Compact and robust supercontinuum generation and post-compression using multiple thin plates

Xinhua Xie,Steven L. Johnson,Yunpei Deng

doi:10.1017/hpl.2021.53

Xinhua Xie, Steven L. Johnson + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1017/hpl.2021.53

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Abstract

Abstract We report on compact and robust supercontinuum generation and post-compression using transmission of light through multiple thin solid plates at the SwissFEL X-ray free-electron laser facility. A single stage consisting of three thin plates followed by a chirped mirror compressor achieves compression of initially 30-fs pulses with 800-nm center wavelength to sub-10-fs duration. We also demonstrate a two-stage implementation to compress the pulses further to sub-5-fs duration. With the two-stage setup, the generated supercontinuum includes wavelengths ranging from 500 to 1100 nm. The multi-plate setup is compact, robust, and stable, which makes it ideal for applications at free-electron laser facilities such as pump-probe experiments and laser-arrival timing tools.

Highlights

Electronic and nuclear dynamics play essential roles in the properties and functions of matter[1]
Ultrashort pulses are required to initiate and probe the selected dynamics. Such pulses can be provided by both optical-frequency lasers and free-electron lasers (FELs)[8,9,10]
Using 4 pieces of 100-μm fused silica plates, we demonstrate compression of 30 fs pulse duration down to 9.6 fs using chirped mirrors to compensate for the group delay dispersion (GDD)

Summary

Introduction

Electronic and nuclear dynamics play essential roles in the properties and functions of matter[1]. Such dynamics span timescales from picoseconds down to attoseconds[2,3,4,5,6,7]. Ultrashort pulses are required to initiate and probe the selected dynamics. Such pulses can be provided by both optical-frequency lasers and free-electron lasers (FELs)[8,9,10]. Optical-wavelength pulses can reach pulse durations down to a few femtoseconds and, high-order harmonic generation, can in turn be used to produce pulses in the extreme ultraviolet/soft X-ray spectral regime with pulse durations below 100 attoseconds[3]. One of the major limitations of these high-harmonic sources is low photon flux at photon energies above 200 eV

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