Optimization of low-order harmonic generation by exploitation of a resistive deformable mirror

The generation of harmonics from the interaction of an ultra-intense laser pulse and a gas jet is strongly influenced by the intensity and shape of the laser beam. In this work we present a sensor-less optimization procedure of the harmonics yield based on the use of an adaptive mirror. Because of the limited repetition rate of the laser source, we used a resistive actuator-deformable mirror which allows a rapid convergence to the optimal laser beam correction without a wave-front measurement. Our approach demonstrated that this kind of deformable mirror was able to enhance the harmonic yield by a factor of two in about 40 acquisitions.     

Adaptive correction of vortex laser beam in a closed-loop system with phase only liquid crystal spatial light modulator

We propose and demonstrate the wave front correction of a vortex laser beam by using dual phase only liquid crystal spatial light modulators (LC-SLMs) and a stochastic parallel gradient descent (SPGD) algorithm. One phase only LC-SLM is used to generate vortex laser beam by loading spiral phase screen onto the wave front of input quasi-Gaussian beam. The other phase only LC-SLM under SPGD controller based on the subzone control method adaptively compensates the wave front of vortex laser beam. Numerical simulation and experimental results show that after correction, vortex doughnut like beam is focused into a beam with airy disk pattern distribution in the far field. The adaptive corrections of vortex laser beam with different optical topological charges are studied. The results show that the optical topological charge has little influence on adaptive correction. The powers in the main lobe of far field intensity distributions of vortex laser beams with different optical topological charges are all greatly improved by adaptive correction. The technique proposed in this paper can be used in optical communication, relay mirror and atmospheric turbulence correction.     

Optimization of high-order harmonic generation by adaptive control of a sub-10-fs pulse wave front

We present a method for the optimization of high-order harmonic generation based on wave-front correction of the driving laser beam. The technique exploits wave-front adaptive control by means of a deformable mirror, governed by an optimization procedure.     

Wave-front correction of high-intensity fs laser beams by using closed-loop adaptive optics system

We developed an adaptive optics system to correct the wave-front distortion of an intense fs laser beam from our multi-TW laser system, Jiguang II. In this paper, the instruments of the adaptive optical system are described and the experimental results of the closed-loop wave-front correction are presented. A distorted laser wave-front of 20 wavelengths of P-V values was corrected to 0.15 wavelength of P-V values. The beam quality of the laser system varies from 3.5 diffraction limit to 1.5 diffraction limit.     

Adaptive aberration correction based on ant colony algorithm for solid-state lasers: numerical simulations

We describe an adaptive aberration correction technique based on an ant colony algorithm for solid-state lasers and a general class of other adaptive optics systems. We show that it is possible to compensate phase aberrations without wavefront sensing in this approach, which iteratively adjusts the control voltages of a deformable mirror to maximize certain system performance metrics of the far-field intensity distribution of the laser beam. The effectiveness of this approach is analyzed numerically by use of a 37-element piezoelectric deformable mirror and a variation of the Strehl ratio as the metric. Results demonstrate that this approach can effectively compensate the phase distortions of laser beams and significantly improve beam quality. A comparison indicates that this approach is much faster than a genetic algorithm while achieving almost the same beam quality.     

Adaptive wave-front correction by means of all-optical feedback interferometry

A novel adaptive wave-front correction system based on an all-optical feedback interferometer is described. In this system the two-dimensional output fringe intensity from a Mach-Zehnder interferometer with large radial shear is optically fed back to an optically addressed phase-only liquid-crystal spatial light modulator. Consequently, without a separate aberration-free reference wave, the modulator phase approximates the conjugate of the interferometer phase that is directly related to the phase of the input aberrated wave front, so this system is applicable in adaptive optics. We successfully achieved real-time correction of aberrated wave fronts: A diffraction pattern that was seriously distorted because of aberrations was transformed into a diffraction-limited spot immediately after the feedback loop was closed.     

Free-space laser communications with adaptive optics: Atmospheric compensation experiments

Refractive index inhomogeneities of the turbulent air cause wave-front distortions of optical waves propagating through the atmosphere, leading to such effects as beam spreading, beam wander, and intensity fluctuations (scintillations). These distortions are responsible for severe signal fading in free-space optical communications systems and therefore compromise link reliability. Wave-front distortions can be mitigated, in principle, with adaptive optics, i.e., real-time wave-front control, reducing the likeliness of signal fading. However, adaptive optics technology, currently primarily used in astronomical imaging, needs to be adapted to the requirements of free-space optical communication systems and their specific challenges.In this chapter we discuss a non-conventional adaptive optics approach that has certain advantages with respect to its incorporation into free-space optical communication terminals. The technique does not require wave-front measurements, which are difficult under the strong scintillation conditions typical for communication scenarios, but is based on the direct optimization of a performance quality metric, e.g., the communication signal strength, with a stochastic parallel gradient descent (SPGD) algorithm.We describe an experimental adaptive optics system that consists of a beam-steering and a higher-resolution wave-front correction unit with a 132-actuator MEMS piston-type deformable mirror controlled by a VLSI system implementing the SPGD algorithm. The system optimizes the optical signal that could be coupled into a single-mode fiber after propagating along a 2.3-km near-horizontal atmospheric path. We investigate characteristics of the performance metric under different atmospheric conditions and evaluate the effect of the adaptive system. Experiments performed under strong scintillation conditions with beam-steering only as well as with higher-resolution wave-front control demonstrate the mitigation of wave-front distortions and the reduction of signal fading.     

Adaptive phase-distortion correction based on parallel gradient-descent optimization

We describe an adaptive wave-front control technique based on a parallel stochastic perturbation method that can be applied to a general class of adaptive-optical system. The efficiency of this approach is analyzed numerically and experimentally by use of a white-light adaptive-imaging system with an extended source. To create and compensate for static phase distortions, we use 127-element liquid-crystal phase modulators. Results demonstrate that adaptive wave-front correction by a parallel-perturbation technique can significantly improve image quality.     

Second-harmonic generation and wave-front correction of a terawatt laser system

By combining second-harmonic generation and wave-front correction of a hybrid Ti:sapphire-Nd:glass terawatt laser chain, we were able to generate a focused intensity above 10(19) W/cm(2), with an estimated 10(9):1 intensity contrast ratio. The frequency of the laser is doubled by use of a type I KDP crystal, and wave-front correction is achieved with a deformable mirror coupled to a wave-front sensor.     

High sensitivity adaptive optics control of laser beam based on interferometric phase-front detection

We present an upgrade of an adaptive optics (AO) system for the control of geometrical fluctuations in a laser beam, based on the interferometric detection of phase front. Acoustic isolation and suitable design of optical system make the present system very sensitive to laser beam geometrical fluctuations and can be an interesting step toward the active correction of the small perturbations of the input beam of gravitational wave interferometric detectors.     

激光发射自适应光学校正大气湍流的初步实验

本文报告了用自适应光学技术实时补偿大气湍流的激光发射初步实验结果。校正后的靶面峰值能量大约是校正前的3.5倍。     

Nearly diffraction-limited laser focal spot obtained by use of an optically addressed light valve in an adaptive-optics loop

We demonstrate correction of laser wave-front distortions by use of an adaptive-optical technique based on a light valve. The setup consists of an achromatic and adjustable-sensitivity wave-front sensor and a wave-front corrector relying on an optically addressed liquid-crystal spatial light modulator. Experimental results with strongly aberrated beams focused close to the diffraction limit are presented for the cw regime. Additional experiments with pulses and measurement of damage thresholds show that this approach is relevant for spatial phase correction of ultraintense laser pulses.     

连续相位板束匀滑容差能力分析

在惯性约束聚变系统中,改进G-S算法设计的连续相位板能够对波前发生畸变的激光进行束匀滑处理,以改善远场分布。由于连续相位板对不同畸变状态的波前进行处理后的效果不一样,因此针对连续相位板的束匀滑容差能力进行了系统分析。鉴于畸变光束的传输特性,采用波前均方根梯度来量化波前畸变量,定量计算了不同畸变光经过匀滑处理后的远场光强分布情况。并比较了不同入射畸变光通过连续相位板后的远场焦斑顶部均匀性,结果表明:当入射波前畸变的均方根梯度小于0.32 wave/mm 时,连续相位板具有很好的束匀滑效果。     

Growth of a laser ripple in a magnetoplasma and its effect on plasma wave excitation

Summary This paper presents an investigation of the growth of a radially symmetrical ripple, superimposed on a Gaussian laser beam in a collisionless magnetoplasma. The effect of the magnetic field and the intensity of the laser on the growth of the ripple is presented in some detail. The effect of the presence of the ripple on the excitation of an electron plasma wave is also investigated. Coupling of a weak plasma wave with the main laser beam is through the modified background density. The combined effect of increased intensity of the laser beam and magnetic field is observed to suppress the growth of the ripple as well as the excitation of the plasma wave. The authors of this paper have agreed to not receive the proofs for correction.     

Speckle-metric-optimization-based adaptive optics for laser beam projection and coherent beam combining

Maximization of a projected laser beam's power density at a remotely located extended object (speckle target) can be achieved by using an adaptive optics (AO) technique based on sensing and optimization of the target-return speckle field's statistical characteristics, referred to here as speckle metrics (SM). SM AO was demonstrated in a target-in-the-loop coherent beam combining experiment using a bistatic laser beam projection system composed of a coherent fiber-array transmitter and a power-in-the-bucket receiver. SM sensing utilized a 50 MHz rate dithering of the projected beam that provided a stair-mode approximation of the outgoing combined beam's wavefront tip and tilt with subaperture piston phases. Fiber-integrated phase shifters were used for both the dithering and SM optimization with stochastic parallel gradient descent control.     

Beam cleanup of a 532-nm pulsed solid-state laser using a bimorph mirror

A successful beam cleanup of a 5-mJ/200-μs pulsed solid-state laser system operating at 532-nm wavelength is demonstrated. In this beam cleanup system, a wave-front sensor-less adaptive optics (AO) system is set up with a 20-element bimorph mirror (BM), a high-voltage amplifier, a charge-coupled device camera, and a control software implementing the stochastic parallel gradient descent (SPGD) algorithm. The brightness of the laser focal spot is improved because the wave-front distortions have been compensated. The performance of this system is presented and the experimental results are analyzed.     

Adaptive optics correction based on stochastic parallel gradient descent technique under various atmospheric scintillation conditions: numerical simulation

An adaptive optics system utilizing a Shack–Hartmann wavefront sensor and a deformable mirror can successfully correct a distorted wavefront by the conjugation principle. However, if a wave propagates over such a path that scintillation is not negligible, the appearance of branch points makes least-squares reconstruction fail to estimate the wavefront effectively. An adaptive optics technique based on the stochastic parallel gradient descent (SPGD) control algorithm is an alternative approach which does not need wavefront information but optimizes the performance metric directly. Performance was evaluated by simulating a SPGD control system and conventional adaptive correction with least-squares reconstruction in the context of a laser beam projection system. We also examined the relative performance of coping with branch points by the SPGD technique through an example. All studies were carried out under the conditions of assuming the systems have noise-free measurements and infinite time control bandwidth. Results indicate that the SPGD adaptive system always performs better than the system based on the least-squares wavefront reconstruction technique in the presence of relatively serious intensity scintillations. The reason is that the SPGD adaptive system has the ability of compensating a discontinuous phase, although the phase is not detected and reconstructed.     

产生旁瓣的激光波前功率谱密度与焦斑性能分析

讨论了在放置与不放置焦斑形态控制器件 KPP的两种情况下 ,采用功率谱密度模拟分析有旁瓣焦斑的激光束波前分布的特点 ,并由此探讨高功率激光驱动器在无旁瓣的聚焦情形下 ,对入射到打靶透镜的激光束波前畸变量的控制要求。     

Repetition rate increase and diffraction-limited focal spots for a nonthermal-equilibrium 100-TW Nd:glass laser chain by use of adaptive optics

Dynamic wave-front correction is applied before each shot on a 100-TW, 30-J/300-fs high-power laser facility by use of an adaptive-optics system. This system allows us to increase the repetition rate of high-energy lasers while maintaining excellent and constant beam focusability with a Strehl ratio of >0.75 despite the amplifiers' not being in thermal equilibrium. The best results in terms of the highest Strehl ratio and intensities are obtained when locking the system on wave-front sensing after pulse recompression.     

基于分区域耦合的随机并行梯度下降自适应光学

基于随机并行梯度下降(SPGD)方法的自适应光学(AO)系统通过直接优化系统的性能评价函数来控制波前校正器以补偿光束中存在的波前畸变。为了提高这种无模型优化自适应光学系统的收敛速度, 提出了基于分区域耦合的新方法以改进传统随机并行梯度下降自适应光学系统的工作方式。将波前校正器光学孔径分成多块子区域, 每块子区域对应着的所有驱动器作为一个整体控制单元, 从形式上可以得到一个空间分辨率较低的分区域波前校正器。该校正器与原校正器同步工作, 并采用随机并行梯度下降算法对同一个性能评价函数进行优化, 从而构成了双校正器的耦合工作结构。对256单元分立活塞式波前校正器建立了自适应成像系统的数值模型, 结果表明这种分区域耦合的随机并行梯度下降自适应光学系统比传统随机并行梯度下降自适应光学系统具有更快的收敛速度和更好的渐近态。