Generation of femtosecond dual pulses by a transverse standing wave in a volume holographic grating

Based on Kogelnik's coupled-wave theory, it is found that when a femtosecond pulse is incident on a transmitted volume holographic grating, two transverse standing waves along the grating vector direction will be generated inside the volume holographic grating(VHG). Due to field localization of two standing waves, they have two different velocities along the propagation depth. On the output plane of the VHG, femtosecond dual pulses are generated in both the diffracted and transmitted directions. Results show that the pulse interval is determined by the refractive index modulation and thickness of the grating, while the waveform of the dual pulses is independent of the grating parameters.     

Linear effect of doubling of the laser pulse repetition rate in the laue geometry of bragg diffraction in a photonic crystal

It has been theoretically shown that, during Bragg diffraction of a picosecond laser pulse in the Laue geometry in a linear photonic crystal, the pulse, entering the crystal structure, may be split into two transmitted and two diffracted pulses. The time interval between these pulses can be controlled by varying the crystal thickness and the modulation depth of the refractive index.     

超短脉冲光通过光折变体光栅衍射及透射光强的瞬时变化特性研究

采用Kogelnik的耦合波理论,研究了超短脉冲光通过光折变体光栅的衍射及透射光强在时域的瞬时变化特性.发现衍射和透射脉冲波形与读出脉冲宽度、光栅周期、光栅厚度及光折变材料的折射率调制大小有密切关系.通过调整这些参量的数值,可以获得需要的脉冲形状.同时还发现衍射和透射脉冲在时间轴上有一定的偏移,偏移量的大小与参量选择有关.     

Dynamical Bragg diffraction of optical pulses in photonic crystals in the Laue geometry: Diffraction-induced splitting, selective compression, and focusing of pulses

A theory for the dynamical Bragg diffraction of a spatially confined laser pulse in a linear photonic crystal with a significant modulation of the refractive index in the Laue geometry has been developed. The diffraction-induced splitting of a spatially confined pulse into the Borrmann and anti-Borrmann pulses localized in different regions of the photonic crystal and characterized by different dispersion laws is predicted. The selective compression or focusing of one of these pulses with the simultaneous broadening or defocusing of the other pulse is shown to be possible.     

Study on the instantaneous characteristics of diffracted and transmitted light of static photorefractive grating illuminated by ultra-short pulse laser

Based on Kogelnik's coupled wave theory, the time-domain diffraction and transmission of static PR gratings are theoretically studied when they are illuminated by ultra-short pulse laser. Study shows that the waveforms of the diffracted and transmitted pulses depend on the readout pulse duration, grating spacing, crystal thickness and refractive index modulation. By changing the values of these parameters, the diffracted and transmitted waveforms can be controlled. Also we find there is a displacement of diffracted and transmitted pulse along the time-axis when compared to readout pulse. Conclusions of our study could be used in many areas, such as pulse shaping and signal processing.     

Modeling interaction of ultrashort pulses with ENZ materials

In this work, the split-step Fourier method for beam propagation is used to investigate the interaction of ultra-short pulses with epsilon-near-zero materials. The propagation of pulses is governed by the nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLSE) containing dispersion, gain-bandwidth, self-phase modulation, self-steepening, and absorption parameters. It is found that the intensity profile of the pulse is broadened and the phase of the pulse is shifted by dispersion phenomena. The gain/loss related to the imaginary part of the refractive index causes an increase or decrease in intensity and pulse edge effects. These effects do not favor the steady propagation of the pulse. The self-phase modulation is not noted to appreciably affect the intensity pulse profile. The self-steepening modifies the phase and energy of the pulse during propagation, as well as absorption, which influences the losses by both the linear and nonlinear effects.     

Low temperature enhancement of alignment-induced spectral broadening of femtosecond laser pulses

The propagation of femtosecond laser pulses in N2-filled hollow fibers is studied both theoretically and experimentally. The laser pulse aligns the N2 molecules and changes the refractive index, which meanwhile modulates the spectrum of the pulse in turn. The dependence of the spectral modulation on the gas temperature is investigated. We find that both spectral broadening and frequency red-shift are enhanced at low temperature. The degree of enhancement is found to be dependent on the pulse duration. Based on our findings, we propose a method for femtosecond pulse spectral broadening and few-cycle pulse generation via the molecular alignment.     

Characterization of signs change of nonlinear refraction in ZnSe based on a modified double 4f imaging system with a phase object

Signs change of nonlinear refractive index in ZnSe is observed by employing a modified double 4f imaging system at the wavelength of 800 nm using picosecond pulses with different pulse energies. This process results from the competition of the bound electronic nonlinear refraction and the free carrier refraction. At low intensity, positive nonlinear refraction is obtained, which is attributed to bound electrons. As the increase of laser beam intensity, the nonlinear refractive index become small, and changes to negative. This is ascribed to free carriers generated by two-photon absorption. Additionally, the nonlinear refractive index of bound electron and the refractive index change of free carrier are determined unambiguously by a simple method.     

Optimal generation of single-dispersion precompensated 1-fs pulses by molecular phase modulation

We show how an optimal control approach can be combined with the pump-probe technique for pulse compression by molecular phase modulation in hollow-core fibers to generate single 1-fs pulses in the visible. Varying the intensity and duration of the Gaussian-shaped pump pulse at the input induces optimal rotational response of the molecules. The probe pulse, which scatters off of the resulting time variation of the refractive index, is shaped at the input for optimal compression at the output, including dispersion to all orders.     

折射率调制脉冲射线探测技术原理验证

为验证折射率调制的脉冲射线束探测技术,建立了原理验证系统。该系统基于平行平板干涉原理,测量传感介质的折射率在射线激发下的瞬时变化。传感介质为GaAs,探针光为1310 nm单模激光,外界激发射线源平均能量为300 keV,脉宽为20 ns。使用带宽775 kHz的近红外InGaAs光电探测器,观测到了GaAs晶体在脉冲射线激发下的折射率变化。初步理论分析表明,射线脉冲在GaAs中产生的非平衡载流子浓度为1014 cm-3量级,折射率变化为10-6量级。折射率变化的实验结果与理论计算在量级上是符合的。实验结果表明,基于折射率调制的脉冲射线束探测技术基本可行,利用该系统可进一步发展高时间分辨的脉冲射线束探测技术。     

Diffraction grating fabrication in lithium niobate and KDP crystals with femtosecond laser pulses

We report studies of the modifications induced inside lithium niobate and KDP crystals by Yb:KGW ultrafast laser pulses, having 300-fs pulse duration and operating at 100-kHz repetition rate. By focusing the laser beam with a 0.42 numerical-aperture objective, we have recorded homogeneous volume Bragg gratings in the bulk of the niobate crystal that showed excellent diffraction efficiencies, reaching up to 87%, and remained permanent after thermal annealing for one hour at 150°C. The refractive index modification level was found to be 0.002 in lithium niobate. The results show that lithium niobate is a very promising crystal candidate for microphotonics applications. On the contrary, in the KDP crystal no smoothly modified refractive index zones were created.     

Symbolic computation on pulse compression without pedestal in an inhomogeneous medium

The coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equations with the harmonic potential and variable coefficients are studied for the pulse propagation in an inhomogeneous medium. With the modified Hirota method and symbolic computation, the bilinear form and analytic one-soliton solutions are obtained. A type of pulse compression technique is proposed, which can have the optical pulses compressed without any external devices. Moreover, the compressed pulses are pedestal free. The influences of the inhomogeneity of the refractive index, Kerr nonlinearity and diffraction are analyzed as well. The proposed technique may provide a different method for the pulse compression.     

体全息光栅线性记录折射率分布的修正

在讨论非线性记录体全息光栅的光谱特性时,发现一些文献在线性记录时折射率分布的表达式有些不妥.重新讨论了线性记录情况下折射率分布的表达式,引入了光束比和总光强折射率调制系数,用耦合波理论计算讨论了不同光束比和总光强折射率调制系数对光栅衍射光谱特性的影响.计算结果表明,光栅衍射光谱主峰峰值随总光强调制系数的减小而略有降低,主峰峰值随光束比减小下降得不大,带宽随总光强调制系数和光束比的减小而明显变窄,次峰峰值随总光强调制系数和光束比的减小而明显减小.     

Passive harmonic mode-locking in a fiber laser with nonlinear polarization rotation

On basis of numerical simulation and analytical treatment, we investigate the multiple pulse passive mode-locking of a fiber laser with nonlinear loss due to the nonlinear polarization rotation technique. Various additional mechanisms resulting in the ordering of ultrashort pulses inside the laser resonator and in the realization of harmonic passive mode-locking are analyzed. Among which are the active harmonic modulation of the intracavity loss or of the refractive index, the passive modulation of the index due to the inertial properties of intracavity elements, and the amplification modulation due to the depletion and the relaxation of the gain. The velocity of pulses relative to each other is determined, it results in attractive or repulsive pulse-pulse interaction, and allows to evaluate the conditions of ordering of the pulses inside the cavity.     

Dynamical oscillations in nonlinear optical media

The spatial dynamics of pulses in Kerr media with parabolic index profile are examined. It is found that when diffraction and graded-index have opposite signs propagating pulses exhibit an oscillatory pattern, similar to a breathing behavior. Furthermore, if the pulse and the index profile are not aligned the pulse oscillates around the index origin with frequency that depends on the values of the diffraction and index of refraction. These oscillations are not observed when diffraction and graded-index share the same sign.     

Simulations of petawatt-class few-cycle optical-parametric chirped-pulse amplification, including nonlinear refractive index effects

We present three-dimensional simulations of optical-parametric chirped-pulse amplification stages for a few-cycle petawatt-class laser. The simulations take into account the effects of depletion, diffraction, walk-off, quantum noise, and the nonlinear refractive index (n(2)). In the absence of n(2) effects, we show these stages can generate 3.67J pulses supporting 4fs transform-limited pulse durations. Adding the nonlinear refractive index to the simulation, the energy output is reduced by ~11% and the bandwidth narrows by ~129nm, increasing the Fourier limit by ~17.5%.     

Temporal diffraction characteristics of transmitted multilayer volume holographic grating illuminated by an ultrashort pulse

Based on the coupled wave theory of Kogelnik and Fourier optics, the time-domain diffraction characteristics of tramsmitted multilayer volume holographic grating (MVHG) under an ultrashort pulse readout are investigated. It is shown that the temporal diffraction characteristics depend not only on the numbers of the grating layers, but also on the thicknesses of the grating layers and buffer layers, grating period and the refractive index modulation. Furthermore, using group velocity dispersion we give explanation on the time-delay of diffraction pulse with respect to the center of the readout pulse. Results of our discussion may find applications in optical communications, pulse shaping and processing.     

Estimation of the Refractive Index Change in Glass Induced by Femtosecond Laser Pulses

It is known that local refractive index change occurs when femtosecond laser pulses with extremely high peak power are launched into glass. We focused 130-femtosecond laser pulses of 800 nm into the bulk of glass and examined the shape of the induced refractive index change. We found that the length of the spot of the refractive index change along the optical axis reached about 30 μm despite the diameter being about 2 μm. To estimate the distribution of induced refractive index change, we fabricated Bragg grating by scanning the focused spot and calculated the amount of the change by applying Kogelnik’s coupled mode theory to the measured diffraction efficiencies of the higher order diffracted beams.     

Nonselective excitation of pulsed ELDOR using multi-frequency microwaves

The use of a polychromatic microwave pulse to expand the pumping bandwidth in pulsed electron-electron double resonance (PELDOR) was investigated. The pumping pulse was applied in resonance with the broad (～100 mT) electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) signal of the manganese cluster of photosystem II in the S2 state. The observation pulses were in resonance with the narrow EPR signal of the tyrosine radical, YD·. It was found that in the case of the polychromatic pumping pulse containing five harmonics with the microwave frequencies between 8.5 and 10.5 GHz the PELDOR effect corresponding to the dipole interaction between the Mn cluster and YD· was about 2.9 times larger than that achieved with a monochromatic pulse. In addition to the dipolar modulation, the nuclear modulation effects were observed. The effects could be suppressed by averaging the PELDOR trace over the time interval between the observation microwave pulses. The polychromatic excitation technique described will be useful for improving the PELDOR sensitivity in the measurements of long distances in biological samples, where the pair consists of a radical with a narrow EPR spectrum and slow phase relaxation, and a metal center that has a broad EPR spectrum and a short phase relaxation time.     

Nonlinear diffraction in gratings based on polymer–dispersed TiO 2 nanoparticles

In this letter we report a simple technique to produce volume holographic gratings based on photopolymerizable composites containing TiO₂ nanoparticles. Diffraction gratings with high refractive index modulation amplitude (up to 1.25 × 10⁻²) have been formed due to the periodic distribution of high refractive index nanoparticles in a low refractive index polymer matrix. The diffraction efficiency increases strongly on increasing the nanoparticle concentration. Taking the mixture with 10 wt.% TiO₂ nanoparticles, gratings with high diffraction efficiency, low level of scattering and high transparency in the visible-wavelength range have been obtained. This will ultimately lead to different applications of diffractive optical elements based on nanocomposites. The dependence of the gratings’ diffraction efficiency on the intensity of probe laser pulses at 1064 nm has been explored. It is shown that the nonlinear response of the gratings is attributed mainly to the nonlinear properties of the TiO₂ nanoparticles embedded in the polymer matrix. The mechanism of the grating formation and the reasons for the nonlinear behavior of the diffraction efficiency are discussed.