Third-order nonlinear optical response in transparent solids using ultrashort laser pulses

The third-order optical nonlinearity, χ ⁽³⁾, is measured in transparent glasses (BK7 and fused silica) and crystals (BaF₂ and quartz) using 36-fs, 800-nm laser pulses and the optical Kerr gate (OKE) technique; values are found to lie in the range 1.3–1.7×10^-14 esu, in accordance with theoretical estimates. We probe the purely electronic response to the incident ultrashort laser pulse in fused silica and BK7 glass. In BaF₂ and quartz, apart from the electronic response we also observe contribution from the nuclear response to the incident ultrashort pulses. We observe oscillatory modulations that persist for ～400 fs. The response of the media (glasses and crystals) to ultrashort pulses is also measured using two-beam self-diffraction; the diffraction efficiency in the first-order grating is measured to be in the range of 0.06–0.13 %. Third harmonic generation due to self-phase matching in the transient grating geometry is measured as a function of temporal delay between the two incident ultrashort pulses, yielding the autocorrelation signal.     

Influence of Self-Diffraction Effect on Femtosecond Time-Resolved Single-Shot Optical Kerr Measurements

Femtosecond time-resolved single-shot optical Kerr gating(OKG) measurements are performed by focusing the probe pulse and using a cylindrical lens to introduce a spatially encoded time delay with respect to the pump pulse.By measuring the pump power and polarization dependence of the OKG signals in CS_2,the contribution of self-diffraction effect which is independent of the nonlinear response time of the material is directly observed on the rising edge of the time-resolved OKG signals.The influence of the self-diffraction effect on the optical Kerr signal could be controlled effectively by varying the polarization angle between pump and probe pulses.     

Single-shot terahertz pulse characterization via two-dimensional electro-optic imaging with dual echelons

A single-shot measurement of terahertz electromagnetic pulses is implemented using two-dimensional electro-optic imaging with dual echelon optics. The reported embodiment produces sequentially delayed multiprobe beamlets, routinely providing a time window of >10 ps with ~25 fs temporal step sizes. Because of its simplicity and robustness, the technique is ideally suited for real-time ultrashort relativistic electron bunch characterization.     

Femtosecond pulse parametric amplification at narrowband high power gas laser pumping

In ultrashort pulse amplification a narrowband gas pump pulse laser has been used for the first time. An all-stage optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier (OPCPA) was driven by a single-shot iodine photodissociation laser. For the first time a broadband amplification was achieved in potassium dihydrogen phosphate crystal at 800 nm seeding. Ti:sapphire laser pulses stretched from 12.5 fs to 250 ps were amplified and compressed to 27 fs at a 0.5 TW output power. The results suggest using narrowband high power gas lasers as OPCPA drivers to generate petawatt beams.     

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.     

Ultrafast optical switching in Kerr nonlinear photonic crystals

Nonlinear photonic crystals made from polystyrene materials that have Kerr nonlinearity can exhibit ultrafast optical switching when the samples are pumped by ultrashort optical pulses with high intensity due to the change of the refractive index of polystyrene and subsequent shift of the band gap edge or defect state resonant frequency. Polystyrene has a large Kerr nonlinear susceptibility and almost instantaneous response to pump light, making it suitable for the realization of ultrafast optical switching with a response time as short as a few femtoseconds. In this paper, we review our experimental progress on the continual improvement of all-optical switching speed in two-dimensional and three-dimensional polystyrene nonlinear photonic crystals in the past years. Several relevant issues are discussed and analyzed, including different mechanisms for all-optical switching, preparation of nonlinear photonic crystal samples by means of microfabrication and self-assembly techniques, characterization of optical switching performance by means of femtosecond pump-probe technique, and different ways to lower the pump power of optical switching to facilitate practical applications in optical information processing. Finally, a brief summary and a perspective of future work are provided.     

Ultrafast optical switching in Kerr nonlinear photonic crystals

Nonlinear photonic crystals made from polystyrene materials that have Kerr nonlinearity can exhibit ultrafast optical switching when the samples are pumped by ultrashort optical pulses with high intensity due to the change of the refractive index of polystyrene and subsequent shift of the band gap edge or defect state resonant frequency. Polystyrene has a large Kerr nonlinear susceptibility and almost instantaneous response to pump light, making it suitable for the realization of ultrafast optical switching with a response time as short as a few femtoseconds. In this paper, we review our experimental progress on the continual improvement of all-optical switching speed in two-dimensional and three-dimensional polystyrene nonlinear photonic crystals in the past years. Several relevant issues are discussed and analyzed, including different mechanisms for all-optical switching, preparation of nonlinear photonic crystal samples by means of microfabrication and self-assembly techniques, characterization of optical switching performance by means of femtosecond pump-probe technique, and different ways to lower the pump power of optical switching to facilitate practical applications in optical information processing. Finally, a brief summary and a perspective of future work are provided.     

Femtosecond third-harmonic generation:. self-phase matching through a transient. Kerr grating and the way to ultrafast computing

The third harmonic of 810-nm 100-fs pulses at 130 μJ is generated very efficiently when ultrashort pulses from two noncollinear beams interfere in an optical medium to create an instantaneous transient grating via the optical Kerr effect. The grating couples two pathways for third-harmonic generation, each taking two photons from one beam and one photon from the other beam, respectively. The coupling enables self-phase matching in the complete process, resulting in a conversion efficiency of ≈3%. Scattering an independent beam at the transient grating confirms a lifetime limited by the pulse duration, with a reaction on the order of one optical cycle. Using the second harmonic of a Ti-sapphire laser at 405 nm, it is shown that the generation of the transient Kerr grating is a general feature, requiring less than 20 μJ/pulse. By introducing a third femtosecond beam we are able to emulate various digital logic units with femtosecond response. Received: 16 October 2001 / Published online: 6 June 2002     

Amplitude and Phase Retrieval of Ultrashort Optical Pulse Using Optical Spectrogram Scope

We demonstrate the retrieval of the amplitude and phase of an ultrashort optical pulse from an optical spectrogram obtained by optical spectrogram scope (OSS). OSS is an interferometric method of obtaining a single-shot optical spectrogram without nonlinear optical effects. Since the optical spectrogram obtained by OSS retains information on the amplitude and phase of a signal pulse, we can retrieve this information without an iterative inversion algorithm from the spectrogram. In our demonstration, we retrieved the quadratic variation of a spectral phase of a linear chirped ultrashort laser pulse from a mode-locked Ti: sapphire laser.     

Stabilization of the kerr effect by self-induced ionization: formation of optical light spatially localized structures

The nonlinear propagation of ultrashort laser pulses launched into the air is investigated. The formation of optical light "bullets," or spatially localized structures, has been experimentally observed recently. Their stability is shown as due to the occurrence of a dynamical balance between two opposite nonlinear effects: an optical focusing Kerr effect balanced by a defocusing self-induced multiphoton partial ionization of the neutral gas. Characteristics of the "bullets" are predicted analytically and confirmed numerically. They are found to be in agreement with observations.     

Formation of Kerr waveguide and microgratings on a germanium surface under the action of femtosecond radiation of the mid-IR range

A new nonlinear physical model of the formation of ordered structures of a surface topography of a semiconductor by ultrashort pulses of linearly polarized laser radiation has been proposed. The model is based on the formation of the dynamic near-surface waveguide due to the optical Kerr effect, interference with the part of waveguide modes, and the formation of microgratings on the surface, which are oriented by polarization of radiation. The model is confirmed by experimental data.     

Optical pulse shaping at moderate power using a twisted-fibre NOLM with single output polarisation selection

We demonstrate theoretically and experimentally that efficient signal shaping operation can be obtained at moderate power by using the transmission characteristic of a power-symmetric nonlinear optical loop mirror (NOLM) including highly twisted fibre and operating through nonlinear polarisation rotation, when the circular polarisation state orthogonal to the input polarisation is selected at the NOLM output. By adjusting the angle of the quarter-wave retarder inserted in the loop, the phase bias of the transfer characteristic can be adjusted precisely to enable proper signal shaping for moderate values of input power, remaining well below switching power. The tolerance of the procedure to deviations of the input polarisation from the ideal circular case is investigated numerically. We demonstrate experimentally the capabilities of this setup for both power equalisation and extinction ratio enhancement. Finally, we show that this setup is also useful to shape ultrashort optical pulses from the relaxation oscillations of a DFB semiconductor laser. In comparison with other NOLM-based techniques, the proposed approach allows to reduce by a factor of 8-10 the peak power required for pulse shaping, for the same fibre length and Kerr coefficient.     

超短时延测量DFB激光器的动态线宽

激光器调谐过程中的动态线宽是非常重要的参数, 然而, 当前各种测量方法得到的都是激光器稳定状态下的静态线宽. 本文提出一种对干涉拍信号进行基于局部均值分解的时频分析进而获取激光动态线宽的方法, 通过仿真信号验证了这种时频分析方法提取瞬时相位噪声的有效性; 构建实验系统, 利用10cm路径差产生约0.5ns的超短时延, 提取相位噪声的时频分布, 首次得到了分布反馈半导体激光器在脉冲工作模式下的动态线宽. 关键词： 超短时延 动态线宽 局部均值分解 时频分布     

超短脉冲激光照射下光栅Talbot效应的实验研究

理论上研究了超短脉冲激光照射下光栅的Talbot效应,得到了超短脉冲激光照射下光栅Talbot图像的性质.实验上采用严格的实验方法(频率分辨光学开关装置测量超短脉冲激光、反射式扩束系统对超短脉冲进行扩束)很好地验证了理论分析结果.理论分析和实验结果表明,超短脉冲激光照射下光栅的Talbot图像的对比度会显著下降,而且超短脉冲激光的脉宽越短,Talbot距离越大,Talbot图像的对比度会进一步下降.     

Femtosecond laser-induced birefringence and transient grating in lead(II) phthalocyanine-doped hybrid silica gel glasses

Ultrafast nonlinear optical properties of lead(II) phthalocyanine (PbPc)-doped silica gel glasses were investigated using a femtosecond optical Kerr shutter (OKS) setup at wavelength of 800 nm. The nonlinear response time of the PbPc-doped silica gel glasses was measured to be less than 90 fs. Measurements for the dependence of Kerr signals on the polarization angle between pump and probe beams showed that the Kerr signals induced by 30-fs pulses arose mainly from photoinduced birefringence effect and not from a laser-induced transient grating as observed when using a 200-fs pulse laser.     

Optically induced mode conversion in graded-index fibers using ultra-short laser pulses

We propose the use of graded-index few-mode fibers for mode conversion by long-period gratings (LPG) transiently written by ultrashort laser pulses using the optical Kerr effect. The mode interaction is studied by numerically solving the multi-mode coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equations. We present highly efficient conversion of the LP₀₁- into the LP₁₁-mode preserving the pulse shape in contrast to previous results in step-index fibers. Furthermore, mode conversion using different wavelengths for inducing and probing the LPG is shown. Due to the flat phase-matching curve of the examined modes in the graded-index fiber, mode conversion can be observed for probe center wavelengths of 1,100 nm up to 1,800 nm with a write beam centered around 1,030 nm. Therefore, a complete separation of the probe from the write beam should be possible as well as the application of optically induced guided-mode conversion for all-optical modulation across a broad wavelength range.     

Trends in ultrashort and ultrahigh power laser pulses based on optical parametric chirped pulse amplification

Since the proof-of-principle demonstration of optical parametric amplification to efficiently amplify chirped laser pulses in 1992,optical parametric chirped pulse amplification(OPCPA)became the most promising method for the amplification of broadband optical pulses.In the meantime,we are witnessing an exciting progress in the development of powerful and ultrashort pulse laser systems that employ chirped pulse parametric amplifiers.The output power and pulse duration of these systems have ranged from a few gigawatts to hundreds of terawatts with a potential of tens of petawatts power level.Meanwhile,the output pulse duration based on optical parametric amplification has entered the range of fewoptical-cycle field.In this paper,we overview the basic principles,trends in development,and current state of the ultrashort and laser systems based on OPCPA,respectively.     

Comparison between geometrically focused pulses versus filaments in femtosecond laser ablation of steel and titanium alloys

Kerr self-focusing of high-power ultrashort laser pulses in atmosphere may result in a structure or structures of high intensity that can propagate over long distances with little divergence. Filamentation has garnered significant interest in the nonlinear optics community due to its unique properties. Salient features of filaments include a central region of intense laser power (greater than the ionization threshold of the propagation medium) and a low temperature plasma column that lasts up to nanoseconds in duration after the passage of the laser pulse. Steel and titanium samples are ablated by filaments and by sharply focused sub-picosecond laser pulses. We then performed metrology on the samples to compare the ablation features in addition to modeling of the plasma ablation process. Ablation with filaments leads to a wider range of material responses as compared to ablation with sharply focused pulse. This results in potential complications for applications of filament ablation that depends on the rate of material removal and spectroscopic analysis.     

Modified spectrum autointerferometric correlation (MOSAIC) for single-shot pulse characterization

A method for generation of the modified spectrum autointerferometric correlation that allows single-shot pulse characterization is demonstrated. A sensitive graphical representation of the ultrashort pulse phase quality is introduced that delineates the difference between the presence of temporal and spectral phase distortions. Using these schemes, full-field reconstruction of ultrashort laser pulses is obtained in real time using an efficient iterative technique.     

Generating a high-extinction-ratio pulse from a phase-modulated optical signal with a dispersion-imbalanced nonlinear loop mirror

We demonstrate a method for generating ultrashort pulses from a phase-modulated optical signal by using a dispersion-imbalanced nonlinear loop mirror instead of the traditional linear dispersion medium. The extinction ratio of the pulses is greatly improved at the same time. By controlling the bandwidth of the phase-modulated signal and the dispersion map of the dispersion-imbalanced nonlinear loop mirror, we can control the pulse width from several picoseconds to hundreds of femtoseconds.