Difference frequency generation by optical rectification of femtosecond laser pulse in GaAs crystal with a periodic domain structure

We study the influence of spatial boundedness of a femtosecond laser pulse (FLP) on the efficiency of generation of difference frequency radiation (DFR) in a GaAs crystal with a periodic domain structure. It is shown that at propagation of DFR a spectral-angular filtration occurs in the transverse distribution of the beam. An expression is obtained for the frequency-angular spectrum of DFR. For a pump pulse with the duration of 100 fs, the beam radius of 24μm, the energy of 30 nJ, and the wavelength of 1.98μm propagating in 1.716-mm long GaAs crystal with the domain structure period of 74.6μm the efficiency of generation of DFR at the wavelength of 14μm is calculated to be close to 2×10⁻⁶.     

激光驱动晶体发射高次谐波的特性研究

通过数值模拟激光驱动下电子在周期性势阱中的动力学行为, 研究了晶体在激光场中发射高次谐波的特性. 研究发现在一定的激光波长和光强驱动下, 晶体发射的谐波谱会呈现出双平台结构, 经分析后得知第一个平台主要来自于最低导带与价带间的电流(电子-空穴对复合), 第二个平台主要来源于较高导带与价带间的电流(电子-空穴对复合), 且两个平台的截止位置处的能量都与激光场的振幅呈线性关系. 在少周期激光驱动下, 晶体谐波第二平台的截止位置与激光的载波相位呈单调变化, 由此我们提出可以利用晶体谐波第二平台的截止位置来确定少周期激光的载波相位. 进一步研究发现, 在啁啾激光驱动下, 晶体发射谐波谱的第二平台有较大变化, 第二平台的发射效率会随啁啾参数而改变, 能够通过改变啁啾激光场来提高晶体谐波第二平台的发射效率.     

Modeling the terahertz radiation generation process,obtained by filtration of spectral supercontinuum,formed during propagation of femtosecond laser pulse in GaAs crystal

We present the results of theoretical studies of the process of generation of terahertz radiation arising via interaction of few-cycle laser pulses propagating in an isotropic nonlinear medium. Numerical time-integration, by the finite-difference method, of the system of nonlinear Maxwell equations has been performed. We consider the interaction of mutually-orthogonal linearly polarized pulses, both having the central wavelength of 1.98 μm, durations of 30 fs, and the energies of 30 nJ, propagating along the normal to the 〈110〉 plane in a 1 mm-thickness GaAs crystal. In the nonlinear part of the medium polarization the without-inertia nonlinear second-order susceptibility is taken into account. The process of formation of a terahertz pulse arising via spectral filtration of supercontinuum formed in the spectra of pump pulses at the output of nonlinear crystal is studied. The dependences of both the current frequency of the pump pulses on time for different lengths of nonlinear crystal and of pump pulse durations on the crystal length are obtained. Also the dependences of the current frequency of the terahertz pulse on time at different crystal lengths, as well as of the efficiency of generation of terahertz radiation on the length of nonlinear crystal and on the energy of pump pulses are obtained.     

晶体环境下高次谐波谱的截止频率分析

通过数值求解中红外飞秒光脉冲与一维单电子多阱势相互作用的含时薛定谔方程, 研究了晶体环境下的高次谐波发射光谱, 发现了晶体谐波谱的截止位置公式.研究发现, 不同于气体环境下的谐波谱截止频率规律, 晶体谐波谱的截止频率与激光电场的峰值振幅及晶格参数成线性关系. 鉴于准经典力学的三步模型对于气体谐波截止频率的解释, 进一步采用准经典力学方法验证了晶体谐波截止位置规律的正确性. 关键词： 中红外飞秒光脉冲 晶体 高次谐波 截止频率     

Degenerate parametric frequency conversion of phase-modulated femtosecond laser pulses in crystals with a regular and chirped domain structure

A systematic theoretical analysis of the degenerate parametric frequency conversion in a LiNbO₃ crystal with a regular domain structure and a linearly varying domain thickness (chirped crystal) is presented for the pulses of a titanium-sapphire laser with a wavelength of 0.8 μm and durations of 100 and 50 fs in the presence and in the absence of phase modulation. The results are obtained with regard to the difference in the group velocities of interacting pulses and the group velocity dispersion. For an effective frequency conversion of the phase-modulated (PM) pump pulse, it is expedient to employ chirped crystals in which the domain thickness decreases from the entrance to the exit of the crystal. The pump energy is effectively converted into subharmonic energy when the pump carrier frequency decreases with time. It is demonstrated that the efficiency of the energy conversion to a subharmonic of 80% can be realized for PM pumping with a pulse duration of 100 fs in the chirped LiNbO₃ crystal. The efficiency of the parametric frequency conversion depends on the pump intensity as well as on the phase modulation of the pulse and the chirp of the crystal. Note that a variation in one of these parameters causes variations in the remaining parameters needed for the maximum efficiency of the parametric frequency conversion.     

Few cycle pulse compressor based on hollow-core fiber waveguide results in pulse tails

The hollow-core fiber structure influence of few-cycle pulse compressor on pulse contrast is investigated experimentally. It is found that a periodic structure of pulses at the tail of the main pulse extended hundreds of picoseconds away. It can be due to the fiber structure and could be eliminated by modifying the structure.     

少周期激光脉冲与气体作用产生的离化电流和THz波辐射

本文通过理论和数值模拟,研究少周期激光脉冲电离气体原子产生的离化电流 以及相应的THz波辐射.研究表明,少周期激光脉冲离化气体后能产生较大的离化电流, 因而可以产生较强的THz辐射.不同的少周期激光脉冲相位导致电离出的 电子初始速度和电离起始时刻不同,从而产生的离化电流有所不同, 辐射的THz波随激光脉冲的相位成周期性变化.该理论得到一维PIC数值模拟的验证. 对于给定的激光脉冲相位,离化电流和THz辐射振幅并没有随入射激光振幅的增加而单调增加, 而是存在一些极值点.与均匀分布气体相比,当气体分布具有一定梯度时, 辐射表现相似的规律,但频谱会发生一定的变化.     

Measurement of Carrier-Envelope Phase and Field Strength of a Few-Cycle Pulse by Non-sequential Double Ionization

We propose a method to measure the carrier-envelop phase （CEP） and the intensity of a few-cycle pulse by controlling the non-sequentiai double ionization （NSDI） process. By using an additional static electric field, we can change the momentum distribution of the double-charged ions parallel to the laser polarization from an asymmetrical double-hump structure to a nearly symmetrical one. It is found that the ratio between the strength of the static electric field and that of the laser field is sensitive to the CEP but robust against the intensity fluctuation. Therefore we can determine the OEP of a few-cycle pulse precisely by measuring the static electric field. Fhrthermore, if the CEP of the few-cycle pulse is fixed at a certain value, we can also calibrate the intensity of the laser pulse by the static electric field.     

Role of the carrier-envelope offset phase of few-cycle pulses in nonperturbative resonant nonlinear optics

We study the influence of the carrier-envelope offset phase of few-cycle pulses on nonperturbative resonant extreme nonlinear optics in a semiconductor. If the Rabi frequency becomes comparable to the light frequency, the different Rabi sidebands interfere around twice the laser center frequency, giving rise to a signal which strongly depends on the carrier-envelope offset phase. This signature should be measurable in GaAs samples.     

Carrier-envelope phase dependence of few-cycle ultrashort laser pulse propagation in a polar molecule medium

We theoretically investigate carrier-envelope phase dependence of few-cycle ultrashort laser pulse propagation in a polar molecule medium. Our results show that a soliton pulse can be generated during the two-photon resonant propagation of few-cycle pulse in the polar molecule medium. Moreover, the main features of the soliton pulse, such as pulse duration and intensity, depend crucially on the carrier-envelope phase of the incident pulse, which could be utilized to determine the carrier-envelope phase of a few-cycle ultrashort laser pulse from a mode-locked oscillator.     

Shaping of few-cycle laser pulses via a subwavelength structure

We theoretically investigate the propagation of few-cycle laser pulses in resonant two-level dense media with a sub- wavelength structure, which is described by the full Maxwell-Bloch equations without the frame of slowly varying envelope and rotating wave approximations. The input pulses can be shaped into shorter ones with a single or less than one optical cycle. The effect of the parameters of the subwavelength structure and laser pulses is studied. Our study shows that the media with a subwavelength structure can significantly shape the few-cycle pulses into a subcycle pulse, even for the case of chirp pulses as input fields. This suggests that such subwavelength structures have potential application in the shaping of few-cycle laser pulses.     

Temporal characteristics of few-cycle pulse on- and non-resonance propagating in a ladder-type atomic medium

Time evolution characteristic of few-cycle pulse propagating in a ladder-type atomic medium is investigated. It is shown that, time evolution of few-cycle pulse has significant difference in the both cases on- and non-resonance. In the non-resonant case, if the pulse central frequency is twice as large as medium atomic transition frequency, the pulse form (including carry-envelope phase, pulse duration, oscillation amplitude and frequency) remains unchanging or remains unchanging basically (only carry-envelope phase has some variation) in the propagation process, which means that self-induced transparency (SIT) or approximate transparency phenomenon appears. However, in the resonant case, the pulse form changes obviously in the propagation process. In addition, there is evident difference in the propagating velocity for on- and non-resonance when the pulse area is smaller.     

Pulse compression of difference frequency radiation by liquid crystal phase transparent

The results of theoretical research and numerical simulation of the difference frequency radiation (DFR) pulse generation in 5–25 μm wavelength range in the field of the pumping femtosecond laser pulse are presented. The pulse has the following characteristics: the central wavelength is 2 μm, duration is 34 fs and electric field amplitude is 70.71 MV/m. The pulse propagates in the ZnTe/air periodic structure with the number of periods along the normal to the (110) plane of the ZnTe crystal equal to 13; and the efficiency of the DFR generation is 1.11 × 10^–4. It is shown that the use of the liquid crystal phase transparent, placed in the focal plane of the frequencyspatial shaping system, allows one to realize the DFR pulse compression at which the maximum intensity is increased by a factor of six.     

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     

Carrier-envelope phase dependence of the duration of generated solitons for few-cycle rectangular laser pulses propagation

We investigate the nonlinear propagation of few-cycle rectangular laser pulses on resonant intersubband transitions in semiconductor quantum wells using an iterative predictor–corrector finite-difference time-domain method. An initial 2π rectangular pulse will split into Sommerfeld–Brillouin precursors and a self-induced transparency soliton during the course of propagation. The duration of generated soliton depends on the carrier-envelope phase of the incident pulse. In our case, not only the near-resonant frequency components but also the low frequency components could contribute to the generation of the soliton pulse when the condition of multi-photon resonance is satisfied. The phase-sensitive property of the solitons results from the phase-dependent distribution of high and low frequency sidebands of few-cycle rectangular pulses.     

Spatial, temporal and spectral emission characteristics from electron oscillation driven by an intense circularly polarized few-cycle laser pulse

The spatial, temporal and spectral emission characteristics of radiation generated from electron oscillations driven by an intense circularly polarized few-cycle laser pulse have been investigated theoretically and numerically using a single electron model. For a femtosecond driving laser pulse with duration of one optical cycle, the maximal radiation emitted by the electron comprises only one electromagnetic pulse having durations much shorter than the optical cycle and belonging to the attosecond range. It is discovered that the influence of the initial phase on the process of full spatial characteristics of the radiation is apparent for intense few-cycle laser pulse. The characteristics can be used to measure the initial phase of intense circularly polarized few-cycle laser pulse in experiments.     

周期量级强激光场中电子振荡所导致的辐射的空间分布特性

采用单电子模型,通过理论分析和计算机模拟,研究了线偏振周期量级强激光脉冲作用下电子的相对论运动及其辐射的空间分布特性,研究发现对周期量级的强激光脉冲,其初始位相对电子的相对论运动及其辐射的空间分布特性影响非常显著。     

Subfemtosecond compression of periodic laser pulses

It is shown that a recently proposed technique of molecular modulation can be used to compress mode-locked laser pulses into the subfemtosecond domain. The method relies on driving a molecular oscillation with a periodic pulse train. The coherent molecular motion, in turn, modulates the laser frequency and allows pulse compression by group-velocity dispersion of the same molecular medium.     

Use of photoelectron laser phase determination method for attosecond measurements with quantum-mechanical calculations

This paper calculates quantum-mechanically the photoelectron energy spectra excited by attosecond x-rays in the presence of a few-cycle laser. A photoelectron laser phase determination method is used for precise measurements of the pulse natural properties of x-ray intensity and the instantaneous frequency profiles. As a direct procedure without any previous pulse profile assumptions and time-resolved measurements as well as data fitting analysis, this method can be used to improve the time resolutions of attosecond timing and measurements with metrological precision. The measurement range is half of a laser optical cycle.     

Sub-half-cycle polarization gates in ultra-short laser pulses induced by non-linear propagation effects

We demonstrate the possibility of imprinting a controlled ultra-fast time-varying ellipticity on few-cycle laser pulses through the non-linear propagation in a thin anisotropic crystal. The method is based on the self- and cross-phase modulation induced by the third-order (Kerr) non-linearity when the pulse propagates through the crystal. The feasibility of this technique is demonstrated through the numerical integration of the Maxwell equations, showing the possibility of producing a sub-half-cycle temporal gate of linear polarization. In comparison with alternative approaches, our method results in a polarization gate with higher efficiency, and also it can be controlled by changing the polarization axis of the laser pulse at the entrance of the crystal. We finally demonstrate the efficiency of this scheme in the generation of single attosecond pulses. PACS 42.81.Gs; 42.65.Re; 32.80.Wr