Generation of intense ultrabroadband optical pulses by induced phase modulation in an argon-filled single-mode hollow waveguide

We experimentally demonstrate the generation of intense ultrabroadband optical pulses whose spectrum ranges from 300 to 1000 nm (700-THz bandwidth) with a well-behaved spectral phase and 23-muJ pulse energy by a novel, simple setup utilizing induced phase modulation (IPM) in an argon-filled single-mode hollow waveguide. Fundamental as well as second-harmonic pulses produced by one common femtosecond pulse from a Ti:sapphire laser-amplifier system are copropagated in the hollow waveguide. The effect of the delay time between the two input pulses on the IPM spectral broadening is clarified and confirmed to agree with the theoretical result. It is found that the compressed pulse duration from this pulse is 1.51 fs if its phase is completely compensated for.     

飞秒紫外激光脉冲振荡的实验研究

本文讨论了采用空间光脉冲光谱的啁啾特性和选择聚焦透镜焦距相结合的技术大大提高二次谐波转换效率和产生紫外飞秒光脉冲的实验研究.采用一类相位匹配的BBO晶体,当飞秒钛宝石光脉冲平均功率为560mW时,二次谐波输出功率为352mW,二次谐波转换效率高达63%;采用一类相位匹配的LBO晶体时,获得高光束质量的倍频蓝光输出,输出平均功率为170mW,转换效率大于30%.运用LBO倍频产生的蓝光脉冲和剩余的基频光脉冲进行了三次谐波的振荡研究.三倍频晶体采用BBO,通过优化设计倍频光与基频光之间的空间模匹配及精确时间延迟,得到飞秒紫外光输出,输出功率为2mW,中心波长约为280nm,重复率为100MHz.     

Femtosecond pulse generation using stimulated Raman scattering in integrated silicon optical waveguide device

To generate ultrafast femtosecond optical pulses, we propose a model of an integrated device consisting of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) with two symmetric 3 dB directional couplers and a straight waveguide based on the single-mode silicon-on-insulator (SOI) optical waveguide. The principle of pulse generation in the presented device is based on the strong stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) in silicon; the center wavelength of the pulse generated is tunable by changing the center wavelength of the co-propagating pump pulse. Numerical results show that, when a continuous wave (CW) with a weak power at 1670 nm wavelength and a pump pulse with a high peak power at 1550 nm wavelength are co-propagating, a narrow femtosecond pulse with a pulse width (full width at half maximum, FWHM) of ∼60 fs (FWHM of the pump pulse is 166.5 fs) can be achieved in the device proposed. In addition, when the waveguide length, pump peak power, and pump-pulse width are fixed, the properties of generated femtosecond pulse depend strongly on the incident chirp of the pump pulse and the CW power.     

飞秒掺钛蓝宝石激光三倍频理论和实验研究

从理论和实验上分别研究了飞秒掺钛蓝宝石激光二倍频和三倍频的非线性频率转换过程.采 用Ⅰ类相位匹配非共线和频方法得到飞秒掺钛蓝宝石激光的三倍频2601nm输出，转换效 率达64%, 脉冲宽度为169fs.这为时间分辨电子显微镜提供了一种超短脉冲的紫外光源. 关键词： 飞秒激光 三倍频 时间分辨 BBO晶体     

高效、高峰值功率蓝光飞秒脉冲产生研究

分析计算了利用棱镜组引进频谱空间啁啾来补偿谐波倍频晶体的相位失配.结果表明,光谱 存在空间啁啾时,选择合适的透镜可在一定程度上补偿由于飞秒光脉冲的宽谱带引起的相位失配.采用此方法在实验上用自制的飞秒自锁模钛宝石激光器和BBO倍频晶体进行了二次谐波 倍频的研究,结果产生倍频蓝光的转换效率高达63%,蓝光平均输出功率达320mW,中心波长 为420nm,光谱带宽达5.5nm,可支持33.6fs的光脉冲.利用钛宝石激光器中的棱镜对进行波 长调谐,可使蓝光脉冲产生404—420nm的调谐范围. 关键词： 飞秒蓝光脉冲 空间啁啾补偿 二次谐波产生 转换效率     

Excitation of terahertz surface polaritons in a cylindrical waveguide by femtosecond laser pulses

Generation of terahertz surface polaritons in homogeneous round cross-section plasma waveguides upon nonlinear optical rectification of femtosecond laser pulses is analyzed theoretically. It is assumed that nonlinear polarization inducing a surface electromagnetic wave is formed at the waveguide boundary in a thin layer of the nonlinear dielectric that surrounds the waveguide. The efficiency of the femtosecond radiation conversion into surface polaritons is studied as a function of the waveguide radius and duration of the exciting laser pulse.     

Spectral-Phase-Modulated Cross-Polarized Wave for Chirped Pulse Amplifier with High Contrast Ratio

We demonstrate a high-quality cross-polarized-wave filter based on spectral phase modulation. Driven by wellcompressed spectral-phase fully-compensated fundamental laser pulses, the filter stretches the pulse bandwidth from 35 nm to 70 nm with a conversion efficiency of 20%. After implementing the filter into a femtosecond TW Ti:sapphire laser system, we generate 40 mJ output pulse energy with pulse duration of 18.9 fs. The temporal contrast of the compressed pulse is enhanced to 10~9.     

利用三色组合脉冲激光获得孤立阿秒脉冲发射

孤立阿秒脉冲因可以跟踪和控制原子及分子内电子的运动过程而备受关注.本文从理论上开展了氦原子在3束飞秒脉冲激光组合场辐照下产生的高次谐波和阿秒脉冲辐射的研究.组合激光场由16 fs/1600 nm,15 fs/1100 nm和5.3 fs/800 nm的钛宝石脉冲构成.与前两束脉冲合成的双色场产生谐波谱相比,附加钛宝石脉冲的三色场产生的高次谐波发射谱呈现出高转换效率及宽带超连续特性,超连续谱范围覆盖从230—690次谐波,傅里叶变换后实现了128 as高强度孤立短脉冲的产生.该结果归因于合成的三色场呈现出高功率及少周期的中红外飞秒脉冲激光特性,可以有效控制原子电离以及复合发生在中红外飞秒脉冲的一个有效光学周期内.     

PPQ共轭有机聚合物平面光波导的非线性传输特性的实验研究

从实验上研究了聚苯基喹恶啉（ＰＰＱ）共轭有机物平面光波导中的飞秒光脉冲的非线性传输特性，难过研究其光波导中由于自相位调制效应而导致的光谱展宽，得到了ＰＰＱ的非线性折射率，同时表明ＰＰＱ共轭有机物平面光波导中具较大的非线性效应，有可能制作较理想的全光器件。     

Highly efficient blue-light generation from a compact, diode-pumped femtosecond laser by use of a periodically poled KTP waveguide crystal

We present a simplified, potentially portable, and highly efficient blue-light source from a periodically poled KTP waveguide crystal with a compact femtosecond Cr:LiSAF laser. This light source generates 5.6 mW of blue average output power at 424 nm with 27 mW of incident fundamental in a single-pass extracavity arrangement at room temperature. The overall system efficiency of electrical power to blue light is 0.5%, and the internal second-harmonic generation conversion efficiency is as high as 37%. The slope efficiency of 5.5% pJ(-1) at low pulse energies is, to our knowledge, the highest slope efficiency yet reported for frequency conversion into the blue spectral region.     

Femtosecond Laser-Written Waveguides in a Bismuth Germanate Single Crystal

We demonstrate the fabrication of symmetric waveguides in a bismuth germanate （BGO） single crystal using a double line approach by an 80Ohm [emtosecond laser. The optical attenuation of the single mode waveguide is measured to be 4.2 dB/cm at 633nm. The influence of pulse energy and focal depth on the end facet of the irradiated region is also studied. This technique is promising to fabricate buried BGO waveguide arrays used in positron emission tomography systems.     

基于多光子脉冲内干涉相位扫描法对飞秒激光脉冲进行相位测量和补偿的研究

研制了一套基于多光子脉冲内干涉相位扫描方法的可以同时对飞秒激光脉冲进行相位测量和补偿的实验系统装置.实验中,通过自主研发的LabVIEW程序控制液晶空间光调制器和光纤光谱仪,对待测飞秒激光脉冲施加相位扫描,并同时记录受到调制的飞秒激光脉冲的倍频光谱,得到了多光子脉冲内干涉相位扫描(MIIPS)轨迹图.通过MIIPS轨迹图的三次测量和迭代运算,还原出了经过预先啁啾调制的中心波长约为810 nm、重复频率为1 kHz的飞秒激光脉冲的光谱相位,测量精度在0.1 rad以内.根据测量结果,利用液晶空间光调制器对该飞秒激光脉冲进行相位补偿,得到了近似傅里叶变换极限的飞秒激光脉冲.这一装置将在多光子显微成像、脉冲整形、飞秒激光光谱学等众多领域发挥重要作用.     

Er:Yb-doped waveguide laser fabricated by femtosecond laser pulses

Laser action is demonstrated in a 20-mm-long waveguide fabricated on an Er:Yb-doped phosphate glass by femtosecond laser pulses. An output power of 1.7 mW with approximately 300 mW of pump power coupled into the waveguide is obtained at 1533.5 nm. Waveguides are manufactured with the 520-nm radiation from a frequency-doubled, diode-pumped, cavity-dumped Yb:glass laser operating at a 166-KHz repetition rate, with a 300-fs pulse duration.     

Second harmonic generation by femtosecond Yb-doped fiber laser source based on PPKTP waveguide fabricated by femtosecond laser direct writing

The frequency doubling of femtosecond pulses from an Yb-doped fiber laser source was demonstrated in a PPKTP waveguide fabricated by femtosecond laser direct writing. The PPKTP waveguide contains a fixed period of 8.9 μm and the feomtosecond fundamental pulses have a central wavelength of 1044 nm. A maximum SHG power of 406 mW was produced, yielding a conversion efficiency of 5.6%. Numerical simulations were carried out to investigate the property of frequency doubling for femtosecond pulses. The results show that the SHG process proceeds even the quasi-phase-matching (QPM) condition is not well satisfied, which is significantly different from that of “long” pulses or CW light and is accorded with the experimental results.     

Nonlinear femtosecond pulse reshaping in waveguide arrays

We observe nonlinear pulse reshaping of femtosecond pulses in a waveguide array owing to coupling between waveguides. Amplified pulses from a mode-locked fiber laser are coupled to an AlGaAs core waveguide array structure. The observed power-dependent pulse reshaping agrees with theory, including shortening of the pulse in the central waveguide.     

Generation of a high-temporal contrast ultrafast laser pulse near 1,053 nm through stimulated Raman frequency shift

A high-temporal contrast femtosecond Stokes pulse near 1,053 nm is obtained simply without polarizer extinction ratio limitation based on the stimulated Raman frequency shift process in ethanol with an 800-nm femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser as a pump source. By optimizing the incident pump pulse chirp and the ethanol Raman cell length, a clean Stokes pulse near 1,053 nm with a maximum energy of 0.24 mJ is obtained with ~7.5 % conversion efficiency and 0.8 % (rms) energy fluctuation. Compared with the incident pump pulse, the temporal contrast of the Stokes pulse is improved by at least approximately three orders of magnitude.     

Amplitude to phase conversion of InGaAs pin photo-diodes for femtosecond lasers microwave signal generation

When a photo-diode is illuminated by a pulse train from a femtosecond laser, it generates microwaves components at the harmonics of the repetition rate within its bandwidth. The phase of these components (relative to the optical pulse train) is known to be dependent on the optical energy per pulse. We present an experimental study of this dependence in InGaAs pin photo-diodes illuminated with ultra-short pulses generated by an Erbium-doped fiber based femtosecond laser. The energy to phase dependence is measured over a large range of impinging pulse energies near and above saturation for two typical detectors, commonly used in optical frequency metrology with femtosecond laser based optical frequency combs. When scanning the optical pulse energy, the coefficient which relates phase variations to energy variations is found to alternate between positive and negative values, with many (for high harmonics of the repetition rate) vanishing points. By operating the system near one of these vanishing points, the typical amplitude noise level of commercial-core fiber-based femtosecond lasers is sufficiently low to generate state-of-the-art ultra-low phase noise microwave signals, virtually immune to amplitude to phase conversion related noise.     

Generation of shaped ultraviolet pulses at the third harmonic of titanium-sapphire femtosecond laser radiation

We experimentally demonstrate a method to generate shaped femtosecond laser pulses in the ultraviolet at a central wavelength of 267 nm, the third harmonic of conventional titanium-sapphire femtosecond laser systems. Employing a 128-pixel liquid-crystal spatial light modulator, we impose variable spectral phase modulations upon the near-infrared laser pulses. By this, complex laser pulses can be shaped whose overall spectrum is still conserved. Our experiments show that it is possible to easily transfer these pulses into the ultraviolet at 267 nm via sum-frequency mixing in nonlinear crystals and to predictably generate multistructured ultraviolet femtosecond laser pulses. We analyze the temporal and spectral composition of these pulses after frequency conversion into the ultraviolet using difference-frequency cross-correlation and XFROG (cross-correlation frequency-resolved optical gating) techniques with an unmodulated fundamental laser pulse. The method can be employed to facilitate adaptive quantum control experiments in the ultraviolet wavelength regime, where the major absorption bands of many organic molecular systems are located. PACS 42.65.Re; 42.72.Bj; 32.80.Qk     

Thermal character in organic polymers with nanojoule femtosecond laser ablation

Ablation experiments with femtosecond (fs) laser pulse (pulse duration 37 fs, wavelength 800 nm) on organic polymers have been performed in air. The ablation threshold is found to be only several nanojoules. The diameters of the dots ablated in the organic polymers are influenced by the laser fluence and the number of laser pulses. It is observed that heat is diffused in a threadlike manner in all directions around the central focus region.Explanations of the observed phenomena are presented. A one-dimensional waveguide is also ablated in the organic polymers.     

Propagation of X-ray femtosecond pulses through tapered nanometer-scale capillary waveguides

It is shown that temporal broadening of an X-ray femtosecond pulse under propagation through a tapered nanometer-scale waveguide is negligible small for the wide region of the guide and pulse parameters. The output pulse has the step-like transverse intensity distribution. The conventional waveguide theories do not predict this phenomenon.