Fiber-delivered picosecond source for coherent Raman scattering imaging

We demonstrate a two-color, fiber-delivered picosecond source for coherent Raman scattering (CRS) imaging. The wavelength-tunable picosecond pump is generated by nonlinear spectral compression of a prechirped femtosecond pulse from a mode-locked titanium:sapphire (Ti:S) laser. The 1064?nm picosecond Stokes pulse is generated by an all-fiber time-lens source that is synchronized to the Ti:S laser. The pump and Stokes beams are combined in an optical fiber coupler, which serves not only as the delivery fiber but also as the nonlinear medium for spectral compression of the femtosecond pulse. CRS imaging of mouse skin is performed to demonstrate the practicality of this source.     

空气中单个激光等离子体通道的形成条件

利用皮秒和飞秒激光研究了激光在空气中聚焦产生单个等离子体通道的条件.研究发现，能量为8—12mJ皮秒激光被焦距为15cm的透镜聚焦后，可以产生较为稳定的单个通道.通过横向纵向阴影成像分析发现，通道的管壁对聚焦产生的自发光具有箍缩作用，而通道内部却有利于光的传输.同时还发现，当采用短焦距透镜时，能量低于10mJ的飞秒激光在空气中较易形成单个等离子通道. 关键词： 等离子体通道 皮秒激光 飞秒激光 阴影成像     

Engineerable femtosecond pulse shaping by second-harmonic generation with Fourier synthetic quasi-phase-matching gratings

We describe a pulse-shaping technique that uses second-harmonic generation with Fourier synthetic quasi-phase-matching gratings. We demonstrate both amplitude and phase tailoring by generating a picosecond squarelike pulse as well as trains of femtosecond pulses with a terahertz-range repetition rate from either a compressed or a chirped pump pulse.     

Production of picosecond, kilojoule, and petawatt laser pulses via Raman amplification of nanosecond pulses

Raman amplification in plasma has been promoted as a means of compressing picosecond optical laser pulses to femtosecond duration to explore the intensity frontier. Here we show for the first time that it can be used, with equal success, to compress laser pulses from nanosecond to picosecond duration. Simulations show up to 60% energy transfer from pump pulse to probe pulse, implying that multikilojoule ultraviolet petawatt laser pulses can be produced using this scheme. This has important consequences for the demonstration of fast-ignition inertial confinement fusion.     

飞秒光脉冲间相互作用的数值研究

通过数值模拟对飞秒光脉冲间的相互作用进行了研究,结果表明：飞秒孤子的相互作用与常规的皮秒孤子间的相互作用不同。后者在孤子间距较小的情况下,相互作用表现为周期性离合,而前者的相互作用更严重,在初始阶段其相互作用与皮秒孤子一致,而当两孤子合二为一后,一直处于排斥状态,孤子间距传输距离增加而增加,这在通信系统中将造成更大的误码率,传统的不等振幅法在一定程度上可有效地抑制飞秒孤子的相互作用。     

Determination of the shape and duration of picosecond light pulses by bleaching of dyes

A new method is developed to measure the shape and duration of picosecond light pulses in a single shot. A pump and probe technique in a dye sample is applied. Single picosecond light pulses at different frequencies were analysed with various absorbers. Asymmetric pulse shapes with leading edges steeper than the trailing edges were observed.     

Widely tunable sub-30-fs pulses from a compact erbium-doped fiber source

Coupling femtosecond light pulses from an all-fiber Er:laser system into a dispersion-shifted and highly non-linear fiber, we generate output spectra exhibiting two broadband and mutually coherent maxima. Depending on the chirp of the input pulse, the spectral separation is easily tunable over a wide range up to values exceeding 100 THz. In this way, the source provides access to an ultrabroadband wavelength interval from 1130 to 1950 nm. Because of soliton effects, the long-wave component exhibits a transform-limited pulse width of 40 fs directly after the nonlinear element. The high-frequency part propagating in the dispersive regime is recompressed to pulse durations as short as 24 fs with an optimized prism sequence.     

Modulation instability induced by cross-phase modulation in a dual-wavelength dispersion-managed soliton fiber ring laser

We report on the observation of the modulation instability induced by cross-phase modulation in a dual-wavelength operation dispersion-managed soliton fiber ring laser with net negative cavity dispersion. The passively mode-locked operation is achieved by using a nonlinear polarization rotation technique. A new type of dual-wavelength operation, where one is femtosecond pulse and the other is picosecond pulse operation, is obtained by properly rotating the polarization controllers. When the dual-wavelength pulses are simultaneously circulating in the laser ring cavity, a series of stable modulation sidebands appears in the picosecond pulse spectrum at longer wavelength with lower peak power due to modulation instability induced by cross-phase modulation between the two lasing wavelengths. Moreover, the intensities and wavelength shifts of the modulation sidebands can be tuned by varying the power of the femtosecond pulse or the lasing central wavelengths of the dual-wavelength pulses. The theoretical analysis of the modulation instability induced by cross-phase modulation in our fiber laser is also presented.     

Time resolved spectral interferometry for single shot femtosecond characterization

Time resolved spectral interferometry is applied to femtosecond pulse coherent measurement. A new configuration that can be directly applied to single shot detection is presented. The efficiency of this self-referenced real-time passive technique is experimentally demonstrated during the characterization of chirped pulses. Additionally, we quantitatively retrieve the spectral phase shift which is associated to the propagation through a F4 glass parallel plate. Numerical results are also reported showing examples of complex pulse characterization. Finally, limitations of the technique are discussed.     

光脉冲在不同色散光纤环形镜中传输特性

研究了三种不同色散递减类型光纤构成的环形腔对光脉冲传输特性的影响（指数递减、线性递减与抛物线递减）,发现其色散曲线为指数递减的环形腔最有利于皮秒光脉冲的传输与压缩;而对于飞秒脉冲,在高阶效应的影响下,情况恰恰相反,色散曲线为抛物线递减的光纤构成的光纤环最有利于脉冲传输与压缩.并且对于飞秒脉冲,环形腔的光开关特性只是在一定条件下存在.     

Ultrashort pulse generation and measurement techniques

The first section will discuss the generation of picosecond and femtosecond laser pulses, their propagation and compression in optical fibers, and their amplification for nonlinear spectroscopic applications. Laser systems for different wavelength regimes and pulse measurement techniques will be described. The second section will extend the discussion of picosecond and femtosecond measurement to studies of ultrafast processes in materials. Pump-probe and transient four-wave-mixing methods will be analyzed. Examples of application to both molecular and solid state systems will be presented.     

超短脉冲在共轭有机高聚物中传输的啁啾特性的研究

采用理论数值分析的方法，研究了较大谱宽的飞秒激光脉冲在较大的非线性系数和非线性色散的有机高聚物中，由于非线性色散而导致其啁啾特性的变化，并进而从脉冲的啁啾特性上，解释了光谱的有效展宽，以及脉冲的自频移等脉冲在光谱上的变化． 关键词：     

新型超快速三角波脉冲电路的研究

本文讨论了一种新型三角波脉冲发生器,此脉冲发生器是由雪崩晶体管作为开关器件,产生出的三角波脉冲半宽度为3.5ns,上升时间最快达2ns,幅值为±1300V,电路的延迟时间为8.3us。     

Picosecond ultrasonics time resolved spectroscopy using a photonic crystal fiber

We present a broadband picosecond ultrasonics time resolved spectroscopy. Detection of picosecond coherent acoustic phonons using a wavelength continuum generation in a photonic crystal fiber (PCF) with femtosecond laser pulses is developed. Measurements are performed for selected wavelengths of a broad wavelength probe pulse within a bandwidth of 250 nm with an 825 nm center wavelength on two samples made of tungsten and of gallium arsenide.     

ZnO random laser spectra under nanosecond pumping

Spectra of ZnO random lasers were obtained using a Peltier-cooled CCD camera Videoscan-285 at a single shot of nanosecond pumping. It was demonstrated that these spectra differ essentially from lasing spectra under picosecond pumping: as a rule, the line widths are significantly larger and the spectra often change essentially from shot to shot in a random manner on the same pumping spot. We suggest that large line widths can be the result of many lasing acts appearing during a single pumping pulse and of the lasing frequency changing in every lasing act. The random variations of spectra from shot to shot can be called forth by spontaneous emission fluctuations.     

光学性质对超快激光辐照下铜膜热响应的影响

在超快激光照射过程中,金属靶材的光学性质是动态变化的。采用双温模型与分子动力学结合法,考虑动态和常数光学性质两种情况,对不同脉宽的超快激光照射下铜薄膜的热响应进行了模拟研究。其中,常数光学性质包括由激光沉积能量相等计算得到的等效平均反射率和室温下的吸收系数。结果表明:两种情况下的电子温度和晶格温度均差别较小,尤其是脉宽远小于电子-晶格弛豫时间的飞秒激光; 而当激光脉宽相当于或大于电子-晶格弛豫时间时,如皮秒激光,光学性质的动态变化对材料的熔化和重凝的影响则比较明显。     

Experimental research on measuring the fine structure of long pulse in time domain by synchronized ultrashort pulse

We propose a method of measuring the fine structure of a long pulse in time domain by a synchronized ultrashort pulse, in which the basic principle is the cross-correlation interaction between the long pulse and the ultrashort pulse in a nonlinear crystal. After a theoretical analysis on the principle and resolution, as an example, the fine structure of a picosecond Nd:YLF laser pulse is characterized by a synchronized femtosecond pulse experimentally. Further, the effect of group velocity mismatch on measurement results is discussed.     

飞秒暗孤子间相互作用的数值研究

通过数值模拟对飞秒暗孤子间的相互作用进行了研究，并且同飞秒亮孤子和皮秒暗孤子分别进行了比较，结果表明：同飞秒亮孤子相比，飞秒暗孤子间的相互作用比较小，前者表现为相互吸引、碰撞、合二为一，然后相互排斥，不具有周期性；而后者从一开始就相互排斥，且这种排斥作用较亮孤子来说相当微弱，同样也不具有周期性。此外，数值模拟的结果还表明，飞秒暗孤子间的相互作用同皮秒尺度下暗孤子间的相互作用基本一致，并且通过计算表明，飞秒暗孤子间的相互作用在一定范围内仍可利用皮秒尺度下暗孤子间相互作用的经验公式。但是，数值模拟结果显示，两孤子的初始间距越小，由经验公式计算结果所带来的误差就越大。     

Passive Q-switching and mode-locking for the generation of nanosecond to femtosecond pulses

The passive and hybrid Q-switching and mode-locking of solid-state lasers, dye lasers, semiconductor lasers and gas lasers is reviewed. The dynamics of saturable absorbers and reverse saturable absorbers is illustrated. The nanosecond pulse generation by passive and hybrid Q-switching of low-gain active media is described. The picosecond and femtosecond pulse generation by passive and hybrid mode-locking in low-gain and high-gain active media is analysed. The performance data of passively and hybridly mode-locked cw femtosecond dye lasers are collected. The pulse shortening of ultra-fast pulses with saturable absorbers in intra-cavity and extra-cavity configurations is discussed.     

高阶非线性效应对飞秒脉冲激光器的影响

本文以分段计算法用高阶非线性薛定谔方程讨论了激光器的传输过程,考虑了有三阶色散、高阶非线性效应-自陡峭效应存在时,激光器中飞秒脉冲的传输特性,给出了棱镜对的分离距离与激光器脉宽的关系,并用数值计算法模拟了脉冲在激光器中的传输过程.