Evolution of pulse shortening research in narrow band, high powermicrowave sources

The achievements resulting from the application of advanced pulsed power to the generation of high power microwaves (HPM) have included the generation of multi-gigawatt pulses of RF energy. The power achievable is orders of magnitude greater than conventional microwave sources can generate. However, the introduction of the HPM technology into logical applications has been limited to date due to the phenomenon of pulse shortening in which the RF pulse terminates before the pulse power source used to produce it. Conventional microwave tubes can generate a few to 10 MW of power with pulsewidths of many microseconds when required. High power microwave sources can produce gigawatts of power, but only for relatively short pulsewidths, typically tens to hundreds of nanoseconds. An international effort during the past few years has generated important new discoveries toward the elimination of pulse shortening. Some of the new techniques have the potential for helping the conventional tube industry as well as being practical for high power microwave sources. This paper reviews the pulse shortening problem, its causes, and the worldwide scope and direction of research conducted to date to resolve it. The paper also discusses the potential remedies for the problem and recommends a course of research to further progress on the issue     

Solitonlike pulse shortening in a femtosecond parametric amplifier

We demonstrate numerically that simultaneous second-harmonic generation and moderate group-velocity mismatch can lead to spontaneous nonlinear shortening during parametric amplification. As an experimental proof we present the results of twofold self-compression of signal pulses in a beta-barium borate parametric amplifier pumped by either 40- or 80-fs pulses from a Ti:sapphire laser.     

Dynamic gain induced pulse shortening in Q-switched lasers

We describe a novel mechanism of pulse shortening in a Q-switched laser induced by the gain compression effect under strong pumping conditions. The pulse shortening requires a large variation of the gain excursion during the saturation process and benefits from the large volume of the gain medium. The effect has been experimentally demonstrated using a passive Q-switched Tm/Ho-doped fiber laser that shows gain-induced pulse compression from 800 ns down to 160 ns when the pump threshold is exceeded by 15 times.     

Microwave pulse shortening in plasma relativistic high-current microwave electronics

We describe mechanisms of microwave pulse shortening in radiation sources with the power of about 10⁸ W based on interaction between relativistic electron beams of nanosecond duration and preformed plasma. The shortening is mainly due to the electron return flow through the plasma, which leads to a multiple decrease in the linear gain of the microwave by the relativistic electron beam and in the reflection coefficient of the plasma wave that provides the generator feedback. The ways to eliminate the effect of microwave pulse shortening are proposed.     

Mechanism of radiation pulse shortening in plasma relativistic microwave generator

The causes of emission quenching in the plasma relativistic microwave generator are studied by numerical calculations using the particle-in-cell method. The process mechanism in which the plasma boundary moves from the coaxial collector edge with a velocity above 10⁷ cm/s is found. An electron flux with an energy of ～10⁵ eV and a current of ～10³ A is generated from the collector in the formed gap, which heats plasma and increases its potential. Microwave generation stops due to a multiple decrease in the wave reflectance from the collector. The use of the hollow collector is presumably a method for preventing microwave generation quenching.     

Dye laser pulse shortening and stabilization by Q-switching

The properties of passive Q-switched short-cavity dye lasers (SCDL) and passive Q-switched distributed-feedback dye lasers (DFDL) are investigated theoretically by using rate-equation models. The calculations, in agreement with experimental results, predict a significant decrease of the pulse energy fluctuation and the pulse duration of both the SCDL and DFDL, when passive Q-switching is used.     

Highly efficient nonlinear filter for femtosecond pulse contrast enhancement and pulse shortening

We propose a highly efficient scheme for temporal filters devoted to femtosecond pulse contrast enhancement. The filter is based on cross-polarized wave generation with a spatially suger-Gaussian-shaped beam. In a single nonlinear crystal scheme the energy conversion to the cross-polarized pulse can reach 28%. We demonstrate that the process enables a significant spectral broadening. For an efficiency of 23% the pulse shortening is estimated to 2.2, leading to an intensity transmission of the nonlinear filter of 50%.     

Picosecond pulse shortening by travelling wave amplified spontaneous emission

A new scheme for travelling-wave excitation of amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) employing transversal pumping is presented. ASE pulses emitted in the forward direction had a duration of 6 ps, corresponding to one half of the pump pulse duration. The spectrum was strongly structured, with individual components having a width of 0.1–1.0 Å. Essential characteristics of longitudinal and transversal excitation of travelling wave ASE are compared.     

Conversion efficiency and pulse shortening of a frequency-tripled,sub-nanosecond, 1.064 μm pulse

Single pulses from a mode-locked Nd laser are frequency tripled in a cascade process to provide a 3547 Å probe for holographic interferometry of laser-produced plasmas. Overall energy conversion in excess of 30% and directly measured pulse shortening of 24% are reported for KDP crystals with an incident intensity of 10⁹ W/cm².     

Pulse shortening causes in high power BWO and TWT microwave sources

Pulse shortening, an effect where the microwave output power from a high-power tube terminates or significantly degrades well before the end of the electron beam pulse, severely limits the energy per pulse and average power capability of many high power microwave (HPM) sources. The cause of pulse shortening varies from device to device, and different causes can simultaneously contribute to the observed power reduction behavior which tends to obscure the underlying mechanisms and possible solutions. In this paper, we show a variety of experimental situations that lead to pulse shortening in HPM sources. The mechanisms of the different pulse shortening triggers are examined in detail in high-vacuum traveling wave tubes (TWT) and plasma-filled backward-wave oscillators (BWO). We find that there are many different causes of pulse shortening such as arcing, mode competition, beam instability, etc. However, the most commonly observed situation that leads to pulse shortening is the combination of sufficiently high power electron beams and poor vacuum conditions that lead to plasma generation. The presence of plasma significantly modifies the beam coupling to the circuit, which can affect the microwave production efficiency on very short time scales. The situations lending to pulse shortening and possible solutions are presented     

Compact eye-safe intracavity optical parametric oscillator with efficient pulse shortening

We report a compact eye-safe intracavity optical parametric oscillator (IOPO), driven by a diode end-pumped passively Q-switched Nd:YVO₄/Cr: YAG laser. At the incident diode pump power of 6.2 W and signal pulse repetition rate of 13 kHz, we obtain a minimum signal pulse duration as short as 1.3 ns, holding a pulse compressing factor of 17 with respect to that of the pump, and exhibiting an efficient pulse shortening mechanism. At the same time, the maximum average power of 110 mW and pulse energy of 8.5 μJ for the signal wave are also achieved. In addition, cavity dumping characteristics and the correlation dynamics between the laser and the OPO are qualitatively analyzed.     

Generation of high peak power excimer laser radiation by pulse shortening

Techniques for shortening the pulses of a commercial oscillator-amplifier excimer laser have been investigated. By a combination of a H₂-Raman cell and a saturable absorber dye jet the oscillator pulses are shortened from about 25 ns to typically 1.5 ns. Upon amplification pulses around 3.5 ns with peak powers of more than 100 MW for KrF (248 nm) and 25 MW for XeCl (308 nm) are obtained.     

The concept of long pulse neutron sources

Acta Physica Hungarica A) Heavy Ion Physics - The first nuclear reactor with substantial power was conceived in the framework of the Manhattan project by a team led by Eugene P. Wigner, the...     

Scenario for output pulse shortening in microwave generators drivenby relativistic electron beams

At the present time, microwave generators driven by high current relativistic electron beams are not baked and sealed, so their inner surfaces are densely covered with molecules of gas and oil. This allows the production of microwave pulses of 10^-8 s to 10^-7 s duration, but not longer. A microwave pulse termination scenario is speculated as follows: (1) Electrons oscillating in the strong RF field near the metallic surfaces multiply owing to the secondary emission (the multipactor effect); (2) the multipactor electron bombardment stimulates desorption of gas molecules from the metallic surfaces; (3) the gas undergoes avalanche RF breakdown; and (4) the resultant plasma stops microwave generation and, since electron-ion recombination is slow, does not allow the RF field to revive. At the gigawatt power level, the characteristic time of such a scenario is much shorter than that of the cathode and collector plasma expansion and electron beam instabilities. The energy output parameters of relativistic electron microwave generators can be (and usually are) improved at high pulse repetition rates. A more radical improvement is possible using the technology typical for high vacuum tubes, i.e., baking and sealing     

全固态高稳定度纳秒脉冲源的相干合成技术

单个子源的稳定度指标是多源相干合成技术的关键。文章首先对脉冲源稳定度指标进行了定义,并指出全固态纳秒脉冲源具有较高的稳定度指标,在相干合成中具有潜在优势。对脉冲时基抖动、波形抖动机理进行了深入分析,给出了高稳定度子源设计的关键技术途径,采用过触发、欠容量等具体改善方案,有效提高了子源的时基稳定度和波形稳定度,单个子源脉宽抖动小于等于1%,峰值抖动小于等于1%,单次短时抖动小于等于20 ps,长时漂移小于等于100 ps/min。最终成功实现了256单元的16×16路电路-空间综合合成,研制出30 MW全固态高稳定度多路相干合成纳秒脉冲源,脉冲源16路输出端口最大时基离散度小于30 ps,合成峰值电压抖动小于1%,合成峰值电压效率可达到90%~95%。     

全固态高稳定度纳秒脉冲源的相干合成技术

 单个子源的稳定度指标是多源相干合成技术的关键。文章首先对脉冲源稳定度指标进行了定义,并指出全固态纳秒脉冲源具有较高的稳定度指标,在相干合成中具有潜在优势。对脉冲时基抖动、波形抖动机理进行了深入分析,给出了高稳定度子源设计的关键技术途径,采用过触发、欠容量等具体改善方案,有效提高了子源的时基稳定度和波形稳定度,单个子源脉宽抖动小于等于1%,峰值抖动小于等于1%,单次短时抖动小于等于20 ps,长时漂移小于等于100 ps/min。最终成功实现了256单元的16×16路电路-空间综合合成,研制出30 MW全固态高稳定度多路相干合成纳秒脉冲源,脉冲源16路输出端口最大时基离散度小于30 ps,合成峰值电压抖动小于1%,合成峰值电压效率可达到90%~95%。     

General entanglement scaling laws from time evolution

We establish a general scaling law for the entanglement of a large class of ground states and dynamically evolving states of quantum spin chains: we show that the geometric entropy of a distinguished block saturates, and hence follows an entanglement-boundary law. These results apply to any ground state of a gapped model resulting from dynamics generated by a local Hamiltonian, as well as, dually, to states that are generated via a sudden quench of an interaction as recently studied in the case of dynamics of quantum phase transitions. We achieve these results by exploiting ideas from quantum information theory and tools provided by Lieb-Robinson bounds. We also show that there exist noncritical fermionic systems and equivalent spin chains with rapidly decaying interactions violating this entanglement-boundary law. Implications for the classical simulatability are outlined.     

高功率微波器件中脉冲缩短现象的粒子模拟

脉冲缩短是高功率微波器件的一个普遍现象，它阻碍了输出微波能量的进一步提高，是高功率微波研究领域中急待解决的问题.以相对论返波管作为研究对象，运用粒子模拟的方法，研究了器件表面的爆炸发射、电子束电压和电流的脉动对输出微波性能的影响，从中得到了一些有益的结论，指出由强电场引起的慢波系统表面的爆炸发射是产生脉冲缩短的重要因素 ，电子束电流和束电压的脉动也会引起脉冲缩短，并提出了相应的克服方法. 关键词： 高功率微波器件 相对论返波管 脉冲缩短 粒子模拟     

Property improvement of pulsed laser deposited boron carbide films by pulse shortening

Growth characteristics and surface morphology of boron carbide films fabricated by ablating a B₄C target in high vacuum with a traditional KrF excimer laser and a high brightness hybrid dye/excimer laser system emitting at the same wavelength while delivering 700 fs pulses are compared. The ultrashort pulse processing is highly effective. Energy densities between 0.25 and 2 J cm⁻² result in apparent growth rates ranging from 0.017 to 0.085 nm/pulse. Ablation with nanosecond pulses of one order of magnitude higher energy densities yields smaller growth rates, the figures increase from 0.002 to 0.016 nm/pulse within the 2-14.3 J cm⁻² fluence window. 2D thickness maps derived from variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry reveal that, when ablating with sub-ps pulses, the spot size rather than the energy density determines both the deposition rate and the angular distribution of film material. Pulse shortening leads to significant improvement in surface morphology, as well. While droplets with number densities ranging from 1 × 10⁴ to 7 × 10⁴ mm⁻² deteriorate the surface of the films deposited by the KrF excimer laser, sub-ps pulses produce practically droplet-free films. The absence of droplets has also a beneficial effect on the stoichiometry and homogeneity of the films fabricated by ultrashort pulses.     

Dye-laser pulse shortening by transient absorption following excited-state intramolecular proton transfer

Molecules undergoing excited-state intramolecular proton transfer often show transient absorption after pulsed optical excitation, due to the tautomeric form in the singlet ground state. This absorption may be used to suppress, after a short time, the laser action of dyes emitting in the transient absorption band. The method is designed for high photochemical stability. Lasing from PBBO, pumped 10 times above threshold by an excimer pumped PTP dye laser, was suppressed after 3.3ns by the addition of 2-(2-hydroxyphenyl)-benzoxazole, which absorbed 30% of the pump energy. At higher concentrations, intense and stable 80ps PBBO laser pulses were obtained. The pulse evolution is simulated by model calculations. A hypothetical super-dye, consisting of chemically linked laser- and absorber-moities, is also discussed. Here Förster energy transfer should result in particularly efficient laser pulse shortening.