Effective Interaction Length Research Articles

Optimized terahertz generation in BNA organic crystals with chirped Ti:sapphire laser pulses.

We report on the efficient generation of intense terahertz radiation from the organic crystal N-benzyl-2-methyl-4-nitroaniline pumped by chirped Ti:sapphire femtosecond laser pulses. The THz energy and spectrum as a function of the pump fluence and duration of the chirped laser pulses are studied systematically. For the appropriate positively chirped pump pulses, a significant boost in the THz generation efficiency by a factor of around 2.5 is achieved, and the enhancement of high-frequency components (>1 THz) shortens the THz pulse duration. Via complete characterization of THz properties and transmitted laser spectra, this nonlinear behavior is attributed to the extended effective interaction length for phase matching as a result of the self-phase modulation of the intense pump laser pulses. Numerical calculations well reproduce the experimental observation. Our results demonstrate a robust, efficient, strong-field (up to several MV/cm) THz source using the common sub-10 mJ and sub-100 fs Ti:sapphire laser systems without optical parametric amplifiers.

Extended interaction length laser-driven acceleration in a tunable dielectric structure

The development of long, tunable structures is critical to increasing energy gain in laser-driven dielectric accelerators (DLAs). Here we combine pulse-front-tilt illumination with slab-geometry structures assembled by precisely aligning off-the-shelf 4 mm long transmission gratings to achieve up to 200 keV energy modulation for 6 MeV injected electrons. The effective interaction length is longer than 1 mm, limited by the dephasing of the accelerated particles in the structure. The piezo-based independent mounting system for the gratings allows tuning of the gap and field distribution inside the structure. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Ultra-compact acousto-optic modulation using on-chip integrated Bragg gratings on lithium niobate-chalcogenide hybrid platform.

An ultra-compact and efficient acousto-optic modulator based on a thin-film lithium niobate-chalcogenide (ChG) hybrid platform was designed and realized. In this approach, π phase-shift Bragg grating has an ultra-short effective interaction length of only ∼ 300 µm and a compact footprint of 200 × 300 µm2. The strong microwave-acoustic coupling and superior photo-elastic property of the ChG allow us to achieve a half-wave voltage of Vπ = 1.08 V (4.07 V) for the π phase-shift Bragg grating (waveguide Bragg grating), corresponding to VπL = 0.03 V·cm (0.09 V·cm). This acousto-optic modulator exhibits a compact size, and low power consumption, and can be used for on-chip optical interconnects and microwave photonics.

Control of Spatiotemporal Localization of Infrared Pulses in Gas-Filled Capillaries Using Weak Ultraviolet Pulses

Manipulation of intense pulse propagation in gas-filled capillaries is desirable for various high-field applications. Tuning the parameters of the driving laser pulse and the working gas is the conventional approach, and it provides limited capability of control. Here we demonstrate through numerical simulations a practical scheme to control the propagation of intense pulses. A weak ultraviolet pulse is launched into a capillary with a negative delay with respect to a main infrared pulse. The pulses begin to temporally overlap due to dispersion. As the main pulse self-compresses, the control pulse is strongly red-shifted due to cross-phase modulation. The frequency shifts of the two pulses mitigate pulse walk-off and allow an efficient coupling, substantially extending the effective interaction length. This interesting phenomenon may benefit applications such as high-order harmonic generation.

Optimized terahertz pulse generation with chirped pump pulses from an echelon-based tilted-pulse-front (TPF) scheme.

We successfully demonstrated the generation of single-cycle terahertz (THz) pulses through tilted-pulse-front (TPF) pumping using a reflective echelon in a lithium niobate crystal. By optimizing the pump pulse duration using a chirp, we achieved a maximum pump-to-THz conversion efficiency of 0.39%. However, we observed that the saturation behavior began at a relatively low pump energy (0.37 mJ), corresponding to a pump intensity of 22 GW/cm2. To elucidate this behavior, we measured the near- and far-field THz beam profiles and found variations in their beam characteristics, such as the beam size, location, and divergence angle in the plane of the tilted pulse direction, with the pump energy (intensity). This nonlinear behavior is attributed to the reduced effective interaction length, which ultimately leads to the saturation of THz generation. The results obtained from our study suggest that it is feasible to develop an effective THz source using echelon-based TPF pumping while also considering the impact of nonlinear saturation effects.

Cavity-enhanced field-resolved spectroscopy

Femtosecond enhancement cavities1 are key to applications including high-sensitivity linear2–4 and nonlinear5,6 gas spectroscopy, as well as efficient nonlinear optical frequency conversion7–10. Yet, to date, the broadest simultaneously enhanced bandwidths amount to <20% of the central optical frequency8,9,11–15. Here, we present an ultrabroadband femtosecond enhancement cavity comprising gold-coated mirrors and a wedged-diamond-plate input coupler, with an average finesse of 55 for optical frequencies below 40 THz and exceeding 40 in the 120–300 THz range. Resonant enhancement of a 50-MHz-repetition-rate offset-free frequency comb spanning 22–40 THz results in a waveform-stable ultrashort circulating pulse with a spectrum supporting a Fourier limit of 1.6 cycles, enabling time-domain electric-field-resolved spectroscopy of molecular samples with temporally separated excitation and molecular response16. The contrast between the two is improved by taking advantage of destructive interference at the input coupler. At an effective interaction length with a gas of up to 81 m, this concept promises parts-per-trillion-level ultrabroadband electric-field-resolved linear and nonlinear spectroscopy of impulsively excited molecular vibrations.

Quasi-static optical parametric amplification

High-gain optical parametric amplification is an important nonlinear process used both as a source of coherent infrared light and as a source of nonclassical light. In this work, we experimentally demonstrate an approach to optical parametric amplification that enables extremely large parametric gains with low energy requirements. In conventional nonlinear media driven by femtosecond pulses, multiple dispersion orders limit the effective interaction length available for parametric amplification. Here, we use the dispersion engineering available in periodically poled thin-film lithium niobate nanowaveguides to eliminate several dispersion orders at once. The result is a quasi-static process; the large peak intensity associated with a short pump pulse can provide gain to signal photons without undergoing pulse distortion or temporal walk-off. We characterize the parametric gain available in these waveguides using optical parametric generation, where vacuum fluctuations are amplified to macroscopic intensities. In the unsaturated regime, we observe parametric gains as large as 71 dB (118 dB/cm) spanning 1700–2700 nm with pump energies of only 4 pJ. When driven with pulse energies &gt; 10 p J , we observe saturated parametric gains as large as 88 dB ( &gt; 146 d B / c m ). The devices shown here achieve saturated optical parametric generation with orders of magnitude less pulse energy than previous techniques.

Ultrafast measurement of a single-photon wave packet using an optical Kerr gate.

Ultrafast quantum optics with time-frequency entangled photons is at the forefront of progress towards future quantum technologies. However, to unravel the time domain structure of entangled photons and exploit fully their rich dimensionality, a single-photon detector with sub-picosecond temporal resolution is required. Here, we present ultrafast single-photon detection using an optical Kerr gate composed of a photonic crystal fiber (PCF) placed inside a Sagnac interferometer. A near-rectangle temporal waveform of a heralded single-photon generated via spontaneous parametric down-conversion is measured with temporal resolution as high as 224 ± 9 fs. The large nonlinearity and long effective interaction length of the PCF enables maximum detection efficiency to be achieved with only 30.5 mW gating pulse average power, demonstrating an order-of-magnitude improvement compared to optical gating with sum-frequency generation. Also, we discuss the trade-off relationship between detection efficiency and temporal resolution.

Phase-matching control of high-order harmonics with circular Airy-Gaussian beams.

We investigate the phase-matching of the high harmonics (HHG) driven by the circular Airy-Gaussian beams (CAiGB), which abruptly auto-focus and subsequently propagate without diffraction. The results show that the harmonics corresponding to both short and long quantum paths can be well phase-matched after the focusing point of the CAiGB. Therefore, the effective interaction length of HHG for CAiGB is much longer than that for the conventional Gaussian beams with the same size of the waist. Our numerical simulations reveal that the harmonics continuously gain up to 1 cm of the propagation distance. This work provides a route to enhance the conversion efficiency of HHG by the coherent control of abrupt auto-focusing beams.

1.4‐mJ High Energy Terahertz Radiation from Lithium Niobates

AbstractFree‐space super‐strong terahertz (THz) electromagnetic fields offer multifaceted capabilities for reaching extreme nonlinear THz optics. However, the lack of powerful solid‐state THz sources with single pulse energy &gt;1 mJ is impeding the proliferation of extreme THz applications. The fundamental challenge lies in hard to achieve high efficiency due to high intensity pumping caused crystal damage, linear absorption, and nonlinear distortion induced short effective interaction length, and so on. Here, through cryogenically cooling the crystals, tailoring the pump laser spectra, chirping the pump pulses, and magnifying the laser energies, 1.4‐mJ THz pulses are successfully realized in lithium niobates under the excitation of 214‐mJ femtosecond laser pulses via tilted pulse front technique. The 800 nm‐to‐THz energy conversion efficiency reaches 0.7%, and a free‐space THz peak electric and magnetic field reaches 6.3 MV cm−1 and 2.1 Tesla. Numerical simulations reproduce the experimental optimization processes. To show the capability of this super‐strong THz source, nonlinear absorption in high conductive silicon induced by strong THz electric field is demonstrated. Such a high‐energy THz source with a relatively low peak frequency is very appropriate not only for electron acceleration toward table‐top X‐ray sources but also for extreme THz science and nonlinear applications.

Multi-element lenslet array for efficient solar collection at extreme angles of incidence

Photovoltaics (PV) are a versatile and compact route to harness solar power. One critical challenge with current PV is preserving the optimal panel orientation angle with respect to the sun for efficient energy conversion. We experimentally demonstrate a bespoke multi-element lenslet array that allows for an increased power collection over a wide field of view by increasing the effective optical interaction length by up to 13 times specifically at large angles of incidence. This design can potentially be retrofitted onto already deployed amorphous silicon solar panels to yield an increased daily power generation by a factor of 1.36 for solar equivalent illumination. We 3D printed an optical proof of concept multi-element lenslet array to confirm an increase in power density for optical rays incident between 40 and 80 degrees. Our design indicates a novel optical approach that could potentially enable increased efficient solar collection in extreme operating conditions such as on the body of planes or the side of buildings.

Ionization-assisted refocusing of femtosecond Gaussian beams

Ionization occurs ubiquitously in intense laser-matter interaction and often leads to rapid decrease in laser intensity via plasma defocusing, shortening the effective interaction length of desired high-field processes. Refocusing of pulses may compensate for this adverse effect. However, it typically relies on Kerr-induced self-focusing and requires sufficiently high power. Here, we present simulations showing the refocusing of intense pulses with an initial Gaussian beam profile in atmospheric pressure gases at relatively low power. We attribute this refocusing to the formation of ring-structure plasmas. We find that tighter focusing leads to stronger refocusing, and the initial chirp of the pulse greatly affects its dynamics due to spatiotemporal coupling of focused broadband pulses. Our results highlight a novel aspect of complex pulse dynamics and can be relevant to applications involving tightly focused ultrafast Gaussian beams.

A Modeling Study of Dislocation Behavior in InGaAs/GaAs (001) and InAlGaAs/GaAs (001) Heterostructures Utilizing Strained-Layer Superlattices

There have been a number of studies of dislocation filtering by strained-layer superlattices (SLSs) incorporated into semiconductor heterostructures. Despite the extensive nature of this body of work, a general understanding of the phenomenon has proved elusive, preventing wide application of SLS dislocation filters in practical devices. However, recent advances in the understanding of dislocation dynamics and the consequent development of detailed plastic flow models allow the prediction of threading dislocation density profiles in general semiconductor heterostructures. In this work, we have extended the usefulness of the plastic flow models by accounting for the weaving and zagging of dislocations at mismatched interfaces when calculating the effective interaction length for annihilation and coalescence reactions between dislocations. The refined plastic flow model has been applied to InGaAs/GaAs (001) and InGaAlAs / GaAs (001) heterostructures containing InGaAs and AlGaAs SLSs, and we have studied the dependence of the threading dislocation density profiles on the placement and design of the SLS. The refined model shows qualitative agreement with experimental results for SLS dislocation filters.

Comparison of longitudinal and transverse smoothing by spectral dispersion on stimulated Brillouin backscattering in inertial confinement fusion plasmas

In the context of inertial confinement fusion, optical smoothing is a technique used to provide laser irradiation as homogeneous as possible. It is required for limiting the development of laser-plasma instabilities, in particular, stimulated Brillouin backscattering (SBS). Here, we carefully compare longitudinal and transverse smoothing by spectral dispersion in an ideal smoothing configuration for each case. With 3D codes, we have simulated SBS in a gold plasma. We show that, as opposed to common belief, the time evolution of the SBS reflectivity exhibits some differences between both smoothing schemes. First, the asymptotic values of the saturation levels are not quite the same. With a simple ray description and computing the SBS gain for each ray, we were able to explain this difference. Moreover, the dynamics of SBS are also somewhat different. We have shown that SBS dynamics are driven by the time evolution of speckle properties and in particular by the effective interaction length between the Brillouin backscattered light and the hot-spots. This effective interaction length depends both on the longitudinal velocity and on the length of the hot-spots. As a matter of fact, synchronizing the effective interaction lengths of both smoothing schemes also synchronizes the backscattering curves before reaching the saturation level.

Compensation of nonlocal effects induced by the extinction ratio of pump pulses in Brillouin optical time-domain analysis sensors.

We demonstrate a technique to compensate the nonlocal effects that appear in Brillouin optical time-domain analysis sensors when pump pulses with limited extinction ratio are deployed. These recently discovered nonlocal effects are originated in the interaction between the probe wave and the pulse pedestal. Hence, their compensation method is based on deploying a modulation (dithering) of the optical frequency of the probe and pulse pedestal waves that provides a reduction of the effective interaction length between them. This is implemented by taking advantage of the chirp associated to the direct current modulation of a semiconductor laser used as common source for both waves. The net effect of this procedure is that the probe and pulse pedestal waves display efficient Brillouin interaction just at correlation peaks along the fiber where the frequency difference between both waves remains constant. Proof-of-concept experiments in a 25-km sensing link demonstrate the performance of the technique, where large errors of more than 10 MHz in the measurement of the Brillouin frequency shift are completely compensated by introducing a sinusoidal dithering to the laser source.

High efficiency terahertz generation in a multi-stage system.

We describe a robust system for laser-driven narrowband terahertz generation with high conversion efficiency in periodically poled Lithium Niobate (PPLN). In the multi-stage terahertz generation system, the pump pulse is recycled after each PPLN stage for further terahertz generation. By out-coupling the terahertz radiation generated in each stage, extra absorption is circumvented and effective interaction length is increased. The separation of the terahertz and optical pulses at each stage is accomplished by an appropriately designed out-coupler. To evaluate the proposed architecture, the governing 2-D coupled wave equations in a cylindrically symmetric geometry are numerically solved using the finite difference method. Compared to the 1-D calculation which cannot capture the self-focusing and diffraction effects, our 2-D numerical method captures the effects of difference frequency generation, self-phase modulation, self-focusing, beam diffraction, dispersion and terahertz absorption. We found that the terahertz generation efficiency can be greatly enhanced by compensating the dispersion of the pump pulse after each stage. With a two-stage system, we predict the generation of a 17.6 mJ terahertz pulse with total conversion efficiency ηtotal = 1.6% at 0.3 THz using a 1.1 J pump laser with a two-lines spectrum centered at 1 μm. The generation efficiency of each stage is above 0.8% with the out-coupling efficiencies above 93.0%.

Microwave Undulator Using a Helically Corrugated Waveguide

Microwave undulators (MUs) can be an alternative to the permanent magnet undulators in a free-electron laser. MUs normally employ a cavity-type structure that supports the standing wave to boost the electromagnetic field strength. In this paper, a waveguide-type MU based on a helically corrugated waveguide (HCW) that supports a traveling wave is studied. The use of the HCW allows partial conversion of a traveling wave mode into a backward traveling wave mode, hence increasing the effective interaction length. When operating with a TE11 mode at 30.3 GHz, the MU was predicted to realize a field strength of ~0.3 T and an undulator period of 4.95 mm when driven by 1 GW of microwave power.

Highly efficient generation of 0.2 mJ terahertz pulses in lithium niobate at room temperature with sub-50 fs chirped Ti:sapphire laser pulses.

We demonstrate generation of 0.2 mJ terahertz (THz) pulses in lithium niobate driven by Ti:sapphire laser pulses at room temperature. Employing tilted pulse front technique, the 800 nm-to-THz energy conversion efficiency has been optimized to 0.3% through chirping the sub-50 fs pump laser pulses to overcome multi-photon absorption and to extend effective interaction length for phase matching. Our approach paves the way for mJ-level THz generation via optical rectification using existing Ti:sapphire laser systems which can deliver Joule-level pulse energy with sub-50 fs pulse duration.

Energy efficiency studies for dual-grating dielectric laser-driven accelerators

Dielectric laser-driven accelerators (DLAs) can provide high accelerating gradients in the GV/m range due to their having higher breakdown thresholds than metals, which opens the way for the miniaturization of the next generation of particle accelerator facilities. Two kinds of scheme, the addition of a Bragg reflector and the use of pulse-front-tilted (PFT) laser illumination, have been studied separately to improve the energy efficiency for dual-grating DLAs. The Bragg reflector enhances the accelerating gradient of the structure, while the PFT increases the effective interaction length. In this paper, we investigate numerically the advantages of using the two schemes in conjunction. Our calculations show that, for a 100-period structure with a period of 2 μm, such a design effectively increases the energy gain by more than 100 % when compared to employing the Bragg reflector with a normal laser, and by about 50 % when using standard structures with a PFT laser. A total energy gain of as much as 2.6 MeV can be obtained for a PFT laser beam when illuminating a 2000-period dual-grating structure with a Bragg reflector.

Gain and bandwidth investigation in dual-pumped non-collinear optical parametric chirped pulse amplification

Dual-pumped non-collinear parametric amplification of a chirped laser pulse is numerically studied by employing the pump beams of different wavelengths. Our results reveal that the output bandwidth and the efficiency-bandwidth product are improved, when non-collinear angles and phase matching conditions are separately optimized for each individual pump beam. Moreover, by studying the dependence of the bandwidth of the amplified signal on the pump intensity, gain stability and its fluctuations are compared in small signal gain and saturation regimes. It is verified that the effective interaction length in this dual-pumped configuration is reduced as a consequent of increased bandwidth, compared to that in a single pump scheme.