Octave-spanning carrier-envelope phase stabilized visible pulse with sub-3-fs pulse duration

The visible second harmonic of the idler output from a noncollinear optical parametric amplifier was compressed using adaptive dispersion control with a deformable mirror. The amplifier was pumped by and seeded in the signal path by a common 400 nm second-harmonic pulse from a Ti:sapphire regenerative amplifier. Thus, both the idler output and the second harmonic of the idler were passively carrier-envelope phase stabilized. The shortest pulse duration achieved was below 3 fs.     

飞秒BBO光参量放大中闲频光二次谐波的产生

由于相位匹配条件和非线性晶体透光范围的限制，400nm蓝光抽运的飞秒β-BaB₂O₄（BBO）光参量放大（OPA）输出的参量光调谐范围有限，很难得到波长小于460nm的蓝光和近紫外光.实验采用1kHz钛宝石九通啁啾脉冲放大器的倍频蓝光作抽运光，超连续白光 作种子光，在Ⅰ类非共线相位匹配条件下，利用宽带的飞秒BBO OPA，在一定的实验参数下 获得了530—810nm放大的信号光，以及810nm—17μm波段范围的闲频光.与此同时 ，还获得了410—700nm连续可调的闲频光的二次谐波，其与闲频光层叠分布，单脉冲能量 为26μJ，转换效率大于5%.仅利用单块晶体的飞秒BBO OPA就可以获得410—810nm连 续可调的飞秒脉冲输出，从而为更多研究和应用的需要提供了重要的光源.对飞秒光参量放 大中闲频光二次谐波产生的条件也进行了理论分析. 关键词： 二次谐波 闲频光 非共线相位匹配 飞秒光参量放大     

Detection of scattered light pulses at femto-Joule level by using a picosecond BBO optical parametric amplifier

We report a technique for detecting weak scattered light pulses based on a 532 nm pumped picosecond β-barium-borate collinear optical parametric amplifier. The measured maximum slope gain factor of the amplifier was found to be around 10⁷, and the energy detection limit was of the order of fJ/pulse for the signal of 730 nm and the idler of 1.5 μm at a pumping intensity of 2.83 GW/cm². The linearity of the gain for this amplifier was found to be excellent for a seeding level of lower than 420 fJ per pulse. The maximum gains and the energy detection limits for the scattered light pulses from various scattering targets were found to be poorer than that from the reflective mirror, owing to the degraded beam quality and the depolarization of the scattered light. A reduction of the maximum gain for the scattered light with the increase of the angle of incidence, which causes pulse broadening and reduces the photon flux of the signal, was investigated. The feasibility of detecting weak scattered light in the infrared by using idler-to-signal frequency up-conversion was also demonstrated, in which the infrared seeder located in the idler branch of the amplifier was injected as the seeding beam and was then parametrically up-converted into the visible signal branch, with an even higher gain.     

Efficient visible femtosecond optical parametric generator and amplifier using tilted pulse-front pumping

Using pulses with tilted pulse fronts to compensate for the group-velocity mismatch in three-wave interactions, we constructed an efficient 400-nm pumped femtosecond collinear typeI phase-matched beta -barium borate optical parametric generator and amplifier. The signal and idler outputs are tunable from 470nm to 2.7 microm and have pulse widths in the range of 100170fs at a 1-kHz repetition rate. A maximum output energy of 6.5 microJ and a total conversion efficiency of more than 15% were achieved.     

Two-spatial-mode parametric amplifier in lithium niobate waveguides with asymmetric Y junctions

For optical parametric amplifiers in proton-exchange waveguide devices reported to date, both the signal and the idler photons are in the TM00 mode, causing difficulty in distinguishing signal from idler. We report a two-mode optical parametric amplifier. The key components, asymmetric Y junctions, successfully launch the pump wave in a pure TM10 mode and separate the signal and the idler in the TM10 and TM00 modes with a power ratio of as much as 27.5 dB. With high parametric gain, optical parametric generation with a threshold of 300 pJ/pulse was demonstrated for 1.8 ps long pump pulses near 780 nm. These periodically poled lithium niobate waveguides are efficient integrable photon sources.     

Broadband femtosecond OPCPA system driven by the single-shot narrow-band iodine photodissociation laser SOFIA

A two-stage optical parametric amplifier driven by a frequency-tripled beam from the high-energy iodine laser system SOFIA was built. This single-shot Optical Parametric Chirped Pulse-Amplification facility (OPCPA) and the system synchronizing the pump and signal pulses are described in detail. The chirped seed pulse of a Ti:sapphire oscillator running at the central wavelength of 800?nm is amplified in the two-stage (LBO and KDP) optical parametric amplifier over 10⁸ times. The amplified spectral bandwidth of 68?nm corresponds to the pulse duration of 14?fs when a transform-limited pulse is assumed. This implies a compressed pulse of TW power. Systematic gain measurements reveal a good match with the theoretical predictions. Signal and idler beam fluence profiles are presented. The suitability of the iodine photo-dissociation laser as a pump source for the OPCPA technique is thus proved for the first time experimentally. A distinctive feature of the iodine laser is its very narrow gain bandwidth (<0.1?cm^?1) and, therefore, the conventional chirped-pulse amplification technique does not lead to pulse durations at the femtosecond level.     

板条放大器同步泵浦的宽调谐MgO:PPLN中红外光参量振荡器（英）

搭建了Nd:YVO4/SESAM锁模激光器,采用LDA泵浦的Innoslab对其进行功率放大,最后同步泵浦MgO:PPLN实现了宽调谐皮秒中红外光参量运转。通过改变MgO:PPLN的温度和通道,实现了信号光1415~1557 nm、闲频光3362~4290 nm范围的宽调谐输出,其中最高的光光转换效率为17.5%。同步泵浦功率为16 W,脉冲重复频率为116.9 MHz时,同时获得1.33 W的1518 nm信号光和1.26 W的3558 nm闲频光输出。     

Picosecond optical parametric amplification of stimulated Raman as high peak-power source and ultra-sensitive preamplifier

We report the characteristics of the amplified stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) pulses generated in liquid benzene by a picosecond (ps) β-barium borate (BBO) optical parametric amplifier (OPA). When the OPA system was used as an energy amplifier for SRS pulses, with a pump energy of 2.4 mJ at 355 nm for the OPA, the maximum output energy of the amplified SRS was about 0.73 mJ for the signal and 0.18 mJ for the idler, the energy conversion efficiency was 30.4% from the pump beam to the amplified third order Stokes component at 635.1 nm. The total efficiency would be as high as 37.9% if the output of the idler is also included. The corresponding spectral line width of the amplified Raman pulse was 11.8 cm⁻¹ with a pulse width of 10.9 ps and a peak power of 67 MW. The OPA system was also used as an amplifier for very weak Raman signal, the slope gain factor of this amplifier was found to be as high as 4.1 × 10⁷ and the energy detection limit was as low as 14.8 aJ per pulse, or 48 photons at 635.1 nm, in particular. Such a detection limit corresponds to approximately 0.5 photons per pulse if the time-gate of the OPA is reduced to 150 fs and it is about the same as or even better than a recently report on the 0.75 photons detection limit for a 150-fs OPA of coherent signal at 800 nm.     

Femtosecond optical parametric oscillator based on periodically poled KTiOPO(4)

We report a femtosecond optical parametric oscillator based on a periodically poled KTiOPO(4) crystal for which quasi-phase matching is achieved with a 24-microm poling period. The singly resonant parametric oscillator, synchronously pumped by a Ti:sapphire laser at a wavelength of 758 nm, generates a signal at 1200 nm and an idler at 2060 nm. The maximum signal power conversion efficiency of the device is 22% with a pump depletion of 69%. We tune the signal wavelength over a 200-nm band by changing the cavity length. In addition, pump wavelength tuning provides output tunability in the 1000-1235-nm range.     

Sub-20-fs pulses tunable across the visible from a blue-pumped single-pass noncollinear parametric converter

Femtosecond pulses with center wavelengths between 470 and 750 nm are generated in a single-stage type I BBO optical parametric amplifier pumped by a frequency-doubled 1-kHz Ti:sapphire amplifier. A high-quality white-light continuum is used as the seed. Pulse durations as short as 16 fs and pulse energies of as much as 11 microJ are observed. The quantum efficiency is ~25% for both 7- and 40-microJ pump pulses. This unique combination of ultrashort pulse duration and high conversion is made possible by noncollinear phase matching that permits a sufficiently large amplification bandwidth. Simultaneously the group velocities of the signal and the idler are effectively matched. As a result widely tunable sub-20-fs pulses can be generated in a nonlinear crystal as thick as 2 mm.     

Controlling the carrier-envelope phase of ultrashort light pulses with optical parametric amplifiers

The phase link between signal, idler, and pump waves in a parametric interaction allows generation of an idler pulse with a phase independent of that of the input pulse. We suggest the use of a white-light seeded optical parametric amplifier as a self-stabilized source of few-cycle pulses, in which the phase of the electric field is exactly reproduced in each laser shot.     

Iodine photodissociation laser SOFIA with MOPO-HF as?a?solid-state oscillator

The hybrid iodine photodissociation laser SOFIA has been constructed. The pulse feeding the amplifier chain is the idler wave of an optical parametric oscillator (OPO) tuned to the atomic iodine transition at 1315 nm. This solid-state oscillator enables ps-synchronization to other laser systems. A homemade automatic stabilization of the OPO idler wave as to wavelength and pointing ensures long-term stable operation of the whole system. The active medium of the SOFIA amplifiers is a mixture of C₃F₇I and He. The SOFIA pulses are frequency-tripled in two KD*P crystals and then serve as the driver in a two-stage optical parametric amplification scheme in which chirped broadband Ti:sapphire laser pulses are amplified (OPCPA).     

Efficient generation of tunable subpicosecond pulses in the infrared

A novel parametric generator-amplifier system is discussed which for the first time allows the generation of tunable pulses in the infrared with substantial pulse shortening and with high energy conversion of up to 20%. Starting with an intense laser pulse of a mode-locked Nd: glass laser system of ≈ 8 ps, a signal pulse at ≈ 6500 cm^-1 is produced by a single path parametric generator. This signal pulse is subsequently amplified generating an intense idler pulse in the IR. Varying the time delay between the signal and pump pulse in the amplifier stage, the pulse duration of signal and idler is readily adjusted. The shortest pulses are nearly bandwidth limited of duration 0.5 ps with energy conversion exceeding 5% in the frequency range around 6500 cm^-1.     

基于光纤光参量放大的光脉冲压窄技术的研究

在高重复频率的光窄脉冲源中,为了获得更窄的脉冲,需要增加泵浦功率|但泵浦功率的提高会使光放大器的增益趋于饱和,放大的自发辐射噪音增强,脉冲光信噪比下降.为此,提出了利用啁啾管理和光纤光参量放大相结合的脉冲压窄方案.将强度调制后的泵浦光通过相位调制引入线性负啁啾,由于经参量过程后在新的闲频光上啁啾会加倍,从而进一步增大了信号的谱宽,并通过色散补偿介质实现了光脉冲压缩.实验给出了10 GHz速率下的结果,通过泵浦光的相位调制在0.5 W平均泵浦光功率条件下得到了脉宽19 ps的光脉冲,结果与理论分析基本吻合.     

High-conversion-efficiency and tunable phase-stabilized infrared parametric laser source

High-conversion-efficiency and tunable self-phase-stabilized infrared laser pulses have been generated from a two-stage optical parametric amplifier. With a 1 kHz repetition rate 800 nm pump source, the output idler pulses are tunable from 1.2 to 2.4 μm, and the maximum output average power of the idler pulses is >2 W with the total 7.4 W pump power, and the maximum parametric conversion efficiency in the final optical parametric amplifier is near 60%. Due to the differential frequency process, the output idler pulses is self-phase-stabilized, the phase fluctuation can reach 0.374 rad (rms).     

A 515-nm laser-pumped idler-resonant femtosecond BiB3O6 optical parametric oscillator

We report on an idler-resonant femtosecond optical parametrical oscillator(OPO)based on BiB₃O₆(BiBO)crystal,synchronously pumped by a frequency-doubled,mode-locked Yb:KGW laser at 515 nm.The idler wavelengths of OPO can be tuned from 1100 nm to 1540 nm.At a repetition rate of 75.5 MHz,the OPO generates as much as 400 mW of idler power with 3.1 W of pump power,the corresponding pulse duration is 80 fs,which is 1.04 times of Fourier transform-limited(FTL)pulse duration at 1305 nm.In addition,the OPO exhibits excellent beam quality with M²<1.8 at 1150 nm.To the best of our knowledge,this is the first idler-resonant femtosecond OPO pumped by 515 nm.     

与794nm飞秒激光精确同步的无直流背底的1064nm脉冲光的产生

基于非共线光参量放大(NOPA)，以宽带794nm飞秒激光的倍频光为抽运光，以连续的He-Ne激光为信号光，产生了与宽带794nm飞秒激光精确同步的无直流背底的1064nm的脉冲光.实验结果显示该1064nm的光脉冲可作为光参量啁啾脉冲放大系统的抽运激光链的种子光，从而实现用全光学方法实现OPCPA系统抽运光和信号光的精确同步.还将非共线光参量放大器置于经特殊设计的He-Ne激光腔内，也同样成功得到了无直流背底的1064nm的光脉冲.经一次光参量放大后所得到的1064nm光的光谱和空间啁啾特性与非共线光参量放大器置于He-Ne激光腔外时得到的1064nm的光脉冲相同，而其单脉冲能量约为腔外NOPA的10倍. 关键词： 非线性光参量放大 光参量啁啾脉冲放大 时间同步     

Idler-resonant optical parametric oscillator based on KTiOAsO4

An idler-resonant KTiOAsO₄ (KTA) optical parametric oscillator is demonstrated within a diode-end-pumped acousto-optically Q-switched Nd:YAG laser. With an X-cut KTA crystal, idler wave at 3467 nm and signal wave at 1535 nm are generated. Under an incident diode pump power of 15.4 W, the idler output power of 105 mW and signal power of 720 mW are obtained at a pulse repetition rate of 40 kHz. The pulse widths of the idler and signal waves are 7.2 and 3.1 ns, respectively. The beam quality factors (M²) of the idler wave are within 1.2 in both horizontal and vertical directions.     

Tunable phase-stabilized infrared parametric laser source

This paper reports that the tunable self-phase-stabilized infrared laser pulses have been generated from a two-stage optical parametric amplifier. With an 800 nm pump source, the output idler pulses are tunable from 1.3 μm to 2.3 μm, and the maximum output energy of the idler pulses is higher than 1 mJ at 1.6 μm by using 6 mJ pump laser. A carrier-envelope phase fluctuation of ～ 0.15 rad (rms) for the idler pulses is measured for longer than one hour by using a home build f-to-2f interferometer.     

长脉冲相对论速调管中束流脉冲缩短的研究

介绍L波段长脉冲相对论速调管放大器研究中，长脉冲强流相对论电子束(IREB)经过输入腔和中间腔间隙后的脉冲缩短问题.分析了造成束流脉冲缩短的主要机理之一是高频系统的角向非均匀模式与电子束相互作用而使得束流扩散形成的，并经过实验参数的调节，减轻了长脉冲IREB的脉冲缩短问题，得到了较强的基波调制电流.从长脉冲加速器引出500 kV，3.5 kA，1.3 μs的电子束，经过输入腔和两个群聚腔的调制后，得到了2.0 kA的基波调制电流，束流脉冲宽度由0.3 μs增加到1 μs，束流脉冲缩短问题得到明显减轻. 关键词： 相对论速调管放大器 脉冲缩短 高功率微波 长脉冲强流相对论电子束