飞秒激光脉冲宽度和脉冲波形测试技术

飞秒激光在激光核聚变、卫星精密测距、激光微加工等领域具有重要的应用前景,同时也是产生太赫兹波的主要泵浦源。介绍了国内外飞秒激光脉冲宽度和脉冲波形的测试方法,比较了自相关法、频率分辨光学快门法、光谱相位相干直接电场重构法的优缺点。自相关法具有脉宽测量范围广、结构简单等特点,但不具备脉冲波形测试能力。光谱相位相干直接电场重构法对待测激光光束质量要求较高, 不适合大量程范围激光脉宽快速测量。为满足10 fs~5 ps大量程范围超短激光脉冲宽度和脉冲波形的测试需求,采用自相关法及二次谐波频率分辨光学开关法研制飞秒激光脉冲宽度和脉冲波形测试仪,时间分辨率优于2 fs。     

利用空气来探测脉冲太赫兹波

曾有报道利用飞秒激光脉冲通过空气中的三阶光学非线性过程产生高强度的太赫兹波．理论上，作为太赫兹波产生的逆过程，有可能实现用空气作为介质探测脉冲太赫兹波．作者以空气或激光诱导的空气等离子体作为介质，通过测量太赫兹波场诱导产生的二次谐波信号，首次实现了宽带太赫兹波的时间分辨探测，本文介绍了空气中太赫兹波的非相干和相干探测的实验结果和理论分析．迄今为止，这种具有突破意义的太赫兹波空气电离相干探测法（THz-ABCD）的频谱宽度可以超过8THz，实现动态范围可达30dB。     

小间隙异面电极结构的光导开关

介绍了应用于介质壁加速器的小间隙异面电极结构的光导开关。所用光导开关为异面结构的砷化镓（GaAs）光导开关,电极间隙5 mm,偏置电压为15~22 kV脉冲高压,工作在非线性（高增益）模式,由半导体激光器产生的脉冲激光触发。脉冲激光的中心波长为905 nm,脉冲宽度（FWHM）约20 ns,前沿约3.1 ns,抖动小于200 ps,峰值功率约90 W。实验结果表明:光导开关的偏置电压较低时,开关寿命较长,导通性能较差;偏置电压较高、驱动脉冲激光功率较大时,开关导通性能较好,寿命较短。     

基于液晶空间光调制器的太赫兹波频谱调制

频谱可调制的太赫兹波具有广泛的应用价值。利用一台纯相位式的液晶空间光调制器对飞秒激光脉冲进行空间整形,通过改变飞秒激光脉冲的横向空间分布,实现太赫兹波频谱的调制。在实验中,利用光泵浦整流方式产生太赫兹波,并利用太赫兹时域光谱系统对太赫兹信号进行探测。通过GS算法在液晶空间光调制器上加载不同的相位图,获得了不同的飞秒激光脉冲横向空间分布。通过改变探测距离和飞秒脉冲的空间分布参数,实现了太赫兹波频谱的调制。还利用菲涅尔衍射算法对这一过程进行了理论模拟,理论模拟结果与实验结果吻合的较好,这充分说明了基于飞秒脉冲空间整形的太赫兹光谱调制技术的可行性。     

半绝缘GaAs光电导开关产生太赫兹波电场屏蔽效应的二维Monte Carlo模拟

利用Ensemble-Monte Carlo模拟方法，对不同实验条件下半绝缘GaAs(SI-GaAs)光电导开关作为偶极辐射天线在辐射太赫兹电磁波(太赫兹波)中体内电场的分布以及空间电荷屏蔽效应对太赫兹波辐射的影响进行了模拟.载流子的时域空间电场分布表明:用高能量激光脉冲触发低压偏置的GaAs开关，空间电荷屏蔽是限制太赫兹波辐射功率的一个重要因素，并且空间电荷屏蔽能够引起太赫兹波呈现双极性.当高能量飞秒激光脉冲以全电极间隙触发大孔径光电导天线时，空间电荷电场屏蔽效应对太赫兹波的影响不大. 关键词： 光电导开关 Ensemble-Monte Carlo模拟 辐射场屏蔽 空间电荷屏蔽     

基于光导半导体的MHz高重频可调谐脉冲产生技术研究

随着微波光子学的发展,新型光导微波技术利用高重频脉冲簇激光,入射到线性光导半导体器件中产生可调谐高功率电磁脉冲的方式受到广泛关注。SiC光导半导体开关（PCSS）具有高击穿场强,高饱和载流子速率,高抗辐射能力,高热传导率和高温工作稳定性等优点,是产生高重频、高功率、超短脉冲的重要固态电子器件。介绍了一种基于钒补偿半绝缘4H-SiC PCSS的MHz重复频率亚纳秒脉冲发生器。该发生器采用1 MHz,1030 nm可调谐光脉冲宽度的激光簇驱动源,4H-SiC PCSS的厚度为0.8 mm。整系统可得到最大输出电功率176 kW、最小半高宽约为365 ps的MHz重频短脉冲。     

光纤型变角度太赫兹时域光谱测量系统研究

太赫兹时域光谱(THz-TDS)技术是一种非常有效的相干光谱探测技术,被广泛应用于材料特性分析、爆炸物探测、医学诊断以及气体检测等众多领域。传统THz-TDS系统采用钛宝石飞秒激光器作为光源,体积大、成本高,限制了THz-TDS的大规模应用。光纤激光技术近年来发展迅速,光纤飞秒激光器近年来已实现商用,尤其是掺铒光纤飞秒激光器,具有成本低、体积小、稳定性好等优点。采用全光纤的设计方案, THz-TDS系统可设计的非常紧凑和灵活,同时由于飞秒激光在光纤中传输,大大提高了系统的抗环境干扰能力,在工业和现场测量方面具有巨大的应用潜力。但另一方面,由于色散展宽、偏振方向不匹配等效应的影响,会对THz-TDS系统的性能造成严重影响,需要在系统设计时充分考虑。本文设计研制了光纤型THz-TDS系统,对光学、电学和软件三个子系统分别进行了简要介绍。通过插入色散补偿光纤进行色散管理实现了飞秒脉冲宽度的控制,使得到达太赫兹光电导天线的飞秒脉冲宽度保持在50 fs左右,从而消除了因飞秒脉冲展宽导致的太赫兹时域脉冲展宽。通过对飞秒激光偏振态的精确控制,使泵浦激光和探测激光偏振方向与保偏光纤的快轴或慢轴保持平行,避免飞秒脉冲同时沿快慢轴传输导致到达太赫兹天线的时间存在先后,从而消除了太赫兹时域脉冲的分裂现象,获得了信噪比优于12 000的单脉冲太赫兹时域波形。采用变角度光路结构设计,实现了太赫兹透、反射光谱测量的便捷切换,以及变角度太赫兹光谱的测量,给THz-TDS系统的应用带来了很大的方便。     

强场宽带太赫兹波辐射的研究进展

太赫兹光谱分析和检测技术在材料特性研究、医学诊断、环境监控等方面具有广阔的应用前景。目前高性能太赫兹源的缺乏是太赫兹光谱检测和成像技术发展缓慢的制约因素之一。因此,强场宽带太赫兹源的开发一直是太赫兹领域的研究重点。综述超快飞秒激光脉冲驱动下强场太赫兹波辐射的研究进展,详述激光激励金属纳米薄膜、气体和液体中等离子体辐射宽频强场太赫兹波的现象和物理机制,并比较了各种强场太赫兹产生方法的特点和优缺点,最后讨论基于超快激光激发物质产生太赫兹波的发展前景及所面临的挑战。     

多脉冲激光增强太赫兹辐射的PIC模拟

 模拟了强激光和稀薄非均匀等离子体相互作用在界面辐射超强太赫兹波的物理过程,提出了利用多脉冲激光增强太赫兹辐射的方案,详细研究了多脉冲激光的脉冲个数（取１～４个）、脉冲间距等因素对太赫兹辐射功率和频率的影响。当入射激光包含4个脉冲时,辐射最强,此时的辐射功率是相同条件下单脉冲的6倍,可达到7.16 MW,辐射的太赫兹波的脉宽约为330 fs,总能量约为1 μJ。研究结果表明:多脉冲激光可以显著增强太赫兹辐射,且随着脉冲个数的增加,激起的电子静电波振幅变大,辐射功率也随之变大,直到尾流场饱和;当脉冲间距等于入射激光脉宽时辐射最强。     

基于场效应管与阶跃恢复二极管的皮秒级脉冲源设计

针对已有脉冲源无法兼顾脉冲宽度和幅值的现象,提出一种基于场效应管（MOSFET）和阶跃恢复二极管（SRD）相结合的皮秒级脉冲源设计方案。通过研究分析传统的几种脉冲源的设计方案,设计出一种百伏级的高重频皮秒级脉冲发生器,在PSPICE上对设计方案进行仿真并制作出脉冲源PCB板,实测在2 MHz的重频下产生半幅脉宽约为400 ps、幅度110 V以上的极窄脉冲,波形稳定,为高分辨的超宽带探测雷达发射机的设计提供了新的选择方案。     

Ion-irradiated In0.53Ga0.47As photoconductive antennas for THz generation and detection at 1.55 μm wavelength

We present a detailed study of the photoconductive antennas made from heavy-ion-irradiated In_0.53Ga_0.47As material. The optical and transport properties of ion-irradiated In_0.53Ga_0.47As material are characterized. The terahertz waveforms emitted and detected by ion-irradiated In_0.53Ga_0.47As photoconductive antennas excited by 1.55 μm wavelength femtosecond laser pulses are reported and the effect of the carrier lifetime on the terahertz signal characteristics emitted by such devices is analysed. The performances of ion-irradiated In_0.53Ga_0.47As photoconductive antennas excited by 1.55 μm and also by 0.8 μm wavelength femtosecond laser pulses are compared to those of similar low-temperature-grown GaAs photoconductive antennas. To cite this article: J. Mangeney, P. Crozat, C. R. Physique 9 (2008).     

Quantum interference in laser-assisted photo-ionization excited by a femtosecond x-ray pulse

The photoelectron energy spectra （PESs） excited by monochromatic femtosecond x-ray pulses in the presence of a femtosecond laser are investigated. APES is composed of a set of separate peaks, showing interesting comb-like structures. These structures result from the quantum interferences between photoelectron wave packets generated at different times. The width and the localization of each peak as well as the number of peaks are determined by all the laser and x-ray parameters. Most of peak heights of the PES are higher than the classical predictions.     

Interferences of ultrashort free electron wave packets

Interferences of free electron wave packets generated by a pair of identical, time-delayed, femtosecond laser pulses which ionize excited atomic potassium have been observed. Two different schemes are investigated: threshold electrons produced by one-photon ionization with parallel laser polarization and above threshold ionization electrons produced by a two-photon transition with crossed laser polarization. Our results show that the temporal coherence of light pulses is transferred to free electron wave packets, thus opening the door to a whole variety of exciting experiments.     

Generation of Terahertz Radiation under the Femtosecond Laser Excitation of a Multilayer Structure Based on a-Si:H/a-SiC:H/c-Si

JETP Letters - Coherent terahertz radiation has been generated in p–n heterostructures based on a-Si:H/a-SiC:H/c-Si excited by 800-nm femtosecond laser pulses at room temperature. Terahertz...     

Pump-probe nonlinear absorption spectroscopy of molecular aggregates using chirped frequency-shifted light pulses from a photonic-crystal fiber

Photonic-crystal fibers provide efficient nonlinear-optical transformations of femtosecond Cr: forsterite laser pulses, delivering linearly chirped frequency-shifted broadband light pulses optimized for pump-probe nonlinear absorption spectroscopy of molecular aggregates. The blue-shifted output of a photonic-crystal fiber with a spectrum stretching from 530 to 680 nm is used to probe one-and two-exciton bands of thiacarbocyanine J aggregates in a polymer film excited by femtosecond second-harmonic pulses of the Cr: forsterite laser.     

Electrooptic sampling of low temperature GaAs pulse generators for oscilloscope calibration

Optoelectronic generation of well characterized ultrashort electrical pulses plays an important role in the calibration of fast-sampling oscilloscopes. In this paper the authors describe the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) pulse generator, comprising a femtosecond laser and an ultrafast photoconductive switch which can generate electrical pulses as short as 650 fs. The photoconductive switch consists of a GaAs substrate with a top GaAs layer grown under low temperature conditions to ensure a subpicosecond recombination rate. The technique of electrooptic sampling is used to measure pulses on planar transmission lines, such as coplanar waveguide and coplanar stripline. Good agreement is shown between electrooptic sampling measurement and the modelling of pulse propagation along a coplanar waveguide, enabling one to optimize a design of a calibration test source. The use of a pulse generator to calibrate a 50 GHz sampling oscilloscope is described.     

Generation of femtosecond X-ray pulses via laser–electron beam interaction

The generation of femtosecond X-ray pulses will have important scientific applications by enabling the direct measurement of atomic motion and structural dynamics in condensed matter on the fundamental time scale of a vibrational period. Interaction of femtosecond laser pulses with relativistic electron beams is an effective approach to generating femtosecond pulses of X-rays. In this paper we present recent results from proof-of-principle experiments in which 300 fs pulses are generated from a synchrotron storage ring by using an ultrashort optical pulse to create femtosecond time structure on the stored electron bunch. A previously demonstrated approach for generating femtosecond X-rays via Thomson scattering between terawatt laser pulses and relativistic electrons is reviewed and compared with storage-ring based schemes.     

In situ observation of photo-bleaching in human single living cell excited by a NIR femtosecond laser

The photo-bleaching of single living cells excited by femtosecond laser irradiation was observed in situ to study the nonlinear interaction between ultrafast laser pulses and living human breast MDA-MB-231 cells. We conducted a systematic study of the energy dependence of plasma-mediated photo-disruption of fluorescently labeled subcellular structures in the nucleus of living cells using near-infrared (NIR) femtosecond laser pulses through a numerical aperture objective lens (0.75 NA). The behavior of photo-bleached living cells with fluorescently labeled nuclei was observed for 18 h after femtosecond laser irradiation under a fluorescence microscope. The photo-bleaching of single living cells without cell disruption occurred at between 470 and 630 nJ. To study the photo-disruption of subcellular organelles in single living cells using the nonlinear absorption excited by a NIR femtosecond laser pulse, the process of photo-bleaching without photo-disruption provides key information for clarifying the nonlinear interaction between NIR ultrashort, high-intensity laser light and transparent fluorescently labeled living cells.     

金属超微粒子-半导体薄膜的光学瞬态响应

利用飞秒脉冲激光和泵浦 探测技术测量了金属超微粒子 半导体复合薄膜Ａｇ-ＢａＯ的瞬态光学透过率随延迟时间的变化曲线，观察到了薄膜对光的吸收漂白现象，并在不到２ｐｓ时间内恢复．该现象是薄膜中金属超微粒子内费密能级附近电子被飞秒激光脉冲激发，产生非平衡电子而经历瞬态弛豫造成的．弛豫主要包括非平衡电子越过超微粒子和周围介质的界面位垒进入周围介质，以及非平衡电子同晶格和界面的散射两种过程．超微粒子粒径的差别会引起非平衡电子弛豫时间的差别 关键词：     

Characteristic features of generation of few-cycle pulses in infrared and terahertz spectral ranges upon interaction of two femtosecond pulses of different frequencies in air

The results of a theoretical analysis of the generation of broadband radiation in the infrared and terahertz spectral ranges upon the excitation of plasma in air by two femtosecond pulses at the fundamental and second-harmonic frequencies of a Ti-sapphire laser are presented. It is found that the appearance of long-wavelength radiation in a strong field of pulses of different frequencies can be described in terms of strongly anharmonic oscillations of optical electrons, whereby electrons are pulled far away from their atoms; these oscillations are accompanied by cascade transitions of electrons from their ground state to a bound excited state, followed by a transition to the continuum. It is shown that the generated infrared and terahertz radiation appears in the form of pulses containing a few oscillations of the light field. The efficiency of terahertz generation varies periodically with an increase in the interaction length of the femtosecond pulses of different frequencies.