Generation of broadly tunable sub-30-fs infrared pulses by four-wave optical parametric amplification

We report on the generation of sub-30-fs near-IR light pulses by means of broadband four-wave parametric amplification in fused silica. This is achieved by frequency downconversion of visible broadband pulses provided by a commercial blue-pumped beta-barium borate crystal-based noncollinear optical parametric amplifier. The proposed method produces the IR idler pulses with energy up to ～20 μJ and tunable in wavelength from 1 to 1.5 μm. The shortest pulse duration is 17.6 fs, measured at 1.2 μm.     

30-fs, cavity-dumped optical parametric oscillator

We demonstrate cavity dumping of a synchronously pumped optical parametric oscillator (OPO). The OPO delivers 30-fs pulses with energies as high as 13 nJ at up to 400-kHz repetition rates. The OPO's tunability ranges from 570 to 600 nm and is limited by the resonator mirror coatings. The time jitter between pulses of a Ti:sapphire laser and the cavity-dumped OPO pulses is smaller than 30 fs, permitting multicolor time-resolved spectroscopic experiments.     

Spectral analysis of high-order harmonics generated by 30-fs and sub-10-fs laser pulses

The spectral properties of harmonic radiation generated in neon by laser pulses with duration from 30 fs down to 5 fs have been investigated. In the 30-fs temporal regime we have achieved continuously tunable sub-20-nm radiation by changing the gas jet position relative to the laser beam waist. We show that the results of a one-dimensional propagation code partially including three-dimensional focusing effects are in good agreement with the experimental results. Finally, we have performed a spectral characterization of harmonic radiation in the sub-10-fs temporal regime.     

Quantum correlations of pulses of optical parametric oscillator synchronously pumped above threshold

The quantum analysis of radiation from a degenerate optical parametric oscillator synchronously pumped above its oscillation threshold is presented. It is shown that pulses of signal and pump fields at the output of the oscillator have the following properties: quantum fluctuations of the fields are independent in each individual pulse, but correlated in pulses of the pulse train with a temporal step multiple of the pulse period. The number of essentially correlated pulses is on the order of the oscillator cavity finesse. Cross-correlations between the pump and signal pulses are established above the oscillation threshold. These correlations lead to a significant quantum effect in the integral characteristics of the fields. A theoretical analysis revealed that the spectrum of field fluctuations measured using a balanced homodyne detection technique of phase quadratures of the fields with a pulsed local oscillator reveals quantum noise suppression in the vicinity of frequencies that are multiples of the pulse repetition rate.     

High-repetition-rate sub-5-fs pulses with 12 GW peak power from fiber-amplifier-pumped optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification

An optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification system delivering pulses with more than 12 GW peak power is presented. Compression to sub-5 fs, 87 μJ and 5.4 fs, 100 μJ is realized at the 30 kHz repetition rate. A high-energy fiber chirped-pulse amplification system operating at 1 mJ pulse energy and nearly transform-limited pulses is used to achieve ultrabroadband amplification in two 2mm beta-barium borate crystals. Precise pulse shaping is used to compress the pulses to a few percentages of their transform limit. Assuming diffraction limited focusing (d<2 μm), peak intensities as high as 10(18) W/cm(2) can be reached.     

Mirror-dispersion-controlled sub-10-fs optical parametric amplifier in the visible

Pulses from an optical parametric amplifier in the visible are compressed to sub-10-fs duration by a delay line made exclusively from chirped dielectric mirrors. We employ what we believe are the first ultrabroadband visible chirped mirrors, which provide negative group-delay dispersion up to the blue-green spectral region. The setup is compact and reliable, and we used it to observe, for what is to our knowledge the first time in organic molecules, coherent oscillations with periods as short as 16 fs.     

Picosecond synchronously pumped optical parametric oscillator delivering transform-limited pulses in the degeneracy region

We report about a PPKTP optical parametric oscillator synchronously pumped by a picosecond Ti:Sapphire laser. The system is tunable in the spectral region around 1.55 μm which corresponds to the degeneracy wavelength. Nevertheless, it is able to deliver transform-limited pulses thanks to the insertion of a properly designed birefringent filter which ensures single-frequency operation as well. The resonating wavelength can be tuned for more than 100 nm by a simple rotation of the filter and is proven to be insensitive to cavity length detuning and pump wavelength drift.     

Megahertz optical parametric amplifier pumped by a femtosecond oscillator

We demonstrate, for the first time to our knowledge, an optical parametric amplifier directly pumped by a femtosecond oscillator. Wavelength-tunable pulses in the ranges 0.65-0.85 microm (signal) and 1.4-2.5 microm (idler) are generated at a repetition frequency of 1 MHz. For pumping the beta-barium borate crystal we use a microjoule Yb:KY(WO4)2 femtosecond oscillator with cavity dumping. Pulses with 30 nJ of energy and a duration of 16 fs are achieved from a supercontinuum seed generated in a sapphire plate.     

Widely tunable sub-30-fs pulses from a compact erbium-doped fiber source

Coupling femtosecond light pulses from an all-fiber Er:laser system into a dispersion-shifted and highly non-linear fiber, we generate output spectra exhibiting two broadband and mutually coherent maxima. Depending on the chirp of the input pulse, the spectral separation is easily tunable over a wide range up to values exceeding 100 THz. In this way, the source provides access to an ultrabroadband wavelength interval from 1130 to 1950 nm. Because of soliton effects, the long-wave component exhibits a transform-limited pulse width of 40 fs directly after the nonlinear element. The high-frequency part propagating in the dispersive regime is recompressed to pulse durations as short as 24 fs with an optimized prism sequence.     

Widely tunable ultraviolet sub-30-fs pulses from supercontinuum for transient spectroscopy

Focusing 800-nm pulses of 10–20 fs and ≤0.4 mJ into atmospheric-pressure argon gives rise to a supercontinuum extending down to 250 nm. We show that spectral cuts from this radiation can be shortened by a simple prism compressor down to 30 fs even near the UV cut-off. The resulting pulses have enough energy (several hundred nanojoules) to serve as a simple and rugged broadly tunable pump source in ultra-fast transient spectroscopy. Such an application is demonstrated for the first time, using pulses tuned over 280–320 nm to excite Cr(CO)₆; probing it by intense-field ionization at 800 nm, we determine the lifetime of initially populated states to be as short as 14 fs.PACS 42.65.Jx; 42.65.Ky; 42.65.Re; 42.72.Bj; 82.20.-w; 82.53.-k     

Intracavity optical parametric oscillator pumped by an actively Q-switched Nd:YAG laser

A non-critically phase-matched KTiOPO₄ optical parametric oscillator (OPO) intracavity pumped by a laser diode end-pumped acousto-optically Q-switchedNd:YAG laser is experimentally demonstrated. The highest average power is obtained at the pulse repetition rate (PRR) of around 15 kHz, which is different from the widely reported Nd:YVO₄ laser pumped OPO in which the highest average power is obtained at a very high PRR, e.g. 80 kHz. With an incident laser diode power of 6.93 W and a pulse repetition rate of 15 kHz, an average signal power of 0.72 W is obtained with a peak power of 7.7 kW and an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 10.4%. PACS 42.65.Yj; 42.60.Gd; 42.55.Xi     

Sub-8-fs pulses from an ultrabroadband optical parametric amplifier in the visible

Pulses with 180-THz bandwidth and 2-microJ energy were generated by a noncollinear optical parametric amplifier in the visible, pumped by the second harmonic of a Ti:sapphire laser. A portion of the amplified pulse spectrum was compressed to 7.2 fs by use of a thin prism sequence.     

Four-photon parametric processes pumped by optical pulses with noise structure

A theoretical model of a transient nonlinear four-photon interaction in a fibre is proposed. An optimization of the efficiency of the parametric conversion is suggested.     

Synchronously pumped photonic crystal fiber-based optical parametric oscillator

We report the development of a compact, tunable synchronously pumped photonic crystal fiber (PCF)-based optical parametric oscillator (FOPO). The oscillator is pumped using a gain-switched laser diode producing 220?ps pulses around 1062?nm, amplified in a ytterbium doped amplifier to peak powers of 3.5?kW. The FOPO produces anti-Stokes pulses at wavelengths between 757 and 773?nm, with durations of 150?ps at average output powers exceeding 290?mW. The output slope efficiency of the device varies with output wavelength from 1.9 to 6.0%.     

Ex vivo characterization of sub-10-fs pulses

An all-mirror dispersion-compensation setup is used to correct for quadratic and cubic phase distortions induced within a custom nonlinear optical microscope. Mouse tail tendon is used to characterize sub-10-fs pulses by interferometric autocorrelation. This is an ideal method for characterizing dispersion from the optical system, immersion medium, and wet biological sample. The generation of very short autocorrelations demonstrates the ability to compensate for phase distortions within the imaging system and efficient second-harmonic upconversion of the ultrashort pulse spectrum within collagen. Compensated autocorrelation traces are presented for biologically relevant objective lenses.     

Singly resonant continuous-wave optical parametric oscillator pumped by a diode laser

We report on what is believed to be the first singly resonant cw optical parametric oscillator (SRO) that is directly pumped by a diode laser. The SRO consists of a 38-mm-long periodically poled LiNbO(3) crystal in a four-mirror signal-resonant ring cavity. Pumped by 2.5 W of 925-nm diode-laser radiation, the SRO generates 480 mW of single-frequency idler radiation at 2.1mum . The wavelengths of the signal and the idler output are tuned in the ranges of 1.55 to 1.70mum and 2.03 to 2.29mum, respectively, by tuning the wavelength of the diode laser from 924.0 to 925.4 nm.     

Rapidly tunable continuous-wave optical parametric oscillator pumped by a fiber laser

We report on rapid, all-electronically controlled wavelength tuning of a continuous-wave (cw) optical parametric oscillator (OPO) pumped by an ytterbium fiber laser. The OPO is singly resonant for the signal wave and consists of a 40-mm-long periodically poled lithium niobate crystal in a four-mirror ring cavity. By tuning of the fiber-laser wavelength over 33 nm through an intracavity acousto-optic tunable filter, the OPO idler wavelength is tuned from 3160 to 3500 nm in 330 micros, corresponding to an idler frequency-tuning speed of 28 THz/ms. At a fiber-laser power of 6.6 W at 1074 nm, the singly resonant OPO generates 1.13-W cw idler radiation at 3200 nm.     

Microsecond pulsed optical parametric oscillator pumped by a Q-switched fiber laser

We report on what is to our knowledge the first optical parametric oscillator (OPO) pumped by microsecond pulses from a wavelength-tunable solid-state laser. The singly resonant OPO (SRO) is based on a periodically poled LiNbO3 crystal and pumped with 2.1-micros-long pulses from an actively Q-switched Yb fiber laser. At an average fiber laser power of 3.6 W, the SRO generates 1.9-micros-long pulses with a repetition rate of 25 kHz and an average power of 560 mW at 3360 nm. The SRO was tuned from 1518 to 1634 nm (signal) and from 3145 to 3689 nm (idler) via the crystal temperature and poling period. By all-electronic tuning of the fiber laser wavelength over 19 nm, tuning of the mid-infrared idler wavelength over 195 nm was achieved.     

Bidirectional, synchronously pumped, ring optical parametric oscillator

We report the operation of a bidirectional femtosecond pulsed ring optical parametric oscillator based on periodically poled lithium niobate, pumped alternately with nonsimultaneous pulses from a Ti:sapphire mode-locked laser. A beat note between the two counterpropagating beams attests to a gyro response without dead band. The sensitivity of the device to differential phase changes is demonstrated by measurement of the nonlinear index of lithium niobate.