Abstract
We demonstrate the ability to manipulate ultrashort pulses in cholesteric liquid crystals in the linear regime. We present an extensive analysis of the spectral changes undergone by 20fs pulses when propagating through band edges of cholesteric liquid crystals. The accurate quantification of the introduced optical dispersion opens the way to controlled stretching and compression of ultrashort pulses. The behaviors of cholesteric liquid crystal films with different thickness, bandgap and structural parameters (monotonic pitch versus pitch-gradient films) are compared. A statistical approach is disclosed to fidelize and deepen the set of experimental investigations.
Highlights
Optical dispersion engineering in a material medium triggers advanced light manipulation capabilities, such as slow and fast light, group delay steering and ultrafast pulse shaping
We analyze the difference in transmitted spectral amplitude and phase when the pulse propagates through the substrate only and when it propagates through the substrate plus cholesteric LCs (CLCs)
Smoothness of the bandgap slopes of CLC samples enables to tune the dispersion of femtosecond pulses within a broad spectrum (20fs)
Summary
Optical dispersion engineering in a material medium triggers advanced light manipulation capabilities, such as slow and fast light, group delay steering and ultrafast pulse shaping. Some examples of these advanced media include photonic crystals [1], photorefractive crystals [2] or metasurfaces [3, 4]. Ultrashort pulse shaping applications have been contemplated, both in the nonlinear [8, 9] and linear [10, 11] optical regime In the latter case, group velocity changes in the vicinity of the bandgap enable negative or positive chirping of the incoming pulse. The reason might be due to the steepness of the photonic bandgap, not suitable to accommodate wide spectral bandwidths
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