Broadband coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering spectroscopy using soliton pulse trains from a photonic crystal fiber

Pulse trains of fundamental soliton pulses with different center wavelengths and delay times from a photonic crystal fiber were generated and used as Stokes optical pulses in coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) spectroscopy. The pulse trains were created by shaping optical pulses with a pulse shaper and their waveforms were measured by a cross-correlation frequency-resolved optical gating method. By the use of pulse trains, the time required for obtaining broadband CARS signals was reduced to be about one third compared with our previous study without using pulse trains. With this setup, broadband CARS signals between 500 and 3100 cm⁻¹ of a single polystyrene bead sample have been measured and the most of the Raman peaks in this frequency range of samples have been observed clearly.     

Adaptive femtosecond pulse shaping to control supercontinuum generation in a microstructure fiber

Efficient confinement of laser radiation in the core of a photonic crystal fiber increases the nonlinear processes resulting in supercontinuum generation. The technique of adaptive pulse shaping using an evolutionary algorithm provides a method to gain control over such highly nonlinear processes. Adaptive pulse shaping of the driving laser radiation passing through the photonic crystal fiber is employed to modify the shape and composition of the output supercontinuum. Amplitude and phase shaping are used to optimize the broadband emission between 500 and 700 nm, as well as a soliton centered at 935 nm. The intensities of the emission and of the soliton driven by a shaped laser pulse increase in comparison to an unshaped pulse by factors of 4 and 3, respectively. The spectral width in the range of 500-600 nm is increased by approximately 40%. In addition, the suppression of self-steepening effects in supercontinuum spectra is demonstrated.     

The control of pulse profiles with tunable temporal coherence

A new class of partially coherent pulse sources with Multi-Gaussian Schell-model (MGSM) correlations is proposed. The expression for the intensity distribution for the MGSM pulses generated by such sources on propagation through the dispersive media is derived. It is demonstrated that the pulse intensity profile, in particular, the width of the flat center of pulse intensity profile and the peak intensity, can be controlled by adjusting the source temporal coherence. The obtained results have potential applications in pulse shaping for communication and media sensing or pulsed laser material processing.     

锁模激光脉冲串放大过程中的整形控制

为了获得具有特殊要求的驱动激光,设计了一套以Nd:YVO4锁模激光器为种子光,用二极管激光器泵浦的Nd:YAG放大系统进行放大的激光系统。对放大过程中锁模激光脉冲串因增益饱和造成的脉冲串包络畸变以及对包络的整形控制进行了研究。实验获得能量为24 mJ的基频光,5.7 mJ的倍频光,0.608 mJ的紫外四倍频光;通过脉冲串整形控制,实现了包络顶部平整的紫外超短脉冲串输出,满足了光阴极注入器对驱动激光的特殊需求。     

KrF激光脉冲整形研究

 实验研究了脉冲堆积法对KrF激光的整形能力。利用受激布里渊散射(SBS)压缩脉冲获得了脉宽为3~5 ns的短脉冲，用4束激光堆积获得了脉宽为10~15 ns、平顶宽度为5~10 ns的整形脉冲。利用实测SBS脉冲数据，对脉冲堆积法进行了数值模拟，模拟的脉冲宽度为12.7 ns，平顶宽度为7.7 ns，该结果与实验相符。对脉冲堆积法的任意整形能力进行了模拟，讨论了脉冲宽度变化对整形的影响，发现脉宽变化在5%以内时，对整形脉冲的影响较小。对整形脉冲的放大进行了定性研究，结果表明：平顶脉冲通过放大器后，前沿部分放大较多，由于饱和作用，后沿放大较少；如果前端整形脉冲前沿为斜坡状，放大后可以得到近平顶的脉冲。     

Few cycle pulse compressor based on hollow-core fiber waveguide results in pulse tails

The hollow-core fiber structure influence of few-cycle pulse compressor on pulse contrast is investigated experimentally. It is found that a periodic structure of pulses at the tail of the main pulse extended hundreds of picoseconds away. It can be due to the fiber structure and could be eliminated by modifying the structure.     

Shaping the beam profile of a partially coherent beam by a phase aperture

By use of a tensor method, an analytical formula for a partially coherent Gaussian Schell-model (GSM) beam truncated by a circular phase aperture propagating through a paraxial ABCD optical system is derived. The propagation properties of a GSM beam truncated by a circular phase aperture in free space are studied numerically. It is found that the circular phase aperture can be used to shape the beam profile of a GSM beam and generate partially coherent dark hollow or flat-topped beam, which is useful in many applications, e.g., optical trapping, free-space optical communication, and material thermal processing. The propagation factor of a GSM beam truncated by a circular phase aperture is also analyzed.     

The influence of temporal pulse train modulation during laser percussion drilling

The temporal pulse train modulation during laser percussion drilling was found to effect significant changes to the material ejection processes. In particular, distinct differences in the material ejection processes have been observed between a temporal pulse train shaping technique termed as sequential pulse delivery pattern control (SPDPC) and the normal delivery pattern (NDP), wherein the parameters of successive laser pulses were constant. Due to the reduced upward material removal fractions in SPDPC drilling, the spatter deposition area was reduced from approximately 6.7 to 2.7 mm². In addition, the melt layer thicknesses at the hole bottom were significantly increased from 11–61 to 18–369 μm. Such changes were identified as being due to the low laser pulse intensities before beam breakthrough associated with the SPDPC method. It was observed that the use of the linearly increasing SPDPC method increased the downward material removal fractions, from 20% to 28% observed in NDP drilling, to 34%–39%. Such an increase in the downward material ejection mechanism in SPDPC drilling was identified as being primarily due to the pointed blind-hole profile generated before the onset of beam breakthrough. The work has shown that modulating the entire pulse train in laser percussion drilling could control the material ejection processes. Furthermore, the fundamental elements of the SPDPC technique are given in terms of the rate of energy deposition and total pulse train energy.     

全光纤多种子激光脉冲产生系统

报道一种可精确同步输出宽带啁啾脉冲、纳秒级整形脉冲以及窄带光参量啁啾放大抽运脉冲的全光纤多种子激光脉冲产生系统.采用掺镱光纤锁模激光器和掺镱单纵模光纤振荡器作为系统的光源,将掺镱光纤锁模激光器输出的超短脉冲分束啁啾展宽至0.9ns后,一路进行放大产生10μJ量级的宽带啁啾脉冲为高能拍瓦激光器系统提供种子光脉冲,另一路通过1.2nm滤波产生140ps的基元脉冲,通过光纤堆积器产生可编程整形的2.3ns脉冲,再经过放大达到10μJ量级,提供任意整形的压缩脉冲.同时,将部分掺镱光纤锁模激光器输出的超短脉冲进行光电转换并锁相后,产生与锁模超短脉冲高精度同步的电脉冲用于触发幅度调制器,将掺镱单纵模光纤振荡器输出的连续光削波放大,产生光参量啁啾放大抽运脉冲.该系统能够根据物理实验的需要,非常灵活地在输出各种脉冲之间做出选择.     

Femtosecond pulse shaping for phase and morphology control in PLD: Synthesis of cubic SiC

Pulse shaping introduces the method that makes possible the production of tunable arbitrary shaped pulses. We extend this method to control the prevalent growth of cubic SiC films on Si (1 0 0) substrates by pulsed laser deposition at temperatures around 973 K from a SiC target in vacuum. We used a laser system generating 200 fs pulses duration at 800 nm with 600 μJ at 1 kHz. The obtained structures are investigated by electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and profilometry. We observed grains embedded in an amorphous texture, characteristic in our opinion to the depositions obtained with very short pulses. We present a comparison of deposited films with and without pulse shaping. Pulse shaping promotes increased crystallization and results in the deposition of thin structures of cubic SiC with a strongly reduced density of particulates, under similar deposition conditions.