The availability of ever stronger,laser-generated electromagnetic fields underpins continuing progress in the study and application of nonlinear phenomena in basic physical systems,ranging from molecules and atoms to ...The availability of ever stronger,laser-generated electromagnetic fields underpins continuing progress in the study and application of nonlinear phenomena in basic physical systems,ranging from molecules and atoms to relativistic plasmas and quantum electrodynamics.This raises the question:how far will we be able to go with future lasers?One exciting prospect is the attainment of field strengths approaching the Schwinger critical field Ecr in the laboratory frame,such that the field invariant E^(2)−c^(2)B^(2)>E_(cr)^(2) is reached.The feasibility of doing so has been questioned,on the basis that cascade generation of dense electron–positron plasma would inevitably lead to absorption or screening of the incident light.Here we discuss the potential for future lasers to overcome such obstacles,by combining the concept of multiple colliding laser pulses with that of frequency upshifting via a tailored laser–plasma interaction.This compresses the electromagnetic field energy into a region of nanometre size and attosecond duration,which increases the field magnitude at fixed power but also suppresses pair cascades.Our results indicate that laser facilities with peak power of tens of PW could be capable of reaching Ecr.Such a scenario opens up prospects for the experimental investigation of phenomena previously considered to occur only in the most extreme environments in the universe.展开更多
Relativistic few-cycle mid-infrared(mid-IR)pulses are unique tools for strong-field physics and ultrafast science,but are difficult to generate with traditional nonlinear optical methods.Here,we propose a scheme to ge...Relativistic few-cycle mid-infrared(mid-IR)pulses are unique tools for strong-field physics and ultrafast science,but are difficult to generate with traditional nonlinear optical methods.Here,we propose a scheme to generate such pulses with high efficiency via plasma-based frequency modulation with a negatively chirped laser pulse(NCLP).The NCLP is rapidly compressed longitudinally due to dispersion and plasma etching,and its central frequency is downshifted via photon deceleration due to the enhanced laser intensity and plasma density modulations.Simulation results show that few-cycle mid-IR pulses with the maximum center wavelength of 7.9µm and pulse intensity of a_(MIR)=2.9 can be generated under a proper chirp parameter.Further,the maximum energy conversion efficiency can approach 5.0%.Such a relativistic mid-IR source is promising for a wide range of applications.展开更多
Strong white light emission is observed from femtosecond laser propagation in air. The divergence angle of the white light emission is measured to be about 5mrad. Young＇s double-slits and a Michelson interferometer a...Strong white light emission is observed from femtosecond laser propagation in air. The divergence angle of the white light emission is measured to be about 5mrad. Young＇s double-slits and a Michelson interferometer are used to investigate the coherence. The wavelength components of the white light emission are identified to have a good spatial coherence and a coherence time of about 0.5ps.展开更多
Partially deuterated KDP is an ideal nonlinear crystal for second-harmonic generation （SHG） of femtosecond lasers at 1 μm, which features with vanished group-velocity mismatch at its retracing point of phase-matchi...Partially deuterated KDP is an ideal nonlinear crystal for second-harmonic generation （SHG） of femtosecond lasers at 1 μm, which features with vanished group-velocity mismatch at its retracing point of phase-matching. We numerically investigate the characteristics of SHG with femtosecond lasers in a partially deuterated KDP, which shows that group-velocity dispersion plays an important role. This spectrally non-critical phase-matching configuration can support both high efficiency and large acceptance bandwidth.展开更多
We study a femtosecond Ti：sapphire laser pumped optical parametric amplifier （OPA） at 1053nm. The OPA Generates stable signal pulses with duration smaller than l OOfs, wavelength drift smaller than 0.5 nm, and puls...We study a femtosecond Ti：sapphire laser pumped optical parametric amplifier （OPA） at 1053nm. The OPA Generates stable signal pulses with duration smaller than l OOfs, wavelength drift smaller than 0.5 nm, and pulseto-pulse fluctuation of about ±4%, by employinG an external seeder. In a terawatt laser pumped large-aperture LiNbOa OPA, pulse energy at signal has been scaled up to 4mJ. This m J-class femtosecond OPA at 1053nm presents a feasible alternative to optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification, and is ready to be applied to petawatt lasers.展开更多
Damage points induced by 355 nm laser irradiation increase more quickly on the surface of fused silica in vacuum of about 10^-3 Pa than in atmospheric air at the same fluence. The larger concentration of point defects...Damage points induced by 355 nm laser irradiation increase more quickly on the surface of fused silica in vacuum of about 10^-3 Pa than in atmospheric air at the same fluence. The larger concentration of point defects in vacuum is confirmed by photoluminescence intensity. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and infrared absorption indicate the formation of sub-stoichiometric silica on the surface. The degradation mechanism of fused silica in vacuum is discussed.展开更多
We experimentally investigate the high-order harmonic generation in argon gas cell driven by a multi-cycle broadband infrared laser pulse from a tunable optical-parametric-amplifier （OPA） source. The generation of h...We experimentally investigate the high-order harmonic generation in argon gas cell driven by a multi-cycle broadband infrared laser pulse from a tunable optical-parametric-amplifier （OPA） source. The generation of high-order harmonic continuum with the cut-off photon energy up to 110 eV is observed by tuning the chirp of the 800-nm laser pulse which pumps OPA source. The generation of harmonic continuum is understood in terms of the two-hump structure of the OPA output spectrum and the optimal relative phase of the two humps. The demonstrated scheme is of importance for the generation of extreme ultraviolet （XUV） continuum at higher photon energy region.展开更多
We have experimentally demonstrated pulses 0.4 mJ in duration smaller than 12 fs with an excellent spatial beam profile by self-guided propagation in argon. The original 52 fs pulses from the chirped pulsed amplificat...We have experimentally demonstrated pulses 0.4 mJ in duration smaller than 12 fs with an excellent spatial beam profile by self-guided propagation in argon. The original 52 fs pulses from the chirped pulsed amplification laser system are first precompressed to 32 fs by inserting an acoustic optical programmable dispersive filter instrument into the laser system for spectrum reshaping and dispersion compensation, and the pulse spectrum is subsequently broadened by filamentation in an argon cell. By using chirped mirrors for post-dispersion compensation, the pulses are successfully compressed to smaller than 12 fs.展开更多
Employing the technique of symmetry reduction of analytic method, we solve the Ginzburg-Landau equation with varying nonlinear, dispersion, gain coefficients, and gain dispersion which originates from the limiting eff...Employing the technique of symmetry reduction of analytic method, we solve the Ginzburg-Landau equation with varying nonlinear, dispersion, gain coefficients, and gain dispersion which originates from the limiting effect of transition bandwidth in the realistic doped fibres. The parabolic asymptotic self-similar analytical solutions in gain medium of the normal GVD is found for the first time to our best knowledge. The evolution of pulse amplitude, strict linear phase chirp and effective temporal width are given with self-similarity results in longitudinal nonlinearity distribution and longitudinal gain fibre. These analytical solutions are in good agreement with the numerical simulations. Furthermore, we theoretically prove that pulse evolution has the characteristics of parabolic asymptotic self-similarity in doped ions dipole gain fibres.展开更多
We build a compact high-conversion-efficiency and broadband tunable noncollinear optical parametric amplifier （OPA） in the infra-red （IR） pumped by a femtosecond Ti：sapphire CPA laser. The OPA consists of an inte...We build a compact high-conversion-efficiency and broadband tunable noncollinear optical parametric amplifier （OPA） in the infra-red （IR） pumped by a femtosecond Ti：sapphire CPA laser. The OPA consists of an internal seed of white-light continuum generator （WLG） and two noncollinear optical parametric amplifiers. The tunable wavelength range is from 1.2μm to 2.4μm for both signal and idle pulses. The total OPA efficiency in the last OPA stage reaches about 40% in a wider tunable spectral range （from 1.3μm to 1.7μm for signal pulse, from 1.5μm to 2.0 μm for idle pulse respectively）.展开更多
We study the energy scaling of terahertz (THz) emission through difference frequency generation of near-infrared pulses, and demonstrate that Gigawatt few-cycle THz transients at the central frequency of 30 THz are pr...We study the energy scaling of terahertz (THz) emission through difference frequency generation of near-infrared pulses, and demonstrate that Gigawatt few-cycle THz transients at the central frequency of 30 THz are produced from GaSe crystal pumped by two pulses at 1.65 and 1.95 micrometers, with the high quantum yield of 28%. Our analysis indicates that the high yield of DFG originates from the largely reduced group velocity mismatch as the long-wavelength pumping pulses are employed.展开更多
Monochromatization of high-harmonic sources has opened fascinating perspectives regarding time-resolved photoemission from all phases of matter.Such studies have invariably involved the use of spectral filters or spec...Monochromatization of high-harmonic sources has opened fascinating perspectives regarding time-resolved photoemission from all phases of matter.Such studies have invariably involved the use of spectral filters or spectrally dispersive optical components that are inherently lossy and technically complex.Here we present a new technique for the spectral selection of near-threshold harmonics and their spatial separation from the driving beams without any optical elements.We discover the existence of a narrow phase-matching gate resulting from the combination of the non-collinear generation geometry in an extended medium,atomic resonances and absorption.Our technique offers a filter contrast of up to 104 for the selected harmonics against the adjacent ones and offers multiple temporally synchronized beamlets in a single unified scheme.We demonstrate the selective generation of 133,80 or 56 nm femtosecond pulses from a 400-nm driver,which is specific to the target gas.These results open new pathways towards phase-sensitive multi-pulse spectroscopy in the vacuum-and extreme-ultraviolet,and frequencyselective output coupling from enhancement cavities.展开更多
In most coherent imaging modality,speckle noise is a major cause that blurs the boundary of tissues and degrades the image contrast.By utilizing the unique properties of supercontinuum(SC)generated by noise-like pulse...In most coherent imaging modality,speckle noise is a major cause that blurs the boundary of tissues and degrades the image contrast.By utilizing the unique properties of supercontinuum(SC)generated by noise-like pulses(NLPs)and a simple multi-frame averaging technique,we achieved significant speckle reduction in spectral domain optical coherence tomography(SD-OCT).We quantitatively compared the speckle of our proposed method with those of conventional swept source OCT(SS-OCT)and SD-OCT based on commercial light sources.The experimental results show that SC pumped by NLPs combined with noncoherent averaging method achieves better denoising performance in terms of contrast to noise ratio(CNR).展开更多
A high power dual-wavelength Ti：sapphire laser system with wide turning range and high efficiency is described, which consists of two prism-dispersed resonators pumped by an a11-solid-state frequency-doubled Nd：YAG ...A high power dual-wavelength Ti：sapphire laser system with wide turning range and high efficiency is described, which consists of two prism-dispersed resonators pumped by an a11-solid-state frequency-doubled Nd：YAG laser. Tunable dual-wavelength outputs, with one wavelength range from 750nm to 795nm and the other from 80Ohm to 850nm, have been demonstrated. With a pump power of 23 W at 532nm, a repetition rate of 6.5kHz and a pulse width of 67.6ns, the maximum dual-wavelength output power of 5.6 W at 785.3nm and 812.1 run, with a pulse width of 17.2ns and a line width of 2nm, has been achieved, leading to an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 24.4%.展开更多
基金This research was supported by the Swedish Research Council Grants Nos.2016-03329 and 2020-06768(T.G.B.and M.M.)2017-05148(A.G.),as well as the U.S.Department of Energy Office of Science Offices of High Energy Physics and Fusion Energy Sciences(through LaserNetUS)+1 种基金under Contract No.DE-AC02-05CH11231(S.S.B.)Simulations were performed on resources provided by the Swedish National Infrastructure for Computing(SNIC).
文摘The availability of ever stronger,laser-generated electromagnetic fields underpins continuing progress in the study and application of nonlinear phenomena in basic physical systems,ranging from molecules and atoms to relativistic plasmas and quantum electrodynamics.This raises the question:how far will we be able to go with future lasers?One exciting prospect is the attainment of field strengths approaching the Schwinger critical field Ecr in the laboratory frame,such that the field invariant E^(2)−c^(2)B^(2)>E_(cr)^(2) is reached.The feasibility of doing so has been questioned,on the basis that cascade generation of dense electron–positron plasma would inevitably lead to absorption or screening of the incident light.Here we discuss the potential for future lasers to overcome such obstacles,by combining the concept of multiple colliding laser pulses with that of frequency upshifting via a tailored laser–plasma interaction.This compresses the electromagnetic field energy into a region of nanometre size and attosecond duration,which increases the field magnitude at fixed power but also suppresses pair cascades.Our results indicate that laser facilities with peak power of tens of PW could be capable of reaching Ecr.Such a scenario opens up prospects for the experimental investigation of phenomena previously considered to occur only in the most extreme environments in the universe.
基金This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China(No.2018YFA0404802)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.12005297,11875319,12135009,and 12275356)+2 种基金the Science and Technology Innovation Program of Hunan Province(No.2020RC4020)the Research Project of NUDT(No.ZK21-12)the Hunan Provincial Research and Innovation Foundation for Graduate Students(Nos.CX20200002,CX20200038,and CX20210062)。
文摘Relativistic few-cycle mid-infrared(mid-IR)pulses are unique tools for strong-field physics and ultrafast science,but are difficult to generate with traditional nonlinear optical methods.Here,we propose a scheme to generate such pulses with high efficiency via plasma-based frequency modulation with a negatively chirped laser pulse(NCLP).The NCLP is rapidly compressed longitudinally due to dispersion and plasma etching,and its central frequency is downshifted via photon deceleration due to the enhanced laser intensity and plasma density modulations.Simulation results show that few-cycle mid-IR pulses with the maximum center wavelength of 7.9µm and pulse intensity of a_(MIR)=2.9 can be generated under a proper chirp parameter.Further,the maximum energy conversion efficiency can approach 5.0%.Such a relativistic mid-IR source is promising for a wide range of applications.
基金Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos 10374116 and 60128505, and the National Hi-tech ICF program of China.
文摘Strong white light emission is observed from femtosecond laser propagation in air. The divergence angle of the white light emission is measured to be about 5mrad. Young＇s double-slits and a Michelson interferometer are used to investigate the coherence. The wavelength components of the white light emission are identified to have a good spatial coherence and a coherence time of about 0.5ps.
基金Supported by the Ph.D. Programme Foundation of Ministry of Education of China, the Project on 0ptical Science and Technology of Shanghai （012261065）, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No 10376009.
文摘Partially deuterated KDP is an ideal nonlinear crystal for second-harmonic generation （SHG） of femtosecond lasers at 1 μm, which features with vanished group-velocity mismatch at its retracing point of phase-matching. We numerically investigate the characteristics of SHG with femtosecond lasers in a partially deuterated KDP, which shows that group-velocity dispersion plays an important role. This spectrally non-critical phase-matching configuration can support both high efficiency and large acceptance bandwidth.
基金Supported by the Science and Technology Commission Foundation of Shanghai （Nos 05JC14005, 05SG02）, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos 60538010, 10376009 and 10576009.
文摘We study a femtosecond Ti：sapphire laser pumped optical parametric amplifier （OPA） at 1053nm. The OPA Generates stable signal pulses with duration smaller than l OOfs, wavelength drift smaller than 0.5 nm, and pulseto-pulse fluctuation of about ±4%, by employinG an external seeder. In a terawatt laser pumped large-aperture LiNbOa OPA, pulse energy at signal has been scaled up to 4mJ. This m J-class femtosecond OPA at 1053nm presents a feasible alternative to optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification, and is ready to be applied to petawatt lasers.
文摘Damage points induced by 355 nm laser irradiation increase more quickly on the surface of fused silica in vacuum of about 10^-3 Pa than in atmospheric air at the same fluence. The larger concentration of point defects in vacuum is confirmed by photoluminescence intensity. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and infrared absorption indicate the formation of sub-stoichiometric silica on the surface. The degradation mechanism of fused silica in vacuum is discussed.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.11127901,60921004,11134010,11222439,and 61108012)the National"973"Program of China(No.2011CB808103)+1 种基金the Postdoctoral Science Foundation of China(Nos.2012T50420and 2012M520941)the Postdoctoral Scientific Research Program of Shanghai(No.12R21416600)
文摘We experimentally investigate the high-order harmonic generation in argon gas cell driven by a multi-cycle broadband infrared laser pulse from a tunable optical-parametric-amplifier （OPA） source. The generation of high-order harmonic continuum with the cut-off photon energy up to 110 eV is observed by tuning the chirp of the 800-nm laser pulse which pumps OPA source. The generation of harmonic continuum is understood in terms of the two-hump structure of the OPA output spectrum and the optimal relative phase of the two humps. The demonstrated scheme is of importance for the generation of extreme ultraviolet （XUV） continuum at higher photon energy region.
基金Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No 60578049, and the Major Basic Research Project of Shanghai Commission of Science and Technology under Grant No 04dz14001.
文摘We have experimentally demonstrated pulses 0.4 mJ in duration smaller than 12 fs with an excellent spatial beam profile by self-guided propagation in argon. The original 52 fs pulses from the chirped pulsed amplification laser system are first precompressed to 32 fs by inserting an acoustic optical programmable dispersive filter instrument into the laser system for spectrum reshaping and dispersion compensation, and the pulse spectrum is subsequently broadened by filamentation in an argon cell. By using chirped mirrors for post-dispersion compensation, the pulses are successfully compressed to smaller than 12 fs.
基金Supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province under Grant No 04010397.
文摘Employing the technique of symmetry reduction of analytic method, we solve the Ginzburg-Landau equation with varying nonlinear, dispersion, gain coefficients, and gain dispersion which originates from the limiting effect of transition bandwidth in the realistic doped fibres. The parabolic asymptotic self-similar analytical solutions in gain medium of the normal GVD is found for the first time to our best knowledge. The evolution of pulse amplitude, strict linear phase chirp and effective temporal width are given with self-similarity results in longitudinal nonlinearity distribution and longitudinal gain fibre. These analytical solutions are in good agreement with the numerical simulations. Furthermore, we theoretically prove that pulse evolution has the characteristics of parabolic asymptotic self-similarity in doped ions dipole gain fibres.
文摘We build a compact high-conversion-efficiency and broadband tunable noncollinear optical parametric amplifier （OPA） in the infra-red （IR） pumped by a femtosecond Ti：sapphire CPA laser. The OPA consists of an internal seed of white-light continuum generator （WLG） and two noncollinear optical parametric amplifiers. The tunable wavelength range is from 1.2μm to 2.4μm for both signal and idle pulses. The total OPA efficiency in the last OPA stage reaches about 40% in a wider tunable spectral range （from 1.3μm to 1.7μm for signal pulse, from 1.5μm to 2.0 μm for idle pulse respectively）.
基金Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos 11274326,61221064,61405222,11134010 and 11127901the Shanghai Sailing Program under Grant No 14YF1406200
文摘We study the energy scaling of terahertz (THz) emission through difference frequency generation of near-infrared pulses, and demonstrate that Gigawatt few-cycle THz transients at the central frequency of 30 THz are produced from GaSe crystal pumped by two pulses at 1.65 and 1.95 micrometers, with the high quantum yield of 28%. Our analysis indicates that the high yield of DFG originates from the largely reduced group velocity mismatch as the long-wavelength pumping pulses are employed.
基金support from a starting grant(project No.307270-ATTOSCOPE)of the European Research Councilthe Swiss National Science Foundation via the National Centre of Competence in Research Molecular Ultrafast Science and Technology.
文摘Monochromatization of high-harmonic sources has opened fascinating perspectives regarding time-resolved photoemission from all phases of matter.Such studies have invariably involved the use of spectral filters or spectrally dispersive optical components that are inherently lossy and technically complex.Here we present a new technique for the spectral selection of near-threshold harmonics and their spatial separation from the driving beams without any optical elements.We discover the existence of a narrow phase-matching gate resulting from the combination of the non-collinear generation geometry in an extended medium,atomic resonances and absorption.Our technique offers a filter contrast of up to 104 for the selected harmonics against the adjacent ones and offers multiple temporally synchronized beamlets in a single unified scheme.We demonstrate the selective generation of 133,80 or 56 nm femtosecond pulses from a 400-nm driver,which is specific to the target gas.These results open new pathways towards phase-sensitive multi-pulse spectroscopy in the vacuum-and extreme-ultraviolet,and frequencyselective output coupling from enhancement cavities.
基金This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(61227807,61575108 and 61505034)Tsinghua Initiative Scientific Research Program(2013THZ02-3)C.L.Pan and Y.J.You were supported in part by the Ministry of Science and Technology,Taiwan,under Grant 103-2622-E-007-006-CC2 and by the National Tsing Hua University Research Program Grant 104N2711E1.C.L.Pan is also supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research FA2386-13-1-4086.The first three authors contribute equally to this paper。
文摘In most coherent imaging modality,speckle noise is a major cause that blurs the boundary of tissues and degrades the image contrast.By utilizing the unique properties of supercontinuum(SC)generated by noise-like pulses(NLPs)and a simple multi-frame averaging technique,we achieved significant speckle reduction in spectral domain optical coherence tomography(SD-OCT).We quantitatively compared the speckle of our proposed method with those of conventional swept source OCT(SS-OCT)and SD-OCT based on commercial light sources.The experimental results show that SC pumped by NLPs combined with noncoherent averaging method achieves better denoising performance in terms of contrast to noise ratio(CNR).
基金Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos 10474071, 60637010, 60671036 and 60278001, and the Tianjin Applied Fundamental Research Project under Grant No 07JCZDJC05900.
文摘A high power dual-wavelength Ti：sapphire laser system with wide turning range and high efficiency is described, which consists of two prism-dispersed resonators pumped by an a11-solid-state frequency-doubled Nd：YAG laser. Tunable dual-wavelength outputs, with one wavelength range from 750nm to 795nm and the other from 80Ohm to 850nm, have been demonstrated. With a pump power of 23 W at 532nm, a repetition rate of 6.5kHz and a pulse width of 67.6ns, the maximum dual-wavelength output power of 5.6 W at 785.3nm and 812.1 run, with a pulse width of 17.2ns and a line width of 2nm, has been achieved, leading to an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 24.4%.
