Controlling a bunch of multiple filaments by means of a beam diameter

We demonstrate a three orders of magnitude increase and stability in the backscattered fluorescence signal from nitrogen molecules by terawatt femtosecond laser pulse induced air filaments using a new method. The method is based on squeezing the initial beam diameter using a telescope. The effect of laser shot-to-shot fluctuations was included in numerical simulations by a random distribution of the initial intensity in both squeezed and non-squeezed beams. Statistical processing of the simulation results shows that the average diameter of plasma channels as well as the total amount of free electrons generated in a bunch of multiple filaments in air is larger in the squeezed beam. Shot-to-shot stability of the simulated plasma density increases in the squeezed beam. The change of this plasma density with propagation distance is in good qualitative agreement with the change of the range-corrected nitrogen fluorescence signal with distance. PACS 42.65.Jx; 42.60.Jf; 42.68.Ay; 42.68.Wt     

Generalized nonlinear Schrödinger equation for dispersive susceptibility and permeability: application to negative index materials

A new generalized nonlinear Schr?dinger equation describing the propagation of ultrashort pulses in bulk media exhibiting frequency dependent dielectric susceptibility and magnetic permeability is derived and used to characterize wave propagation in a negative index material. The equation has new features that are distinct from ordinary materials (mu=1): the linear and nonlinear coefficients can be tailored through the linear properties of the medium to attain any combination of signs unachievable in ordinary matter, with significant potential to realize a wide class of solitary waves.     

Comparing Efficiency of Lysis Buffer Solutions and Sample Preparation Methods for Liquid Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry Analysis of Human Cells and Plasma

The use of a proper sample processing methodology for maximum proteome coverage and high-quality quantitative data is an important choice to make before initiating a liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS)-based proteomics study. Popular sample processing workflows for proteomics involve in-solution proteome digestion and single-pot, solid-phase-enhanced sample preparation (SP3). We tested them on both HeLa cells and human plasma samples, using lysis buffers containing SDS, or guanidinium hydrochloride. We also studied the effect of using commercially available depletion mini spin columns before SP3, to increase proteome coverage in human plasma samples. Our results show that the SP3 protocol, using either buffer, achieves the highest number of quantified proteins in both the HeLa cells and plasma samples. Moreover, the use of depletion mini spin columns before SP3 results in a two-fold increase of quantified plasma proteins. With additional fractionation, we quantified nearly 1400 proteins, and examined lower-abundance proteins involved in neurodegenerative pathways and mitochondrial metabolism. Therefore, we recommend the use of the SP3 methodology for biological sample processing, including those after depletion of high-abundance plasma proteins.     

Optimum small-scale management of random beam perturbations in a femtosecond laser pulse

The geometric phase of a three-level atom interacting with single-mode in the presence of the one-dimensional photonic band gap material is studied. We consider dipole emitters situated in the thin slab region between two semi-infinite one-dimensionally periodic photonic crystals, a situation reminiscent of planar cavity laser structures. It shows that the Pancharatnam phase depends crucially on the presence of the photonic band gap. This feature is attributed to the fact that in the photonic band gap region electromagnetic modes are not allowed to propagate into the dielectric slab and hence no interaction can take place in this region. The outcomes are illustrated with numerical simulations applied to GaAs. PACS 03.67.-a; 32.80.Pj; 42.50.Ct; 42.65.Yj; 03.75.-b     

Towards a control of multiple filamentation by spatial regularization of a high-power femtosecond laser pulse

We propose a new method for controlling randomly generated multiple filaments during the propagation of femtosecond laser pulses in optical media. The method is based on introducing a periodic amplitude modulation of the transverse beam profile. It is shown both experimentally and numerically that the introduction of a periodic mesh into a propagation path of a femtosecond near-infrared laser pulse leads to a deterministic spatial distribution of multiple filaments in the presence of initial random fluctuations. As a result, the number of filaments is increased as compared to the random case. PACS 42.65.Jx; 42.25.Bs; 42.60.Jf     

Homogenization procedure for a metamaterial and local violation of the second principle of thermodynamics

Classical theory of crystals states that a medium to be considered homogeneous must satisfy the following requirements (a) the dimension of the elementary cell must be much smaller than the incident wavelength; (b) the sample must contain a large number of elementary cells, i.e. it must be macroscopic with respect to wavelength. Under these conditions, macroscopic quantities can be introduced in order to describe the optical response of the medium. We analytically demonstrate that for a symmetric elementary cell those requirements can be relaxed, and it is possible to assign a permittivity and a permeability to a composite structure, even if the metamaterial cannot be considered homogeneous under the requirements stated above. However, the effective permittivity and permeability in some cases may give rise to unphysical, effective behaviors inside the medium, notwithstanding the fact that they satisfy requirements like being Kramers-Kronig pairs, for example, and are consistent with all the linear properties outside the structure (i.e. reflection, transmission, and absorption at all frequencies). In some situations the medium is assigned a magnetic response even though the medium is not magnetically active. In particular, we demonstrate that the homogenization procedure can lead to a medium that locally violates the second principle of thermodynamics. We also show that, in the non-homogeneous regime, it is not possible to describe the nonlinear behavior of the structure using an effective parameters approach, despite the possibility to assign an effective linear refractive index.     

Filamentation of a femtosecond laser pulse with the initial beam ellipticity

The effect of transverse elliptical intensity distribution on multiple filament formation in a femtosecond laser pulse is numerically studied. Two types of filament control are demonstrated. First, the beginning of filamentation can be varied by changing the degree of ellipticity. Second, random multiple filaments can be arranged in a spatial order predetermined by the specific shape of the ellipse. The latter is valid for pulses with a peak power more than ten times higher than the critical power for self-focusing in the medium.     

Inhibition of linear absorption in opaque materials using phase-locked harmonic generation

We theoretically predict and experimentally demonstrate inhibition of linear absorption for phase and group velocity mismatched second- and third-harmonic generation in strongly absorbing materials, GaAs, in particular, at frequencies above the absorption edge. A 100-fs pump pulse tuned to 1300 nm generates 650 and 435 nm second- and third-harmonic pulses that propagate across a 450-microm-thick GaAs substrate without being absorbed. We attribute this to a phase-locking mechanism that causes the pump to trap the harmonics and to impress on them its dispersive properties.     

Self-transformation of a powerful femtosecond laser pulse into a white-light laser pulse in bulk optical media (or supercontinuum generation)

We present experimental and theoretical results on white-light generation in the filamentation of a high-power femtosecond laser pulse in water and atmospheric air. We have shown that the high spatio-temporal localization of the light field in the filament, which enables the supercontinuum generation, is sustained due to the dynamic transformation of the light field on the whole transverse scale of the beam, including its edges. We found that the sources of the supercontinuum blue wing are in the rings, surrounding the filament, as well as at the back of the pulse, where shock-wave formation enhanced by self-steepening takes place. We report on the first observation and demonstration of the interference of the supercontinuum spectral components arising in the course of multiple filamentation in a terawatt laser pulse. We demonstrate that the conversion efficiency of an initially narrow laser pulse spectrum into the supercontinuum depends on the length of the filament with high intensity gradients and can be increased by introducing an initial chirp. PACS 42.65.Jx; 42.65.Re; 42.25.Bs; 42.50.Hz     

Dispersion-free pulse propagation in a negative-index material

The possibility of controlling the spectral position of the zero group-velocity dispersion point of a negative-index material can be exploited by varying the ratio between the electric and the magnetic plasma frequency to obtain dispersion-free propagation in spectral regions otherwise inaccessible using conventional positive-index materials. Our predictions are confirmed by pulse propagation simulations where all the orders of the complex dispersion of the material are taken into account.