Cross-polarized Wave Research Articles

Phase-engineered metalenses to generate converging and non-diffractive vortex beam carrying orbital angular momentum in microwave region.

In this paper, ultra-thin metalenses are proposed to generate converging and non-diffractive vortex beam carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) in microwave region. Phase changes are introduced to the transmission cross-polarized wave by tailoring spatial orientation of Pancharatnam-Berry phase unit cell. Based on the superposition of phase profile of spiral phase plate and that of a converging lens or an axicon, vortex beam carrying OAM mode generated by the metalens can also exhibit characteristics of a focusing beam or a Bessel beam. Measured field intensities and phase distributions at microwave frequencies verify the theoretical design procedure. The proposed method provides an efficient approach to control the radius of vortex beam carrying OAM mode in microwave wireless applications for medium-short range distance.

介质色散对交叉偏振波输出特性的影响

介质色散对交叉偏振波输出特性的影响

The Xingguang-III laser facility: precise synchronization with femtosecond, picosecond and nanosecond beams

We report a high-intensity laser facility named Xingguang-III that generates femtosecond, picosecond, and nanosecond beams with three wavelengths, i.e. 800 nm, 1053 nm, and 527 nm, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, the laser facility is the first one which produces three beams with different pulse widths and wavelengths. An optical synchronization technique, combining super continuum generation and femtosecond optical parametric amplification, was developed to ensure three beams are from the same source to achieve precise synchronization. The femtosecond beam is a double chirped-pulse-amplification Ti:sapphire laser which applies cross-polarized wave generation to improve the temporal contrast. The picosecond/nanosecond beams utilize the optical parametric amplification + Nd:glass mixed amplification scheme. The output energy and pulse width of the three beams are 20.1 J/26.8 fs, 370.2 J/0.48 ps (shortest), and 575.4 J/1.0 ns, respectively. The smallest synchronization time (peak-to-valley) and the shot-to-shot timing jitter (peak-to-peak) of less than 1.32 ps have been achieved for the femtosecond and picosecond beams.

Propagation of Circularly Polarized Light Through a Two-Dimensional Random Medium

The problem of small-angle multiple-scattering of circularly polarized light in a two-dimensional medium with large fiberlike inhomogeneities is studied. The attenuation lengths for elements the density matrix are calculated. It is found that with increasing the sample thickness the intensity of waves polarized along the fibers decays faster than the other density matrix elements. With further increase in the thickness, the off-diagonal element which is responsible for correlation between the cross-polarized waves dissapears. In the case of very thick samples the scattered field proves to be polarized perpendicular to the fibers. It is shown that the difference in the attenuation lengths of the density matrix elements results in a non-monotonic depth dependence of the degree of polarization.

Broadband reflective multi-polarization converter based on single-layer double-L-shaped metasurface

In this paper, a broadband reflective multi-polarization converter based on single-layer double-L-shaped metasurface is proposed. The proposed metasurface can effectively convert linear-polarized (TE/TM) incident wave into the reflected wave with three different polarizations within the frequency bands of 5.5–22.75 GHz. Based on the electric and magnetic resonant features of the double-L-shaped structure, the proposed metasurface can convert linearly polarized waves into cross-polarized waves at three resonant frequency bands. Furthermore, the incident linearly polarized waves can be effectively converted into left/right handed circular-polarized (LHCP and RHCP) waves at other four non-resonance frequency bands. Thus, the proposed metasurface can be regarded as a seven-band multi-polarization converter. The prototype of the proposed polarization converter is analyzed and measured. Both simulated and measured results show the 3-dB axis ratio bandwidth of circular polarization bands and the high polarization conversion efficiency of cross-polarization bands when the incident wave changes from 0° to 30° at both TE and TM modes.

Binary-phase compression of stretched pulses

Pulse stretching and compression are essential for the energy scale-up of ultrafast lasers. Here, we consider a radical approach using spectral binary phases, containing only two values (0 and π) for stretching and compressing laser pulses. We numerically explore different strategies and present results for pulse compression of factors up to a million back to the transform limit and experimentally obtain results for pulse compression of a factor of one hundred, in close agreement with numerical calculations. Imperfections resulting from binary-phase compression are addressed by considering cross-polarized wave generation filtering, and show that this approach leads to compressed pulses with contrast ratios greater than ten orders of magnitude. This new concept of binary-phase stretching and compression, if implemented in a multi-layer optic, could eliminate the need for traditional pulse stretchers and more importantly expensive compressors.

4.2 PW, 20 fs Ti:sapphire laser at 0.1 Hz.

We demonstrated the generation of 4.2PW laser pulses at 0.1Hz from a chirped-pulse amplification Ti:sapphire laser. The cross-polarized wave generation and the optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification stages were installed for the prevention of the gain narrowing and for the compensation of the spectral narrowing in the amplifiers, obtaining the spectral width of amplified laser pulses of 84nm (FWHM), and enhancing the temporal contrast. The amplified laser pulses of 112J after the final booster amplifier were compressed to the pulses with 83J at 19.4fs with a shot-to-shot energy stability of 1.5% (RMS). This 4.2PW laser will be a workhorse for exploring high field science.

Polarization gating using cross-polarized wave generation with multicycle lasers to produce isolated attosecond pulses in overdense media

A method to generate a polarization gate for multicycle laser pulses is presented. We study the performance of a pulse with time-dependent polarization to produce a single attosecond pulse after its interaction with an overdense plasma. The polarization gate is generated through the use of cross-polarized wave generation in a single BaF2 crystal combined with a dispersive medium. Numerical simulations demonstrate that using the polarization gate, the number of pulses in the attosecond train can be reduced. With this method a single attosecond pulse can be isolated by filtering the high harmonic orders in the reflected spectrum. The dependence of the ellipticity curve on the dispersion introduced is studied as well as its influence in the size of the polarization gate.

High-efficiency and multi-frequency polarization converters based on graphene metasurface with twisting double L-shaped unit structure array

In this work, a high-efficiency and tunable dual-frequency reflective polarization converter composed of graphene metasurface with twisting double L-shaped unit is firstly realized. Numerical results demonstrate that the device can convert a linearly polarized wave to its cross-polarized wave, and meantime it can also convert to a circularly polarized wave. Subsequently, one thickness of 500nm SiO2 layer sandwiched by two graphene metasurfaces with similar pattern is stacked on the top of the two-layered structure, a four-frequency efficient reflective polarization converters is realized. Above all, those working frequencies can also be dynamically tuned within a large frequency range by adjusting the Fermi energy of the graphene, without reoptimizing and refabricating the nanostructures, which paves a novel way toward developing a controllable polarization converter for mid-infrared applications.

Designing an ultrafast laser virtual laboratory using MATLAB GUIDE

In this work we present a virtual simulator developed using the MATLAB GUIDE environment based on the numerical resolution of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLS) and using the split step method for the study of the spatial–temporal propagation of nonlinear ultrashort laser pulses. This allows us to study the spatial–temporal propagation of ultrafast pulses as well as the influence of high-order spectral phases such as group delay dispersion and third-order dispersion on pulse compression in time. The NLS can describe several nonlinear effects, in particular in this paper we consider the Kerr effect, cross-polarized wave generation and cubic–quintic propagation in order to highlight the potential of this equation combined with the GUIDE environment. Graphical user interfaces are commonly used in science and engineering teaching due to their educational value, and have proven to be an effective way to engage and motivate students. Specifically, the interactive graphical interfaces presented provide the visualization of some of the most important nonlinear optics phenomena and allows users to vary the values of the main parameters involved.

Spectral-Phase-Modulated Cross-Polarized Wave for Chirped Pulse Amplifier with High Contrast Ratio**Supported by the National Key Basic Research Program of China under Grant No 2013CB922402, the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos 61575217 and 11434016, the Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences of Chinese Academy of Sciences under Grant Nos KJZD-EW-L11-03 and QYZDJ-SSW-JSC006, and the Strategic Priority Research

We demonstrate a high-quality cross-polarized-wave filter based on spectral phase modulation. Driven by well-compressed spectral-phase fully-compensated fundamental laser pulses, the filter stretches the pulse bandwidth from 35 nm to 70 nm with a conversion efficiency of 20%. After implementing the filter into a femtosecond TW Ti:sapphire laser system, we generate 40 mJ output pulse energy with pulse duration of 18.9 fs. The temporal contrast of the compressed pulse is enhanced to 109.

Influences of quadratic spectral phase on characteristics of two crystal cross-polarized generation with femtosecond pulses

The rapid developments of ultra-intense and ultra-short laser offer the possibility to study laser driven ion acceleration with using solid density target. However, the prepulse and amplified spontaneous emission generated in the amplification can create preplasma at the target front by heating, melting and evaporating a portion of a solid density. The main pulse then interacts with the preplasma, which would be harmful to laser ion acceleration. Therefore, many methods have been developed to enhance the temporal contrast of high power laser system, such as saturable absorber, cross polarized wave generation (XPW) and plasma mirror. With many advantages, such as high conversion efficiency, introducing neither spatial nor spectral distortions, and easy setup compared with other mechanisms, XPW has been used to clean the femtosecond laser system. Besides that, the spectrum of the XPW pulse could be broadened by 3 times under the best condition compared with the initial spectrum. It can solve the spectrum narrowing problem during the laser amplification to obtain ultra-short femtosecond laser pulse. Here, we experimentally investigate the output power, spectrum bandwidth and center wavelength shift of the generated cross-polarized wave according to the input pulse quadratic spectral phase. The femtosecond laser pulse in compact laser plasma accelerator system at Peking University is used to investigate the role of quadratic spectral phase in characterizing the two crystal cross-polarized generation. The Ti:Sapphire-based laser system has a central wavelength of 798 nm and bandwidth of 35.5 nm which allows the pulse to be compressed down to 40 fs duration (FWHM). Typical the input pulse energy of XPW is 150 upJ and the laser system operates well at 1 kHz repetition rate. The quadratic spectral phase can be increased by changing the position of compressor grating. The conversion efficiency, spectrum bandwidth and the central wavelength shift by changing the quadratic spectral phase are measured. The conversion efficiency is 17% when quadratic spectral phase 2=0, and decreases as quadratic spectral phase increases. The rapid decrease is caused by negative quadratic spectral phase. The spectrum bandwidth is 62 nm under the optimum condition, and the broadening effect exists when quadratic spectral phase is in a range of -280 fs2 2 1400 fs2. It is slowly blue-shifted when 20 and stays at 772 nm when 21000 fs2. It starts to be red-shifted when 20 and stays at 806 nm finally. In conclusion, with the increase of quadratic spectral phase, we observe the effects of conversion efficiency and spectrum bandwidth and the shift of central wavelength. Moreover, the influences of positive and negative quadratic spectral phase on characteristics of XPW are different. Our result shows that the negative quadratic spectral phaseis more effective at reducing the conversion efficiency and spectrum bandwidth than the positive one.

Influence of linear chirp on the output characteristics of cross polarized wave with saturated power density

Ultra-short and ultra-intense laser is one of the hottest research spot of laser technology and strong field physics, due to its challenging and the frontier application research. As the key specification of ultrafast ultrahigh intensity laser pulse, the contrast ratio is very influential on the effect of laser-matter interaction. To perform the laser-matter interaction experiments at a high power level, the contrast is required to be as high as 1010 to prevent preplasma dynamics. To solve these problems, one has proposed many methods to improve the contrast of ultrafast laser, such as using the saturable absorbers, double chirped pulse amplification, plasma mirrors and the cross-polarized wave (XPW) generation. The XPW technology can not only enhance the contrast of the pulse by 3-4 orders of magnitude without introducing any space dispersion, but also extend the output spectrum to support shorter pulse duration. The XPW is a nonlinear filter technique in third-order nonlinear crystal with anisotropic susceptibility. Because of its simple and all-solid-state structure, the XPW technique has become one of the most effective methods to enhance the temporal pulse contrast and deliver shorter pulse duration in the field of high peak-power ultrafast lasers. This method has been used in many large laser facilities under construction or upgrades, such as the Apollon and ELI, the contrast ratio as high as 1010 has been achieved. It is known that the conversion efficiency and spectral characteristics of XPW have a strong dependence on the spatial and temporal magnitudes of the input driving pulse. In our experiment, it is found that the various changes of the driven pulse properties have different influences on the characteristics of XPW pulses. The relationship between the linear dispersion of driven pulse and temporal property of XPW is investigated theoretically. In addition, an experiment on verifying the theory is conducted by taking advantage of a programmable acousto-optic dispersion filter. The experimental results fit well to the theoretical results while some new phenomena emerge when the intensity in the BaF2 crystal reaches a saturation threshold. The spectral broadening capability of XPW becomes stronger and exceeds a theoretical upper limit. The pulse width can also be compressed to shorter than the theoretical limit. It is found that there are significant differences in spectral shape and conversion efficiency between the XPW signals by applying the opposite linear chirps to the driving pulse. A further analysis and theoretical explanation of these new phenomena are also presented.

High efficiency cross-polarized wave filter for non-vacuum transmission

Development of high-peak power laser system encounters difficulties in producing the pulses with high temporal contrast. To increase the pulse temporal contrast ratio, a nonlinear filter based on crossed-polarized wave (XPW) generation is proposed. The XPW generation relies on a third-order nonlinear process occurring in a nonlinear medium, such as barium fluorite (BaF2) crystal. The XPW process is quite straightforward:a linearly polarized laser pulse is focused on BaF2 crystal positioned between two orthogonally polarizers, high power main pulses due to nonlinear polarization rotation can pass through the second polarizer, while low power unconverted pre-and post-pulses are filtered by the second polarizer. With the XPW technique, pulse contrast can be enhanced by several orders of magnitude. Furthermore, XPW spectrum can be broaden by a factor with respect to the initial spectrum. This efficient pulse cleaner presents many advantages and has proved to be a simple and reliable pulse filter operating in a double chirped pulse amplification system. Most of previous XPW experiments utilize short focal systems or work off focus due to an intensity limit in the crystal (BaF2). These drawbacks result in a lower conversion efficiency (lower than 10%) when using a single crystal. Dual crystal setup is capable of achieving efficiency more than 20%, yet the configuration restricts the crystal separation to a millimeter level. The use of long focus lens in the XPW device is capable of reaching higher efficiency, with BaF2 crystal positioned in the focal plane. Hence for milljoule pulses, the setup distance increases to tens of meters, resulting in a complicated system and cumbersome configuration. Considering these limitations, a compact, highly efficient and stable XPW generation using dual-lens system suitable for non-vacuum transmission is presented. The measured nonlinear accumulated phase shows little deterioration of pulse quality. With a compact dual lens system, we realize an excellent XPW conversion of above 22% (internal efficiency of 30%) with using double BaF2 crystals, while a femtosecond laser pulse can experience a spectrum broadening up to a factor of 1.78. The dual-lens configuration overcomes the crystal separation limit, and conversion efficiency exceeds 20% for a crystal separation from 13 cm to 22 cm, which is conducible to flexibility and robustness. The stability for the setup to generate shorter pulses with very high contrast or compensate for spectral gain narrowing in the preamplifier is ensured due to the dual-lens focusing system.

Few-cycle optical pulse characterization via cross-polarized wave generation dispersion scan technique.

We demonstrate a dispersion scan (d-scan) pulse characterization scheme employing cross-polarized wave (XPW) generation as a nonlinear optical process. XPW generation is a degenerate four-wave mixing process with no phase-matching limitations. Therefore, its implementation in the d-scan method is a good choice for the characterization of few-cycle pulses in remote spectral regions. We fully characterize 5-10fs pulses delivered through a hollow-core fiber in the near-IR region and compare the results with the second-harmonic generation (SHG) frequency-resolved optical gating and SHG d-scan characterization methods.

Manipulating the Lorentz force via the chirality of nanoparticles

We demonstrate that a single plane wave pulls a chiral nanoparticle toward the light source. The nanoparticle exhibits optical gain in a particular wavelength region. The equivalence of the generalized and alternative expressions of the Lorentz force density relating to bound charges for chiral media is numerically validated. By considering the two-dimensional electromagnetic problem of incident plane waves normally impinged on active chiral cylinders, it is shown that the gradient force is mainly contributed by the bound electric and magnetic current densities of the cross-polarized waves. We also investigate how the medium parameters and impedance mismatch can be used to manipulate the pulling or pushing Lorentz forces between two chiral cylinders. This finding may provide a recipe to understand the light interaction with multiple chiral nanoparticles of arbitrary shapes (in general) with the aid of the numerical approach. It could be a promising avenue in controlling the optical micromanipulation for chiral nanoparticles with mirroring asymmetry.

Symmetry-based coding method and synthesis topology optimization design of ultra-wideband polarization conversion metasurfaces

In this letter, we propose the synthesis topology optimization method of designing ultra-wideband polarization conversion metasurface for linearly polarized waves. The general design principle of polarization conversion metasurfaces is derived theoretically. Symmetry-based coding, with shorter coding length and better optimization efficiency, is then proposed. As an example, a topological metasurface is demonstrated with an ultra-wideband polarization conversion property. The results of both simulations and experiments show that the metasurface can convert linearly polarized waves into cross-polarized waves in 8.0–30.0 GHz, obtaining the property of ultra-wideband polarization conversion based on metasurfaces, and hence validating the synthesis design method. The proposed method combines the merits of topology optimization and symmetry-based coding method, which provides an efficient tool for the design of high-performance polarization conversion metasurfaces.

High contrast, 86 fs, 35 mJ pulses from a diode-pumped, Yb:glass, double-chirped-pulse amplification laser system.

We demonstrate the generation of 86 fs, 35 mJ, high-contrast laser pulses at 1030 nm with a repetition rate of 1 Hz from a diode-pumped double chirped-pulse amplification setup. The pulses exhibit a spectral bandwidth exceeding 27 nm full width at half-maximum. This could be achieved by using a laser architecture comprising two stages of chirped pulse amplification with a cross-polarized wave generation filter in between, by applying spectral shaping and by increasing the spectral hard-clip of the second stretcher. These are, to the best of our knowledge, the shortest pulses at the mJ level with ultra-high contrast generated with a diode-pumped front end at 1030 nm.

Scattering of a cross-polarized linear wave by a soliton at an optical event horizon in a birefringent nanophotonic waveguide.

The scattering of a linear wave on an optical event horizon, induced by a cross-polarized soliton, is experimentally and numerically investigated in integrated structures. The experiments are performed in a dispersion-engineered birefringent silicon nanophotonic waveguide. In stark contrast with copolarized waves, the large difference between the group velocity of the two cross-polarized waves enables a frequency conversion almost independent of the soliton wavelength. It is shown that the generated idler is only shifted by 10 nm around 1550 nm over a pump tuning range of 350 nm. Simulations using two coupled full vectorial nonlinear Schrödinger equations fully support the experimental results.

Dual-band and high-efficiency polarization converter based on metasurfaces at microwave frequencies

We present a dual-band and high-efficiency polarization converter in microwave regime. The proposed converter can convert a linearly polarized wave to its cross-polarized wave for two distinct bands: Ku (11.5–20.0 GHz) and Ka (28.8–34.0 GHz). It can also convert the linearly polarized wave to a circularly polarized wave at four other frequencies. The experimental results are in good agreement with simulation results for both frequency bands. The polarization conversion ratio is above 0.94 for the Ku-band and 0.90 for the Ka-band. Furthermore, the converter can achieve dual-band and high-efficiency polarization conversion over angles of incidence up to 45°. The converter is also polarization-selective in that only the x- and y-polarized waves can be converted. The physical mechanism of the dual-band polarization conversion effect is interpreted via decomposed electric field components that couple with different plasmon resonance modes of the structure.