Abstract
During the propagation of intense femtosecond laser pulses in a transparent medium, pulse shortening can occur without external guiding. Experimental evidence for this effect and a description of its physical origin are presented. Nearly single cycle pulses at 800 nm with an energy of 0.120 mJ can be obtained with excellent beam quality. Carrier envelope offset phase (CEP) stability is conserved or even improved after the nonlinear propagation stage. Prospects for further improvement are discussed.
Highlights
The present laser technology based on Ti:sapphire allows routinely reproducible optical pulses in the near infrared (IR) region to be obtained with a typical duration in the range 10–100 fs
The incident Carrier envelope offset phase (CEP)-locked pulses are produced in a commercial Ti:sapphire laser working at a 1 kHz repetition rate
The beam of diameter 6.4 mm (FWHM) is focused with a −2000 radius of curvature (ROC) silver mirror inside a first 1.8 m long cell filled with Ar at a pressure of 900 mbar
Summary
The present laser technology based on Ti:sapphire allows routinely reproducible optical pulses in the near infrared (IR) region to be obtained with a typical duration in the range 10–100 fs. Near single cycle optical pulses are essential ingredients in attosecond physics both for the generation of XUV attosecond pulses [2, 3] and for a short intense streaking pulse in the near IR [3, 4] They are important in ultra-relativistic nonlinear optics, where the laser field is high enough to impart to protons a velocity close to the speed of light [5]. In 2004, filament compression of carrier envelope offset phase (CEP) [11] stabilized pulses in the few-cycle regime has been demonstrated in Zurich [12]. It was recognized during the tedious alignment of two successive hollow fibre compression stages that similar or even better results were obtained when the two hollow fibres were removed. We discuss prospects for further improvements and draw some conclusions
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