基于预啁啾控制的极宽带光参量放大

在以飞秒钛宝石放大系统的倍频光为抽运光和超连续白光为信号光的光参量放大中,针对抽运光的宽带特点,分析了一种新的极宽带相位匹配方法.结果表明,10nm的抽运光带宽可得到近400nm的相位匹配带宽,若抽运光带宽达到20nm,相位匹配带宽就能达到近600nm.零色散波长为800nm的光子晶体光纤产生的超连续谱经光纤传输后为二次啁啾,宽带抽运光经棱镜对展宽具有线性啁啾,满足了极宽带相位匹配方法所需要的光谱分布.理论计算了对输入脉冲进行预啁啾控制应选择的光纤长度和棱镜对在光路中的插入量,为实现极宽带光参量放大提供了 关键词： 啁啾 极宽带相位匹配 光参量放大 光子晶体光纤     

与794nm飞秒激光精确同步的无直流背底的1064nm脉冲光的产生

基于非共线光参量放大(NOPA)，以宽带794nm飞秒激光的倍频光为抽运光，以连续的He-Ne激光为信号光，产生了与宽带794nm飞秒激光精确同步的无直流背底的1064nm的脉冲光.实验结果显示该1064nm的光脉冲可作为光参量啁啾脉冲放大系统的抽运激光链的种子光，从而实现用全光学方法实现OPCPA系统抽运光和信号光的精确同步.还将非共线光参量放大器置于经特殊设计的He-Ne激光腔内，也同样成功得到了无直流背底的1064nm的光脉冲.经一次光参量放大后所得到的1064nm光的光谱和空间啁啾特性与非共线光参量放大器置于He-Ne激光腔外时得到的1064nm的光脉冲相同，而其单脉冲能量约为腔外NOPA的10倍. 关键词： 非线性光参量放大 光参量啁啾脉冲放大 时间同步     

非单色光抽运的光参量啁啾脉冲放大的带宽及增益特性研究

采用傅里叶变换的方法将脉冲光分解成不同的频率成分,建立了非单色光抽运的光参量放大耦合方程组的数值求解模型.研究了非单色抽运光对光参量啁啾脉冲放大的小信号增益、大信号增益以及增益带宽的影响.非单色抽运光降低参量放大的增益水平,但同时可提高增益带宽,且抽运光谱宽越宽,对增益带宽的提高作用越大.还进一步从相位失配和参量带宽的角度分析了非单色抽运光使参量放大的增益降低、带宽增大的原因. 关键词： 光参量啁啾脉冲放大 非单色光 增益带宽 飞秒激光     

高效三通光参量啁啾脉冲放大器

为了提高信号光与抽运光在时域上的匹配,提高放大系统的增益,提出了三通光参量啁啾脉冲放大的方法。实验中,信号光在一块晶体内被一抽运光在完全相位匹配的条件下放大了三次,总放大增益为3.7×107,能量晃动小于3%rms,放大后的信号光谱宽为30nm,压缩后的信号光脉宽为82fs。实验结果表明:采用三通光参量啁啾脉冲放大方法,有效地抑制了放大过程中参量荧光对放大过程的影响,在抽运光强为350MW/cm2时,参量荧光仅占输出总能量的1%。     

基于光束偏转的扫描式宽带光参量啁啾脉冲放大

光参量啁啾脉冲放大(OPCPA)是超短激光脉冲领域的重要技术之一,增大增益带宽对提高OPCPA的转换效率、实现宽带光参量放大具有重要的意义.本文将光束偏转和非共线OPCPA有机结合,提出了基于光束偏转的扫描式宽带OPCPA模型.分析了通过光束偏转来时刻改变非共线角,以保证各频率成分的相位匹配,从而增大增益带宽的基本原理.采用提出的扫描式宽带OPCPA,针对800 nm中心波长、带宽约为100 nm信号光的光参量放大进行了数值计算.结果表明:经过扫描式OPCPA后,信号光的带宽与放大之前几乎相同,光谱没有窄化;扫描式OPCPA比固定非共线角方式的放大极大地增加了增益带宽和转换效率,实现了宽带的光参量放大;要满足信号光各频率成分的相位匹配,达到最大的增益带宽和转换效率,需要尽量减小加载到钽铌酸钾(KTa_(1-x) Nb_xO_3, KTN)电光晶体上的电压抖动和电压延时.     

BBO，LBO，KDP晶体光参量啁啾脉冲放大特性的比较研究

 对BBO，LBO，KDP晶体I类非共线匹配下的光参量啁啾脉冲放大的相位匹配、参量范围、增益特性等进行了理论分析，重点对BBO和LBO的光参量啁啾脉冲放大特性进行了比较。结果表明对于以光参量啁啾脉冲放大系统代替800nm中心波长的Ti:sappire再生放大系统，用BBO晶体可获得更宽的增益带宽，而对1 053nm中心波长的种子光用LBO晶体更好。     

接近单周期量级的两级非共线光参量放大

提出了一种新的两级非共线相位匹配光参量放大方案,两级光参量放大分别采用不同的相位匹配条件,充分利用非线性晶体的相位匹配能力和增益光谱范围,可以实现增益带宽接近一个倍频程的光参量放大。并以4.5 mm厚的偏硼酸钡(BBO)晶体和波长为532 nm、强度为5 GW/cm2的抽运光源为例进行了模拟计算,结果表明,该方案可以实现波长范围在710~1190 nm、增益带宽为480 nm的信号光放大,信号光光谱宽度达到0.75个倍频程,再压缩后傅里叶限脉冲的时间宽度约为5 fs,约等于1.6倍的光振荡周期。计算了光参量放大过程中的相位畸变,以及该相位畸变对再压缩后信号光脉冲时间波形的影响。研究结果可以为实现周期量级光参量放大的设计提供理论依据。     

飞秒BBO光参量放大中闲频光二次谐波的产生

由于相位匹配条件和非线性晶体透光范围的限制，400nm蓝光抽运的飞秒β-BaB₂O₄（BBO）光参量放大（OPA）输出的参量光调谐范围有限，很难得到波长小于460nm的蓝光和近紫外光.实验采用1kHz钛宝石九通啁啾脉冲放大器的倍频蓝光作抽运光，超连续白光 作种子光，在Ⅰ类非共线相位匹配条件下，利用宽带的飞秒BBO OPA，在一定的实验参数下 获得了530—810nm放大的信号光，以及810nm—17μm波段范围的闲频光.与此同时 ，还获得了410—700nm连续可调的闲频光的二次谐波，其与闲频光层叠分布，单脉冲能量 为26μJ，转换效率大于5%.仅利用单块晶体的飞秒BBO OPA就可以获得410—810nm连 续可调的飞秒脉冲输出，从而为更多研究和应用的需要提供了重要的光源.对飞秒光参量放 大中闲频光二次谐波产生的条件也进行了理论分析. 关键词： 二次谐波 闲频光 非共线相位匹配 飞秒光参量放大     

发散光束抽运的宽带光参量啁啾脉冲放大系统的理论研究

对发散光束抽运的光参量啁啾脉冲放大器的增益带宽进行了系统的理论研究.采用空间傅里叶变换和四阶Runge-Kutta算法，分别模拟了非衍射极限情况下的高斯光束和空间频谱为矩形的发散光束作为抽运光时的增益曲线.结果表明：不管是在可见光或是在近红外光谱区，用发散光束均可以明显地改善光参量啁啾脉冲放大系统的增益带宽.选取合适的发散角和抽运光强，可以获得高增益、宽谱带的信号光输出. 关键词： 光参量啁啾脉冲放大 增益带宽 发散角 高斯光束     

BBOⅠ类相位匹配光参量放大中群速失配的补偿

描述了在BBOⅠ类相位匹配的飞秒光参量放大（OPA）中，利用非共线结构和倾斜抽运光的脉 冲波面来完全补偿三波群速失配的方法.理论计算了三波群速匹配时，非共线角、相位匹配 角、抽运光的脉冲波面倾斜角随信号光波长的变化，并分析了对抽运光光斑尺寸的要求和对 空间走离长度的影响.结果表明，利用该方法不仅能够实现最大的参量带宽，而且能够完全 补偿飞秒OPA中三波的群速失配.此外，选取合适的抽运光光斑尺寸和非线性晶体的长度对提 高参量增益也至关重要. 关键词： 群速匹配 非共线相位匹配 脉冲波面倾斜 飞秒光参量放大     

Enhanced bandwidth noncollinear optical parametric amplification with a narrowband anamorphic pump

Through the use of anamorphic focusing, we present a method for generating broadband noncollinear optical parametric amplification in signal regions lacking a broadband phase-matching condition that is ideally suited for narrowband pump sources, herein based on an erbium-doped fiber oscillator. With a short focal length cylindrical lens to enhance the phase-matching condition and a long focal length cylindrical lens in the orthogonal plane to limit the pump power in the amplifying beta barium borate crystal, we amplify pulses in the blue-green spectral region with over 100 THz (～3500 cm(-1)) bandwidth. The amplified signal is subsequently compressed to 9.5 fs, near the transform limit.     

Optical parametric amplification of a supercontinuum in a gas

Amplification of supercontinuum light via four-wave optical parametric amplification in a gas-filled hollow fiber is investigated. By pumping with a femtosecond pulse in the near-infrared, amplification was observed in the wavelength range 500–700 nm, with an amplification gain up to 100. The amplification bandwidth obtained here supports sub-10-fs pulse durations. The wavelength and gas-pressure dependence of the amplification gain in this regime significantly differ from those predicted from only the linear phase mismatch. The nonlinear phase mismatch, arising from nonlinear phase modulations induced by a pump pulse, dominates the features observed for the amplification, i.e., a low phase-matching pressure and an amplification gain depending on wavelength. To investigate the effect of phase modulations on the parametric amplification, numerical analysis and simulations are used to reproduce the measured wavelength dependence of the amplification gain.     

Amplification of fluorescence using collinear picosecond optical parametric amplification at degeneracy

We demonstrate the output characteristic of broadband parametric amplification of incoherent light pulses in a 355-nm pumped degenerate picosecond optical parametric amplification with either saturated or unsaturated amplification.The optical parametric amplifier is seeded by the fluorescence generated in a solution of pyridine-1 dye in ethanol.With the saturated amplification,we can obtain high energy incoherent light pulses,whose full width at half maximum bandwidth varies from 16 nm to 53 nm for the different phase matching angles near degeneracy.Moreover,the unsaturated bandwidth of the amplified pulses fits well to the calculated result at degeneracy.Selecting s-polarized fluorescence with a Glan-Taylor prism,the maximum bandwidth of the amplified fluorescence is found to be 59 nm for a purely s-polarized seed.The maximum output energy is 0.67 mJ for the optical parametric amplifier.By using an optical filter and compressor,the generated high energy incoherent light has great potential as the incoherent pump,signal or idler wave of a parametric down-conversion process,so that a wave with a high degree of coherence can be generated from an incoherent pump light.     

Broadband light generation by noncollinear parametric downconversion

Broadband light generation is demonstrated by noncollinear spontaneous parametric downconversion with a cw pump laser. By use of a suitable noncollinear phase-matching geometry and a tightly focused pump beam, downconverted signals that feature a bell-shaped spectral distribution with a bandwidth approaching 200 nm are obtained. As an application of the generated broadband light, submicrometer axial resolution in an optical coherence tomography scheme is demonstrated; a free-space resolution down to 0.8 microm was achieved.     

The mode structure and spectral properties of supercontinuum emission from microstructure fibers

The mode structure and spectral properties of supercontinuum emission generated by femtosecond pulses of Ti: sapphire laser radiation in microstructure fibers are studied. The long-wavelength (720–900 nm) and visible (400–600 nm) parts of supercontinuum emission are shown to be spatially separated in microstructure-fiber modes, which can be isolated with an appropriate spectral filtering. The spatial modes thus isolated in spectrally sliced supercontinuum emission possess a spatial quality sufficient for further efficient frequency conversion. The possibility of achieving a high spectral quality of supercontinuum emission is also demonstrated. We explore the ways to control the spectrum of supercontinuum emission by matching parameters of the pump pulse with the parameters of a microstructure fiber and by tuning the initial chirp of the pump pulse. The results of our studies show that supercontinua produced in microstructure fibers offer new approaches to designing a new generation of optical parametric amplifiers and broadband radiation sources for spectroscopic, metrological, and biomedical applications.     

Broadband noncollinear optical parametric amplification without angularly dispersed idler

We report a new scheme for direct generation of broadband angular-dispersion-free mid-IR idler pulses via noncollinear optical parametric amplification when group-velocity matched wavelengths cannot be found and the traditional noncollinear geometry fails to increase the phase-matching bandwidth. The scheme does not require any post-amplification idler angular dispersion compensation. We derive and interpret the condition for broadband amplification and absence of idler angular dispersion. A broadband angular-dispersion-free 2.15 μm idler pulse is generated as an experimental demonstration. We identify the potential of the scheme to generate a broadband 3.5 μm idler, with a bandwidth supporting a sub-two-cycle pulse.     

Ultra-flat and broadband two-pump optical parametric amplifiers using a single-section highly nonlinear fiber

A broadband two-pump optical parametric amplifier with ultra-flat gain spectra is proposed in a single-section highly nonlinear fiber. By elaborately setting the dispersions and pump wavelength space, a gain over 250 nm with 0.02-dB uniformity is obtained. The pump polarizations and fiber length can be changed, achieving polarization-insensitive or higher gain, while the flatness and bandwidth of gain curve remain the same.     

Polychromatic optical parametric generation by simultaneous phase matching over a large spectral bandwidth

The parametric generation of broad spectral bandwidths by the use of suitable phase-matching geometries is reported. Greater than 100-nm simultaneous bandwidth in the visible is generated in a collimated signal beam from a novel, noncollinear phase-matching geometry in a beta-barium borate optical parametric oscillator, which is pumped by the collimated output of a Q -switched and frequency-tripled Nd:YAG laser. Dispersive cavity tuning of the optical parametric oscillator by use of a rotatable Littrow-mounted grating, with a static crystal and pump configuration, is also described. A tunable bandwidth of >100 nm is also demonstrated.     

Adaptive shaping of two-cycle visible pulses using a flexible mirror

We present a double-pass non-collinear optical parametric amplifier (NOPA) that delivers 4-fs visible–near-infrared pulses. The paper discusses geometrical and temporal properties of the NOPA configuration, which allow us to broaden the gain band of simultaneous parametric amplification in excess of 250 THz. The key elements of the bandwidth enhancement include (i) the use of a broadband second-harmonic pump, (ii) optimization of the incidence angle of all monochromatic spectral components of the pump in order to produce a favorable offset of the corresponding phase-matching curves, and (iii) selection of the chirp rate and time delay between the stretched pump and seed pulses. We next devise a two-stage compressor that incorporates a flexible mirror for adaptive pulse shaping and develop a simple and trustworthy feedback loop based on a one-dimensional spectral measurement. Our rapid numerical algorithm for adaptive control of the flexible membrane is found superior to more complex search routines that are less resistant to the fluctuations of the laser intensity. The automated optimization procedure results in the generation of two-cycle pulses with a carrier wavelength at ∼600 nm. The absence of deep modulation on the parametrically amplified spectrum in combination with the adaptive phase correction lead to a high quality of the temporal profile and allow concentrating 90% of the pulse energy within only a 7.5-fs time window. Received: 8 April 2002 / Revised version: 26 June 2002 / Published online: 25 September 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Present address: Institut für Photonik, Technische Universit?t Wien, Gusshausstrasse 27, 1040 Vienna, Austria RID="**" ID="**"Corresponding author. Fax: +81-3/5841-4165, E-mail: kobayashi@phys.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp