飞秒激光脉冲在正色散固体材料中的自压缩

实验研究了正色散固体介质中的激光脉冲自压缩现象,证明了无需任何外加色散补偿情况下，固体透明介质中的自聚焦传输过程可使高功率飞秒激光脉冲实现时域脉冲压缩，并详细研究了输出脉冲的时域和频域特性随入射脉冲强度的演化规律.实验结果表明脉冲自压缩量随入射脉冲强度的增加呈递增趋势，然而当入射光强增大到足以引起超连续谱及锥形辐射产生时，脉冲时域形状会发生分裂.此外还发现发散光束入射情况下同样可以观察到脉冲自压缩现象. 关键词： 超短激光脉冲 脉冲压缩 非线性传输     

Spatial mode cleaning in radically asymmetric strongly focused laser beams

We demonstrate that a femtosecond laser pulse strongly focused in air can produce a highly symmetric damage pattern on glass. This damage pattern contains a series of near-perfect radial rings, with diameters much larger than the predicted focal spot diameter. These rings disappear when the experiment is conducted in vacuum, indicating atmospheric involvement. Surprisingly, the shape and size of the rings seem to be nearly independent of the shape of the generating laser beam, showing dramatic spatial mode cleaning. A “half moon” initial laser mode created by obscuring one side of the round beam produces rings of similar quality to those obtained with the unclipped beam. While spatial mode cleaning has previously been reported in filaments, this is the most dramatic demonstration of the effect that we are aware of. We argue that the effect is due primarily to ionization, in contrast to studies in longer filaments that attribute it to self-focusing.     

基于固体介质的倍频程连续光谱产生的研究进展

超快激光经过透明介质时由于非线性作用光谱会得到展宽,甚至能够产生超过一个倍频程的相干超连续光谱,这样的光源能够压缩得到几个甚至单个光周期的超短脉冲,并在现代超快科学的各个领域得到了广泛应用.实验中已经在气体、液体和固体中都观测到了光谱的展宽,目前较为成熟的方法是使用充满惰性气体的空芯光纤和具有高非线性效应的固体材料展宽光谱.但空芯光纤由于芯径限制无法用于高能量激光脉冲的光谱展宽,而固体材料又容易被高功率密度的脉冲激光损坏.随着激光技术的发展其脉冲能量不断提高,一种新的、利用多片薄固体介质实现光谱展宽的方式被提出.多片薄的非线性介质可以实现光谱展宽的逐片累积,而且避免了激光在介质中因自聚焦产生过高功率密度带来的损坏.目前使用这种方法已经在实验上得到了近毫焦尔量级的倍频程光谱,覆盖了近紫外到中红外的整个区域,并实现了脉冲压缩.本文简要回顾了超快激光在固体中光谱展宽的发展历程,概述了新型薄片固态介质产生超连续光谱的原理,对近年来使用此新方法的实验进行了简要分析,并对其发展前景进行了展望.     

单次飞秒激光脉冲在玻璃内部产生多次微爆的研究

在入射能量不同的情况下，用近红外飞秒激光脉冲在重钡火石玻璃（ZBaF15）内部产生了色心和微爆，在熔融石英的内部产生了多次微爆现象.实验表明：入射能量较高时，色心的中间会产生微爆；在松聚焦条件下，一个飞秒激光脉冲在透明介质内会激发多次微爆.基于飞秒激光脉冲在透明介质内的自聚焦效应和自由电子等离子体的自散焦效应，理论分析了多次微爆产生的原因；也讨论了飞秒激光脉冲诱导玻璃折射率改变的机理.     

大芯径光纤整形飞秒激光脉冲空间分布的研究

通过将1 kHz重复频率的飞秒放大激光脉冲耦合到大芯径（100 μm）阶跃光纤,在27 mm长的光纤中产生了环形空间光强分布,并在3 160 mm的长光纤中观察到平台型的空间光强分布,通过自聚焦效应对该现象进行了解释.结果表明,通过选择合适的光纤,可以实现对放大飞秒激光脉冲的有效空间整形,从而达到改善光束质量的效果.     

大芯径光纤整形飞秒激光脉冲空间分布的研究

通过将1 kHz重复频率的飞秒放大激光脉冲耦合到大芯径(100μm)阶跃光纤,在27 mm长的光纤中产生了环形空间光强分布,并在3 160 mm的长光纤中观察到平台型的空间光强分布,通过自聚焦效应对该现象进行了解释.结果表明,通过选择合适的光纤,可以实现对放大飞秒激光脉冲的有效空间整形,从而达到改善光束质量的效果.     

Ultrafast time-resolved photography of femtosecond laser induced modifications in BK7 glass and fused silica

The dynamics of absorption after excitation of fused silica and BK7 glass with femtosecond laser radiation are visualized by transient absorption spectroscopy. Focusing laser radiation with pulse durations in the picosecond time regime in BK7 glass generates free electrons with relaxation by emission of radiation or by formation of defects. The temporal and spatial emission characteristics are observed by high-speed photography in the streak mode. The beam waist moves within the pulse duration towards the incoming laser radiation by self-focusing and with the laser radiation absorbed by multi-photon processes. The dynamics of the long lasting stress formation is visualized by time-resolved Nomarski-Photography. The modification of the glass is investigated during and after irradiation with ultra-short pulsed laser radiation (100 fs<t_p<3 ps) at the wavelength =810 nm. The formation of a sound wave in fused silica and BK7 glass is observed and the mechanical stress, depending on the excitation pulse duration, is measured. PACS 06.60.Jn; 42.50.Md; 78.47.-p; 81.16.-c; 82.53.-k     

飞秒强激光经氩气和氩团簇的传播

通过数值求解三维电场传播方程,理论模拟了飞秒强激光脉冲（50 fs,1016 w/cm2）在氩气和中等尺寸氩团簇中的传播效应.结果表明,飞秒强激光脉冲经氩气传播将发生频谱蓝移展宽和光束发散;而经中等尺寸氩团簇传播,则存在一定程度的自聚焦效应.     

Intense femtosecond shaped laser beams for writing extended structures inside transparent dielectrics

We review recent results on the propagation and self-focusing of intense femtosecond laser pulses with shaped beam profiles in transparent dielectric media. At sufficiently high optical power, beam shaping seeds into the transverse modulation instability and results in the deterministic placement of intense laser filaments within the beam profile. Resulting spatial filament distributions may be utilized for writing complex extended structures inside transparent dielectrics. Specific examples of beam shapes we will discuss are Bessel beams, optical vortices, Bessel beams of higher order, and Airy beams.     

Gas-induced solitons

The self-guiding of femtosecond laser pulses in air is investigated. For powers close to the threshold for self-focusing, we show that the balance between the nonlinear focusing of the beam and its defocusing by multiphoton sources produces a new kind of solitonlike structure. Over considerably long distances, the radial profile of the pulse relaxes to a steady-state shape, whereas its temporal profile shrinks along propagation. The influence of the normal group-velocity dispersion is finally discussed.     

超短脉冲激光空间调制下小尺度自聚焦的实验研究

实验研究了超短脉冲激光的空间小尺度自聚焦的动态变化过程.具体实验过程是使经过正交细丝的衍射来实现激光的空间调制,然后通过非线性Kerr介质二硫化碳,随着输入功率的增大,超短脉冲开始出现小尺度自聚焦增长现象.实验发现,每个小尺度自聚焦峰值并不是随着功率的增大而无限地增长下去,而是在不同位置出现了新的调制增长点,这些新出现的增长与原有的增长相互竞争,最终导致了分裂成丝.通过数值模拟相应的传输过程,发现数值模拟结果与实验结果符合很好. 关键词： 小尺度自聚焦 高功率激光 超短脉冲     

Quadruple Gaussian Laser Beam Profile Dynamics in Collisionless Magnetized Plasma

This paper presents an investigation of self-focusing of a quadruple Gaussian laser beam in collisionless magnetized plasma. The nonlinearity due to ponderomotive force which arises on account of nonuniform intensity distribution of the laser beam is considered. The nonlinear partial differential equation governing the evaluation of complex envelope in the slowly varying envelope approximation is solved using a paraxial formalism. The self-focusing mechanism in magnetized plasma, in the presence of self-compression mechanism will be analyzed in contrast to the case in which it is absent. It can be observed that, in case of ponderomotive nonlinearity, the self-compression mechanism obstructs the pulse self-focusing above a certain intensity value. The effect of an external magnetic field is to generate pulses with smaller spot size and shorter compression length. The lateral separation parameter and the initial intensity of the laser beam play a crucial role on focusing and compression parameters. Also, the three-dimensional analysis of pulse propagation is presented by coupling the self-focusing equation with the self-compression one.     

Towards a control of multiple filamentation by spatial regularization of a high-power femtosecond laser pulse

We propose a new method for controlling randomly generated multiple filaments during the propagation of femtosecond laser pulses in optical media. The method is based on introducing a periodic amplitude modulation of the transverse beam profile. It is shown both experimentally and numerically that the introduction of a periodic mesh into a propagation path of a femtosecond near-infrared laser pulse leads to a deterministic spatial distribution of multiple filaments in the presence of initial random fluctuations. As a result, the number of filaments is increased as compared to the random case. PACS 42.65.Jx; 42.25.Bs; 42.60.Jf     

Quadruple Gaussian Laser Beam Profile Dynamics in Collisionless Magnetized Plasma

This paper presents an investigation of self-focusing of a quadruple Gaussian laser beam in collisionless magnetized plasma. The nonlinearity due to ponderomotive force which arises on account of nonuniform intensity distribution of the laser beam is considered. The nonlinear partial differential equation governing the evaluation of complex envelope in the slowly varying envelope approximation is solved using a paraxial formalism. The self-focusing mechanism in magnetized plasma, in the presence of self-compression mechanism will be analyzed in contrast to the case in which it is absent. It can be observed that, in case of ponderomotive nonlinearity, the self-compression mechanism obstructs the pulse self-focusing above a certain intensity value. The effect of an external magnetic field is to generate pulses with smaller spot size and shorter compression length. The lateral separation parameter and the initial intensity of the laser beam play a crucial role on focusing and compression parameters. Also, the three-dimensional analysis of pulse propagation is presented by coupling the self-focusing equation with the self-compression one.     

Materials processing with a tightly focused femtosecond laser vortex pulse

In this Letter we present the first (to our knowledge) demonstration of material modification using tightly focused single femtosecond laser vortex pulses. Double-charge femtosecond vortices were synthesized with a polarization-singularity beam converter based on light propagation in a uniaxial anisotropic medium and then focused using moderate- and high-NA optics (viz., NA=0.45 and 0.9) to ablate fused silica and soda-lime glass. By controlling the pulse energy, we consistently machine micrometer-size ring-shaped structures with <100nm uniform groove thickness.     

Single-focusing regime of propagation of femtosecond light packets when self-focused in a condensed medium

Numerical simulations are used to investigate the propagation of tightly focused megawatt femtosecond light packets in a nonlinear condensed medium in the single-focusing regime. A plasma is shown to be generated in a small region whose length and diameter increase with power in the single-focusing regime of propagation of a femtosecond light packet in a transparent dielectric. The limiting electron density in the microplasma formation region is virtually independent of the laser pulse power but increases with numerical aperture of the focusing optics. At a fixed femtosecond pulse power exceeding the critical self-focusing power, the transmission of light by a dielectric layer decreases with increasing numerical aperture of the focusing optics.     

Study of irradiation conditions and thermodynamics of optical glass in the problem of modification of materials by femtosecond laser pulses

The local heating of glass by a focused femtosecond laser pulse and cooling of an irradiated region are numerically modeled. The structural modifications that change the optical properties of glass are assumed to occur within a bulk region whose temperature after irradiation exceeds the glass transition temperature. The shape of the modified region obtained from the calculations coincides with that known from experimental data available. The size of this region is determined by the spatiotemporal dynamics of the laser beam under multiphoton absorption conditions. The heating of glass is maximal in front of a thin lens used for the beam focusing.     

Self-Assembled Quasi-Periodic Voids in Glass Induced by a Tightly Focused Femtosecond Laser

Multiple refocusing of a tightly focused femtosecond laser due to the dynamic transformation between self-focusing and self-defocusing is employed to provide a novel method to produce quasi-periodic voids in glass. It is found that the diameter or the interval of the periodic voids increases with the increasing pulse energy of the laser. The detailed course for producing periodic voids is discussed by analysing the damaged track induced by the tightly focused femtosecond laser pulses. It is suggested that this periodic structure has potential applications in fabrication of three-dimensional optical devices.     

Refractive index change mechanisms in femtosecond laser written ceramic Nd:YAG waveguides: micro-spectroscopy experiments and beam propagation calculations

The effect that femtosecond laser filamentation has on the refractive index of Nd:YAG ceramics, and which leads to the formation of waveguide lasers, has been studied by micro-spectroscopy imaging, beam propagation experiments and calculations. From the analysis of the Nd³⁺ luminescence and Raman images, two main types of laser induced modifications have been found to contribute to the refractive-index change: (i) a lattice defect contribution localized along the self-focusing volume of the laser pulses, in which lattice damage causes a refractive-index decrease, and (ii) a lattice strain-field contribution around and inside the filaments, in which the pressure-driven variation of the inter-atomic distances causes refractive-index variations. Scanning near-field optical-transmission and end-coupling experiments, in combination with beam propagation calculations, have been used to quantitatively determine the corresponding contribution of each effect to the refractive-index field of double-filament waveguides. Results indicate that the strain-field induced refractive-index increment is the main mechanism leading to waveguiding, whereas the damage-induced refractive-index reduction at filaments leads to a stronger mode confinement.