Self-compression to sub-3-cycle duration of mid-infrared optical pulses in dielectrics (original) (raw)
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Intense self-compressed, self-phase-stabilized few-cycle pulses at 2 μm from an optical filament
Optics Letters, 2007
We report the compression of intense, carrier-envelope phase stable mid-IR pulses down to few-cycle duration using an optical filament. A filament in xenon gas is formed by using self-phase stabilized 330 J 55 fs pulses at 2 m produced via difference-frequency generation in a Ti:sapphire-pumped optical parametric amplifier. The ultrabroadband 2 m carrier-wavelength output is self-compressed below 3 optical cycles and has a 270 J pulse energy. The self-locked phase offset of the 2 m difference-frequency field is preserved after filamentation. This is to our knowledge the first experimental realization of pulse compression in optical filaments at mid-IR wavelengths ͑Ͼ0.8 m͒.
Intense self-compressed, self-phase-stabilized few-cycle pulses at 2 mum from an optical filament
Optics Letters, 2007
We report the compression of intense, carrier-envelope phase stable mid-IR pulses down to few-cycle duration using an optical filament. A filament in xenon gas is formed by using self-phase stabilized 330 J 55 fs pulses at 2 m produced via difference-frequency generation in a Ti:sapphire-pumped optical parametric amplifier. The ultrabroadband 2 m carrier-wavelength output is self-compressed below 3 optical cycles and has a 270 J pulse energy. The self-locked phase offset of the 2 m difference-frequency field is preserved after filamentation. This is to our knowledge the first experimental realization of pulse compression in optical filaments at mid-IR wavelengths ͑Ͼ0.8 m͒.
Lithuanian Journal of Physics, 2010
We discuss a four-stage optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifier that delivers carrier-envelope phase-stable ∼1.5 µm pulses with energies up to 12.5 mJ before recompression. The system (previously reported in Opt. Lett. 34, 2498Lett. 34, (2009) is based on a fusion of femtosecond diode-pumped solid-state Yb technology and a picosecond 100-mJ Nd:YAG pump amplifier. Pulses with 62 nm bandwidth are recompressed to a 74.4 fs duration, which is close to the transform limit. Here, to show the way towards a TW-peak-power single-cycle IR source, we perform detailed investigations of single-filament IR supercontinuum generation via femtosecond filamentation in noble gases. Depending on the experimental conditions, two filamentation regimes can be achieved: (i) in the filamentation regime without plasma-induced pulse self-compression, we generate 4-mJ 600-nm-wide IR supercontinua of high spatial quality supporting 8-fs pulse durations, which corresponds to less than two optical cycles at 1.5 µm; (ii) in the self-compression regime, we demonstrate self-compression of 2.2 mJ pulses down to 19.8 fs duration in a single filament in argon with a 1.5 mJ output energy and 66% energy throughput. By adapting the experimental conditions, further energy upscaling of the self-compressed pulses seems feasible.
Self-compression of millijoule 15 μm pulses
Optics Letters, 2009
We demonstrate a four-stage optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification system that delivers carrierenvelope phase-stable ϳ1.5 m pulses with energies up to 12.5 mJ before recompression. The system is based on a fusion of femtosecond diode-pumped solid-state Yb technology and a picosecond 100 mJ Nd:YAG pump laser. Pulses with 62 nm bandwidth are recompressed to a 74.4 fs duration close to the transform limit. To show the way toward a terawatt-peak-power single-cycle IR source, we demonstrate selfcompression of 2.2 mJ pulses down to 19.8 fs duration in a single filament in argon with a 1.5 mJ output energy and 66% energy throughput.
Efficient 4-fold self-compression of 1.5-mJ infrared pulses to 19.8 fs
2009
We demonstrate a four-stage optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification system that delivers carrier-envelope phasestable ~1.5 µm pulses with energies up to 12.5 mJ before recompression. The system is based on a fusion of femtosecond diode-pumped solid-state Yb technology and a picosecond 100 mJ Nd:YAG pump amplifier. Pulses with 62 nm bandwidth are recompressed to a 74.4 fs duration close to the transform limit. To show the way toward a terawattpeak-power single-cycle IR source, we demonstrate self-compression of 2.2 mJ pulses down to 19.8 fs duration in a single filament in argon with a 1.5 mJ output energy and 66% energy throughput.
Optics letters, 2015
We experimentally and numerically investigate the spectral and temporal structure of mid-infrared (mid-IR) filaments in bulk dielectrics with normal and anomalous group velocity dispersion (GVD) pumped by a 2.1 μm optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifier (OPCPA). The formation of stable and robust filaments with several microjoules of pulse energy is observed. We demonstrate a supercontinuum that spans more than three octaves from ZnS in the normal GVD regime and self-compression of the mid-IR pulse to sub-two-cycle duration in CaF<sub>2</sub> in the anomalous GVD regime. The experimental observations quantitatively agree well with the numerical simulations based on a three-dimensional nonlinear wave equation that reveals the detailed spatio-temporal dynamics of mid-IR filaments in dielectrics.
Effect of nonlinear dispersion on pulse self-compression in a defocusing noble gas
2011
Media with a negative Kerr index (n 2 ) offer an intriguing possibility to self-compress ultrashort laser pulses without the risk of spatial wave collapse. However, in the relevant frequency regions, the negative nonlinearity turns out to be highly dispersive as well. Here, we study the influence of nonlinear dispersion on the pulse self-compression in a defocusing xenon gas. Purely temporal (1 + 1)-dimensional investigations reveal and fully spatio-temporal simulations confirm that a temporal shift of high intensity zones of the compressed pulse due to the nonlinear dispersion is the main effect on the modulational instability (MI) mediated compression mechanism. In the special case of vanishing n 2 for the center frequency, pulse compression leading to the ejection of a soliton is examined, which cannot be explained by MI.
Self-compression of high-intensity femtosecond laser pulses in a low-dispersion regime
Journal of Physics B: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics, 2007
Self-compression of high-intensity femtosecond pulses has been observed in a number of atomic and molecular gases and solid bulk material. The evolution of the femtosecond pulse parameters during the self-compression has been studied under a variety of experimental conditions. Generation of spatiotemporal solitons has been achieved by the combined action of self-compression and self-focusing.