Spectral modulation and supercontinuum generation assisted by infrared femtosecond plasma grating

Spectral modulation and supercontinuum generation of a probe pulse is investigated by using the plasma grating induced by the interference of two infrared femtosecond laser pulses. The dependences of the supercontinuum generation from the probe pulse on the time delay, the relative polarization angle between the probe pulse and the two-pump pulses, and the input probe pulse energy are investigated. The far-field spatial profiles of the three pulses are measured with different time delays and relative polarization angle, and the core energy of the probe pulse as functions of the time delay and relative polarization angle are also shown.     

CO2激光对熔石英表面小尺寸损伤的修复

利用10.6 μm的CO2激光对不同直径的点状损伤和不同宽度的划痕进行了修复。经过波长351 nm的紫外激光考核发现,对于直径小于80 μm的点状损伤和对于宽度小于40 μm的划痕,随着损伤点尺寸和划痕宽度的增加,修复后阈值提高程度逐渐降低。划痕的宽度在达到40 μm以后修复效果非常微弱。修复过程中,由于作用时间较短及温度分布不均产生了热应力导致样片损伤以后产生径向裂痕,后续的紫外激光会使裂痕明显扩展。当样品被置于高温退火炉内退火3 h以后,应力导致开裂的现象得到了解决。     

Ultrashort pulse propagation and nonlinear frequency conversion in superconducting and magnetic photonic crystal

We study the propagation and second harmonic generation of ultrashort pulse in nonlinear photonic crystal using a combination of Fourier transform and transfer matrix method. The focus is on the reflected and transmitted output of fundamental pump pulse and second harmonic pulse in frequency and time domains, the temperature dependence of the reflection and transmission spectra where the superconducting transition frequency is close to the magnetic resonance. Interesting features include output pump and second harmonic pulses that can be strongly modulated with the transmitted pulses being delayed by slow light effect.     

Optical second harmonic generation and its photoinduced dynamics in ferroelectric semiconductor Sn<Subscript>2</Subscript>P<Subscript>2</Subscript>S<Subscript>6</Subscript>

By means of optical pump–probe technique, the ultrafast dynamics of nonlinear optical response of the ferroelectric semiconductor Sn₂P₂S₆ crystal excited with a femtosecond laser pulse has been investigated. It has been shown that, under the action of femtosecond pulses, change in optical second harmonic generation occurs in the sample, which can be due to screening of existing electric polarization.     

锥形镀膜光纤探针中飞秒激光脉冲的传输

采用三维时域有限差分法对飞秒激光脉冲照明下锥形镀膜光纤探针内的光场进行了计算,研究了飞秒脉冲在探针中传输时的时域、频谱和相位特性,并分析了不同锥角和不同长度的探针对这些特性的影响.研究结果发现飞秒脉冲在探针中传输时出现了脉冲展宽、幅值振荡以及频谱分裂等现象,并且利用频谱和相位的变化特性初步解释了脉冲的展宽和脉冲振幅随时间周期性变化等现象. 关键词： 时域有限差分法 飞秒脉冲 光纤探针     

Optical pulse compression using the temporal Radon-Wigner transform

The temporal Radon-Wigner transform (RWT), which is the squared modulus of the fractional Fourier transform (FRT) for a varying fractional order p, is here employed as a tool for pulse compression applications. To synthesize the compressed pulse, a selected FRT irradiance is optically produced employing a photonic device that combines phase modulation and dispersive transmission. For analysis purposes, the complete numerical generation of the RWT with 0 < p < 1 is proposed to select the value of p required for pulse compression. To this end, the amplitude and phase of the signal to be processed should be known. In order to obtain this information we use a method based on the recording of two different FRT irradiances of the pulse. The amplitude and phase errors of the recovered signal, which are inherent to the recording process, are discussed in connection with the RWT production. Numerical simulations were performed to illustrate the implementation of the proposed method. The technique is applied to compress signals commonly found in fiber optic transmission systems, such as chirped gaussian pulses, pulses distorted by second and third-order dispersion and nonlinear self-modulated pulses.     

Characterization of tissue cells by full information from spectral interferogram

A new method for characterizing living tissue cells is demonstrated using both phase and amplitude information derived from the spectrally resolved interferogram in a single measurement.The effect of the light source spectral distribution can be cancelled out with the help of the zero order spectrum of the Fourier transform of the interferogram.The ratio of amplitudes between the two interference beams is acquired without this effect.The group delay,the first and second order dispersions,and the absorption,etc.,for the full wavelength range can be measured.The results of the culture medium and the HeLa living cells are given.In addition,the measured values of d2 n/dλ2 and absorption of the distilled water are also provided for comparison.     

Ionization dynamics of dense matter generated by intense ultrashort X‐ray pulses

We investigate a pump‐probe X‐ray Thomson scattering (XRTS) experiment that might be carried out at a free electron laser facility to study warm‐to‐hot states of dense matter. Ultrashort and intense X‐ray pulses with different energies (1,560–1,830 eV) heat a 1 µm thick Al target isochorically and create homogeneous and uncompressed warm‐to‐hot states of dense matter. A second pulse with variable delay probes this heated state via XRTS. The X‐ray laser–target interaction is modelled within radiation‐hydrodynamic simulations applying the HELIOS‐CR code. The HELIOS‐CR results qualitatively agree with Monte‐Carlo simulations, where the laser pulse absorption is simulated based on a uniform random sequence of events. The electron feature in the simultaneously observed X‐ray scattering spectrum is a function of the degree of ionization and the target temperature. Therefore, the temporal evolution of the plasmon peak measures the ionization dynamics on ultra‐short time scales. The XRTS spectrum is calculated based on the Chihara formula utilizing the Born‐Mermin approximation for the free electron dynamic structure factor. The proposed experiment will reveal important details of the ionization dynamics on ultra‐short time scales as well as of the relaxation on ps time scales.     

Selective Alignment of D2 Induced by Two Ultrashort Laser Pulses

通过求解D₂分子在飞秒激光场中的含时薛定谔方程,研究了室温下D₂分子在超快飞秒激光驱动下的的转动波包动力学. 选择用第一束超短飞秒脉冲与温度为300 K的D₂分子系综相互作用产生一个相干转动波包,用第二束超短飞秒脉冲在波包的1/4和3/4恢复周期选择操纵D₂分子取向. 研究结果表明,通过选择两束超短飞秒脉冲的延迟时间,可以有效控制D₂分子转动波包中奇偶态的相对布居,从而选择性的控制D₂分子取向.     

Three-wave mixing and light diffraction by transient light induced gratings for the study of fast relaxation processes

The action of two successive intense ultrashort coherent light pulses with different wave vectorsk ₁ andk ₂ on a nonlinear inhomogeneously broadened medium is considered. The resulting spatial and temporal polarization and saturation structure is calculated within a two level density matrix approach. Without use of perturbation theory, both the dynamic behaviour of the nonlinear medium under hole burning conditions and the temporal behaviour of the output pulse in the2k ₁ -k ₂ direction generated by the polarization of the medium during and after the action of the second pulse are discussed. The diffraction of a third probe pulse by the saturation grating as well as by the polarization of the medium is calculated. Possibilities for measuring the longitudinal, transverse and inhomogeneous relaxation times are discussed.     

Influence of Self-Diffraction Effect on Femtosecond Time-Resolved Single-Shot Optical Kerr Measurements

Femtosecond time-resolved single-shot optical Kerr gating(OKG) measurements are performed by focusing the probe pulse and using a cylindrical lens to introduce a spatially encoded time delay with respect to the pump pulse.By measuring the pump power and polarization dependence of the OKG signals in CS_2,the contribution of self-diffraction effect which is independent of the nonlinear response time of the material is directly observed on the rising edge of the time-resolved OKG signals.The influence of the self-diffraction effect on the optical Kerr signal could be controlled effectively by varying the polarization angle between pump and probe pulses.     

Nonlinear pulse propagation: a time-transformation approach

We present a time-transformation approach for studying the propagation of optical pulses inside a nonlinear medium. Unlike the conventional way of solving for the slowly varying amplitude of an optical pulse, our new approach maps directly the input electric field to the output one, without making the slowly varying envelope approximation. Conceptually, the time-transformation approach shows that the effect of propagation through a nonlinear medium is to change the relative spacing and duration of various temporal slices of the pulse. These temporal changes manifest as self-phase modulation in the spectral domain and self-steepening in the temporal domain. Our approach agrees with the generalized nonlinear Schr?dinger equation for 100 fs pulses and the finite-difference time-domain solution of Maxwell's equations for two-cycle pulses, while producing results 20 and 50 times faster, respectively.     

Integrated optical temporal Fourier transformer based on a chirped Bragg grating waveguide

We experimentally demonstrate the first integrated temporal Fourier transformer based on a linearly chirped Bragg grating waveguide written in silica glass with a femtosecond laser. The operation is based on mapping the energy spectrum of the input optical signal to the output temporal waveform by making use of first-order chromatic dispersion. The device operates in reflection, has a bandwidth of 10 nm, and can be used for incident temporal waveforms as long as 20 ps. Experimental results, obtained through both temporal oscilloscope traces and Fourier transform spectral interferometry, display a successful Fourier transformation of in-phase and out-of-phase pairs of input optical pulses, and demonstrate the correct functionality of the device for both amplitude and phase of the temporal output.     

Nonlinear source for the generation of high-energy few-cycle optical pulses

We investigate the evolution of optical pulses in a hollow waveguide filled with noble gas at pulse intensities for which tunnel ionization dominates the nonlinear response of the gas. A numerical analysis reveals that the spectral chirp generated by the plasma nonlinearity is to a good approximation linear over the whole pulse spectrum and can be compensated in a dispersive delay line. Our calculations predict the generation of 3-4-fs optical pulses with energies of a few milijoules. To our knowledge, these energies are an order of magnitude greater than the pulse energies that have been realized to date in hollow-fiber compressors based exclusively on the nonlinear Kerr effect.     

Yb-doped fiber oscillator generating 41 fs wave-breaking-free pulses

We report on the generation of wave-breaking-free pulses from an Yb-doped fiber oscillator at 1.03 μm by using the nonlinear polarization rotation mode-locking. The average output power reached 113 mW as limited by available pump power of 578 mW. The generated pulses had a pulse energy up to 2 nJ and could be externally compressed down to 41 fs. The output pulses exhibited a smooth spectrum without any side lobe or temporal wave-packet breaking due to the nonlinear phase modulation in an additional Erdoped fiber acted as a saturable absorber in the fiber laser.     

Ultra-short optical pulse shaping using semiconductor optical amplifier

Optical ultra-short pulse compression and amplification using semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) is presented. Using pump-probe pulse configuration, we present an SOA model which includes the nonlinear effects such as, spectral hole burning (SHB), carrier heating (CH), two-photon absorption (TPA) and group velocity dispersion (GVD) taking into account gain spectrum effect. Then by adjusting time delay between the pump pulse and probe pulse we use the model for simultaneous compression and amplification of probe pulse. We also analyze the four wave mixing (FWM) signal during pulse compression process. It is shown that dispersive effect of GVD on output probe pulse becomes more important for larger cavity length and probe-pump pulses relative time delays.     

带宽对脉冲贝塞尔光束传输的影响

从惠更斯-菲涅耳衍射积分公式出发得到具有高斯型频谱分布的脉冲贝塞尔光束频率域的传输表示式,并使用傅里叶变换最后推导了脉冲贝塞尔光束时间域的传输公式。根据得到的公式通过具体数值计算对脉冲贝塞尔光束在自由空间中的传输进行了研究。计算结果表明脉冲光束的带宽对脉冲贝塞尔光束传输中的脉冲时间延迟和脉冲宽度产生影响。具体表现为脉冲光束带宽的增宽使脉冲时间延迟增大,并使脉冲时间波形的后沿拖长,从而导致脉冲宽度增宽。脉冲时间延迟和脉冲宽度还随传输距离发生变化。脉冲光束传输距离越大,脉冲时间延迟越大,脉冲宽度变得越宽。     

非真空传输的高效交叉偏振滤波设计与产生

采用常规透镜设计了适用于非真空环境中交叉偏振波(XPW)产生的双透镜聚焦系统,在相对较短的距离实现了长焦透镜聚焦的效果,并测量了聚焦后的激光脉冲,发现其没有显著的非线性相位积累,保证了激光光束质量.在非真空中采用双BaF_2晶体得到了XPW系统转换效率22%,光谱1.78倍展宽的净化脉冲输出,双透镜组合聚焦形式使得双BaF_2晶体间距在13—22 cm内可保证20%以上的XPW转换效率,双晶体间距的调节冗余度提高了两个量级,极大地降低了双晶转换效率对晶体间距的依赖.这种正负透镜组合聚焦的光路设计在非真空中实现了高效稳定的XPW输出,为后续的放大应用提供了高对比度、宽光谱的高质量种子源.     

Time-resolved measurements of high order harmonics confined by polarization gating

We investigate the temporal confinement of high order harmonic pulses generated by a femtosecond (fs) infrared (IR) pulse with a time varying polarization. We use a set of two birefringent quartz plates to modulate the IR polarization. It produces a short temporal gate of linear polarization where harmonics are efficiently generated during a small fraction of the IR pulse. By rotating one of the plates, the gate width can be continuously varied between 70 fs down to 7 fs. The XUV pulse duration is measured by cross-correlation with a probe IR pulse of 12 fs. When the gate width is decreased, a clear temporal confinement of the XUV emission is observed through the cross correlation signal. This experiment is the first direct experimental evidence in the temporal domain that the polarization gating technique can be used to significantly shorten the harmonic pulse duration. PACS 32.80.Wr; 42.65.Ky; 42.65.Re     

强脉冲信号在光纤参变放大器中的放大特性研究

考虑到抽运损耗、走离、色散和非线性等效应,用分步傅里叶方法求解耦合的非线性薛定谔方程组,就强脉冲信号在连续光抽运光纤参变放大器中的放大情况进行了理论研究。研究结果表明,强脉冲信号除经历振幅放大,脉冲时域展宽等过程外,还会发生令人感兴趣的脉冲分裂现象,即一个脉冲信号分裂为两个子脉冲。而且即使在连续光抽运的情况下,走离效应对强脉冲信号的放大也产生了显著影响,即促使两个子脉冲振幅不等以及脉冲漂移。最后,强脉冲信号独特的放大特性用光纤参变放大器的饱和增益特性做了很好的解释,并指出脉冲分裂现象在信号抽样、脉冲压缩、光时分复用系统中有潜在用途。