A study of ultrafast electron diffusion kinetics in ultrashort-pulse laser ablation of metals

Temperature dependence of the electron diffusion in metallic targets, where the electron-lectron collision is the dominant process, is investigated with the help of an extended two-temperature model. In sharp contrast to the low electron temperature case, where only the electron-phonon collisions are commonly considered, the electron diffusion process underlying the high electron temperatures evolves dramatically different in both temporal and spatial domains. Calculated results of the ablation yield at different pulse durations are presented for a copper plate impinged by ultrashort laser pulses with energy fluences ranging from 0.1 J/cm^2 to 10 J/cm^2. The excellent agreement between the simulation results and the experimental data indicates the significant role of electron-electron collisions in material ablations using intense ultrashort laser pulses.

Competition between multiphoton/tunnel ionization and filamentation induced by powerful femtosecond laser pulses in air

In this work we present experiments by focusing 42 femtosecond laser pulses in air using three differentfocal length lenses: f=100, 30 and 5 cm. For the longest focal length, only the filament, which is aweak plasma column,is observed. When the shorter focal length lens is used, a high density plasma isgenerated near the geometrical focus and coexists with a weak plasma channel of the filamemt. Under thetightest focusing condition, filamentation is prevented and only a strong plasma volume appears at tehgeometrical focus.

Intense broadband THz generation from femtosecond laser filamentation

Broadband and energetic terahertz （THz） pulses can be remotely generated in air through filamentation. We review such THz generation and detection in femtosecond Ti-sapphire laser induced remote filaments. New results are presented on the direct relationship between THz generation in a two color filament and induced N2 fluorescence through population trapping during molecular alignment and revival in air. This further supports the new technique of remote THz detection in air through the sensitive measurement of N2 fluorescence.

Spectroscopic investigations on Yb^3+ doped and Pr^3+/Yb^3+ codoped tellurite glasses for photonic applications

In this work we repo rt on structural and spect roscopic properties of Yb^3+doped and Pr^3+/Yb^3+co-doped TeO2-Bi2 O3-ZnO-Li2 O-Nb2 O5(TBZLN)tellurite glasses.Bending and stretching modes of TeO2 and Te-OH bond(strong and weak)were analysed from the deconvolution of observed Raman and FT-IR spectra.Based on the absorption measurements,the energy bands of Yb^3+and Pr^3+ions are assigned.The spectroscopic properties for the radiative transitions of Yb^3+and Pr^3+ions were reported using McCumber and Judd-Ofelt theories.Visible emission bands originating from 3 P1 and 3 P0 to lower lying levels of Pr^3+were registered under 447 nm excitation.The emission band around 1334 nm assigned to the Pr3:1 G4→3 H5 was observed when excited at 980 nm.The stimulated emission cross-section(σemi(λ))and effective linewidth(Δλeff)for the 3 P1→3 H6,3 P1→3 H5,3 P0→3 H6,3 P0→3 F2,3 P1→3 F3,3 P1→3 F4,3 P0→3 F4 and 1 G4→3 H5 transitions of Pr^3+are reported.Upconversion luminescence in Pr^3+/Yb^3+codoped glass upon 980 nm excitation was measured.Possible resonant transfer processes between Yb^3+and Pr^3+ions are presented and discussed.The chromaticity co-ordinates were also evaluated from the visible emission spectra showing that Pr^3+/Yb^3+co-doped glass may be suitable for the development of yellow-orange(λexc=447 nm)and near white light(λexc=980 nm)emitting devices in photonics.

Controlling neutral fragmentation yields of methane by femtosecond laser pulses

We demonstrate the control of neutral fragmentation of methane（CH4） induced by a Ti：sapphire intense laser pulse（800 nm, 40 fs） by using a pump–probe spectroscopy. Enhancement of the fluorescence emission from the neutral radical CH（A2Δ → X2Π） induced by the intense laser field（~1014 W/cm2） is observed when the wavelength of the probe laser pulse is tuned to 400 nm. The phenomena are explained based on excitation enhancement of the super-excited state of the parent molecule resulting in an increase in neutral dissociation of the methane molecules.

The role of refocusing in dynamic X-wave formation during femtosecond laser filamentation in water

With the evolution of a laser pulse in water, the formation of a nonlinear X wave during femtosecond filamentation is investigated based on numerical simulations. In particular, we analyze the far-field angularly resolved spectra obtained for different temporal portions of the ultrashort pulse during its propagation. Our result shows that the refocusing of ultrashort pulse leads to the formation of dynamic X wave which essentially manifests itself as conical emission.

Photonic properties of novel Yb3＋ doped germanium-lead oxyfluoride glass-ceramics for laser cooling applications

Abstract In recent years, our research group has developed and studied new rare-earth doped materials for the promising technology of solid-state laser cooling, which is based on anti-stokes fluorescence. To the best of our knowledge, our group is the only one in Canada leading the research into the properties of nanoparticles, glasses and glass-ceramics for optical refrigeration appli- cations. In the present work, optical properties of 50GeO2- 30PbF2-18PbO-2YbF3 glass-ceramics for laser cooling are presented and discussed as a function of crystallization temperature. Spectroscopic results show that samples have near infrared photoluminescence emission due to the 2F5/2 - 2F7/2 Yb3＋ transition, centered at -1016 nm with an excitation wavelength of 920 nm or 1011 nm, and the highest photoluminescence emission efficiency occurs for heat-treatment for 5 h at 350℃. The internal photolumi- nescence quantum yield varies between 99% and 80%, depending on the temperature of heat-treatment, being the most efficient under 1011 nm excitation. The 2F5/2 lifetime increases from 1.472 to 1.970 ms for heat treatments at 330℃ to 350℃, respectively, due to energy trapping and the low phonon energy of the nanocrystals. The sample temperature dependence was measured with a fiber Bragg grating sensor, as a function of input pump laser wavelength and processing temperature. These measure- ments show that the heating process approaches near zero for an excitation wavelength between 1020 and 1030 nm, which is an indication that phonons are removed effectivelly from the glass-ceramic materials, and they can be used for optical laser cooling applications. On theother hand, the temperature increase as a function of input laser power into samples remains constant between 920 and 980 nm wavelength excitation, a temperature variation of 36 K/W （temperature of 58℃/W） was attained under excitation at 950 nm, showing a possible use for biomedical applications to be explored.