Dispersion-insensitive low-coherent pulses emerging from nonlinear polarization switching

We have experimentally investigated low-repetition nanosecond pulses delivered from an erbium-doped fiber (EDF) laser operating in ultra-large anomalous dispersion regime. The output pulses with rectangular profile and Gaussian spectrum almost keep invariable when they propagate through either normal- or anomalous-dispersion fibers. After nanosecond pulses are amplified via a two-stage EDF amplifier, they are broken up and exhibited as flatly broadened supercontinuum from 1520 to 1700 nm if amplified pulses are launched into a 10-km single-mode fiber, whereas the pulses retain the same duration with a broadband supercontinuum from 1200 to 1750 nm if they are input into a 100-m highly-nonlinear low-dispersion photonic-crystal fiber (PCF). The experimental observations demonstrate that the nanosecond pulses result from nonlinear polarization switching and can be regarded as dispersion-insensitive low-coherent pulses rather than compressible pulses.     

All-optical control of the carrier-envelope phase with multi-stage optical parametric amplifiers verified with spectral interference

Intense ultrashort laser pulses with stabilized carrier-envelope phase (CEP) are generated at 800 nm by using multi-stage collinear and non-collinear optical parametric amplifiers (OPAs). The first-stage collinear OPA is directly pumped by the fundamental-wave pulses and tuned to generate idler pulses at 1600 nm, which are further amplified by a second-stage collinear OPA, and then frequency-doubled to generate CEP-stabilized pulses at 800 nm. A non-collinear OPA is used to amplify the CEP-stabilized pulses at 800 nm. The combination of different OPAs can generate and amplify CEP-stabilized pulses at 800 nm without any detrimental influence from the fundamental-wave pulses. The CEP stabilization is verified with a simple and robust spectral interference setup. The stable interference pattern is measured for every single pulse and compared with the unstable pattern from pulses of random CEP. PACS 42.65.Re; 42.65.Yj; 42.25.Kb     

Generation of high-energy, sub-20-fs pulses in the deep ultraviolet by using spectral broadening during filamentation in argon

Generation of sub-20-fs UV pulses with more than 300 μJ energy at 268 nm is reported. First, the UV pulses are produced by successive second-harmonic and third-harmonic (TH) generation of 805 nm pulses of a 1 kHz Ti:sapphire laser amplifier. The spectral broadening of TH pulses is realized in a filament, generated in argon. The produced pulses are compressed in a simple double-pass prism-pair compressor. Starting from 100 fs pulses, we achieve a fivefold pulse shortening.     

Nonlinear optics with phase-controlled pulses in the sub-two-cycle regime.

Nonlinear optical effects due to the phase between carrier and envelope are observed with 5 fs pulses from a Kerr-lens mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser. These sub-two-cycle pulses with octave spanning spectra are the shortest pulses ever generated directly from a laser oscillator. Detection of the carrier-envelope phase slip is made possible by simply focusing the short pulses directly from the oscillator into a BBO crystal. As a further example of nonlinear optics with such short pulses, the interference between second- and third-harmonic components is also demonstrated.     

Femtosecond parabolic pulse nonlinear compression with gas-filled hollow-core fiber

We study theoretically the spectral intensity evolutions of the femtosecond Gaussian and parabolic pulses with different initial pulse energies and compare the nonlinear compressions of these pulses based on a meter-long hollow-core fiber filled with neon for different initial pulse durations. The pulses are first coupled into gas-filled hollow-core fiber for spectrum broadening, then compressed by the optimal chirp compensation. The parabolic pulse possesses a shorter pulse duration, larger peak power, and cleaner wings than Gaussian pulse. The properties are useful for compressing the pulses and thus generating the high-energy, short-duration pulses.     

Generation and applications of passively mode-locked picosecond light pulses

A model concerning the generation of picosecond light pulses in solid state lasers is compared with existing experimental observations. The quality of selected single pulses and their favourable properties for investigations with ultrashort light pulses are discussed. Extensive physical applications of picosecond light pulses are reviewed. Emphasis is given to quantitative investigations of non-linear optics and of ultrafast relaxation processes in condensed matter.     

19 fs shaped ultraviolet pulses

We report the generation of shaped tunable ultrashort ultraviolet pulses with full control over the spectral phase and amplitude. The output of a noncollinearly phase-matched optical parametric amplifier is shaped in phase and amplitude by a liquid-crystal spatial light modulator. The resulting structured visible pulses are transferred into the ultraviolet by sum-frequency mixing with strongly chirped 775 nm pulses. Single, double, and triple pulses at 344 nm with subpulses as short as 19 fs are explicitly demonstrated. The method can easily be adapted to arbitrarily shaped pulses throughout the 295-370 nm range.     

Time-resolved shadowgraphs and morphology analyses of aluminum ablation with multiple femtosecond laser pulses

Aluminum ablation by multiple femtosecond laser pulses is investigated via time-resolved shadowgraphs and scanning electron microscope(SEM) images of the ablation spot. The spatial distribution of the ejected material and the radius of the shock wave generated during the ablation are found to vary with the increase in the number of pulses. In the initial two pulses, nearly concentric and semicircular stripes within the shock wave front are observed, unlike in subsequent pulses. Ablation by multiple femtosecond pulses exhibits different characteristics compared with the case induced by single femtosecond pulse because of the changes to the aluminum target surface induced by the preceding pulses.     

超短脉冲激光照射下光栅Talbot效应的实验研究

理论上研究了超短脉冲激光照射下光栅的Talbot效应,得到了超短脉冲激光照射下光栅Talbot图像的性质.实验上采用严格的实验方法(频率分辨光学开关装置测量超短脉冲激光、反射式扩束系统对超短脉冲进行扩束)很好地验证了理论分析结果.理论分析和实验结果表明,超短脉冲激光照射下光栅的Talbot图像的对比度会显著下降,而且超短脉冲激光的脉宽越短,Talbot距离越大,Talbot图像的对比度会进一步下降.     

圆偏振光和线偏振光在正常色散材料中的时空自压缩

实验研究了圆偏振和线偏振高强度飞秒激光脉冲在正常色散材料中传输时的时空自压缩现象。实验中利用BK7玻璃作为正色散材料,比较研究了不同偏振入射情况下脉冲波形及频谱的变化规律。圆偏振光入射时,可以获得更短脉冲宽度的压缩脉冲和更窄的光谱宽度。在圆偏振光入射条件下,50 fs入射脉冲成功地自压缩到了19 fs,获得了大于2.5倍的压缩倍率。所以利用圆偏振光可以获得更短压缩脉冲,更大能量,更好光束质量的激光。     

Slice-selective excitation with B₁⁺-insensitive composite pulses

Spatially selective excitation pulses have been designed to produce uniform flip angles in the presence of the RF and static field inhomogeneities typically encountered in MRI studies of the human brain at 7 T. Pulse designs are based upon non-selective, composite pulses numerically optimized for the desired performance over prescribed ranges of field inhomogeneities. The non-selective pulses are subsequently transformed into spatially selective pulses with the same field-insensitive properties through modification of the spectral composition of the individual sub-pulses which are then executed in conjunction with an oscillating gradient waveform. An in-depth analysis of the performance of these RF pulses is presented in terms of total pulse durations, slice profiles, linearity of in-slice magnetization phase, sensitivity to RF and static field variations, and signal loss due to T(2) effects. Both simulations and measurements in phantoms and in the human brain are used to evaluate pulses with nominal flip angles of 45° and 90°. Target slice thickness in all cases is 2mm. Results indicate that the described class of field-insensitive RF pulses is capable of improving flip-angle uniformity in 7 T human brain imaging. There appears to be a subset of pulses with durations ?10 ms for which non-linearities in the magnetization phase are minimal and signal loss due to T(2) decay is not prohibitive. Such pulses represent practical solutions for achieving uniform flip angles in the presence of the large field inhomogeneities common to high-field human imaging and help to better establish the performance limits of high-field imaging systems with single-channel transmission.     

Controlled shaping of ultrafast electric field transients in the mid-infrared spectral range

We experimentally demonstrate amplitude and phase shaping of femtosecond mid-infrared pulses in a range centered about 14 mum . Single pulses with a tailored optical phase and phase-locked double pulses are generated by phase-matched difference-frequency mixing in a GaSe crystal of near-infrared pulses shaped with a liquid-crystal modulator. The electric field transients are directly measured by free-space electro-optic sampling, yielding pulse durations of 200-300 fs. Our data are in good agreement with a model that describes phase-matched optical rectification.     

Frequency–time and time–space mappings with broadband and supercontinuum chirped pulses in coherent wave mixing and pump–probe techniques

Broadband and supercontinuum pulses with a linear chirp define a linear transform, mapping the difference between the instantaneous frequencies of pump pulses onto the delay time between these pulses. This delay between the pump pulses can be then mapped onto the spatial coordinate with the use of a broad-beam wave-mixing or pump–probe geometry. The new possibilities offered by these mappings for four-wave-mixing techniques are discussed. The spectral and temporal resolution of chirped-pulse wave-mixing and pump–probe techniques are examined. Single-shot multidimensional wave-mixing techniques using broadband and supercontinuum chirped pulses are discussed. PACS 42.65.Dr; 42.65.An     

A versatile dye-laser generator-amplifier system for intense,tunable picosecond pulse generation

Passively mode-locked ruby-laser pulses are used to generate nearly diffractionlimited picosecond light pulses in a dye cell by longitudinally amplified spontaneous emission. The output pulses are amplified in three longitudinally pumped dye cells, then spectrally filtered with a grating spectrometer and finally reamplified in a fourth dye amplifier in order to generate intense frequency tunable picosecond light pulses.     

Numerical simulation for characterizing femtosecond optical pulses with the SPIDER algorithm

In this article based on the spectral phase interferometry for direct electric-field reconstruction (SPIDER), the femtosecond pulses with various phase characters are numerically simulated. The spectral phases and amplitudes of the transform-limited pulse, the linear chirped pulse, the cubic dispersion pulse, the quartic dispersion pulse, the self-phase modulation pulse and the pulses with the combination of different chirped characters are retrieved. These characterized pulses are applicable to the real-time measurement as samples for diagnosing the chirped characters of pulses quickly.     

Formation and erasure of population difference gratings in the coherent interaction of a resonant medium with extremely short optical pulses

In the regime of coherent interaction of short optical pulses with a resonant medium, which is implemented with a pulse duration shorter than the relaxation times in the medium, the formation of population gratings can occur without overlapping the pulses therein. In this case, there are new possibilities for controlling optical pulses, which are especially pronounced for extremely short pulses. It is shown that, with the proper choice of the parameters of a sequence of extremely short optical pulses, not only the formation of population gratings, but also their erasure are possible. It is demonstrated that this effect can be used for the creation of an ultrahigh-speed optical deflector.     

Femtosecond spectroscopy of coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering with frequency-tunable chirped pulses generated in a microstructure fiber

A new scheme of chirped-pulse femtosecond coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering spectroscopy is proposed and experimentally implemented. A theory of this modification of coherent nonlinear spectroscopy is developed. We use this approach to show that a linear time-frequency mapping defined by linearly chirped pulses allows the spectra of nonlinear response of a medium to be measured by varying the delay time between the pump pulses. Microstructure fibers with a special dispersion profile are at the heart of the experimental implementation of this technique. Such fibers are ideally suited for the generation of frequency-tunable pulses with a smooth envelope and a controlled chirp. We present the results of experimental characterization of the envelope, spectrum, and chirp of anti-Stokes pulses generated in microstructure fibers by femtosecond Cr:forsterite-laser pulses. These frequency-tunable anti-Stokes pulses produced and shaped in microstructure fibers are then employed for coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering spectroscopy of toluene solution.     

Linear phase slope in pulse design: application to coherence transfer

Using optimal control methods, robust broadband excitation pulses can be designed with a defined linear phase dispersion. Applications include increased bandwidth for a given pulse length compared to equivalent pulses requiring no phase correction, selective pulses, and pulses that mitigate the effects of relaxation. This also makes it possible to create pulses that are equivalent to ideal hard pulses followed by an effective evolution period. For example, in applications, where the excitation pulse is followed by a constant delay, e.g. for the evolution of heteronuclear couplings, part of the pulse duration can be absorbed in existing delays, significantly reducing the time overhead of long, highly robust pulses. We refer to the class of such excitation pulses with a defined linear phase dispersion as ICEBERG pulses (Inherent Coherence Evolution optimized Broadband Excitation Resulting in constant phase Gradients). A systematic study of the dependence of the excitation efficiency on the phase dispersion of the excitation pulses is presented, which reveals surprising opportunities for improved pulse sequence performance.     

飞秒激光在6H SiC晶体表面制备纳米微结构

激光诱导周期性纳米微结构在多种材料包括电介质、半导体、金属和聚合物中观察到。研究了800nm和400nm飞秒激光垂直聚焦于6H SiC晶体表面制备纳米微结构。实验观察到800nm和400nm线偏光照射样品表面分别得到周期为150nm和80nm的干涉条纹,800nm圆偏振激光单独照射样品表面得到粒径约100nm的纳米颗粒。偏振相互垂直的800nm和400nm激光同时照射晶体得到粒径约100nm的纳米颗粒阵列,该纳米阵列的方向随400nm激光强度增加而向400nm偏振方向偏转。利用二次谐波的观点对以上纳米结构的形成给出了解释。     

Compact laser source for high-power white-light and widely tunable sub 65 fs laser pulses

We demonstrate an Yb:KGW femtosecond solitary mode-locked laser oscillator, which is used as a pump source for tapered fibers to generate white-light laser pulses with an average output power of up to 2.5 W and a spectral bandwidth of over 1000 nm. By spectrally filtering these pulses and subsequent compression of the filtered pulses with a prism sequence, we are able to generate ultrashort laser pulses with durations between 26 and 65 fs that are tunable from 600 to 1450 nm and with tens to several hundreds of milliwatts of average power.