Ultrafast quasi-three-dimensional imaging

Understanding laser induced ultrafast processes with complex three-dimensional(3D)geometries and extreme property evolution offers a unique opportunity to explore novel physical phenomena and to overcome the manufacturing limitations.Ultrafast imaging offers exceptional spatiotemporal resolution and thus has been considered an effective tool.However,in conventional single-view imaging techniques,3D information is projected on a two-dimensional plane,which leads to significant information loss that is detrimental to understanding the full ultrafast process.Here,we propose a quasi-3D imaging method to describe the ultrafast process and further analyze spatial asymmetries of laser induced plasma.Orthogonally polarized laser pulses are adopted to illuminate reflection-transmission views,and binarization techniques are employed to extract contours,forming the corresponding two-dimensional matrix.By rotating and multiplying the two-dimensional contour matrices obtained from the dual views,a quasi-3D image can be reconstructed.This successfully reveals dual-phase transition mechanisms and elucidates the diffraction phenomena occurring outside the plasma.Furthermore,the quasi-3D image confirms the spatial asymmetries of the picosecond plasma,which is difficult to achieve with two-dimensional images.Our findings demonstrate that quasi-3D imaging not only offers a more comprehensive understanding of plasma dynamics than previous imaging methods,but also has wide potential in revealing various complex ultrafast phenomena in related fields including strong-field physics,fluid dynamics,and cutting-edge manufacturing.

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.

Minimum variance adaptive beamforming combined with coherence factor weighting applied to ultrafast active cavitation imaging

The ultrafast active cavitation imaging(UACI)based on plane wave transmission and delay-and-sum(DAS)beamforming has been developed to monitor cavitation events with a high frame rate.However,DAS beamforming leads to images with limited resolution and contrast.In this paper,minimum variance(M V)adaptive beamforming and coherence factor(CF)weighting are combined to achieve an MVCF-based UACI,which can improve the cavitation imaging quality.The detailed algorithm evaluation has been investigated from both simulation and experimental data The simulation data include10point targets and a cyst,while the experimental data are obtained by detecting the dissipation of cavitation bubbles in water excited by a single element transducer with frequency of1.2MHz.The advantages of the proposed methodology as well as the comparison with conventional B-mode,DAS?M V,DAS-CF and MV on the basis of compressive sensing(CS)(called MVCS)beamformers are discussed.The results show that MVCF beamformer has a significant improvement in terms of both resolutions and signal-to-noise ratio(SN R).The MVCF-based UACI has a SNR at21.82dB higher,lateral and axial resolution at2.69times and1.93times?respectively,which were compared with those of B-mode active cavitation mapping.The MVCF-based UACI can be used to image the residual cavitation bubbles with a higher SNR and better spatial resolution

Imaging Ultrafast Plasmon Dynamics within a Complex Dolmen Nanostructure Using Photoemission Electron Microscopy

We report direct nanoscale imaging of ultrafast plasmon in a gold dolmen nanostructure excited with the 7is laser pulses by combining the interferometric time-resolved technology with the three-photon photoemission electron microscopy （PEEM）. The interferometric time-resolved traces show that the plasmon mode beating pattern appears at the ends of the dimer slabs in the dolmen nanostructure as a result of coherent superposition of multiple localized surface plasmon modes induced by broad bandwidth of the ultrafast laser pulses. The PEEM measurement further discloses that in-phase of the oscillation field of two neighbor defects are surprisingly observed, which is attributed to the plasmon coupling between them. Furthermore, the control of the temporal delay between the pump and probe laser pluses could be utilized for manipulation of the near-field distribution. These findings deepen our understanding of ultrafast plasmon dynamics in a complex nanosystem.

Ultrafast power Doppler imaging for ischemic encephalopathy:A case report

BACKGROUND Severely elevated intracranial pressure due to various reasons,such as decreased cerebral perfusion,can lead to devastating neurological outcomes,such as brain herniation.Decompression craniectomy is a life-saving procedure that is commonly performed for such a critical situation,but the changes in cerebral microvessels after brain herniation and decompression are unclear.Ultrafast power Doppler imaging(uPDI)is a new microvascular imaging technology that utilizes high frame rate plane/diverging wave transmission and advanced clutter filters.uPDI significantly improves Doppler sensitivity and can detect microvessels,which are usually invisible using traditional ultrasound Doppler imaging.CASE SUMMARY In this report,uPDI was used for the first time to observe the brain blood flow of a hypoperfusion area in a 4-year-old girl who underwent decompression craniectomy due to refractory intracranial hypertension(ICP)after malignant brain tumor surgery.B-mode imaging was used to verify the increased densities of the cerebral cortex and basal ganglia that were observed by computed tomography.CONCLUSION uPDI showed the local blood supplies and anatomical structures of the patient after decompressive craniectomy.uPDI is potentially a more intuitive and noninvasive method for evaluating the effects of severe ICP on cerebral microvessels.

Spectrum shuttle for producing spatially shapable GHz burst pulses

Spatiotemporal shaping of ultrashort pulses is pivotal for various technologies,such as burst laser ablation and ultrafast imaging.However,the difficulty of pulse stretching to subnanosecond intervals and independent control of the spatial profile for each pulse limit their advancement.We present a pulse manipulation technique for producing spectrally separated GHz burst pulses from a single ultrashort pulse,where each pulse is spatially shapable.We demonstrated the production of pulse trains at intervals of 0.1 to 3 ns in the 800-and 400-nm wavelength bands and applied them to ultrafast single-shot transmission spectroscopic imaging(4 Gfps)of laser ablation dynamics with two-color sequentially timed all-optical mapping photography.Furthermore,we demonstrated the production of pulse trains containing a shifted or dual-peak pulse as examples of individual spatial shaping of GHz burst pulses.Our proposed technique brings unprecedented spatiotemporal manipulation of GHz burst pulses,which can be useful for a wide range of laser applications.

In vivo imaging and computational modeling of nonlinear shear waves in living skeletal muscles

How the state of living muscles modulates the features of nonlinear elastic waves generated by external dynamic loads remains unclear because of the challenge of directly observing and modeling nonlinear elastic waves in skeletal muscles in vivo,considering their active deformation behavior.Here,this important issue is addressed by combining experiments performed with an ultrafast ultrasound imaging system to track nonlinear shear waves(shear shock waves)in muscles in vivo and finite element analysis relying on a physically motivated constitutive model to study the effect of muscle activation level.Skeletal muscle was loaded with a deep muscle stimulator to generate shear shock waves(SSWs).The particle velocities,second and third harmonics,and group velocities of the SSWs in living muscles under both passive and active states were measured in vivo.Our experimental results reveal,for the first time,that muscle states have a pronounced effect on wave features;a low level of activation may facilitate the occurrence of both the second and third harmonics,whereas a high level of activation may inhibit the third harmonic.Finite element analysis was further carried out to quantitatively explore the effect of active muscle deformation behavior on the generation and propagation of SSWs.The simulation results at different muscle activation levels confirmed the experimental findings.The ability to reveal the effects of muscle state on the features of SSWs may be helpful in elucidating the unique dynamic deformation mechanism of living skeletal muscles,quantitatively characterizing diverse shock wave-based therapy instruments,and guiding the design of muscle-mimicking soft materials.

High-spatial-resolution ultrafast framing imaging at 15 trillion frames per second by optical parametric amplification

We report a framing imaging based on noncollinear optical parametric amplification(NCOPA),named FINCOPA,which applies NCOPA for the first time to single-shot ultrafast optical imaging.In an experiment targeting a laser-induced air plasma grating,FINCOPA achieved 50 fs-resolved optical imaging with a spatial resolution of^83 lp∕mm and an effective frame rate of 10 trillion frames per second(Tfps).It has also successfully visualized an ultrafast rotating optical field with an effective frame rate of 15 Tfps.FINCOPA has simultaneously a femtosecond-level temporal resolution and frame interval and a micrometer-level spatial resolution.Combining outstanding spatial and temporal resolutions with an ultrahigh frame rate,FINCOPA will contribute to high-spatiotemporal resolution observations of ultrafast transient events,such as atomic or molecular dynamics in photonic materials,plasma physics,and laser inertial-confinement fusion.

Single-shot compressed ultrafast photography: a review

Compressed ultrafast photography(CUP)is a burgeoning single-shot computational imaging technique that provides an imaging speed as high as 10 trillion frames per second and a sequence depth of up to a few hundred frames.This technique synergizes compressed sensing and the streak camera technique to capture nonrepeatable ultrafast transient events with a single shot.With recent unprecedented technical developments and extensions of this methodology,it has been widely used in ultrafast optical imaging and metrology,ultrafast electron diffraction and microscopy,and information security protection.We review the basic principles of CUP,its recent advances in data acquisition and image reconstruction,its fusions with other modalities,and its unique applications in multiple research fields.

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.

Single-shot spectral-volumetric compressed ultrafast photography

In ultrafast optical imaging,it is critical to obtain the spatial structure,temporal evolution,and spectral composition of the object with snapshots in order to better observe and understand unrepeatable or irreversible dynamic scenes.However,so far,there are no ultrafast optical imaging techniques that can simultaneously capture the spatial–temporal–spectral five-dimensional(5D)information of dynamic scenes.To break the limitation of the existing techniques in imaging dimensions,we develop a spectral-volumetric compressed ultrafast photography(SV-CUP)technique.In our SV-CUP,the spatial resolutions in the x,y and z directions are,respectively,0.39,0.35,and 3 mm with an 8.8 mm×6.3 mm field of view,the temporal frame interval is 2 ps,and the spectral frame interval is 1.72 nm.To demonstrate the excellent performance of our SV-CUP in spatial–temporal–spectral 5D imaging,we successfully measure the spectrally resolved photoluminescent dynamics of a 3D mannequin coated with CdSe quantum dots.Our SV-CUP brings unprecedented detection capabilities to dynamic scenes,which has important application prospects in fundamental research and applied science.

Probing electron and lattice dynamics by ultrafast electron microscopy: Principles and applications

Microscale charge and energy transfer is an ultrafast process that can determine the photoelectrochemical performance of devices.However,nonlinear and nonequilibrium properties hinder our understanding of ultrafast processes;thus,the direct imaging strategy has become an effective means to uncover ultrafast charge and energy transfer processes.Due to diffraction limits of optical imaging,the obtained optical image has insufficient spatial resolution.Therefore,electron beam imaging combined with a pulse laser showing high spatial–temporal resolution has become a popular area of research,and numerous breakthroughs have been achieved in recent years.In this review,we cover three typical ultrafast electron beam imaging techniques,namely,time-resolved photoemission electron microscopy,scanning ultrafast electron microscopy,and ultrafast transmission electron microscopy,in addition to the principles and characteristics of these three techniques.Some outstanding results related to photon–electron interactions,charge carrier transport and relaxation,electron–lattice coupling,and lattice oscillation are also reviewed.In summary,ultrafast electron beam imaging with high spatial–temporal resolution and multidimensional imaging abilities can promote the fundamental under-standing of physics,chemistry,and optics,as well as guide the development of advanced semiconductors and electronics.

Direct visualization of the complete evolution of femtosecond laser-induced surface structural dynamics of metals

Despite extensive studies of femtosecond laser-material interactions,even the simplest morphological responses following femtosecond pulse irradiation have not been fully resolved.Past studies have revealed only partial dynamics.Here we develop a zerobackground and high-contrast scattered-light-based optical imaging technique through which we capture,for the first time,the complete temporal and spatial evolution of the femtosecond laser-induced morphological surface structural dynamics of metals from start to finish,that is,from the initial transient surface fluctuations,through melting and ablation,to the end of resolidification.We find that transient surface structures first appear at a delay time on the order of 100 ps,which is attributed to ablation driven by pressure relaxation in the surface layer.The formation dynamics of the surface structures at different length scales are individually resolved,and the sequence of their appearance changes with laser fluence is found.Cooling and complete resolidification,observed here for the first time,are shown to occur more slowly than previously predicted by two orders of magnitude.We examine and identify the mechanisms driving each of these dynamic steps.The visualization and control of morphological surface structural dynamics not only are of fundamental importance for understanding femtosecond laser-induced material responses but also pave the way for the design of new material functionalities through surface structuring.

Recent advances in transient imaging:A computer graphics and vision perspective

Transient imaging has recently made a huge impact in the computer graphics and computer vision fields.By capturing,reconstructing,or simulating light transport at extreme temporal resolutions,researchers have proposed novel techniques to show movies of light in motion,see around corners,detect objects in highly-scattering media,or infer material properties from a distance,to name a few.The key idea is to leverage the wealth of information in the temporal domain at the pico or nanosecond resolution,infor-mation usually lost during the capture-time temporal integration.This paper presents recent advances in this field of transient imaging from a graphics and vision perspective,including capture techniques,analysis,applications and simulation.

Parametric amplification as a single-shot time-resolved off-harmonic probe for laser–matter interactions

An optical probing of laser–plasma interactions can provide time-resolved measurements of plasma density;however,single-shot and multi-frame probing capabilities generally rely on complex setups with limited flexibility.We have demonstrated a new method for temporal resolution of the rapid dynamics(∼170 fs)of plasma evolution within a single laser shot based on the generation of several consecutive probe pulses from a single beta barium borate-based optical parametric amplifier using a fraction of the driver pulse with the possibility to adjust the central wavelengths and delays of particular pulses by optical delay lines.The flexibility and scalability of the proposed experimental technique are presented and discussed.