Spectral and temporal characteristics of metallic nanoparticles produced by femtosecond laser pulses

We study the time of flight optical emission from titanium and tungsten nanosized particles, generated through femtosecond laser-matter interaction in vacuum, in the wavelength spectral range from 300 to 900 nm. Typical spectra consist of broadband structureless signals similar to black body emission from a macroscopic object. Nanoparticles temperature, deduced from their emission spectra, decreases drastically as a function of their time of arrival at a given distance from the target. This behaviour is seen to be independent of individual particle velocities.     

Translational cooling of doped nanocrystals by Raman pulses: Towards macroscopic quantum state

One of the most interesting problems of modern physics is the realization of nanoparticles in macroscopic quantum states, in which they behave as a quantum objects. These states can only be implemented at ultra-low translational temperatures that have not been achieved so far. Here we develop a novel method for optical cooling of CaF₂:Yb³⁺ nanocrystals, which is based on the coherent population transfer induced in the impurity ions by ultraviolet Raman pulses. A doped nanocrystal localized in a radio-frequency trap is cooled due to the photon recoil from the pulses of varied intensity. The proposed method allows to obtain nanocrystals with translational temperatures of the order of 10^?9 K, which indicates that the nanocrystal approaches a macroscopic quantum state.     

二个强飞秒延时激光脉冲的相对相位对Na2+光解离的影响

报道了Na₂⁺离子的三个低激发态1Σu、2Σg、2Σu在二个光脉冲作用下的解离动量谱,激光波长为680nm,各脉冲功率为1×10¹²W/cm²,脉宽50fs,从研究结果可见,其单光子、双光子、三光子激发的对应的解离峰及峰值随相对相位而变,并且这种影响随延时增大而减小.     

Black phosphorus saturable absorber for ultrafast mode‐locked pulse laser via evanescent field interaction

Black phosphorus, or BP, has found a lot of applications in recent years including photonics. The most recent studies have shown that the material has an excellent optical nonlinearity useful in many areas, one of which is in saturable absorption for passive mode‐locking. A direct interaction scheme for mode‐locking, however, has a potential to optically cause permanent damage to the already delicate material. Evanescent field interaction scheme has already been proven to be a useful method to prevent such danger for other 2‐dimensional nanomaterials. In this report, we have utilized the evanescent field interaction to demonstrate that the optical nonlinear characteristics of BP is sufficiently strong to use in such an indirect interaction method. The successful demonstration of the passive mode‐locking operation has generated pulses with the pulse duration, repetition rate, and time bandwidth product of 2.18 ps, 15.59 MHz, and 0.336, respectively.     

Evolution of Hyperbolic-Secant Pulses Towards Cross-Phase Modulation Induced Optical Wave Breaking and Soliton or Soliton Trains Generation in Quintic Nonlinear Fibers

The approximate analytical frequency chirps and the critical distances for cross-phase modulation induced optical wave breaking (OWB) of the initial hyperbolic-secant optical pulses propagating in optical fibers with quintic nonlinearity (QN) are presented. The pulse evolutions in terms of the frequency chirps, shapes and spectra are numerically calculated in the normal dispersion regime. The results reveal that, depending on different QN parameters, the traditional OWB or soliton or soliton pulse trains may occur. The approximate analytical critical distances are found to be in good agreement with the numerical ones only for the traditional OWB whereas the approximate analytical frequency chirps accords well with the numerical ones at the initial evolution stages of the pulses.     

飞秒激光低压N2等离子体特性的实验研究

在低于一个标准大气压的条件下对飞秒激光产生的N₂等离子体光谱进行了实验研究.结果表明, 各种样品气压下的激光N₂等离子体光谱均表现为连续谱和线状谱的叠加.随着样品气压的降低, 连续谱和原子谱线的强度经历了由缓慢增强发展为缓慢降低再到迅速降低的过程, 而正一价离子谱线强度呈现逐步增强的特征.在气压低于0.3 atm (1 atm=101325 Pa)时, 出现了正二价态的离子谱线. 给出了低压N₂等离子体对于飞秒激光传输和能量吸收的物理特性, 并初步讨论了低压等离子体通道特性.这些结果有助于加深了解飞秒激光等离子体的特性和机理, 特别是给出了在实验上测量不同价态离子光谱的条件, 为今后的研究提供了有益的实验依据. 关键词： 飞秒激光 气压 等离子体光谱 激光传输     

Picosecond control of coherent magnetisation dynamics in permalloy thin films by picosecond magnetic field pulse shaping

We have measured the response of a 20×10 μm, 8 nm thin NiFe (80:20) permalloy film due to excitation by short in-plane magnetic field pulses. We will show that using a two-pulse-technique a complete control of the precessional motion of the magnetisation can be achieved on picosecond timescales. Furthermore, we will present numerical calculations which show that a complete suppression of magnetisation ringing after switching can only be realised by a cascade of short field pulses.     

A novel monochromator for experiments with ultrashort X‐ray pulses

Aiming at advancing storage‐ring‐based ultrafast X‐ray science, over the past few years many upgrades have been undertaken to continue improving beamline performance and photon flux at the Femtoslicing facility at BESSY II. In this article the particular design upgrade of one of the key optical components, the zone‐plate monochromator (ZPM) beamline, is reported. The beamline is devoted to optical pump/soft X‐ray probe applications with 100 fs (FWHM) X‐ray pulses in the soft X‐ray range at variable polarization. A novel approach consisting of an array of nine off‐axis reflection zone plates is used for a gapless coverage of the spectral range between 410 and 1333 eV at a designed resolution of E/ΔE = 500 and a pulse elongation of only 30 fs. With the upgrade of the ZPM the following was achieved: a smaller focus, an improved spectral resolution and bandwidth as well as excellent long‐term stability. The beamline will enable a new class of ultrafast applications with variable optical excitation wavelength and variable polarization.     

Shaping of few-cycle laser pulses via a subwavelength structure

We theoretically investigate the propagation of few-cycle laser pulses in resonant two-level dense media with a sub- wavelength structure, which is described by the full Maxwell-Bloch equations without the frame of slowly varying envelope and rotating wave approximations. The input pulses can be shaped into shorter ones with a single or less than one optical cycle. The effect of the parameters of the subwavelength structure and laser pulses is studied. Our study shows that the media with a subwavelength structure can significantly shape the few-cycle pulses into a subcycle pulse, even for the case of chirp pulses as input fields. This suggests that such subwavelength structures have potential application in the shaping of few-cycle laser pulses.     

Propagation of extremely short pulses in a graphene–boron nitride bilayer

In this study we investigate the propagation of extremely short optical pulses in a thin film formed by a graphene grown on a boron nitride substrate. Conduction electrons of the system are described on the basis of the long-wavelength effective Hamiltonian in the case of low temperatures; the electromagnetic field being taken into account within the framework of the classical Maxwell equations. The time evolution of the pulse?s shape for different speeds and maximum amplitudes of an extremely short pulse is analyzed.