Absorption of subpicosecond ultraviolet laser pulses in high-density plasma

The absorption of 250 fs KrF laser pulses incident on solid targets of aluminum, copper and gold has been measured for normal incidence as a function of laser intensity in the range of 10¹²–10¹⁴ W cm^–2 and as a function of polarization and angle of incidence for the intensity range of 10¹⁴–2.5×10¹⁵ W cm^–2. As the intensity increases from 10¹² W cm^–2 the reflectivity at normal incidence changes from the low-intensity mirror reflectivity value to values in the range of 0.5–0.61 at 10¹⁴ W cm^–2. For this intensity maximum absorption of 63–80% has been observed for p-polarized radiation at angles of incidence in the range of 54°–57°, increasing with atomic number. The results are compared with the expected Fresnel reflectivity from a sharp vacuum-plasma interface with the refractive index given by the Drude model and also to numerical calculations of reflectivity for various scale length density profiles. Qualitative agreement is found with the Fresnel/Drude model and quantitative agreement is noticed with the numerical calculations of absorption on a steep density profile with normalized collision frequencies, v/, in the range of 0.13–0.15 at critical density and normalized density gradient scale lengths, L/₀, in the range of 0.018–0.053 for a laser intensity of 10¹⁴ W cm^–2.At 2.5×10¹⁵ W cm^–2 a small amount of preplasma is present and maximum absorption of 64–76% has been observed for p-polarized radiation at angles of incidence in the range of 45°–50°.Dedicated to Prof. Dr. Rudolf Wienecke on the occasion of his 65^th birthdayOn leave from: Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, T6G 2G7, Canada     

飞秒强激光脉冲在等离子体中的自压缩

文章从激光等离子体相互作用的非线性薛定谔方程出发,理论研究了飞秒强激光脉冲在等离子体中的自压缩行为.结果表明在一定范围内随着激光脉冲宽度、激光强度的增大以及等离子体密度的减小,飞秒强激光脉冲在等离子体中传播的自压缩现象越明显.另外通过适当设定参量得到了近似稳定传播的基孤子.     

金属靶和绝缘靶对飞秒激光吸收的比较

利用脉宽为150fs、强度为8×10¹⁵W/cm²的P偏振飞秒激光研究了与 金属靶和绝缘靶 相互作用过程中的激光能量吸收、超热电子产额及超热电子能谱. 实验发现，由于绝缘靶电 导率小，因此其电荷分离势大于金属靶，从而导致绝缘靶比金属靶具有较小的激光能量吸收 、较少的超热电子发射和较高的超热电子温度. 关键词： 金属靶 绝缘靶 激光吸收 超热电子     

Absorption and ionization of molecular nitrogen by UV femtosecond laser pulses

Mechanisms of non-linear absorption and ionization of molecular nitrogen gas by UV femtosecond laser pulses were studied using photogalvanic and photoacoustic techniques. The effect of the intermediate Rydberg resonance, its dynamic Stark perturbation and ponderomotive upshift of the first ionization potential of nitrogen molecules by the intense laser pulses has been revealed by observing an increase of a power slope of ion yield from three to four at increasing laser intensity.     

空气中飞秒激光自聚焦等离子体通道的电导特性

 通过电学探测法,采用不同焦距的聚焦透镜,在不同激光能量、不同极性外加电压的条件下,对大气中的飞秒激光自聚焦等离子体电离通道特性进行了实验研究。发现激光脉冲经不同焦距的聚焦透镜作用后均存在较长的电离通道,通道的等效电阻率有所变化,通常电阻率的最大值出现在透镜的几何焦点附近,并且焦距越长,此电阻率的局部峰值点离几何焦点位置越近。在外加不同极性电压时,自由电子受到所加静电场作用力、洛仑兹力以及有质动力的共同作用。焦点前,通道电流变化不明显,加正向电压产生的电流略微大于加负向电压时的电流;焦点后则是加负向电压产生的电流大于加正向电压时的电流。     

空气中飞秒激光自聚焦等离子体通道的电导特性

通过电学探测法,采用不同焦距的聚焦透镜,在不同激光能量、不同极性外加电压的条件下,对大气中的飞秒激光自聚焦等离子体电离通道特性进行了实验研究。发现激光脉冲经不同焦距的聚焦透镜作用后均存在较长的电离通道,通道的等效电阻率有所变化,通常电阻率的最大值出现在透镜的几何焦点附近,并且焦距越长,此电阻率的局部峰值点离几何焦点位置越近。在外加不同极性电压时,自由电子受到所加静电场作用力、洛仑兹力以及有质动力的共同作用。焦点前,通道电流变化不明显,加正向电压产生的电流略微大于加负向电压时的电流;焦点后则是加负向电压产生的电流大于加正向电压时的电流。     

Emissions from high-density potassium atoms excited by either nanosecond or femtosecond laser pulses

A study of the emissions, for high atomic density potassium, under nanosecond (ns) or femtosecond (fs) two-photon excitation is presented. It is shown that the parametric emissions (connected to the |6S_1/2〉↔|5P_3/2〉↔|4S_1/2〉 transitions) strongly depend on the excitation intensity and they have a nonlinear and a linear response region, in both kinds of excitation. In the ns excitation, the calculated results of a four-level atomic configuration agree well with the experimental ones, in the case of the path-1 parametric emissions (|6S_1/2〉↔|5P_3/2〉↔|4S_1/2〉) for certain excitation and atomic density parameters. Also, the fields of the atomic path-2 (|6S_1/2〉↔|4P_3/2〉↔|4S_1/2〉) are numerically shown to be amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) or cascade ASE without population inversion, due to the population transfer to the |6S_1/2〉 level initially and its subsequent collapse to the lower levels. In the fs excitation, only parametric emissions are observed from both atomic paths and there are not yet numerical calculations available to compare with. However, there is strong similarity of the experimental ns and fs results for the path-1 parametric emissions.     

Concatenation of plasma filaments created in air by femtosecond infrared laser pulses

We report the first observation of the attachment of two single plasma filaments created collinearly in the atmosphere by IR femtosecond laser pulses. The linked filamentary structure is electrically conductive and emits sub-THz radiation over its entire length. Concatenation is achieved only for a specific time ordering between the two initial laser pulses. The pulse producing the filament closer to the laser source must be retarded with respect to the other pulse. This special time ordering is attributed to the acceleration of light in a self-guided pulse. Received: 4 March 2003 / Published online: 14 May 2003 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +33-1/6931-9996, E-mail: stzortz@ensta.fr     

空气中飞秒激光等离子体荧光辐射光谱研究

系统地研究了不同聚焦条件下飞秒激光空气等离子体的荧光辐射特性以及空间演化情况.在紧聚焦情况下,由于焦点附近比较高的激光强度以及比较高的电子密度,辐射光谱表现为连续谱和线状原子光谱的叠加.在弱聚焦情况下,辐射光谱主要由很多分子线谱组成,而没有观测到连续谱的产生.还研究了光谱谱线强度随激光传输距离的演化情况,结果显示,光谱谱线的强度变化在一定程度上间接反映了等离子体细丝的演化情况.     

Multiple filamentation of femtosecond laser pulses

The formation of fluorescent channels with color centers in LiF crystals under the action of the multiple filamentation of femtosecond laser pulses is studied experimentally and theoretically for pulse powers around four orders of magnitude higher than the critical self-focusing value.     

等离子体通道的声学诊断方法

超短脉冲强激光在空气中传输可以形成很长的等离子体通道，目前对这种等离子体通道有许多诊断方法，文章介绍了一种十分简易但很有效的方法——声学测量方法．该方法可以根据通道不同位置的声音信号，测量通道的长度和通道内电子密度等一些参数，具有其他传统诊断方法无可比拟的优越性．     

用声学诊断方法测量激光等离子体通道的长度与电子密度

用声学诊断方法对超短脉冲强激光在空气中传输形成的等离子体通道进行了测量，根据通道不同位置的声音信号，得到了通道的长度和通道内电子密度等信息. 关键词： 声学测量 等离子体通道     

Towards nanostructuring with femtosecond laser pulses

Detailed investigations of the possibilities for using femtosecond lasers for the nanostructuring of metal layers and transparent materials are reported. The aim is to develop a simple laser-based technology for fabricating two- and three-dimensional nanostructures with structure sizes on the order of several hundred nanometers. This is required for many applications in photonics, for the fabrication of photonic crystals and microoptical devices, for data storage, displays, etc. Measurements of thermionic electron emission from metal targets, which provide valuable information on the dynamics of femtosecond laser ablation, are discussed. Sub-wavelength microstructuring of metals is performed and the minimum structure size that can be fabricated in transparent materials is identified. Two-photon polymerization of hybrid polymers is demonstrated as a promising femtosecond laser-based nanofabrication technology. Received: 20 November 2002 / Accepted: 20 January 2003 / Published online: 28 May 2003 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +49-511/2788-100, E-mail: ch@lzh.de     

Absorption and second harmonic emission from interaction of femtosecond laser pulses with microspherical droplets

In this paper, the interaction of femtosecond laser pulses with droplets microplasma at the intensity of 10¹⁶ W/cm² is theoretically studied. Laser absorption, suprathermal electron generation, and second harmonic generation are discussed. Using an analytical model and a 2D particle-in-cell code, we find that the dominated mechanism is resonant absorption in the interaction of femtosecond laser pulses with droplets for the misrospherical geometry.     

Recombination of an electron-hole plasma in silicon under the action of femtosecond laser pulses

Experimental data are obtained on the dynamics of conduction-electron relaxation at the stage preceding the melting of a silicon surface layer. The energy of a quantum of probe radiation is smaller than the band gap, making it possible to obtain information about the electron-phonon relaxation processes for an electron concentration of ～ 10²¹ cm^?3 in the conduction band.     

超短脉冲强激光在空气中的传输

超短脉冲强激光在空气中传输时由于非线性克尔自聚焦效应会使激光光束聚焦，造成空气的离化而形成等离子体，等离子体对激光光束又会产生散焦作用，这两种过程的动态平衡可以形成很长的等离子体通道，从而产生一系列复杂而有趣的现象．文章对通道形成的机理、锥角辐射、超连续谱和三次谐波的产生进行了阐述，并介绍了目前等离子体通道形成的几种理论模型．文章还对通道内的各种复合和辐射机制进行了分析．     

Filamentation of interacting femtosecond laser pulses in air

The filamentation of two co-propagated femtosecond (fs) laser pulses in air is studied by numerical simulation. Depending on the different initial separation distances, relative phase shift and crossing angles, simulations show attraction, fusion, repulsion and collision of the two pulses. A long plasma channel can be formed by two in-phase pulses with small separation distance and cross angle. The coupling of two laser beam becomes weaker when the separation distance or cross angle between two beams is larger. In this case, the filamentation of each pulse develops independently. Our simulation results will be helpful for understanding the effect of the initial amplitude and phase modulation of laser pulse on the filamentation characteristics.     

高强度飞秒激光脉冲在空气中的自压缩

利用高重复频率（1kHz）、吉瓦级飞秒激光脉冲实验验证了高强度飞秒脉冲在空气中的自 压缩现象，研究了入射脉冲在不同初始啁啾情况下经空气中聚焦成丝后，时域及频域特性随 入射脉冲能量的变化规律.实验结果表明，在无需后继色散补偿情况下，高强度飞秒脉冲仅 通过在空气中的非线性传输过程就可以实现脉冲压缩；在入射脉冲为负啁啾情况下，实验观 察到脉冲光谱及时域宽度同时得到压缩，并可获得比激光源所能提供的更短的近双曲正割型 变换限脉冲. 关键词： 高强度飞秒激光脉冲 自压缩 自聚焦