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High-energy few-cycle pulses: post-compression techniques
2021, Nagy, Tamas, Simon, Peter, Veisz, Laszlo
Contemporary ultrafast science requires reliable sources of high-energy few-cycle light pulses. Currently two methods are capable of generating such pulses: post compression of short laser pulses and optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification (OPCPA). Here we give a comprehensive overview on the post-compression technology based on optical Kerr-effect or ionization, with particular emphasis on energy and power scaling. Relevant types of post compression techniques are discussed including free propagation in bulk materials, multiple-plate continuum generation, multi-pass cells, filaments, photonic-crystal fibers, hollow-core fibers and self-compression techniques. We provide a short theoretical overview of the physics as well as an in-depth description of existing experimental realizations of post compression, especially those that can provide few-cycle pulse duration with mJ-scale pulse energy. The achieved experimental performances of these methods are compared in terms of important figures of merit such as pulse energy, pulse duration, peak power and average power. We give some perspectives at the end to emphasize the expected future trends of this technology. © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Impact of spatial inhomogeneities on on-axis pulse reconstruction in femtosecond filaments
2014, Brée, Carsten, Kretschmar, Martin, Nagy, Tamas, Kurz, Heiko G., Morgner, Uwe, Kovačev, Milutin
We demonstrate a strong influence of the spatial beam profile on the vacuum-propagated on-axis pulse shapes for a femtosecond filament in argon. The effects can be minimized by transmitting the filament into the far-field by a laser-drilled pinhole setup. Using this method, we can monitor the pulse compression dynamics along the entire longitudinal extension of the filament, including the ionization-induced plasma channel.
Relativistic-intensity near-single-cycle light waveforms at kHz repetition rate
2020, Ouillé, Marie, Vernier, Aline, Böhle, Frederik, Bocoum, Maïmouna, Jullien, Aurélie, Lozano, Magali, Rousseau, Jean-Philippe, Cheng, Zhao, Gustas, Dominykas, Blumenstein, Andreas, Simon, Peter, Haessler, Stefan, Faure, Jérôme, Nagy, Tamas, Lopez-Martens, Rodrigo
The development of ultra-intense and ultra-short light sources is currently a subject of intense research driven by the discovery of novel phenomena in the realm of relativistic optics, such as the production of ultrafast energetic particle and radiation beams for applications. It has been a long-standing challenge to unite two hitherto distinct classes of light sources: those achieving relativistic intensity and those with pulse durations approaching a single light cycle. While the former class traditionally involves large-scale amplification chains, the latter class places high demand on the spatiotemporal control of the electromagnetic laser field. Here, we present a light source producing waveform-controlled 1.5-cycle pulses with a 719 nm central wavelength that can be focused to relativistic intensity at a 1 kHz repetition rate based on nonlinear post-compression in a long hollow-core fiber. The unique capabilities of this source allow us to observe the first experimental indications of light waveform effects in laser wakefield acceleration of relativistic energy electrons. © 2020, The Author(s).
Non-instantaneous polarization dynamics in dielectric media
2014, Hofmann, Michael, Hyyti, Janne, Birkholz, Simon, Bock, Martin, Das, Susanta K., Grunwald, Rüdiger, Hoffmann, Mathias, Nagy, Tamas, Demircan, Ayhan, Jupé, Marco, Ristau, Detlev, Morgner, Uwe, Brée, Carsten, Woerner, Michael, Elsaesser, Thomas, Steinmeyer, Günter
Third-order optical nonlinearities play a vital role for generation1,2 and characterization 3-5 of some of the shortest optical pulses to date, for optical switching applications6,7, and for spectroscopy8,9. In many cases, nonlinear optical effects are used far off resonance, and then an instantaneous temporal response is expected. Here, we show for the first time resonant frequency-resolved optical gating measurements1012 that indicate substantial nonlinear polarization relaxation times up to 6.5 fs in dielectric media, i.e., significantly beyond the shortest pulses directly available from commercial lasers. These effects are among the fastest effects observed in ultrafast spectroscopy. Numerical solutions of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation13,14 are in excellent agreement with experimental observations. The simulations indicate that pulse generation and characterization in the ultraviolet may be severely affected by this previously unreported effect. Moreover, our approach opens an avenue for application of frequency-resolved optical gating as a highly selective spectroscopic probe in high-field physics.
Thin-disk laser-pumped OPCPA system delivering 4.4 TW few-cycle pulses
2020, Kretschmar, Martin, Tuemmler, Johannes, Schütte, Bernd, Hoffmann, Andreas, Senfftleben, Björn, Mero, Mark, Sauppe, Mario, Rupp, Daniela, Vrakking, Marc J.J., Will, Ingo, Nagy, Tamas
We present an optical parametric chirped pulse amplification (OPCPA) system delivering 4.4 TW pulses centered at 810 nm with a sub-9 fs duration and a carrier-envelope phase stability of 350 mrad. The OPCPA setup pumped by sub-10 ps pulses from two Yb:YAG thin-disk lasers at 100 Hz repetition rate is optimized for a high conversion-efficiency. The terawatt pulses of the OPCPA are utilized for generating intense extreme ultraviolet (XUV) pulses by high-order harmonic generation, achieving XUV pulse energies approaching the microjoule level. © 2020 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement