Determination of the temporal structure of femtosecond laser pulses by means of laser-induced air plasma

A new approach is presented to reveal the temporal structure of femtosecond laser pulses by recording the correspond- ing time-resolved shadowgraphs of the laser-induced air plasma. It is shown that the temporal structures of femtosecond laser pulses, normally not observable by the ordinary intensity autocorrelator, can be detected through intuitively analyz- ing the ultrafast evolution process of the air plasma induced by the femtosecond laser pulses under examination. With this method, existence of pre- and post-pulses has been clearly unveiled within the time window of 4-150 fs in reference with the main 50-fs laser pulses output from a commercial 1-kHz femtosecond laser amplifier. The unique advantage of the proposed method is that it can directly provide valuable information about the pulse temporal structures＇ effect on the laser-induced ionization or material ablation.

Study on the plasma generation characteristics of an induction-triggered coaxial pulsed plasma thruster

At present,spark plugs are used to trigger discharge in pulsed plasma thrusters（PPT）,which are known to be life-limiting components due to plasma corrosion and carbon deposition.A strong electric field could be formed in a cathode triple junction（CTJ） to achieve a trigger function under vacuum conditions.We propose an induction-triggered electrode structure on the basis of the CTJ trigger principle.The induction-triggered electrode structure could increase the electric field strength of the CTJ without changing the voltage between electrodes,contributing to a reduction in the electrode breakdown voltage.Additionally,it can maintain the plasma generation effect when the breakdown voltage is reduced in the discharge experiments.The induction-triggered electrode structure could ensure an effective trigger when the ablation distance of Teflon increases,and the magnetic field produced by the discharge current could further improve the plasma density and propagation velocity.The induction-triggered coaxial PPT we propose has a simplified trigger structure,and it is an effective attempt to optimize the micro-satellite thruster.

High peak power subnanosecond pulse characteristics with different wall structured CNTs in a doubly QML Nd:Lu_(0.15)Y_(0.85)VO_4 laser

By simultaneously employing both an electro-optic modulator and carbon nanotube saturable absorber(CNT-SA)in a dual-loss modulator, a subnanosecond single mode-locking pulse underneath a Q-switched envelope with high peak power was generated from a doubly Q-switched and mode-locked(QML) Nd:Lu_(0.15)Y_(0.85)VO_4 laser at1.06 μm for the first time, to our knowledge. CNTs with different wall structures—single-walled CNTs(SWCNTs),double-walled CNTs(DWCNTs), and multi-walled CNTs(MWCNTs)—were used as SAs in the experiment to investigate the single mode-locking pulse characteristics. At pump power of 10.72 W, the maximum peak power of1.312 MW was obtained with the DWCNT.