp and the pulse compression was demonstrated. The negative chirp is well explained by using a zero-range potential model. This technique is scalable to extreme ultraviolet (XUV) and soft x-ray regions by using currently available light sources, making it possible to measure the pulse duration and phase of vacuum ultraviolet, XUV, and soft x-ray pulses.     

The dependence of the Fe <Emphasis Type="Italic">K</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="BoldItalic">α</Emphasis></Subscript> yield on the chirp of the femtosecond exciting laser pulse

The hard X-ray yield generated with femtosecond laser pulses is studied for differently chirped irradiating laser pulses. The radiation of a Ti:sapphire CPA laser system (29 fs, 750 μJ, 1 kHz) is focused onto an iron containing solid state target producing incoherent hard X-ray radiation, Bremsstrahlung as well as target-specific K_α and K_β lines. The hard X-ray yield has been optimized by introducing negative and positive group delay dispersion (GDD) and third order dispersion (TOD) to the femtosecond laser pulse. The K_α yield could be enhanced by a factor of 1.7 and reached 1.9×10⁸ Fe K_α photons/s in 4π with the laser pulse positively chirped, and 1.5×10⁸ Fe K_α photons/s with the pulse negatively chirped. When the pulse energy is lowered to about 400 μJ the yield maximum at negative chirp vanishes and only the maximum at positive chirp remains. We explain this behavior with an increased electron temperature caused by the induced GDD and TOD in the pulse. PACS 42.65.Re; 52.38.Ph; 52.50.Jm     

Coherent control of high-order harmonics generated with intense femtosecond laser pulses

Experimental results and theoretical analysis on the coherent control of high-order harmonics with chirped femtosecond laser pulses are presented. The coherent control of high-order harmonic generation resulted in sharp harmonic spectra by compensating for induced harmonic chirp with the control of applied laser chirp and it was found to be crucial also in producing sharp and bright harmonics.Received: 18 November 2002, Published online: 8 July 2003PACS: 42.65.Ky Frequency conversion; harmonic generation, including higher-order harmonic generation - 32.80.-t Photon interactions with atoms - 42.65.Re Ultrafast processes; optical pulse generation and pulse compression     

Laser-Duration Dependence of Emission Properties of High-Order Harmonic Generation

Quantitative investigations are made for the laser-duration dependence of the emission properties of high-order harmonic generation （HHG）. HHG emission properties produced by few-cycle lasers show some useful characteristics. The cutoff energy is less than that by laser for infinite duration. The single energy distribution pulse decreases much faster than its duration as the laser duration grows. A two-cycle laser with carrier-envelope phase of 0° can produce a single distribution pulse peaked at the laser carrier phase 1.22 rad and spanned 1.18 rad with the cutoff energy 2.9Up ＋ Ip and a bandwidth 0.63Up, where Up is the ponderomotive potential of the laser field and Ip is the atomic ionization potential.     

脉冲啁啾对于阿秒脉冲的影响

采用单电子近似和软核势模型, 通过数值求解一维含时薛定谔方程, 理论研究了当脉冲分别带有正、负啁啾的情况下所产生的阿秒脉冲.分析了不同脉冲啁啾特性对阿秒脉冲的强度和宽度的影响. 研究结果表明, 无论是正啁啾还是负啁啾, 随着啁啾量的增加, 都将使激光脉冲由产生单个阿秒脉冲趋向于产生阿秒脉冲链. 正啁啾和负啁啾对于阿秒脉冲宽度的影响是不同的, 负啁啾对于阿秒脉冲宽度影响很小, 适当的负啁啾有利于缩小阿秒脉冲的宽度; 而正啁啾脉冲产生的阿秒脉冲较无啁啾时展宽, 且随着啁啾量的增加, 其阿秒脉冲宽度迅速增大.     

Generation of intense sub-20-fs vacuum ultraviolet pulses compressed by material dispersion

We present our latest results on the generation of ultrashort vacuum UV (VUV) pulses by nonresonant four-wave mixing of chirped broadband pulses generated by filamentation of the fundamental of a Ti:sapphire laser with relatively narrowband pulses at the third harmonic. Positive chirp at the broadband idler yields negatively chirped VUV pulses necessary to compensate for material dispersion of a MgF(2) window in the VUV beam path. Pulse energies exceeding 400 nJ are available for time-resolved experiments. Pulse duration is measured by pump-probe ionization of Xe gas, providing the cross correlation between the fifth harmonic and the fundamental.     

飞秒啁啾Gauss型脉冲在稠密Λ型三能级原子介质中的传播

利用由预估校正(PC)- 时域有限差分(FDTD)法求得的不含慢变包络近似(SVEA)和旋转波近似(RWA)的全波Maxwell-Bloch方程的数值解, 研究了飞秒啁啾Gauss型激光脉冲(以下简称啁啾脉冲)在稠密Λ型三能级原子介质中的传播.研究表明,啁啾系数(C)的正负及大小的变化对脉冲传播特性有显著的影响,而且这个影响与脉冲面积的大小密切相关.面积小于4π的啁啾脉冲,在介质中传播时不发生分裂,且啁啾脉冲逐渐演化为一个近似的无啁啾(C=0)脉冲,这一特点不随啁啾系数的改变而     

Time-frequency characterization of femtosecond extreme ultraviolet pulses

We present energy-resolved cross-correlation measurements of an extreme ultraviolet (XUV) pulse, generated as the fifth harmonic (15.5 eV) of an intense 80 fs laser pulse centered at 400 nm. Spectrally resolving the cross-correlation signal allows us to characterize the time-dependent frequency of the XUV pulse. We find that the fifth harmonic has a small negative chirp in excess of that predicted by perturbation theory. In addition, by manipulating the chirp of the driving laser we can induce and measure a positive or a negative chirp on the XUV pulse.     

Carrier-Envelope-Phase Dependence of Emission Properties of High-Order Harmonic Generation

The carrler-envelope-phase （CEP） dependence of the emission properties of high-order harmonic generation （HHG） are quantitatively investigated. Calculation shows that a two-cycle laser with CEP of 15° can produce a single energy distribution pulse peaked at 0.94 radian （tad） and spanned 1.29 tad with the cutoff energy 2.9Up ＋ Ip and a bandwidth 0.86Up （where Up is the ponderomotive potential of the laser field and Ip is the atomic ionization potential）. The CEP dependence of the energy and temporal localizations of the single distribution pulse show interesting 180° periodic structures. These characteristics may be useful in optimizing attosecond x-ray sources and measurements.     

Simulation of a chirped femtosecond relativistic laser pulse interaction with underdense plasma by using a hydrodynamic approach

A chirped laser pulse indicates that the laser frequency changes over the duration of the pulse: a positively (negatively) chirped pulse implies that the laser frequency increases (decreases) with time. In this paper, we use a simplified, fully relativistic hydrodynamic approach to simulate the influence of chirp on the propagation of a femtosecond relativistic laser pulse in underdense plasma. Based on this simplified cold‐fluid model, the influence of chirp on the main dynamics of the laser pulse, such as self‐steepening, red‐shift in the leading edge, variation of the frequency chirp, and the generated wakefields can be studied self‐consistently. The simulation results show that a pulse with a positive chirp results in a larger increment in the intensity parameter a₀ when propagating a certain distance into an underdense plasma compared with an un‐chirped and a negatively chirped pulse, which is largely because of a much greater forward shift of the peak amplitude and more severe pulse self‐steepening effect due to the frequency red‐shift at the leading edge when exciting a plasma wave. The ponderomotive force, which relates to the first‐order differential of the laser pulse intensity envelope, is expected to be stronger for a positively chirped pulse because of its steeper leading edge and larger intensity parameter a₀. As a result, the wakefield driven by the positively chirped laser pulse is more intense than that driven by an un‐chirped and a negatively chirped laser pulse, which is confirmed by our self‐consistent hydrodynamic simulation.     

Effect of nonlinear chirped Gaussian laser pulse parameters on the electron acceleration

One-dimensional analysis of electron acceleration by a nonlinear chirped Gaussian laser pulse was investigated numerically. Two main nonlinear chirped pulses, polynomial and periodical were used. The maximum energy of electron in nonlinear chirped is approximately three times more than that of linear chirped. In the case of first order nonlinear polynomial chirp, Ω(ξ) = 1 + aξ + bξ ², the electron can be accelerated up to 5.3 GeV. Indeed, the analysis of the electron trajectory in x-z plane showed that the electron in the field of the nonlinear chirped pulse has a much smaller divergence than that of linear chirped pulse.     

两束啁啾脉冲控制下的H+D+光缔合反应研究

从理论上研究了两束啁啾脉冲控制H+D⁺的光缔合反应. 第一束脉冲用来加速碰撞伴的碰撞速度,第二束脉冲用来增加产物HD⁺的产率. 结果表明:第一束脉冲的参数决定了第二束脉冲的优化参数以及产物HD⁺的布居. 产物的布居可以通过调节两束脉冲的延迟时间得到控制. 关键词： 光缔合 +分子')" href="#">HD⁺分子 啁啾脉冲 波包     

利用两束同色激光场和半周期脉冲驱动原子产生单个阿秒脉冲

利用分裂算符方法数值求解一维氦原子的含时薛定谔方程,研究了氦原子在两束同色激光场与半周期脉冲(Hcps)形成的组合场驱动下所发射高次谐波的特点.研究结果表明,氦原子在这种组合场驱动下,高次谐波谱的平台区域能得到很大的扩展,其截止位置可延伸到I_P+9.6U_P,通过构造截止位置附近的高次谐波谱能够得到脉宽为63 as的单个阿秒脉冲.经过分析后发现,半周期脉冲的加入不仅使高次谐波谱平台能够得到扩展,同时还抑制了电子长路径对高次谐波的贡献. 关键词： 两束同色激光场 半周期脉冲 高次谐波 阿秒脉冲     

啁啾激光与半周期脉冲形成的组合场驱动原子产生单个阿秒脉冲

提出了由波长为800 nm、脉冲宽度为5 fs的啁啾激光与半周期脉冲形成组合场,并利用这种组合场驱动一维模型氦原子获得单个阿秒脉冲. 通过数值求解一维氦原子的含时薛定谔方程,发现氦原子在组合场驱动下高次谐波谱的截止位置可以扩展到I_p+21.6U_p. 对第二平台区域不同范围内高次谐波的叠加都能得到单个阿秒脉冲,最短可达37 as,特别是对平台区域的前端进行叠加不仅能够得到较短的单个阿秒脉冲,而且与截止位置附近高次谐波构造的阿秒脉冲相比,强度提高了3个数量级. 关键词： 啁啾激光场 半周期脉冲 高次谐波 阿秒脉冲     

Propagation dynamics of nonlinear chirped optical laser pulses in a two-level medium

We investigate the propagation dynamics of nonlinear chirped optical laser pulses in a two-level medium. For certain chirp strength and chirp width, an incident 2π nonlinear chirped pulse will split into optical precursors and a stable self-induced transparency soliton. This is caused by the particular Fourier spectrum that includes not only central resonant frequency components but also high-frequency and low-frequency sidebands. Moreover, the effects of chirp parameters on the evolution of nonlinear chirped pulses are also discussed.     

Generation of chirp-free picosecond pulses

The frequency spectrum of moderately chirped laser pulses depends upon the portion of the beam which is accepted by the spectrometer. Observation of the development of the chirp in a mode-locked pulse train allows to determine the small incipient chirp of early pulses. A product, bandwidth times pulse duration, of 0.47 ± 0.03 is consistently observed for single pulses switched from a passively mode-locked Nd-glass system.     

Chirp-dependent ionization of hydrogen atoms in the presence of super-intense laser pulses

We perform a theoretical study on dynamic interference in single photon ionization of ground state hydrogen atoms in the presence of a super-intense ultra-fast chirped laser pulse of different chirp types(equal-power and equal-FWHM laser pulses) by numerically solving the time-dependent Schr ¨odinger equation in one dimension. We investigate the influences of peak intensity and chirp parameters on the instantaneous ionization rate and photoelectron yield, respectively. We also compare the photoelectron energy spectra for the ionization by the laser pulses with different chirp types. We find that the difference between the instantaneous ionization rates for the ionization of hydrogen atom driven by two different chirped laser pulses is originated from the difference in variation of vector potentials with time.     

强激光啁啾脉冲中原子的高次谐波辐射

数值计算了强激光啁啾脉冲中原子的谐波辐射。啁啾效应使谐波发生移动和展宽，即相对于无啁啾冲情形，负啁啾脉冲中谐波平台的前半部分发生兰移，而后半部分谐波谱则发生红移。     

An analysis of As_2S_3 chirped fiber grating formed by two-photon absorption effect

When femtosecond laser pulses interfere with chirped femtosecond laser pulses in As2S3 fiber, a chirped fiber grating is formed. An analytical expression is given to describe the chirped grating, and its Bragg reflectivity is calculated. Because of the high photosensitive effect of As2S3 material, the chirped fiber grating has a wide Bragg reflective spectrum and high reflectivity by choosing proper parameters. This indicates that the chirped fiber grating can be used as a stretcher in the femtosecond chirped pulse amplification (CPA) system.     

General theory of population transfer by adiabatic rapid passage with intense, chirped laser pulses

We present a general theory of adiabatic rapid passage (ARP) with intense, linearly chirped laser pulses. For pulses with a Gaussian profile and a fixed bandwidth, we derive a rigorous formula for the maximum temporal chirp rate that can be sustained by the pulse. A modified Landau-Zener formula displays clearly the relationships among the pulse parameters. This formula is used to derive the optimal conditions for efficient, robust population transfer. As illustrations of the theory, we present results for two- and four-level systems, and selective vibronic excitation in the I₂ molecule. We demonstrate that population transfer with chirped pulses is more robust and more selective than population transfer with transform-limited pulses. Received 6 September 2000 and Received in final form 25 September 2000