1 MHz repetition rate hollow fiber pulse compression to sub-100-fs duration at 100 W average power

We report on nonlinear pulse compression at very high average power. A high-power fiber chirped pulse amplification system based on a novel large pitch photonic crystal fiber delivers 700 fs pulses with 200 μJ pulse energy at a 1 MHz repetition rate, resulting in 200 W of average power. Subsequent spectral broadening in a xenon-filled hollow-core fiber and pulse compression with chirped mirrors is employed for pulse shortening and peak power enhancement. For the first time, to our knowledge, more than 100 W of average power are transmitted through a noble-gas-filled hollow fiber. After pulse compression of 81 fs, 93 μJ pulses are obtained at a 1 MHz repetition rate.     

Femtosecond parabolic pulse nonlinear compression with gas-filled hollow-core fiber

We study theoretically the spectral intensity evolutions of the femtosecond Gaussian and parabolic pulses with different initial pulse energies and compare the nonlinear compressions of these pulses based on a meter-long hollow-core fiber filled with neon for different initial pulse durations. The pulses are first coupled into gas-filled hollow-core fiber for spectrum broadening, then compressed by the optimal chirp compensation. The parabolic pulse possesses a shorter pulse duration, larger peak power, and cleaner wings than Gaussian pulse. The properties are useful for compressing the pulses and thus generating the high-energy, short-duration pulses.     

Optical pulse compression of ultrashort laser pulses in a multi-hollow-core fiber

By numerical simulations and analysis, we proposed a fiber with multi-hollow-core structure for optical pulse compression of high energy ultrashort laser pulses. In this scheme, different parts of a high-energy flat-top pulse are coupled into different hollow cores of such fiber and each of the cores functions as an independent traditional hollow-core fiber compressor. After the multi-hollow-core fiber, the output beams are collimated and compressed to few-cycle level. Then they can be focused to ultra-high intensity. This method can easily be scaled to compressing pulses of large beam size with high energy without limit in principle.     

Comparison of the filamentation and the hollow-core fiber characteristics for pulse compression into the few-cycle regime

The gas-filled hollow-core fiber compression and the optical filamentation technique are compared experimentally in a parameter regime suitable for intense few-cycle pulse generation. In particular, pointing stability, spectral properties, and spatial chirp are investigated. It is found that in the case of filamentation, the critical parameter for pointing stability is gas pressure inside the generation cell whereas for the hollow-core fiber it is alignment that plays this role. The hollow-core fiber technique yields spectra that are better suited for chirped-mirror pulse compression whereas filamentation offers higher throughput and prospects for easy-to-implement self-compression. We present spectral phase interferometry for direct electric-field reconstruction (SPIDER) measurements that directly show the transition in the spectral phase of the output continua into the self-compression regime as the gas pressure is increased. PACS 42.65.Re; 42.65.Jx; 42.65.Tg     

High-repetition-rate regenerative thin-disk amplifier with 116 microJ pulse energy and 250 fs pulse duration

A thin-disk regenerative amplifier based on Yb-doped potassium yttrium tungstate is operated at 40 kHz with an output pulse energy of 116 microJ and a pulse duration of 250 fs. Dispersive stretching of the pulse during amplification instead of an external stretcher is used to avoid high peak intensities. The small amount of the laser active material in the amplifier inherent for the thin-disk laser design and a large beam radius in the Pockels cell reduce nonlinear effects further. Consequently the output pulses can be compressed to 250 fs using a pair of diffraction gratings.     

Femtosecond pulse compression in a hollow-core photonic bandgap fiber by tuning its cross section

We present a numerical study of soliton pulse compression in a seven-cell hollow-core photonic bandgap fiber. We analyze the enhancement of both the compression factor and the pulse shape quality of 360 nJ femtosecond pulses at the wavelength of 800 nm by tuning the cross section size of the fiber. We use the generalized non-linear Schrödinger equation in order to modeled the propagation of light pulses along the fiber. Our numerical results show that output compressed pulses can be obtained, in a propagation length of 31 cm, with a compression factor of 5.7 and pulse shape quality of 77% for a reduction of 4.5% of the cross section size of the fiber. The predicted compression factor is 3 times larger than that experimentally obtained in such propagation length of the pulse in a hollow-core photonic bandgap fiber.     

Femtosecond thin-disk Yb:KYW regenerative amplifier

We report a compact thin-disk Yb:KYW regenerative amplifier system. Two different concepts are investigated to obtain either subpicosecond pulses with up to 160 μJ or a pulse energy of 20 μJ with a pulse width of about 300 fs. The first concept uses intra-cavity group-velocity dispersion compensation with Gires–Tournois interferometer mirrors to avoid pulse stretching during amplification. The onset of nonlinear effects in this concept inhibits the generation of shorter pulse durations at this energy level. Shorter pulses can be achieved with the second concept, which is based on dispersive pulse stretching during amplification and uses pulse compression after amplification with a grating compressor. Repetition rates up to 45 kHz are demonstrated.This revised version was published online in May 2005. The Article Category was removed.This revised version was published online in August 2005 with a corrected cover date.     

利用非线性脉冲预整形实现脉冲快速自相似放大

报道了一种通过预先对信号光脉冲非线性整形, 进而在光纤放大器中实现自相似演化的方法. 利用透射光栅对和普通单模光纤组成被动脉冲整形装置, 预先优化脉冲的时域宽度和光谱质量, 使脉冲在光纤放大器中快速演化到自相似子. 研究中首先通过数值模拟对比, 说明了非线性整形对脉冲实现快速自相似放大的关键作用, 提高了放大器输出脉冲质量, 减小了去啁啾脉冲宽度. 实验中, 通过优化非线性整形输出, 在2.2 m 长的掺Yb³⁺光纤中, 在一定抽运功率范围内均实现了脉冲自相似放大, 去啁啾后得到脉冲宽度60 fs 的变换极限脉冲输出. 这种非线性脉冲预整形方法有效减小了 自相似演化所需光纤长度, 同时降低了自相似放大对种子源质量的要求, 首次将全正色散光纤锁模激光器成功用于自相似放大, 促进了当前自相似放大系统的全光纤化. 关键词： 非线性整形 光纤放大器 自相似放大 飞秒激光     

Femtosecond fiber laser at 780 nm for two-photon autofluorescence imaging

We present an Er-doped fiber(Er:fiber)-based femtosecond laser at 780 nm with 256 MHz repetition rate, 191 fs pulse duration, and over 1 W average power. Apart from the careful third-order dispersion management, we introduce moderate self-phase modulation to broaden the output spectrum of the Er:fiber amplifier and achieve 193 fs pulse duration and 2.43 W average power. Over 40% frequency doubling efficiency is obtained by a periodically poled lithium niobate crystal. Delivering through a hollow-core photonic bandgap fiber, this robust laser becomes an ideal and convenient light source for two-photon autofluorescence imaging.     

新型全光纤高能量飞秒光脉冲源的数值模拟

数值模拟了自相似脉冲的产生与压缩,得到一种产生高能量飞秒光脉冲的新方法.结果表明:利用掺铒光纤对光脉冲进行自相似传输,可得到含线性频率啁啾的高能量自相似光脉冲;自相似光脉冲经过空芯光子带隙光纤的一级线性压缩和高非线性光纤的二级非线性压缩,可获得高峰值功率的飞秒光脉冲;压缩过程中存在最佳光纤长度;喇曼自频移和自陡效应对脉冲压缩产生不利影响.     

Phase-matching conditions for nonlinear frequency conversion by use of aligned molecular gases

Transient birefringence can be induced in a gas of anisotropic molecules by an intense polarized laser pulse. We propose to use this birefringence to phase match nonlinear optical frequency-conversion processes. The conditions for anisotropic phase matching are derived, and experimental conditions required for phase-matched third-harmonic generation in a gas-filled hollow-core fiber are presented. We show that these conditions are experimentally feasible over a significant parameter range, making possible a new type of nonlinear optics.     

Ultrabroad bandwidth solitons in fiber amplifier

The amplification of an ultrabroad bandwidth pulse in an Erbium-doped fiber amplifier in the case where the spectral bandwidth of pulse is comparable to the gain bandwidth of the amplifier is investigated. Based on the numerical simulation of a modified nonlinear Schrödinger equation, it is shown that the amplifier limits the efficiency of amplification. However, the limitation can be minimized by choosing the corresponding optimal fiber length for different gain bandwidths. In addition, the effect of gain bandwidth on the amplification of a soliton with initial chirp depends on the sign of the chirp.     

Multi-mJ pulse compression in hollow fibers using circular polarization

We develop a numerical model to explore the polarization-dependent compression of multi-mJ laser pulses in a gas-filled hollow fiber. We show how losses and instabilities due to cycling of pulse energy between fiber modes can be efficiently minimized using circularly polarized light and adjusting simple experimental parameters such as pulse energy, chirp and gas pressure. This should help scale the peak power of few-cycle pulses available for high-field experiments using standard hollow fiber compressors. We also discuss the limits of this approach.     

Investigation of glow discharge of gas in hollow-core fibers

For the purpose of constructing novel waveguide gas lasers based on hollow-core fibers, we carried out a series of discharge experiments and succeeded in obtaining sustained glow discharge of gas in a 150-μm-inner-diameter (i.d.) hollow-core fiber with the length of 13.7 cm and in a 50-μm-i.d. hollow-core fiber with the length of 2.9 cm by using longitudinal direct current excitation. A flash glow is also observed in hollow-core photonic bandgap fiber with 20-μm i.d. and 2.6-cm length. Initial measurements of current–voltage (I–V) characteristics have been carried out for fibers of various hollow-core sizes filled with various gases at different pressures. Theoretical I–V characteristics are presented and compared with experimental results. Gas discharges in miniature-bore hollow-core fibers were found to exhibit unique characteristics that are different from the traditional larger-bore-diameter tubes. The glow-discharge spectrum of helium gas in a 150-μm-i.d. and 8-cm-length hollow-core fiber is also presented. PACS 42.55.Wd; 42.55.Lt; 52.80.-s     

100-W average-power, high-energy nanosecond fiber amplifier

We report on the fiber-based amplification of a Q-switched Nd:YAG thin-disk laser. At repetition rates between 3 and 50 kHz output powers up to 100 W are generated. Pulse energies up to 4 mJ, with diffraction-limited beam quality, are generated in a 30-μm Yb-doped large-mode-area fiber, furthermore pulse energies up to 8 mJ are achieved from a multimode fiber amplifier. Received: 8 May 2002 / Revised version: 10 July 2002 / Published online: 25 October 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +49-3641/65-7680, E-mail: Jens.Limpert@uni-jena.de     

Generation of few-cycle laser pulses:Comparison between atomic and molecular gases in a hollow-core fiber

We numerically study the pulse compression approaches based on atomic or molecular gases in a hollow-core fiber.From the perspective of self-phase modulation(SPM), we give the extensive study of the SPM influence on a probe pulse with molecular phase modulation(MPM) effect. By comparing the two compression methods, we summarize their advantages and drawbacks to obtain the few-cycle pulses with micro- or millijoule energies. It is also shown that the double pump-probe approach can be used as a tunable dual-color source by adjusting the time delay between pump and probe pulses to proper values.     

级联单模光纤中初始啁啾对高阶孤子脉冲压缩的影响

采用两段级联单模光纤对高阶孤子脉冲进行压缩。两段光纤具有不同的反常色散值,当高阶孤子脉冲在第一段光纤中获得最大程度压缩时,通过转换色散值不同的光纤,使压缩脉冲继续以高阶孤子的形式在第二段光纤中再次被压缩。每段光纤的长度都进行了优化,使得脉冲在每段光纤中都获得最大程度的压缩。基于非线性薛定谔方程,数值研究了初始啁啾对高阶孤子脉冲压缩的影响。研究结果表明,初始啁啾对高阶孤子脉冲的压缩有重要影响。与无初始啁啾时的情形相比,正的初始啁啾能增强每段光纤中脉冲的压缩效果,降低压缩脉冲的基座能量,而负初始啁啾的影响则相反。随着初始啁啾参量Cp的增大,脉冲在每段光纤中的压缩因子均增加,而基座能量、最优光纤长度均减小。     

掺铒光纤环镜中超短光孤子的放大与压缩Ⅱ.环镜及输入脉冲特性对放大结果的影响

最近的研究发现,用掺铒光纤环镜放大并压缩超短光孤子不仅能避免常规掺铒光纤放大器中由于非线性效应引起的孤子畸变,而且可克服绝热放大技术中放大器长度随输入脉宽增大而指数规律增大的困难。进一步研究了环镜及输入脉冲特性对放大结果的影响。数值计算表明,对于确定的输入脉冲,当环镜参量(环镜长度、增益、耦合器功率耦合系数)在较大范围内变化时,环镜放大器的孤子输出性能基本稳定。对于确定的环镜,输入脉冲形状的变化、初始输入功率的起伏以及高阶效应等因素对放大结果的影响较小;相对而言,初始频率啁啾对输出孤子宽度的影响较大,但对输出孤子质量的影响并不严重。     

Few-cycle pulse compression through cascade of bulk media and hollow-core fiber

We experimentally demonstrated a new few-cycle pulse compression technique through the cascade of bulk media and hollow-core fiber (HCF) and this compression system has been intensively studied. The pulses with the duration of ∼5 fs and the energy of 0.33 mJ near 800 nm have been generated by compressing the ∼40 fs input pulse from a commercial laser system. In principle, this technique allows compression of pulses with duration of picoseconds to a few cycles (sub-7 fs) and the output can be above 1 mJ.     

负曲率空芯光纤对飞秒超短脉冲光的压缩研究

为了实现对飞秒激光器产生的超短脉冲的进一步压缩,对近年来出现的一种新型负曲率空芯光纤展开了研究,并基于该光纤对800 nm飞秒激光进行了压缩实验。首先介绍了一种圆形玻璃管包层结构的负曲率空芯光纤,通过有限元方法对光纤的损耗特性进行计算,并与实验测试结果进行对比。然后利用广义非线性薛定谔方程对脉冲在光纤中的传输进行了模拟仿真。最后利用该光纤进行了超短脉冲压缩实验,将脉冲宽度为160 fs的钛宝石飞秒激光耦合进一段充高压氩气的圆形玻璃管包层结构的负曲率空芯光纤,通过光纤内反常色散和自相位调制的共同作用,得到84 fs的输出,实现脉冲的压缩,实验结果与仿真计算一致。这种新型的负曲率空芯光纤损伤阈值高、色散、非线性系数小且灵活可调,非常适用于超快领域研究。