Millijoule ultrafast optical parametric amplification as replacement for high-gain regenerative amplifiers

We report on the development of an ultrafast optical parametric amplifier front-end for the Petawatt High Energy Laser for heavy Ion eXperiments(PHELIX)and the Petawatt ENergy-Efficient Laser for Optical Plasma Experiments(PEnELOPE)facilities.This front-end delivers broadband and stable amplification up to 1 mJ per pulse while maintaining a high beam quality.Its implementation at PHELIX allowed one to bypass the front-end amplifier,which is known to be a source of pre-pulses.With the bypass,an amplified spontaneous emission contrast of 4.9×10^(−13)and a pre-pulse contrast of 6.2×10^(−11)could be realized.Due to its high stability,high beam quality and its versatile pump amplifier,the system offers an alternative for high-gain regenerative amplifiers in the front-end of various laser systems.

Polarization-dependent ultrafast optical nonlinearities of N,N-dimethylformamide at 400 nm

Ultrafast optical nonlinearities of N,N-dimethylformamide(DMF)are studied by using polarized light at 400 nm.Both nonlinear refraction(NLR)and stimulated Rayleigh-wing scattering(SRWS)depend on the polarization state of incident beam,while two-photon absorption(TPA)changes negligibly with polarization state.The polarization dependence of SRWS originates from that of NLR via self-focusing effect.Third-order susceptibility elements of DMF were determined,and a method to distinguish the multi-photon absorption signal from SRWS in Z-scan is provided.These results are helpful for the nonlinear optical research of the novel materials dissolved in DMF.

Ultrafast third-order optical nonlinearity of several sandwich-type phthalocyaninato and porphyrinato europium complexes

The third-order optical nonlinearity of two sandwich-type phthalocyaninato and porphyrinato europium com- plexes, including double- and triple-deckers （Eu[Pc（OC5H11）8]2, Eu2（Pc）（TPP）2, Pc=phthalocyanine, TPP=5, 10, 15, 20- tetraphenylporphyrinate）, was investigated by using the femtosecond time-resolved optical Kerr gate method at 830 nm wavelength. Their second-order hyperpolarizability is estimated to be 0.74× 10^-30esu and 3.0× 10^-3esu respectively. This exhibits an evident enhancement in comparison with 0.47×10^-30esu for one-decker Eu（Pc）（acac） （acac=acetylacetonate）, which is also measured under the same conditions. The enhancement is attributed to the introduction of lanthanide metal to the large π-conjugated system, intermacrocycle interaction and two-photon resonance etc.

Ultrafast multi-target control of tightly focused light fields

The control of ultrafast optical field is of great interest in developing ultrafast optics as well as the investigation on vari-ous light-matter interactions with ultrashort pulses.However,conventional spatial encoding approaches have only lim-ited steerable targets usually neglecting the temporal effect,thus hindering their broad applications.Here we present a new concept for realizing ultrafast modulation of multi-target focal fields based on the facile combination of time-depend-ent vectorial diffraction theory with fast Fourier transform.This is achieved by focusing femtosecond pulsed light carrying vectorial-vortex by a single objective lens under tight focusing condition.It is uncovered that the ultrafast temporal de-gree of freedom within a configurable temporal duration(~400 fs)plays a pivotal role in determining the rich and exotic features of the focused optical field at one time,namely,bright-dark alternation,periodic rotation,and longitudinal/trans-verse polarization conversion.The underlying control mechanisms have been unveiled.Besides being of academic in-terest in diverse ultrafast spectral regimes,these peculiar behaviors of the space-time evolutionary beams may underpin prolific ultrafast-related applications such as multifunctional integrated optical chip,high-efficiency laser trapping,micro-structure rotation,super-resolution optical microscopy,precise optical measurement,and liveness tracking.

Ultrafast dynamics observation during femtosecond laser-material interaction

Femtosecond laser technology has attracted significant attention from the viewpoints of fundamental and application;especially femtosecond laser processing materials present the unique mechanism of laser-material interaction.Under the extreme nonequilibrium conditions imposed by femtosecond laser irradiation,many fundamental questions concerning the physical origin of the material removal process remain unanswered.In this review,cutting-edge ultrafast dynamic observation techniques for investigating the fundamental questions,including timeresolved pump-probe shadowgraphy,ultrafast continuous optical imaging,and four-dimensional ultrafast scanning electron microscopy,are comprehensively surveyed.Each technique is described in depth,beginning with its basic principle,followed by a description of its representative applications in laser-material interaction and its strengths and limitations.The consideration of temporal and spatial resolutions and panoramic measurement at different scales are two major challenges.Hence,the prospects for technical advancement in this field are discussed finally.

Table-top optical parametric chirped pulse amplifiers: past and present

The generation of power-and wavelength-scalable few optical cycle pulses remains one of the major challenges in modern laser physics.Over the past decade,the development of table-top optical parametric chirped pulse amplificationbased systems was progressing at amazing speed,demonstrating excellent performance characteristics in terms of pulse duration,energy,peak power and repetition rate,which place them at the front line of modern ultrafast laser technology.At present,table-top optical parametric chirped pulse amplifiers comprise a unique class of ultrafast light sources,which currently amplify octave-spanning spectra and produce carrier-envelope phase-stable,few optical cycle pulses with multi-gigawatt to multi-terawatt peak powers and multi-watt average powers,with carrier wavelengths spanning a considerable range of the optical spectrum.This article gives an overview on the state of the art of table-top optical parametric chirped pulse amplifiers,addressing their relevant scientific and technological aspects,and provides a short outlook of practical applications in the growing field of ultrafast science.

Spectral polarization-encoding of broadband laser pulses by optical rotatory dispersion and its applications in spectral manipulation

We propose a kind of spectral polarization-encoding(SPE)for broadband light pulses,which is realized by inducing optical rotatory dispersion(ORD),and decoded by compensating ORD.Combining with polarization-sensitive devices,SPE can not only work to control polarization-dependent transmission for central wavelength or bandwidth-tunable filtering,but also can be used for broadband regenerative or multi-pass amplification with a polarization-dependent gain medium to improve output bandwidth.SPE is entirely passive thus very simple to be designed and aligned.By using an ORD crystal with a good transmission beyond 3-μm mid-infrared region,e.g.,Ag Ga S_(2),SPE promises to be applied for the wavelength tuning lasers in mid-infrared region,where the tunning devices are rather under developed compared with those in visible and near-infrared region.

10-GHz broadband optical frequency comb generation at 1550/1310 nm

The generation of high-repetition rate(frep≥10 GHz)ultra-broadband optical frequency combs(OFCs)at 1550 nm and 1310 nm is investigated by seeding two types of highly nonlinear fibers(HNLFs)with 10 GHz picosecond pulses at the pump wavelength of 1550 nm.When pumped near the zero dispersion wavelength(ZDW)in the normal dispersion region of a HNLF,10 GHz flat-topped OFC with 43 nm bandwidth within 5 dB power variation is generated by self-phase modulation(SPM)-based OFC spectral broadening at 26.5 dBm pump power,and 291 fs pulse trains with 10 GHz repetition rate are obtained at 18 dBm pump power without complicated pulse shaping methods.Furthermore,when pumped in the abnormal dispersion region of a HNLF,OFCs with dispersive waves around 1310 nm are studied using a common HNLF and fluorotellurite fibers,which maintain the good coherence of the pump light at 1550 nm.At the same time,sufficient tunability of the generated dispersive waves is achieved when tuning the pump power or ZDW.

Propagation of Ultra-fast Femtosecond Pulses in Silicon-on-insulator Optical Waveguides

A complete theoretical modeling, avoiding any priori-assumption, is deduced and demonstrated for ultra-fast femtosecond optical pulses in silicon-on-insulator optical waveguides which includes the group velocity dispersion, third-order dispersion, self-phase and cross-phase modulations, self-steepening and shock formation, Raman depletion, propagation loss, two-photon absorption, free-carrier absorption, and free-carrier dispersion. Finally, the temporal and spectral characteristics of 100 fs optical pulses at 1.55 μm are numerically observed in 5-mm-long waveguides while considering different initial chirps and incident peak intensity levels.

Generation of 207-femtosecond pulses from a ytterbium figure-of-eight fibre laser

We report the generation of 207-fs pulses with 1.2 mW average power at 1036 nm directly from a passively modelocked Yb-doped fibre laser with a nonlinear optical loop mirror for mode-locking and pairs of diffraction gratings for intracavity dispersion compensation. These results imply a 4-fold reduction in pulse duration over previously reported figure-of-eight cavity passively mode-locked Yb-doped fibre lasers. Stable pulse trains are produced at the fundamental repetition rate of the resonator, 24.0 MHz. On the other hand, this laser offers a cleaner spectrum and greater stability and is completely self-starting.

Broadband ultrafast nonlinear optical response of few-layers graphene: toward the mid-infrared regime

Gapless linear energy dispersion of graphene endows it with unique nonlinear optical properties, including broadband nonlinear absorption and giant nonlinear refractive index. Herein, we experimentally observed that fewlayers graphene has obvious nonlinear absorption and large nonlinear refraction, as investigated by the Z-scan technique in the mid-infrared（mid-IR） regime. Our study may not only, for the first time to our knowledge, verify the giant nonlinear refractive index of graphene(～10-7cm2∕W) at the mid-IR, which is 7 orders of magnitude larger than other conventional bulk materials, but also provide some new insights for graphene-based mid-IR photonics,potentially leading to the emergence of several new conceptual mid-IR optoelectronics devices.

Generation and imaging of a tunable ultrafast intensity-rotating optical field with a cycle down to femtosecond region

A tunable ultrafast intensity-rotating optical field is generated by overlapping a pair of 20Hz,800 nm chirped pulses with a Michelson interferometer(MI).Its rotating rate can be up to 10 trillion radians per second(Trad/s),which can be flexibly tuned with a mirror in the MI.Besides,its fold rotational symmetry structure is also changeable by controlling the difference from the topological charges of the pulse pair.Experimentally,we have successfully developed a twopetal lattice with a tunable rotating speed from 3.9 Trad/s up to 11.9 Trad/s,which is confirmed by our single-shot ultrafast frame imager based on noncollinear optical-parametric amplification with its highest frame rate of 15 trillion frames per second(Tfps).This work is carried out at a low repetition rate.Therefore,it can be applied at relativistic,even ultrarelativistic,intensities,which usually operate in low repetition rate ultrashort and ultraintense laser systems.We believe that it may have application in laser-plasma-based accelerators,strong terahertz radiations and celestial phenomena.

2D noncarbon materials-based nonlinear optical devices for ultrafast photonics [Invited]

Ultrafast lasers play an important role in a variety of applications ranging from optical communications to medical diagnostics and industrial materials processing. Graphene and other two-dimensional（2D） noncarbon materials, including topological insulators（TIs）, transition metal dichalcogenides（TMDCs）, phosphorene, bismuthene, and antimonene, have witnessed a very fast development of both fundamental and practical aspects in ultrafast photonics since 2009. Their unique nonlinear optical properties enable them to be used as excellent saturable absorbers（SAs） that have fast responses and broadband operation, and can be easily integrated into lasers. Here, we catalog and review recent progress in the exploitation of these 2D noncarbon materials in this emerging field. The fabrication techniques, nonlinear optical properties, and device integration strategies of 2D noncarbon materials are first introduced with a comprehensive view. Then, various mode-locked/Q-switched lasers（e.g., fiber, solid-state, disk, and waveguide lasers） based on 2D noncarbon materials are reviewed. In addition, versatile soliton pulses generated from the mode-locked fiber lasers based on 2D noncarbon materials are also summarized. Finally, future challenges and perspectives of 2D materials-based lasers are addressed.

Frequency dependence of quantum path interference in non-collinear high-order harmonic generation

High-order harmonic generation（HHG） driven by two non-collinear beams including a fundamental and its weak second harmonic is numerically studied. The interference of harmonics from adjacent electron quantum paths is found to be dependent on the relative delay of the driving pulse, and the dependences are different for different harmonic orders.This frequency dependence of the interference is attributed to the spatial frequency chirp in the HHG beam resulting from the harmonic dipole phase, which in turn provides a potential way to gain an insight into the generation of high-order harmonics. As an example, the intensity dependent dipole phase coefficient α is retrieved from the interference fringe.

High-dispersive mirror for pulse stretcher in femtosecond fiber laser amplification system

We present a high-dispersive multilayer mirror for pulse stretching in a femtosecond fiber laser amplification system.The designed mirror contains 54 layers with a total physical thickness of 7.3 μm, which can provide a positive group delay dispersion(GDD) of 600 fs2and a high reflectance over 99.9% from 1010 to 1070 nm. The samples were prepared by dual ion beam sputtering. The measured transmittance matches well with the theoretical result. The GDD characteristics of samples were tested by home-made white light interferometer. The measured GDD is higher than the design results,an average GDD of +722 fs2from 1010 nm to 1070 nm. The mirrors were employed in a Yb-doped large-mode-area photonic crystal fiber amplification system. An input pulse compressed by the gratings with autocorrelation function of83 fs is obtained with a stretched FWHM of 1.29 ps after 28 bounces between the dispersive mirrors. The results show that the multilayer dispersive mirror could be an effective and promising technique for pulse stretching in femtosecond amplification systems.

Noncollinear phase-matching geometries in ultra-broadband quasi-parametric amplification

Optical parametric chirped pulse amplification(OPCPA)shows great potential in producing ultrashort high-intensity pulses because of its large gain bandwidth.Quasi-parametric chirped pulse amplification(QPCPA)may further extend the bandwidth.However,behavior of QPCPA at a limited pump intensity(e.g.,≤5 GW/cm^(2) in a nanosecond pumped QPCPA)has not yet been investigated fully.We discuss detailedly the ultra-broadband amplification and the noncollinear phasematching geometry in QPCPA,model and develop a novel noncollinear geometry in QPCPA,namely triple-wavelength phase-matching geometry,which provides two additional phase-matching points around the phase-matching point at the central wavelength.Our analysis demonstrates that the triple-wavelength phase-matching geometry can support stable,ultra-broadband amplification in QPCPA.The numerical simulation results show that ultrashort pulse with a pulse duration of 7.92 fs can be achieved in QPCPA when the pump intensity is limited to 5 GW/cm^(2),calculated using the nonlinear coefficient of YCa;O(BO;);.

Multiple collisions in crystal high-order harmonic generation

We theoretically investigate high-order harmonic generation(HHG)in crystals induced by linearly polarized laser fields.We obtain the HHG spectra by solving the semiconductor Bloch equations and analyze the radiation process by different models.Here we propose a multiple collision model,in which the electrons and holes are produced at different times and places.It is found that the multiple collision trajectories can help us comprehensively and better explain the results of the quantum calculation.Moreover,we find that the harmonic suppression occurs due to the overlap of multiple collision trajectories.

Low temperature enhancement of alignment-induced spectral broadening of femtosecond laser pulses

The propagation of femtosecond laser pulses in N2-filled hollow fibers is studied both theoretically and experimentally. The laser pulse aligns the N2 molecules and changes the refractive index, which meanwhile modulates the spectrum of the pulse in turn. The dependence of the spectral modulation on the gas temperature is investigated. We find that both spectral broadening and frequency red-shift are enhanced at low temperature. The degree of enhancement is found to be dependent on the pulse duration. Based on our findings, we propose a method for femtosecond pulse spectral broadening and few-cycle pulse generation via the molecular alignment.

All-polarization-maintaining figure-eight Er-fiber ultrafast laser with a bidirectional output coupler in the loss-imbalanced nonlinear optical loop mirror

In this Letter, we report on a novel architecture for a self-starting mode-locked figure-eight erbium-doped fiber laser using a loss-imbalanced nonlinear optical loop mirror(NOLM) with a bidirectional output coupler. An allpolarization-maintaining structure is adopted. A 2 × 2 optical coupler with a splitting ratio of 50:50 is used at the junction to form an NOLM. Another coupler with a splitting ratio of 10:90 is introduced at one end of the fiber loop. The 10:90 coupler plays two roles: power attenuator and bidirectional output coupler. This architecture can achieve both large modulation depth and good self-starting ability simultaneously. With this architecture,the self-starting mode-locking operation is achieved easily with pump power above the threshold. The clockwise and counter-clockwise mode-locked output powers are 10.1 and 10.3 mW, respectively, with the repetition rate of 3.63 MHz. The spectral bandwidths of the clockwise and counter-clockwise mode-locked output pulses are 7.4 and 2.9 nm, and the corresponding pulse widths of the direct outputs are 530.6 fs and 1.55 ps, respectively.

Design of ultrafast all-optical PolSK DMUX based on semiconductor optical amplifiers

A novel ultrahigh-speed all-optical demultiplexer （DMUX） with polarization-shift-keying （PolSK） modula- tion input signals is proposed. This design is based on four-wave mixing （FWM） in a semiconductor optical amplifier （SOA）. For analyzing each amplifier, we use finite-difference method （FDM） based on solution of the traveling wave coupled equations. Using numerical simulation, the all-optical DMUX is theoretically realized at 40 Gb/s. We also study the relation between optical confinement factor and thickness of active layer of the SOA section successfully, and investigate the increasing effect of confinement factor on the DMUX optical output power. With this work, the confinement factor is increased from 0.3 to 0.48, and as a result, the output power approximately twice of its initial value is achieved. Moreover, the effects of polarization dependence of SOA on the output performance of all-optical DMUX for PolSK signal are theoretically investigated in detail.