Femtosecond time-resolved optical polarigraphy: imaging of the propagation dynamics of intense light in a medium

A time-resolved imaging technique for visualizing ultrafast propagation dynamics of intense light pulses in a medium has been demonstrated. The method probes the instantaneous birefringence induced by a pulse in the medium. Through consecutive femtosecond snapshot images of intense femtosecond laser pulses propagating in air, ultrafast temporal changes in the two-dimensional spatial distribution of the optical pulse intensity were clearly seen.     

高速光脉冲的测量方法

 综述了目前国际上公认的测量高速光脉冲的几种方法，主要包括电光条纹相机（SC）、快速脉冲取样、二次谐波产生（SHG）、频率分辨光学门（FROG）以及光谱相位干涉直接电场重建（SPIDER）等。详细地阐述和分析了这些方法的原理、特点、适用范围以及它们的研究现状。     

Dynamically phase-matched terahertz generation

We present the generation of intense terahertz pulses by optical rectification of 780 nm pulses in a large area gallium phosphide crystal. The velocity mismatch between optical and terahertz pulses thereby limits the bandwidth of the terahertz pulses. We show that this limitation can be overcome by a dynamic modification of the refractive index of the gallium phosphide crystal through generation of hot phonons. This is confirmed by excellent agreement between experimental results and model calculations.     

光纤中基于拉曼放大与脉冲压缩的超短光孤子产生

提出一种在单模光纤负群速色散枢由弱脉冲产生高强度超短光孤子的新方法。     

Ionization of clusters in strong x-ray laser pulses

The effect of intense x-ray laser interaction on argon clusters is studied theoretically with a mixed quantum/classical approach. In comparison to a single atom we find that ionization of the cluster is suppressed, which is in striking contrast to the observed behavior of rare-gas clusters in intense optical laser pulses. We have identified two effects responsible for this phenomenon: A high space charge of the cluster in combination with a small quiver amplitude and delocalization of electrons in the cluster. We elucidate their impact for different field strengths and cluster sizes.     

Divided-pulse amplification of ultrashort pulses

We propose and demonstrate a new approach, to the best of our knowledge, for avoiding nonlinear effects in the amplification of ultrashort optical pulses. The initial pulse is divided longitudinally into a sequence of lower-energy pulses that are otherwise identical to the original, except for the polarization. The low-intensity pulses are amplified and then recombined to create a final intense pulse. This divided-pulse amplification complements techniques based on dispersion management.     

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.     

Spatiotemporal propagation dynamics of intense optical pulses in loosely confined gas-filled hollow-core fibers

We numerically study the propagation dynamics of intense optical pulses in gas-filled hollow-core fibers(HCFs). The spatiotemporal dynamics of the pulses show a transition from tightly confined to loosely confined characteristics as the fiber core is increased, which manifests as a deterioration in the spatiotemporal uniformity of the beam. It is found that using the gas pressure gradient does not enhance the beam quality in large-core HCFs, while inducing a positive chirp in the pulse to lower the peak power can improve the beam quality. This indicates that the self-focusing effect in the HCFs is the main driving force for the propagation dynamics. It also suggests that pulses at longer wavelengths are more suitable for HCFs with large cores because of the lower critical power of self-focusing, which is justified by the numerical simulations. These results will benefit the generation of energetic few-cycle pulses in large-core HCFs.     

Generation of intense,carrier-envelope phase-locked few-cycle laser pulses through filamentation

Intense, well-controlled light pulses with only a few optical cycles start to play a crucial role in many fields of physics, such as attosecond science. We present an extremely simple and robust technique to generate such carrier-envelope offset (CEO) phase locked few-cycle pulses, relying on self-guiding of intense 43-fs, 0.84 mJ optical pulses during propagation in a transparent noble gas. We have demonstrated 5.7-fs, 0.38 mJ pulses with an excellent spatial beam profile and discuss the potential for much shorter pulses. Numerical simulations confirm that filamentation is the mechanism responsible for pulse shortening. The method is widely applicable and much less sensitive to experimental conditions such as beam alignment, input pulse duration or gas pressure as compared to gas-filled hollow fibers. PACS 45.65.Ky; 42.65.Re     

Intense femtosecond shaped laser beams for writing extended structures inside transparent dielectrics

We review recent results on the propagation and self-focusing of intense femtosecond laser pulses with shaped beam profiles in transparent dielectric media. At sufficiently high optical power, beam shaping seeds into the transverse modulation instability and results in the deterministic placement of intense laser filaments within the beam profile. Resulting spatial filament distributions may be utilized for writing complex extended structures inside transparent dielectrics. Specific examples of beam shapes we will discuss are Bessel beams, optical vortices, Bessel beams of higher order, and Airy beams.     

Effects of intrapulse stimulated Raman scattering on short pulse propagation in a nonlinear two-core fiber

The switching dynamics of short pulses propagating in a two-core optical fiber under the effects of intrapulse stimulated Raman scattering (ISRS) and intermodal dispersion is investigated theoretically. We find that, when the input pulses are short and intense enough, ISRS in general reduces the width of the pulses propagating in the launching core of the fiber and, at the same time, slows down the pulses. However, if the two-core fiber contains sufficient intermodal dispersion, the pulse-narrowing effect of ISRS can be weakened. Using typical fiber parameters, we demonstrate with numerical examples how the interaction of ISRS and intermodal dispersion affects the pulse shape. PACS 40.42.65.-k; 40.42.65.Dr; 40.42.65.Tg; 42.81.-i; 42.81.Dp     

On a physical implementation of logical operators NOT and CNOT in a two-qubit quantum computer controlled by ultrashort optical pulses

It is shown that it is preferable to perform quantum computations on a system of two-level atoms with metastable states using optical dipole transitions that occur under the effect of ultrashort light pulses. It is suggested to measure the quantum information that is passed to qubits using Bloch, rather than pure, quantum states of two-level atoms. Moreover, the inversion of atoms can be used as the measure of quantum information. In order to describe the logical operators NOT and CNOT in the system of interacting two-level atoms (qubits), modified optical equations for the Bloch vectors of individual qubits are derived. These equations are solved in combination with field equations, without using the slowly varying amplitude approximation, for a small two-qubit system in the field of ultrashort intense optical pulses of arbitrary shape. A numerical analysis of the solution shows that it is possible to control the recording of information on individual qubits in a small quantum system of a dimension much smaller than the length of the optical wave by smoothly varying the irradiation conditions of qubits.     

Intense self-compressed, self-phase-stabilized few-cycle pulses at 2 microm from an optical filament

We report the compression of intense, carrier-envelope phase stable mid-IR pulses down to few-cycle duration using an optical filament. A filament in xenon gas is formed by using self-phase stabilized 330 microJ 55 fs pulses at 2 microm produced via difference-frequency generation in a Ti:sapphire-pumped optical parametric amplifier. The ultrabroadband 2 microm carrier-wavelength output is self-compressed below 3 optical cycles and has a 270 microJ pulse energy. The self-locked phase offset of the 2 microm difference-frequency field is preserved after filamentation. This is to our knowledge the first experimental realization of pulse compression in optical filaments at mid-IR wavelengths (lambda>0.8 microm).     

The doppler frequency shift caused by the inhomogeneities of a medium induced by pulses of intense laser radiation

Self-reflection of pulses of intense laser radiation from an inhomogeneity induced by them in a medium with fast optical nonlinearity is analyzed. The reflected radiation is characterized by a considerable Doppler shift and by a signal magnitude that is sufficient for experimental detection.     

Generation of intense tunable 20-fs pulses near 400nm by use of a gas-filled hollow waveguide

An intense continuously tunable 20-fs source is demonstrated for the region between 370 and 430nm with pulse energies of as much as 20 muJ. By use of high-power frequency-doubled pulses from a 32-fs 1-kHz Ti:sapphire laser system a blue continuum is produced in an Ar-filled hollow fiber. After compression with dispersive delay lines the resulting pulses are analyzed by use of the self-diffraction frequency-resolved optical gating technique.     

Simulation of Electron Temperature in Argon Clusters Subjected to Intense Laser Fields

Argon clusters subjected to intense femtosecond laser pulses are ionized by the optical fields and inelastic electron-ion collisions. The cluster plasmas absorb the laser energy through collisional inverse bremsstrahlung, leading the argon cluster plasmas to very hot states. The calculated electron temperature in the clusters indicates that the intense laser-cluster interactions are more energetic than interactions with molecules.     

Simulation of Electron Temperature in Argon Clusters Subjected to Intense Laser Fields

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从光子晶体效应到表面等离子波的实时演变

文章报道了激光诱导太赫兹表面等离子谐振效应。采用激光抽运-太赫兹波探测技术，实时改变单晶硅中的载流子浓度，使其介电特性从类绝缘体演变为类金属导体，以支持表面等离子谐振效应，进而实现太赫兹波在周期性亚波长单晶硅孔阵列中的实时可控制谐振增强传输。同时还通过实验观测到太赫兹波从光子晶体效应到表面等离子波的实时演变。文章作者采用Fano模型对实验结果进行模拟分析，获得了与实验数据一致的理论拟合。     

Circularly polarized sub-1.5 cycle laser pulses at 1.8 μm

The generation of intense carrier-envelope-phase-stabilized sub-1.5 cycle circularly polarized pulses at 1.8 μm is reported. After changing the polarization of the pulses produced by an optical parameter amplifier to circular, selected nonlinear medium parameters are found to be able to expand the spectrum to supercontinuum (1,300–2,100 nm) with a extremely high transmittance (>65 %). Using such laser pulses, polarization control of terahertz emission is demonstrated.     

Extreme midinfrared nonlinear optics in semiconductors

We have observed extreme nonlinear optical phenomena produced by intense midinfrared (MIR) pulses in semiconductors. These phenomena include multiple off-resonance optical sidebands (up to +/-3 MIR photons interacting with a near-infrared photon), multiple MIR harmonics (up to the seventh harmonic), and significant broadening and modification of MIR harmonic spectra. The generation of these extreme MIR nonlinear optical phenomena is primarily aided by cross-phase modulation.