Compression Of Femtosecond Pulses Research Articles

Modeling Photonic Crystal Fiber for Efficient Soliton-Effect Compression of Femtosecond Optical Pulses at 850 nm

In this paper, we numerically investigate the dynamics of soliton-effect compression of femtosecond optical pulses in silica-core photonic crystal fiber (PCF) at 850 nm using both empirical relations method and symmetrized split-step Fourier method. We propose a novel nano-size silica PCF structure featuring a minimum anomalous group velocity dispersion, small higher-order dispersions and enhanced nonlinearity for efficient soliton-effect compression of femtosecond optical pulses with subnanojoule input pulse energies over small distances.

High-energy laser-pulse self-compression in short gas-filled fibers

We examine the spatiotemporal compression of energetic femtosecond laser pulses within short gas-filled fibers. The study is undertaken using an advanced nonlinear pulse propagation model based on a multimode generalized nonlinear Schrodinger equation that has been modified to include plasma effects. Plasma defocusing and linear propagation effects are shown to be the dominant processes within a highly dynamical mechanism that enables 100-fs pulses to be compressed into the few-cycle regime after <50 mm of propagation. Once the mechanism has been introduced, parameter spaces are explored and compressor designs suitable for performing high-field experiments in situ are presented. We finish by showing how these designs may be extended to novel wavelengths and driving pulses delivered by state-of-the-art high-repetition-rate lasers.

Direct femtosecond pulse compression with miniature-sized Bragg cholesteric liquid crystal

Direct compression of femtosecond optical pulses from a Ti:sapphire laser oscillator was realized with a cholesteric liquid crystal acting as a nonlinear 1D periodic Bragg grating. With a 6 μm thick sample, the pulse duration could be compressed from 100 to 48 fs. Coupled-mode equations for forward and backward waves were employed to simulate the dynamics therein, and good agreement between theory and experiment was obtained.

Dynamics of phase-locking random lasers

Laser modes may coalesce into a mode-locked state that enables femtosecond pulse compression. The nature of the interaction and the interaction time play fundamental roles in the onset of this collective state, but the investigation of the transition dynamics is technically challenging because phases are not always experimentally accessible. This is even more difficult for random lasers, a kind of disordered laser in which energies in play are much smaller than in the ordered macroscopic case. Here we investigate experimentally and numerically the dynamics of the phase-locking transition in a random laser. We developed an experimental setup able to pump individual modes with different pulse durations and found that the mode-locked regime builds only for quasicontinuous pumping, resulting in an emission linewidth dependent on the pump duration. Numerical simulation confirms experimental data.

Compression of femtosecond petawatt laser pulses in a plasma under the conditions of wake-wave excitation

We propose the concept of a plasma compressor capable of producing extremely short relativistic laser pulse, which is based on the studies of self-focusing of high-power laser pulses under the wake-wave excitation conditions. It is shown that, in the optimal regime, the compression of laser pulses up to a duration of one optical cycle is possible. We study the influence of hose instability on the process of pulse self-compression and have found that this instability is not important for a wide set of initial conditions. The matter is that the length of pulse distortion in both transverse and longitudinal directions is larger than the length of the pulse self-compression. Hose instability gives only negligible decrease of compression degree and weak deformation of pulse profile.

Temporal and lateral electron pulse compression by a compact spherical electrostatic capacitor

A novel solution for high intensity electron pulse compression in both space and time is proposed in this paper. Based on the unique properties of the central-force electrostatic field of a spherical electrostatic capacitor, the newly developed α-Spherical Deflector Analyzer (α-SDA) with 2π total deflection is utilized for the practical realization of femtosecond electron pulse compression. The mirror symmetry of the system at π deflection causes not only the cancellation of the geometrical and chromatic aberrations at 2π, but also leads to aberration-free time reversal of the electron pulse in the exit plane. As a consequence, the time-divergent electrons at the input are transformed to a time-convergent pulse at the output. In the symmetric case with the first time compression exactly at π, the shortest electron pulse behind the α-SDA analyzer is a mirror symmetric to the original electron pulse at the photocathode. It results in extremely short final electron pulses that are limited only by the duration of the laser pulse, the emittance of the electron bunch, and by imperfections of the real system.

Spectrally tailored narrowband pulses for femtosecond stimulated Raman spectroscopy in the range 330-750 nm

Spectral compression of femtosecond pulses by second harmonic generation in the presence of substantial group velocity dispersion provides a convenient source of narrowband Raman pump pulses for femtosecond stimulated Raman spectroscopy (FSRS). We discuss here a simple and efficient modification that dramatically increases the versatility of the second harmonic spectral compression technique. Adding a spectral filter following second harmonic generation produces narrowband pulses with a superior temporal profile. This simple modification i) increases the Raman gain for a given pulse energy, ii) improves the spectral resolution, iii) suppresses coherent oscillations associated with slowly dephasing vibrations, and iv) extends the useful tunable range to at least 330-750 nm.

High-energy femtosecond laser pulse compression in single- and multi-ionization regime of rare gases: experiment versus theory

We report experimental and numerical results on the post-compression of 40 fs duration pulses down to 10 fs at high energy level (multi-mJ). The spectral broadening is achieved through the self-phase modulation resulting from optical-field-ionization of different noble gases (He, Ne, Ar) by the 40-fs laser pulse propagating in a low-pressure gas-filled hollow capillary. We discuss the influence of the multi-ionization dynamics, through the gas dependence, on the laser energy carried by the capillary, as well as on the duration and temporal shape of the post-compressed pulses. In all the different experimental conditions investigated in this article (pressures and gases used), the experimental data is in good agreement with the numerical results from a three-dimension propagation code. Through this study, we demonstrate the robustness of the proposed post-compression technique with regard to multi-ionization, indicating that it can be used on a large intensity range by judiciously choosing the gas.

Compression of femtosecond pulses with a Gaussian temporal and spatial intensity distribution

The possibility of using the cubic self-action effect of intense radiation for the additional time compression of Gaussian beams with a quasi-uniform cross section is investigated. The ability to recompress Gaussian pulses down to () with the heterogeneity of less than () on the spatial scale, which corresponds to the energy level 63% (86 %) of the beam, is theoretically demonstrated at the -integral of .

Femtosecond pulse compression in a hollow-core photonic bandgap fiber by tuning its cross section

We present a numerical study of soliton pulse compression in a seven-cell hollow-core photonic bandgap fiber. We analyze the enhancement of both the compression factor and the pulse shape quality of 360nJ femtosecond pulses at the wavelength of 800nm by tuning the cross section size of the fiber. We use the generalized non-linear Schrödinger equation in order to modeled the propagation of light pulses along the fiber. Our numerical results show that output compressed pulses can be obtained, in a propagation length of 31cm, with a compression factor of 5.7 and pulse shape quality of 77% for a reduction of 4.5% of the cross section size of the fiber. The predicted compression factor is 3 times larger than that experimentally obtained in such propagation length of the pulse in a hollow-core photonic bandgap fiber.

Coherent Raman spectroscopy with a fiber‐format femtosecond oscillator

We report on the recent development of a new technological approach for coherent Raman spectroscopy/microscopy based on spectral compression of femtosecond pulses emitted by an amplified multiple‐branch Er:fiber oscillator. Spectral compression is achieved by group‐velocity mismatched second‐harmonic generation in periodically poled nonlinear crystals, and it allows efficient synthesis of multiple synchronized narrow‐bandwidth picosecond pulses with frequency difference continuously tunable from 1000 to 3500 cm−1. The system offers performances close to the current state of the art both for coherent anti‐Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) and for stimulated Raman scattering (SRS), but with significant advantages in terms of compactness and versatility. In fact, several configurations can be easily implemented, including multiplex CARS, two‐color imaging and nonresonant background suppression in CARS. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

Fiber delivered two-color picosecond source through nonlinear spectral transformation for coherent Raman scattering imaging

We demonstrate a two-color, fiber-delivered picosecond source for coherent Raman scattering (CRS) imaging through nonlinear spectral transformation. The wavelength tunable picosecond pump is generated by nonlinear spectral compression of a prechirped femtosecond pulse in a fiber wavelength division multiplexer (WDM). The 1064-nm synchronized picosecond Stokes pulse is generated through pulse carving of a continuous wave laser, nonlinear spectral broadening in 100-m standard single-mode fiber, and subsequent dispersive compression with a fiber compressor. The pump and Stokes beams are combined and delivered by the fiber WDM. CRS imaging of mouse skin is performed to demonstrate the practicality of this source.

Efficient spectral shift and compression of femtosecond pulses by parametric amplification of chirped light

We present a method for an efficient spectral shift and compression of pulses from a femtosecond laser system. The method enables generation of broadly tunable (615-985 nm) narrow bandwidth (≈10 cm(-1)) pulses from the femtosecond pulses at 1030 nm. It employs a direct parametric amplification--without spectral filtering--of highly chirped white light by a narrow bandwidth (<5 cm(-1)) 515 nm pump pulse. The system, when pumped with just 200 μJ of the fundamental femtosecond pulse energy, generates pulses with energies of 3-9 μJ and an excellent beam quality in the entire tuning range.

Fiber-delivered picosecond source for coherent Raman scattering imaging

We demonstrate a two-color, fiber-delivered picosecond source for coherent Raman scattering (CRS) imaging. The wavelength-tunable picosecond pump is generated by nonlinear spectral compression of a prechirped femtosecond pulse from a mode-locked titanium:sapphire (Ti:S) laser. The 1064 nm picosecond Stokes pulse is generated by an all-fiber time-lens source that is synchronized to the Ti:S laser. The pump and Stokes beams are combined in an optical fiber coupler, which serves not only as the delivery fiber but also as the nonlinear medium for spectral compression of the femtosecond pulse. CRS imaging of mouse skin is performed to demonstrate the practicality of this source.

Comparative analysis of diffraction gratings for femtosecond pulse compression systems based on numerical simulation of their parameters

The parameters of diffraction gratings that can be used to compress high-power femtosecond pulses of neodymium glass lasers are analyzed based on numerical calculations. The parameters of gratings of different types are compared to evaluate prospects for their use.

Efficient spectral conversion and temporal compression of femtosecond pulses in SF_6

An uniquely high conversion efficiency of fundamental radiation from a Ti:sapphire laser to a supercontinuum is achieved through filamentary propagation in sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) to generate a uniform over-octave spectrum. Two different parts of the supercontinuum, firstly around the fundamental wavelength of 800 nm and secondly within the newly generated frequency range around 550 nm, are shown to be compressible down to minimal pulse duration of about 10 fs demonstrating a potential of the method for single-cycle pulses generation.

Femtosecond stimulated Raman spectrometer in the 320-520nm range

Multi-µJ narrow-bandwidth (≈ 10 cm(-1)) picosecond pulses, broadly tunable in the visible-UV range (320-520 nm), are generated by spectral compression of femtosecond pulses emitted by an amplified Ti:sapphire system. Such pulses provide the ideal Raman pump for broadband femtosecond stimulated Raman spectroscopy, as here demonstrated on a heme protein.

Designing microstructured polymer optical fibers for cascaded quadratic soliton compression of femtosecond pulses: erratum

Designing microstructured polymer optical fibers for cascaded quadratic soliton compression of femtosecond pulses: erratum

Gires-Tournois interferometer type negative dispersion mirrors for deep ultraviolet pulse compression

Typical femtosecond pulse compression of deep ultraviolet radiation consists of prism or diffraction grating pair chirp compensation but, both techniques introduce higher-order dispersion, spatial-spectral beam distortion and poor transmission. While negatively chirped dielectric mirrors have been used to compress near infrared and visible pulses to <10 fs, there has been no extension of this technique below 300 nm. We demonstrate the use of Gires-Tournois interferometer (GTI) negative dispersion multilayer dielectric mirrors designed for pulse compression in the deep ultraviolet region. GTI mirror designs are more robust than chirped mirrors and, can provide sufficient bandwidth for the compression of sub-30-fs pulses in the UV wavelength range. Compression of a 5 nm (FWHM) pulse centered between 266 and 271 nm to 30 fs has been achieved with less pulse broadening due to high-order dispersion and no noticeable spatial deformation, thereby improving the resolution of ultrafast techniques used to study problems such as fast photochemical reaction dynamics.

Enhanced compression of femtosecond pulse in hollow-core photonic bandgap fibers

Compression of chirped free femtosecond pulses in hollow-core photonic bandgap fibers is investigated numerically. The results show that intrapulse stimulated Raman scattering can improve the quality of the compressed pulse. Positive third-order dispersion is the main limitation on the compression of the femtosecond pulse. However, the combined effect of the intrapulse stimulated Raman scattering and the negative third-order dispersion can form still shorter pulses than is possible with intrapulse stimulated Raman scattering alone. We also investigate the influence of width and peak power of input pulse on pulse compression.