Demonstration of high conversion efficiency to second harmonic in a wide tuning range

This article discusses the second-harmonic generation (SHG) of tightly focused fs laser pulses in a BBO crystal. It was found theoretically and demonstrated experimentally that the spatial walk-off (SWO) and group-velocity dispersion (GVD) effects can suppress the pulse distortion and gain depression of SHG due to group-velocity mismatch (GVMM), thus keeping a reasonable pulse waveform and conversion efficiency simultaneously in a relatively wide tuning range. Using this approach, the SHG efficiency of a 2 mm long BBO crystal in a reflecting focusing geometry was enhanced significantly.     

Femtosecond laser ablation of polypropylene for breathable film

A polypropylene (PP) film was ablated using a femtosecond laser with a center wavelength of 785 nm, a pulse width of 184 fs and a repetition rate of 1 kHz. Increments of both the pulse energy and the shot number of pulses lead to co-occurrence of photochemical and thermal effect, demonstrated by the spatial expansion of rim on the surface of PP. The shapes of the laser-ablated PP films were imaged by a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and measured by a 3D optical measurement system (NanoFocus). And, the gas and water vapor transmission rate, mechanical properties of PP film micropatterned by fs laser pulses was characterized. Our results demonstrate that a femtosecond pulsed laser is an efficient tool for breathable packaging films in modifying the flow of air and gas, where the micropatterns are specifically tailored in size, location and number of which is easily controlled by laser processing conditions.     

Ultrasensitive second-harmonic generation frequency-resolved optical gating by aperiodically poled LiNbO3 waveguides at 1.5 microm

We retrieve intensity and phase profiles of 280 fs, 50 MHz optical pulses with 124 aJ coupled pulse energy (960 photons) by second-harmonic generation (SHG) frequency-resolved optical gating, using aperiodically poled LiNbO3 waveguides. The strong nonlinear interaction that is due to confinement within the micrometer-sized waveguide structure and the linearly chirped poling period contribute, respectively, to high SHG efficiency and broad phase-matching bandwidth. The achieved sensitivity is 2.7 x 10(-6) mW2, improving on the previous record for self-referenced complete pulse characterization by 5 orders of magnitude.     

Wave-coupling theory of linear electro-optic effect for ultrashort laser pulses

A wave-coupling theory of linear electro-optic (EO) effect for ultrashort laser pulses has been developed. As one of its applications, the linear EO effect of ultrashort Gaussian pulses propagating in LiNbO₃ crystal is demonstrated, with the intensity lower than the damage threshold. It is found that the EO effect is sensitive to both the azimuth angle and the polar angle of wave vector of light. And the larger the applied electric field, the shorter the crystal used for optimization of EO coupling is. The numerical results show that, with the duration of input pulse changing from 150 fs to 5 fs, the durations of output pulses are broadened due to the group-velocity dispersion, as well as the first- and second-order refractive dispersion. In addition, when input pulse duration is larger than 20 fs, in contrast with zero chirp, the output durations can be slightly compressed if a positive chirp input pulse is used. The validities of slowly varying amplitude approximation and continuous wave approximation are also discussed. The influence of self-phase modulation and cross-phase modulation on the EO effect is also discussed briefly.     

Optical wave breaking of high-intensity femtosecond pulses in silicon optical waveguides

We have investigated numerically the propagation of high-intensity femtosecond optical pulses with pulsewidth of 100 fs (half width at 1/e maximum) on the silicon-on-insulator (SOI) optical waveguide when the central wavelength of the pulse locates in the normal dispersion region. Results show that the combined effects of group-velocity dispersion (GVD), third-order dispersion (TOD), self-phase modulation (SPM), and free-carrier dispersion (FCD) can lead to the phenomenon of optical wave breaking that manifests as an asymmetric profile and oscillation near the trailing edge of the pulse. Moreover, the optical wave breaking will be experienced from generation to disappearance during propagation.     

Two-color pulse compression in aperiodically-poled lithium niobate

We experimentally demonstrate engineerable compression of two-colored pulses in a linearly-chirped quasi-phase-matching grating. Quadratic solitons generated from fundamental input are reshaped through cascaded parametric processes of second-harmonic generation (SHG) and the back-conversion. We use type-I (e: o + o) SHG geometry in a 50-mm-long aperiodically-poled MgO:LiNbO₃ device to satisfy the group-velocity matching condition. Simultaneously compressed fundamental and SH pulses of about 55-fs duration with small pedestal are generated from the fundamental input pulses of 95-fs duration.     

Tunable femtosecond near-infrared source based on a Yb:LYSO-laser-pumped optical parametric oscillator

We demonstrate a widely tunable near-infrared source from 767 nm to 874 nm generated by the intracavity second harmonic generation(SHG) in an optical parametric oscillator pumped by a Yb:LYSO solid-state laser. The home-made Yb:LYSO oscillator centered at 1035 nm delivers an average power of 2 W and a pulse duration as short as 351 fs. Two Mg O doped periodically poled lithium niobates(Mg O:PPLN) with grating periods of 28.5–31.5 μm in steps of 0.5 μm and19.5–21.3 μm in steps of 0.2 μm are used for the OPO and intracavity SHG, respectively. The maximum average output power of 180 m W at 798 nm was obtained and the output pulses have pulse duration of 313 fs at 792 nm if a sech2-pulse shape was assumed. In addition, tunable signal femtosecond pulses from 1428 nm to 1763 nm are also realized with the maximum average power of 355 m W at 1628 nm.     

基频倍频光群速度对超短脉冲三倍频的影响分析

在超短脉冲的谐波转换过程中, 由于不同波包之间的群速度失配的存在, 非线性晶体的有效厚度、转换效率及带宽等将相互制约, 不能获得理想结果。基于耦合波方程, 在平面波和小信号近似条件下推导出了关于基频、倍频光群速度关系的解析表达式。通过对200 fs超短脉冲在II类KDP晶体中的混频过程的模拟分析, 发现在满足相位匹配的前提下, 三次谐波转换效率随着基频、倍频光群速度倒数的差值的平方呈现出指数衰减的关系, 与理论结果吻合。得出的关于基频光、倍频光群速度的表达式, 作为三倍频群速度匹配关系式的必要补充, 对寻找合适的色散晶体和选择有效的匹配措施, 实现宽带三次谐波转换具有理论指导意义。     

Tunable visible and near-infrared pulse generator in a 5 fs regime

Transform-limited (TL) visible pulses with as short a duration as 4.7 fs with a 5 7J pulse energy have been generated for the first time from a novel noncollinear optical parametric amplifier (NOPA). Both signal-idler group-velocity matching and pulse-front matching are essential to generate coherent down-converted pulses compressible to the TL pulse with more than a 150-THz bandwidth. Tunable operation with bandwidth-limited sub-10-fs pulses in the visible (550-700 nm) and near-infrared (900-1300 nm) ranges, achieved by increasing the seed chirp, is also a remarkable property. The NOPA is believed to be on useful light source for ultrafast spectroscopy on an extremely short time-scale.     

Generation of tunable 7-fs ultraviolet pulses: achromatic phase matching and chirp management

Ultraviolet pulses with a duration of 7 fs are efficiently generated by frequency doubling the output of a noncollinear optical parametric amplifier. The ultraviolet pulses are tunable between 275 to 335 nm. The acceptance bandwidth of the doubling crystal is increased by a factor of 80 through high-order achromatic phase matching. The chirp of the visible pulses and the dispersion introduced along the beam path are compensated partially before and partially after the doubling crystal. For the design of the dispersion management, we investigate the second harmonic generation of pulses with mixed orders of chirp and explicitly discuss the transfer of the spectral phase in frequency doubling. A simple analytic theory is derived that correctly describes frequently observed spectral narrowing effects. We find that chirped SHG avoids spectral narrowing and allows for precompression of dispersion encountered in the ultraviolet beam path. We apply chirped SHG to generate 18.7 fs ultraviolet pulses in an extremely simple setup. PACS 42.65.Re; 42.65.Ky; 42.65.Yj     

Group-velocity control by quadratic nonlinear interactions

We give direct experimental evidence that the group velocity of ultrashort pulses can be controlled through chi(2)-cascaded interactions, under the condition of large group-velocity mismatch. The group velocity can be finely tuned by acting on pulse intensity and phase mismatch. Group-delay shifts up to 50 fs are achieved by propagating 40 fs pulses around 1400 nm in a 25 mm long periodically poled stoichiometric lithium tantalate crystal.     

Generation of Broadband Near-Infrared (2–2.5 μm) Radiation from an Optical Parametric Amplifier Driven by a Cr:Forsterite Laser Near Dispersion Anomalies of Tuning Curves

Pulses with a spectral width of 450 nm at a wavelength of 2.2 μm are generated in a parametric amplifier based on a type-I BBO crystal pumped by the second harmonic (620 nm) of a Cr:forsterite laser. Such a broadband radiation is obtained in a specific regime of the group velocity matching near the vertical region of the tuning curve. The generated pulses can be compressed to a duration of about 2.5 optical cycles (34 fs) in a medium with positive group-velocity dispersion.     

受激喇曼散射对自相似脉冲产生的影响

研究了在受激喇曼散射与三阶色散共同作用下,自相似脉冲在具有正常色散的色散渐减光纤中的演化情况.结果表明:在同一个传输距离上,当考虑受激喇曼散射与三阶色散的共同影响时,脉冲中心的不对称特性相对好转;产生中心漂移与边缘振荡较只有三阶色散作用时要减弱,啁啾仍然具有很强的线性特性,但是线性范围减小,导致频谱的窄化以及对接下来自相似脉冲的压缩产生了不利影响;而且光纤长度的延长并没有起到展宽啁啾线性范围的效果,反而导致严重的啁啾非线性;因此对脉冲进行压缩后,压缩脉冲质量较不考虑受激喇曼散射时要差.     

基于频域相位共轭技术的交叉相位调制所致失真的复原

理论分析和讨论了基于频域相位共轭技术的交叉相位调制所致信号失真的复原和补偿机理，数值模拟了在交叉相位调制作用下，高斯脉冲在中距相位共轭光纤系统中的传输演化过程.结果表明，频域相位共轭技术能够抑制交叉相位调制对光纤系统中传输信号的损害，复原其所导致的信号失真，并能够同步补偿群速度色散和自相位调制非线性效应所导致的信号失真.合适的初始脉冲时延和初始脉冲啁啾有利于频域相位共轭技术对交叉相位调制所致信号失真的抑制. 关键词： 频域相位共轭 交叉相位调制 色散 自相位调制     

Distortion of parabolic pulse due to higher-order effects in a dispersion-decreasing fiber

Considering Third-order Dispersion (TOD) and Stimulated Raman Scattering effect (SRS) simultaneously, the properties of the self-similar parabolic pulse evolution in a dispersion-decreasing optical fiber with normal group-velocity dispersion are firstly investigated in our paper. Our results show that parabolic pulses are distorted and the characteristic of exactly self-similarity will be lost due to the High-order effects. When only the TOD is taken into account, the chirp still reveals highly linear but glows into asymmetric which causes the waveform appearing optical wave breaking. When only considering SRS, the pulse still reveals highly linear chirp only linearity range narrow down, resulting in delaying the self-similar evolution. When considering SRS and TOD simultaneously, parabolic pulses are distorted less and the characteristic of exactly self-similarity will be better due to SRS effect than only considering TOD effect. The highly linear chirp in optical pulse still allows for efficient and high-quality pulse compression by use of dispersion compensation technique.     

Ultrafast optical power limiting in free-standing Pt–polyvinyl alcohol nanocomposite films synthesized in situ

Free-standing platinum–polyvinyl alcohol nanocomposite films have been prepared by a simple in situ method. By thermal annealing, Pt nanoparticles of different sizes and shapes have been obtained. Their optical nonlinearity is measured using ultrafast (100 fs) laser pulses at 404 nm, in the absorption wing region. A strong optical power limiting is found in the films. The timescale of this limiting action is ultrafast, as it happens within the incident laser pulsewidth. Experimental results and numerical simulation indicate that the sign of the nonlinearity can be controlled by varying the film composition and annealing temperature. Use of ultrashort laser pulses in the free-standing film configuration permits a direct and unambiguous determination of the electronic nonlinearity of the material, since accumulative effects occur at later times lying outside the sharp measurement window.     

Probing nonequilibrium dynamics with white-light femtosecond pulses

Femtosecond pulsed lasers have become an invaluable tool for examining ultrafast nonequilibrium dynamics. With pulsewidths of a few hundred femtoseconds (fs) to less than 10 fs, these lasers can clearly provide unprecedented temporal resolution. By amplifying ultrashort laser pulses to sufficient levels of energy per pulse, it is possible to exploit the nonlinear optical properties of certain materials to generate extremely broadband pulses. These pulses retain the time structure of the incident pulse, but contain a spectral bandwidth extending from the infrared to as far as the ultraviolet. By generating white-light pulses, it becomes possible to probe ultrafast nonlinear processes over a large range of energies. In this paper, the process of generating white-light ultrashort pulses will be presented, along with a discussion of different probing techniques and procedures necessary for modeling the transient optical data. Finally, results from pump-probe measurements using a white-light probe on indium phosphide (InP) films will be presented as a demonstration of this technique.     

Sensing and compensation of femtosecond waveform distortion induced by all-order polarization mode dispersion at selected polarization states

We demonstrate full characterization of femtosecond pulse distortion induced by all-order polarization mode dispersion (PMD) at selected polarization states via second-harmonic generation (SHG) frequency-resolved optical gating (FROG) measurements at an average power of under 28 nW. By applying the inverse of the measured spectral phase via a programmable pulse shaper, we compress the distorted pulses from more than 3 ps to nearly bandwidth-limited durations of less than 500 fs. Our results show that SHG FROG measurements performed by using fiber-pigtailed aperiodically poled lithium niobate waveguides can serve as a robust and sensitive tool for characterization of PMD-induced spectral phase.     

频率啁啾光脉冲在行波半导体激光放大器中的传播特性

本文就行波半导体激光放大器(TW-SLA)中载流子引起的群速度色散对激光脉冲传播特性的影响作了理论研究.由于载流子引起的群速度色散效应,使远离饱和区工作的TW-SLA会对有频率啁啾的光脉冲产生展宽或压缩.本文就TW-SLA参数、频率啁啾参数跟脉冲增宽因子的关系作了理论研究.结果表明,线性的TW-SLA具有对低能量光脉冲压缩的可能性.因此,在光学通信系统中,它可用作对光纤损耗及色散的补偿元件.     

Broadly wavelength- and pulse width-tunable high-repetition rate light pulses from soliton self-frequency shifting photonic crystal fiber integrated with a frequency doubling crystal

Soliton self-frequency shift (SSFS) in a photonic crystal fiber (PCF) pumped by a long-cavity mode-locked Cr:forsterite laser is integrated with second harmonic generation (SHG) in a nonlinear crystal to generate ultrashort light pulses tunable within the range of wavelengths from 680 to 1800?nm at a repetition rate of 20?MHz. The pulse width of the second harmonic output is tuned from 70 to 600?fs by varying the thickness of the nonlinear crystal, beam-focusing geometry, and the wavelength of the soliton PCF output. Wavelength-tunable pulses generated through a combination of SSFS and SHG are ideally suited for coherent Raman microspectroscopy at high repetition rates, as verified by experiments on synthetic diamond and polystyrene films.