Femtosecond parabolic pulse nonlinear compression with gas-filled hollow-core fiber

We study theoretically the spectral intensity evolutions of the femtosecond Gaussian and parabolic pulses with different initial pulse energies and compare the nonlinear compressions of these pulses based on a meter-long hollow-core fiber filled with neon for different initial pulse durations. The pulses are first coupled into gas-filled hollow-core fiber for spectrum broadening, then compressed by the optimal chirp compensation. The parabolic pulse possesses a shorter pulse duration, larger peak power, and cleaner wings than Gaussian pulse. The properties are useful for compressing the pulses and thus generating the high-energy, short-duration pulses.     

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.     

Evolution of optical pulses in the presence of third-order dispersion

We model the propagation of femtosecond pulses through optical fibres by a nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equation involving a perturbing term arising due to third-order dispersion in the medium. The perturbative effect of this higher-order dispersion causes the usual NLS soliton to emit a radiation field. As a result, the given initial pulse propagating through the fibre exhibits nonsolitonic behaviour. We make use of a variational method to demonstrate how an initial pulse by the interaction with the emitted radiation can evolve into a soliton. We also demonstrate that the effect of interaction between the initial pulse and radiation field can be accounted for by including, in the evolution equation, terms associated with self-steepening and stimulated Raman scattering that characterize the optical medium.     

Effect of initial pulse shape modulation on spontaneous soliton formation in the NSE model

An initial pulse with fairly steep fronts whose evolution is described by the nonlinear Schrödinger equation, splits into soliton-like pulses (spontaneous soliton formation). The number of solitons formed in this process can be estimated by the number of spectral points of the associated linear Zakharov-Shabat problem for the initial pulse. Exact solutions of the Zakharov-Shabat problem are constructed for some classes of initial piecewise-continuous pulses by using the Darboux method. This allows us to estimate the effect of the shape of the initial pulse on the number of formed solitions and their parameters.V. V. Kuibyshev State University, Tomsk. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 6, pp. 19–24, June, 1992.     

高非线性光纤产生自相似抛物线脉冲的特性研究

基于脉冲在光纤中传输所满足的非线性薛定谔方程,采用数值计算的方法对脉冲在高非线性光纤中演化成自相似抛物线脉冲的传输特性进行了研究。结果表明,脉冲在不同初始能量和啁啾参量的情况下,高非线性光纤产生自相似抛物线脉冲,且随着归一化长度的增大,脉冲的自相似指数从0.0796减小到0.0720。进一步的研究表明:啁啾高斯脉冲在光纤传输过程中,脉冲逐渐展宽,同时正啁啾越大,其自相似演化结果越差;参数N=8的正负啁啾脉冲分别演化成平顶自相似抛物线脉冲以及三角形脉冲。     

Dynamic spatial replenishment of femtosecond pulses propagating in air

We present numerical simulations of nonlinear pulse propagation in air whereby an initial pulse is formed, absorbed by plasma generation, and subsequently replenished by power from the trailing edge of the pulse. This process can occur more than once for high-power input pulses and produce the illusion of long-distance propagation of one self-guided pulse.     

Generation of few-cycle laser pulses by coherent synthesis based on a femtosecond Yb-doped fiber laser amplification system

We demonstrate a coherent synthesis system based on femtosecond Yb-doped fiber laser technology. The output pulse of the amplification system is divided into two replicas and seeded into photonic crystal fibers of two parallel branches for nonlinear pulse compression. Because of the different nonlinear dynamics in the photonic crystal fibers, the compressed pulses show different spectra, which can be spliced to form a broad coherent spectrum. The integrated timing jitter between the pulses of two branches is less than one tenth of an optical cycle.By coherently synthesizing pulses from these two branches, 8 fs few-cycle pulses are produced.     

Chirp controllable all-optical router in a nonlinear directional coupler

We analyzed the evolution of chirped optical pulses in a nonlinear directional coupler by coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equations. It is shown that an optical pulses launched into one channel can couple out from either of the two channels of the nonlinear directional coupler, with the routing determined by the chirp of the pulse. This is different from the previous routing mechanism of the nonlinear directional coupler where routing is determined by the peak power of the pulse. Based on the chirp-dependent feature, all-optical router and switch could be implemented by the pulse chirp modulation.     

Influence of Polarization and Pulse Shape of Femtosecond Initial Laser Pulses on Spectral Broadening in Microstructure Fibers

We theoretically studied the influence of initial parameters of laser pulses, such as polarization, pulse shape and frequency chirp, on the broadening of spectrum during pulse propagation through microstructure fibers (MSFs). We utilized two coupled-mode equations based on the nonlinear Schrödinger equation using an intermediate-broadening model for a Raman response function, and the dispersion coefficients from 2nd to 7th orders for the slow and fast axes, respectively, of highly birefringent MSFs.     

Carrier-envelope phase dependence of the duration of generated solitons for few-cycle rectangular laser pulses propagation

We investigate the nonlinear propagation of few-cycle rectangular laser pulses on resonant intersubband transitions in semiconductor quantum wells using an iterative predictor–corrector finite-difference time-domain method. An initial 2π rectangular pulse will split into Sommerfeld–Brillouin precursors and a self-induced transparency soliton during the course of propagation. The duration of generated soliton depends on the carrier-envelope phase of the incident pulse. In our case, not only the near-resonant frequency components but also the low frequency components could contribute to the generation of the soliton pulse when the condition of multi-photon resonance is satisfied. The phase-sensitive property of the solitons results from the phase-dependent distribution of high and low frequency sidebands of few-cycle rectangular pulses.     

新型全光纤高能量飞秒光脉冲源的数值模拟

数值模拟了自相似脉冲的产生与压缩,得到一种产生高能量飞秒光脉冲的新方法.结果表明:利用掺铒光纤对光脉冲进行自相似传输,可得到含线性频率啁啾的高能量自相似光脉冲;自相似光脉冲经过空芯光子带隙光纤的一级线性压缩和高非线性光纤的二级非线性压缩,可获得高峰值功率的飞秒光脉冲;压缩过程中存在最佳光纤长度;喇曼自频移和自陡效应对脉冲压缩产生不利影响.     

Effects of initial frequency chirp on the linear propagation characteristics of the exponential optical pulse

In this paper, the linear propagation characteristics of the exponential optical pulse with initial linear and nonlinear frequency chirp are numerically studied in a single mode fibre for \be₂<0. It can be found that the temporal full width at half maximum and time-bandwidth product of exponential pulse monotonically increase with the increase of propagation distance and decrease with the increase of linear chirp C for C<0.5, go through an initial decreasing stage near \zeta=1, then increase with the increase of propagation distance and linear chirp C for C\geq0.5. The broadening of pulses with negative chirp is faster than that with positive chirp. The exponential pulse with linear chirp gradually evolves into a near-Gaussian pulse. The effect of nonlinear chirp on waveform of the pulse is much greater than that of linear chirp. The temporal waveform breaking of exponential pulse with nonlinear chirp is first observed in linear propagation. Furthermore, the expressions of the spectral width and time-bandwidth product of the exponential optical pulse with the frequency chirp are given by use of the numerical analysis method.     

Modeling the terahertz radiation generation process,obtained by filtration of spectral supercontinuum,formed during propagation of femtosecond laser pulse in GaAs crystal

We present the results of theoretical studies of the process of generation of terahertz radiation arising via interaction of few-cycle laser pulses propagating in an isotropic nonlinear medium. Numerical time-integration, by the finite-difference method, of the system of nonlinear Maxwell equations has been performed. We consider the interaction of mutually-orthogonal linearly polarized pulses, both having the central wavelength of 1.98 μm, durations of 30 fs, and the energies of 30 nJ, propagating along the normal to the 〈110〉 plane in a 1 mm-thickness GaAs crystal. In the nonlinear part of the medium polarization the without-inertia nonlinear second-order susceptibility is taken into account. The process of formation of a terahertz pulse arising via spectral filtration of supercontinuum formed in the spectra of pump pulses at the output of nonlinear crystal is studied. The dependences of both the current frequency of the pump pulses on time for different lengths of nonlinear crystal and of pump pulse durations on the crystal length are obtained. Also the dependences of the current frequency of the terahertz pulse on time at different crystal lengths, as well as of the efficiency of generation of terahertz radiation on the length of nonlinear crystal and on the energy of pump pulses are obtained.     

Controlled supercontinuum generation for optimal pulse compression: a time-warp analysis of nonlinear propagation of ultra-broad-band pulses

We describe the virtues of the pump–probe approach for controlled supercontinuum generation in nonlinear media, using the example of pulse compression by cross-phase modulation in dielectrics. Optimization of a strong (pump) pulse and a weak (probe) pulse at the input into the medium opens the route to effective control of the supercontinuum phases at the output. We present an approximate semi-analytical approach which describes nonlinear transformation of the input pulse into the output pulse. It shows how the input and the output chirps are connected via a time-warp transformation which is almost independent of the shape of the probe pulse. We then show how this transformation can be used to optimize the supercontinuum generation to produce nearly single-cycle pulses tunable from mid-infrared to ultraviolet. PACS 42.65.Re; 42.65.Ky     

Femtosecond soliton generation induced by intrapulse stimulated Raman scattering in optical fibers

ＦｅｍｔｏｓｅｃｏｎｄｓｏｌｉｔｏｎｇｅｎｅｒａｔｉｏｎｉｎｄｕｃｅｄｂｙｉｎｔｒａｐｕｌｓｅｓｔｉｍｕｌａｔｅｄＲａｍａｎｓｃａｔｔｅｒｉｎｇｉｎｏｐｔｉｃａｌｆｉｂｅｒｓＣＡＯＷｅｎｈｕａ；ＬＩＡＯＣｈａｎｇｊｕｎ；ＧＵＯＱｉ；ＺＨＡＮＧＹｏｕ；...     

Comparison of Solutions of the General Nonlinear Amplitude Equation and a Modified Schrӧdinger Equation

We review the dynamics of narrow and broad-band optical pulses in nonlinear dispersive media. A major problem that arises during the development of theoretical models, which describe accurately and correctly the behavior of these pulses, is the limited application of the nonlinear Schr?dinger equation. It describes very well the evolution of nanosecond and picosecond laser pulses. However, when we investigate the propagation of femtosecond and attosecond light pulses, it is necessary to use the more general nonlinear amplitude equation. We show that in this equation two additional terms are included and they have a significant impact on the phase of the pulse. We perform numerical simulations and show the temporal shift of the position of fundamental solitons. This effect depends on the initial duration of the laser pulses. To clarify the influence of the additional terms on the parameters of the optical pulses, we consider the nonlinear amplitude equation, which is a modified nonlinear Schr?dinger equation.     

Dynamics and interaction of pulses in the modified Manakov model

The two-component vector nonlinear Schrödinger equation, with mixed signs of the nonlinear coefficients, is considered. This equation is integrable by the inverse scattering transform method. The evolution of a single pulse and interaction of pulses are studied. It is shown that the dynamics of a single pulse is reduced to the scalar nonlinear Schrödinger equation of focusing or defocusing type, depending on the initial parameters. It is found that the interaction of pulses results in the appearance of additional solitons and bound states of several solitons. The asymptotic field profile in the non-soliton regime is also obtained.     

Chirped pulse amplification in single mode Tm:fiber using a chirped Bragg grating

We report femtosecond pulse generation and chirped pulse amplification in Tm:fiber. A mode-locked oscillator operating in the soliton regime produced 800 fs pulses with 5 nm spectral bandwidth, at 40 pJ pulse energy. This oscillator seeded a pre-amplifier that utilizes a Raman soliton self-frequency shift to produce wavelength tunable pulses with 3 nJ energy, reduced pulse duration of 150 fs, and increased bandwidth of 30 nm. For further amplification, the pulses were stretched up to 160 ps using a chirped Bragg grating (CBG). Stretched pulses were amplified to 85 nJ after compression in single-mode Tm:fiber and recompressed with the CBG as short as 400 fs. Compressed pulses were coupled into a highly nonlinear tellurite fiber to investigate the potential of this ultrashort pulse 2-μm fiber source as a pump for mid-IR supercontinuum generation.     

利用非线性脉冲预整形实现脉冲快速自相似放大

报道了一种通过预先对信号光脉冲非线性整形, 进而在光纤放大器中实现自相似演化的方法. 利用透射光栅对和普通单模光纤组成被动脉冲整形装置, 预先优化脉冲的时域宽度和光谱质量, 使脉冲在光纤放大器中快速演化到自相似子. 研究中首先通过数值模拟对比, 说明了非线性整形对脉冲实现快速自相似放大的关键作用, 提高了放大器输出脉冲质量, 减小了去啁啾脉冲宽度. 实验中, 通过优化非线性整形输出, 在2.2 m 长的掺Yb³⁺光纤中, 在一定抽运功率范围内均实现了脉冲自相似放大, 去啁啾后得到脉冲宽度60 fs 的变换极限脉冲输出. 这种非线性脉冲预整形方法有效减小了 自相似演化所需光纤长度, 同时降低了自相似放大对种子源质量的要求, 首次将全正色散光纤锁模激光器成功用于自相似放大, 促进了当前自相似放大系统的全光纤化. 关键词： 非线性整形 光纤放大器 自相似放大 飞秒激光     

Determination of temporal correlation of ultrafast laser pulses using phase conjugation

A new time domain single shot conjugation autocorrelator is described. Three beams derived from the same initial laser pulse interact in a nonlinear medium to produce a backward signal wave in a 90° phase conjugate geometry. The pulse duration is determined from the spatial width of the phase conjugate beam emerging from the interaction region. Pulse duration measurements of pulses selected from a YAG laser train show that shorter pulses are generated toward the tail of the pulse train.