High harmonic generation in crystal SiO_(2) by sub-10-fs laser pulses

The high harmonic generation(HHG)by few-cycle laser pulses is essential for research in strong-field solid-state physics.Through comparison of high harmonic spectra of solids generated by laser pulses with varying durations,we discovered that lasers with good dispersion compensation are capable of producing a broad spectrum of high harmonics.As the pulse duration is further compressed,several interference peaks appear in the broad spectrum.Moreover,we conducted simulations using the semiconductor Bloch equation,considering the effect of Berry curvature,to better understand this process.Our work provides a valuable approach for studying HHG by few-cycle laser pulses in solid materials,expanding the application of HHG in attosecond physics.

Laser Wakefield Acceleration Using Mid-Infrared Laser Pulses

We study a laser wakefield acceleration driven by mid-infrared （mid-IR） laser pulses through two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. Since a mid-IR laser pulse can deliver a larger ponderomotive force as compared with the usual 0.8 μm wavelength laser pulse, it is found that electron self-injection into the wake wave occurs at an earlier time, the plasma density threshold for injection becomes lower, and the electron beam charge is substantially enhanced. Meanwhile, our study also shows that quasimonoenergetic electron beams with a narrow energy-spread can be generated by using mid-IR laser pulses. Such a mid-IR laser pulse can provide a feasible method for obtaining a high quality and high charge electron beam. Therefore, the current efforts on constructing mid-IR terawatt laser systems can greatly benefit the laser wakefield acceleration research.

Generation of 54 Fs Laser Pulses from a Diode Pumped Kerr-Lens Mode-Locked Yb:LSO Laser

A diode pumped Kerr-lens mode-locked femtosecond Yb：LSO laser is experimentally demonstrated for the first time. The 54fs laser pulses at central wavelength of 1052nm with a bandwidth of 22.5nm are obtained at the repetition rate of 113 MHz. To the best of our knowledge, this is the shortest pulse duration ever produced from the Yb-doped orthosilicates lasers family.

Electron acceleration by tightly focused radially polarized few-cycle laser pulses

Within the framework of plane-wave angular spectrum analysis of the electromagnetic field structure, a solution valid for tightly focused radially polarized few-cycle laser pulses propagating in vacuum is presented. The resulting field distribution is significantly different from that based on the paraxial approximation for pulses with either small or large beam diameters. We compare the electron accelerations obtained with the two solutions and find that the energy gain obtained with our new solution is usually much larger than that with the paraxial approximation solution.

The Hyperbolic Two Temperature Semiconducting Thermoelastic Waves by Laser Pulses

A novel model of a hyperbolic two-temperature theory is investigated to study the propagation the thermoelastic waves on semiconductor materials.The governing equations are studied during the photo-excitation processes in the context of the photothermal theory.The outer surface of o semiconductor medium is illuminated by a laser pulse.The generalized photo-thermoelasticity theory in two dimensions(2D)deformation is used in many models(Lord–Shulman(LS),Green–Lindsay(GL)and the classical dynamical coupled theory(CD)).The combinations processes between the hyperbolic two-temperature theory and photo-thermoelasticity theory under the effect of laser pulses are obtained analytically.The harmonic wave technique is used to obtain the exact solutions of the main physical fields under investigation.The mechanical,thermal and recombination plasma loads are applied at the free surface of the medium to obtain the complete solutions of the basic physical fields.Some comparisons are made between the three thermoelastcity theories under the electrical effect of thermoelectric coupling parameter.The influence of hyperbolic two-temperature,two-temperature and one temperature parameters on the distributions of wave propagation of physical fields for semiconductor silicon(Si)medium is shown graphically and discussed.

Ultrafast photoionization of ions and molecules by orthogonally polarized intense laser pulses: Effects of the time delay

We present the photoelectron momentum distributions(PMDs) and the photoelectron angular distributions(PADs) of He+ ions, aligned H2+ molecules and N2 molecules by intense orthogonally polarized laser pulses. Simulations are performed by numerically solving the corresponding two-dimensional time-dependent Schr?dinger equations(TDSEs) within the single-electron approximation frame. Photoelectron momentum distributions and photoelectron angular distributions present different patterns with the time delays Td, illustrating the dependences of the PMDs and PADs on the time delays by orthogonally polarized laser pulses. The evolution of the electron wavepackets can be employed to describe the intensity of the PADs from the TDSE simulations for N2 molecules.

Population transfer by femtosecond laser pulses in a ladder-type atomic system

The population transfer in a ladder-type atomic system driven by linearly polarized sech-shape femtosecond laser pulses is investigated by numerically solving Schr6dinger equation without including the rotating wave approximation （RWA）. It is shown that population transfer is mainly determined by the Rabi frequency （strength） of the driving laser field and the chirp rate, and that the ratio of the dipole moments and the pulse width also have a prominent effect on the population transfer. By choosing appropriate values of the above parameters, complete population transfer can be realized.

Active manipulation of the selective alignment by two laser pulses

This paper solves numerically the full time-dependent Schrodinger equation based on the rigid rotor model, and proposes a novel strategy to determine the optimal time delay of the two laser pulses to manipulate the molecular selective alignment. The results illustrate that the molecular alignment generated by the first pulse can be suppressed or enhanced selectively, the relative populations of even and odd rotational states in the final rotational wave packet can be manipulated selectively by precisely inserting the peak of the second laser pulse at the time when the slope for the alignment parameter by the first laser locates a local maximum for the even rotational states and a local minimum for the odds, and vice versa. The selective alignment can be further optimised by selecting the intensity ratio of the two laser pulses on the condition that the total laser intensity and pulse duration are kept constant.

Efficient frequency upshift of 10 fs laser pulses propagating in a 5-cm length birefringent photonic crystal fibre

This paper reports that a 5-cm length birefringent photonic crystal fibre is used to tune the output frequency of unamplified 10-fs Ti：sapphire pulses. The zero dispersion of the fibre is at 823 nm and 800 nm for slow and fast fundamental modes, respectively. It is demonstrated that efficient upshift of the output frequency can be achieved when the pumped radiation is polarized along the slow axis of the fibre. When the average input power reaches 320 mW, about 60% of the output energy is located in one peak at 600 nm and is accompanied by depletion of the pulse inside the anomalous dispersion region.

Photoelectron momentum distributions of single-photon ionization under a pair of elliptically polarized attosecond laser pulses

The attosecond ionization dynamics of atoms has attracted extensive attention in these days.However,the role of the initial state is not clearly understood.To address this question,we perform simulations on the neon atom and its model atom with different initial states by numerically solving the corresponding two-dimensional time-dependent Schrodinger¨equations.We theoretically investigate atomic photoelectron momentum distributions(PMDs)by a pair of elliptically polarized attosecond laser pulses.We find that the PMD is sensitive not only to the ellipticities of the pulses,the relative helicity,and time delay of the pulses,but also to the symmetry of the initial electronic states.Results are analyzed by the first-order time-dependent perturbation theory(TDPT)and offer a new tool for detecting the rotation direction of the ring currents.

Yield enhancement of elliptical high harmonics driven by bicircular laser pulses

We theoretically investigate the yield enhancement of elliptical high harmonics in the interaction of molecules with bicircular laser pulses by solving the time-dependent Schrodinger equation.It is shown that by adjusting the relative intensity ratio of the two bicircular field components in specific ranges the yield of the molecular high harmonics for the plateau and cutoff regions can be respectively enhanced.To analyze this enhancement phenomenon,we calculate the weights of the electron classical trajectories.Additionally,we also study the ellipticity distribution of harmonics for different intensity ratios.We find that these enhanced harmonics are elliptically polarized,which we mainly attribute to the recombination dipole moment of the major weighted trajectories.These enhanced elliptical extreme ultraviolet and soft x-ray radiations may serve as essential tools for exploring the ultrafast dynamics in magnetic materials and chiral media.

High harmonic generation driven by twocolor relativistic circularly polarized laser pulses at various frequency ratios

High harmonic generation(HHG)by two-color counter-rotating relativistic laser pulses with arbitrary frequency ratio is investigated through particle-in-cell simulations.It is shown that the dichromatic laser driver at various frequency ratios can effectively produce high-order harmonics with different spectral features.A general selection rule of this extended scheme can be obtained and the corresponding harmonic helicity can be identified through a simple analytical model based on a relativistic oscillating mirror.Thus,the results in this paper may offer new opportunities for arbitrary spectral control of generated harmonics,which is of significance for diverse potential applications in practice.

Intensity-dependent asymmetric photoionization in few-cycle laser pulses

The asymmetric photoionization of atoms irradiated by intense, few-cycle laser pulses is studied numerically. The results show that the pulse intensity affects the asymmetric photoionization in three aspects. First, at higher intensities, the asymmetry becomes distinctive for few-cycle pulses of longer durations. Second, as the laser intensity increases, the maximal asymmetry first decreases then increases after it has reached a minimal value. Last, the value of the carrier-envelope phase corresponding to the maximal asymmetry varies with the pulse intensity. This study reveals that the increasing of pulse intensity is helpful for observing the asymmetric photoionization.

Angle-Resolved Electron Spectra of F^- Ions by Few-Cycle Laser Pulses

The above-threshold detachment of F- ions induced by a linearly polarized few-cycle laser pulse is investigated theoretically using the strong-field approximation model without considering the rescattering mechanism. We first derive an analytical form of transition amplitude for describing the strong-field photodetachment of F- ions. The integration over time in transition amplitude can be performed using the numerical integration method or the saddle-point （SP） method of Shearer et al. [Phys. Rev. A 88 （2013） 033415]. The validity of the SP method is carefully examined by comparing the energy spectra and photoelectron angular distributions （PADs） with those obtained from the numerical integration method. By considering the volume effect of a focused laser beam, both the energy spectra and the low-energy PADs calculated by the numerical integration method agree very well with the experimental results.

Temporally Modulated Phase Retrieval Method for Weak Temporal Phase Measurement of Laser Pulses

We propose a simple iterative algorithm based on a temporally movable phase modulation process to retrieve the weak temporal phase of laser pulses. This unambiguous method can be used to achieve a high accuracy and to simultaneously measure the weak temporal phase and temporal profile of pulses, which are almost transform- limited. A detailed analysis shows that this iterative method has valuable potential applications in the charac- terization of pulses with weak temporal phase.

Surface mico-structures on amorphous alloys induced by vortex femtosecond laser pulses

This paper investigates the generation of self-organized surface structures on amorphous alloys by vortex femtosecond laser pulses. The scanning electron microscope characterizations show that the as-formed structures are periodic ripples, aperiodic ripples, and ‘coral-like＇ structures. Optimal conditions for forming these surface structures are determined in terms of pulses number at a given pulse energy. The applicable mechanism is suggested to interpret the formation and evolution of the ＇coral-like＇ structures.

Electron correlations in nonsequential double ionization of argon atoms by elliptically polarized laser pulses

Using a classical ensemble model, we investigate the correlation behaviour of electrons originating from nonsequential double ionization （NSDI） of argon atoms by the elliptically polarized laser pulses. Because of the ellipticity, not only the first electron to return but also the later return of tunneled electrons contribute significantly to NSDI. We mainly discuss two kinds of events of NSDI originating from the first and the second return separately. For the NSDI resulting from the recollision of the first return, the correlated electron momentum spectrum along the long axis of the laser polarization plane reveals an obvious V-like shape, located at the first and third quadrant. However, for the NSDI resulting from the recollision of the second return, the momenta of two electrons are distributed in the four quadrants uniformly. By analysing the trajectories of these two kinds, we find that the recollision energy and the laser phase at recollision are different for the first and second returning trajectories, which are responsible for the difference in the correlated behavior of the final electron momentum.

Dense pair plasma generation by two laser pulses colliding in a cylinder channel

An all-optical scheme for high-density pair plasmas generation is proposed by two laser pulses colliding in a cylinder channel. Two dimensional particle-in-cell simulations show that, when the first laser pulse propagates in the cylinder, electrons are extracted out of the cylinder inner wall and accelerated to high energies. These energetic electrons later run into the second counter-propagating laser pulse, radiating a large amount of high-energy gamma photons via the Compton back-scattering process. The emitted gamma photons then collide with the second laser pulse to initiate the Breit-Wheeler process for pairs production. Due to the strong self-generated fields in the cylinder, positrons are confined in the channel to form dense pair plasmas. Totally, the maximum density of pair plasmas can be 4.60 × 10^27 m%-3, for lasers with an intensity of 4 × 10^22 W.cm^-2. Both the positron yield and density are tunable by changing the cylinder radius and the laser parameters. The generated dense pair plasmas can further facilitate investigations related to astrophysics and particle physics.

Transmission Degradation of Femtosecond Laser Pulses in Opened Cone Targets

Irradiated by femtosecond laser pulses with different energies, opened cone targets behave very differently in the transmission of incident laser pulses. The targets, each with an opening angle of 71° and an opening of 5 μm, are fabricated using standard semiconductor technology. When the incident laser energy is low and no pre-plasma is generated on the side walls of the cones, the cone target acts like an optical device to reflect the laser pulse, and 15% of the laser energy can be transmitted through the cones. In contrast, when the incident laser energy is high enough to generate pre-plasmas by the pre-pulse of the main pulse that fills the inner cone, the cone with the plasmas will block the transmission of the laser, which leads to a decrease in laser transmission compared with the low-energy case with no plasma. Simulation results using optical software in the low-energy case, and using the particle-in-cell code in the high-energy case, are primarily in agreement with the experimental results.

A review on glass welding by ultra-short laser pulses

Glass welding by ultra-short pulsed(USP)lasers is a piece of technology that offers high strength joints with hermetic sealing.The joints are typically formed in glass that is transparent to the laser by exploiting nonlinear absorption effects that occur under extreme conditions.Though the temperature reached during the process is on the order of a few 1000°C,the heat affected zone(HAZ)is confined to only tens of micrometers.It is this controlled confinement of the HAZ during the joining process that makes this technology so appealing to a multitude of applications because it allows the foregoing of a subsequent tempering step that is typically essential in other glass joining techniques,thus making it possible to effectively join highly heat sensitive components.In this work,we give an overview on the process,development and applications of glass welding by USP lasers.