Generation of sub-5 fs pulses through cascade of filamentation and hollow fiber compression

A pulse-compression scheme based on cascade of filamentation and hollow fiber has been demonstrated, Pulses with duration of sub-5 fs and energy of 0.2 mJ near 800 nm have been generated by compressing the similar to 40 fs pulses from a commercial laser system. This method is promising to generate near monocycle high energy pulses. [GRAPHICS] Measured autocorrelation curve of the final compressed pulses with duration of sub-5 fs (black solid) and the simulated autocorrelation curve of 4.6 fs pulse near 800 rim (red dash) (C) 2008 by Astro Ltd. Published exclusively by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA

Optimization of single attosecond x-ray pulses by genetic algorithm control of the chirp and initial phase of 5 fs laser pulses

We show that the peak intensity of single attosecond x-ray pulses is enhanced by 1 or 2 orders of magnitude, the pulse duration is greatly compressed, and the optimal propagation distance is shortened by genetic algorithm optimization of the chirp and initial phase of 5 fs laser pulses. However, as the laser intensity increases, more efficient nonadiabatic self-phase matching can lead to a dramatically enhanced harmonic yield, and the efficiency of optimization decreases in the enhancement and compression of the generated attosecond pulses. (c) 2006 Optical Society of America.

Generation of 5 fs, 0.7 mJ pulses at 1 kHz through cascade filamentation

Two-cycle optical pulses with duration of 5 fs and energy of 0.7 mJ have been generated at 1 kHz by compressing the 38 fs laser pulses from a carrier-envelope phase (CEP) controlled Ti:sapphire laser system through a cascade filamentation compression technique. A simple and effective method is developed to suppress multiple filament formation and stabilize a single filament by inserting a soft aperture with an appropriate diameter into the driving laser beam prior to focusing, resulting in an excellent compressed beam quality. The good beam quality and potentially higher peak power make this ultrashort laser pulse source a significant tool for high-field physics applications. (C) 2007 Optical Society of America.

Preparation, characterization and gas sensing properties of lead tetra-(tert-butyl)-5,10,1 5,20-tetraazaporphyrin spin-coating films

A spin-coated film of lead tetra-(tert-butyl)-5,10,15,20-tetraazaporphyrin complex (PbTAP(t-Bu)(4)) was obtained and characterized by IR spectra, absorption spectra and atomic force microscopy. The response and recovery characteristics of the film to NH3, NO2 and C2H5OH vapor were investigated at room temperature. In addition, the reversibility and stability of the film to NH3 were also studied. The results indicate that the PbTAP(t-Bu)(4) derivative can be exploited as an NH3 sensor at room temperature. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Nickel(II) and copper(II) complexes containing 2-(2-(5-substitued isoxazol-3-yl)hydrazono)-5,5-dimethylcyclohexane-1,3-dione ligands: Synthesis, spectral and thermal characterizations

Two new hydrazone chelating ligands, 2-(2-(5-methylisoxazol-3-yl)hydrazono)-5,5-dimethylcyclohexane-1,3-dione (HL1) and 2-(2-(5-tert-butylisoxazol-3-yl)hydrazono)-5,5-dimethylcyclohexane- 1,3-dione (HL2), and their nickel(II) and copper(II) complexes were synthesized using the procedure of diazotization, coupling and metallization. Their structures were postulated based on elemental analysis, H-1 NMR, ESI-MS, FT-IR spectra and UV-vis electronic absorption spectra. Smooth films of these complexes on K9 glass substrates were prepared using spin-coating and their absorption properties were evaluated. The thermal properties of the metal(II) complexes were investigated by thermogravimetry (TG) and differential thermogravimetry (DTG). Different thermodynamic and kinetic parameters namely activation energy (E

Structural change of laser-irradiated Ge2Sb2Te5 films studied by electrical property measurement

Sheet resistance of laser-irradiated Ge2Sb2Te5 thin films prepared by magnetron sputtering was measured by the four-point probe method. With increasing laser power the sheet resistance undergoes an abrupt drop from 10(7) to 10(3) Omega/square at about 580 mW. The abrupt drop in resistance is due to the structural change from amorphous to crystalline state as revealed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) study of the samples around the abrupt change point. Crystallized dots were also formed in the amorphous Ge2Sb2Te5 films by focused short pulse laser-irradiated, the resistivities at the crystallized dots and the non-crystallized area are 3.375 x 10(-3) and 2.725 Omega m, sheet resistance is 3.37 x 10(4) and 2.725 x 10(7) Omega/square respectively, deduced from the I-V Curves that is obtained by conductive atomic force microscope (C-AFM). (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Nd：Y3Sc（1．5）Al（3．5）O（12）透明陶瓷的光谱性能以及激光输出

采用燃烧法制备了Nd：YSAG粉体,经过成型、素烧,最终在氢气气氛中烧结制备了Nd：YSAG透明陶瓷.测试结果表明,Nd：YSAG透明陶瓷具有荧光谱线较宽,荧光寿命较长的特点.激光实验得到的激光输出,斜率效率为23.6%,输出功率为0.36W,输出激光的谱线分布较宽.

High optical-optical efficiency of 52.5% obtained in high power Nd : YAG ceramic laser

Using a quite uniformly side-around arranged compact pumping system, a high power Nd:YAG ceramic quasi-CW laser has been demonstrated with high optical-to-optical conversion efficiency over 50% for the first time. With 450 W quasi-CW stacked laser diode bars pumping at 808 run. 236 W Output at 1064 run was obtained and no saturation phenomena were observed.

5.5W CWYb3+ : Y2O3 ceramic laser pumped with 970 nm laser diode

CW laser output has been demonstrated for polycrystalline transparent 10 at.% Yb3+-doped Y2O3 ceramics. End-pumped with 970 nm laser diode, a maximum output power of 5.5 W has been obtained with absorbed pump power of 31.1 W. The slope efficiency is 25% while the threshold pump power is 5.6 W. Saturation is not observed in our experiments, indicating higher laser output can be expected with higher pump power. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Efficient excitations of radially and azimuthally polarized Nd 3+:YAG ceramic microchip laser by use of subwavelength multilayer concentric gratings composed of Nb2O5/SiO2

Cylindrical vector beams were produced from laser diode end-pumped Nd:YAG ceramic microchip laser by use of two types of subwavelength multilayer gratings as the axisymmetric-polarization output couplers respectively. The grating mirrors are composed of high- and low-refractive-index (Nb2O5/SiO2) layers alternately while each layer is shaped into triangle and concentric corrugations. For radially polarized laser output, the beam power reached 610mW with a polarization extinction ratio ( PER) of 61: 1 and a slope efficiency of 68.2%; for azimuthally polarized laser output, the beam power reached 626mW with a PER of 58: 1 and a slope efficiency of 47.6%. In both cases, the laser beams had near-diffraction limited quality. Small differences of beam power, PER and slope efficiency between radially and azimuthally polarized laser outputs were not critical, and could be minimized by further optimized adjustment to laser cavity and the reflectances of respective grating mirrors. The results manifested, by use of the photonic crystal gratings mirrors and end-pumped microchip laser configuration, CVBs can be generated efficiently with high modal symmetry and polarization purity. (C) 2008 Optical Society of America.

Dual-wavelength competitive output in Nd:Y3Sc1.5Al3.5O12 ceramic disk laser

In this paper, we demonstrated a dual-wavelength competitive output in Nd:Y3SC1.5Al3.5O12 ceramic disk laser. Different dual-wavelength output behaviors for Nd:YSAG and Nd:YAG ceramic disk laser were investigated and discussed. By applying the energy transfer model, we suggested the reasonable explanation for this new phenomenon as the disordered replacing of Al3+ ions by Sc3+ ions. The main advantage of the dual-wavelength ceramic laser is the possibility to serve as the seed source to generate Terahertz radiation. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Generation of 1.5-12 ns width-tunable 532 nm pulses by adopting laser-induced plasma shutter technique

The pulse-shaping technique has found widespread applications in nonlinear optics and material processing. Experimental research on laser-induced plasma shutter to control the 532 nm pulse width is conducted. The impacts of the total pulse output energy on pulse compression are investigated, and a useful conclusion can be drawn that there exists an optimal value of pulse energy at which the shortest output pulse of 3.23 ns can be obtained without a device for delay-time. Once the device for delay-time is employed to change the optical differences between two laser paths, the pulse width can be further shortened to 1.51 ns. In short, the 1.5-12 ns width-tunable 532 nm laser pulses have been obtained by adopting the laser-induced plasma shutter technique. (C) 2007 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Experimental study on a nonlinear photonics process of Er(0.5)Yb(3): FOV oxyfluoride nanophase vitroceramics

We study the nonlinear photonics of rare-earth-doped oxyfluoride nanophase vitroceramics (FOV), oxyfluoride glass (FOG), and ZBLAN fluoride glass. We found that an interesting fluorescence intensity inversion phenomenon between red and green fluorescence occurs from Er(0.5)Yb(3):FOV The dynamic range Sigma of the intensity inversion between red and green fluorescence of Er(0.5)Yb(3):FOV is about 5.753 x 10(2), which is 100 to 1000 times larger than those of other materials. One of the applications of this phenomenon is double-wavelength fluorescence falsification-preventing technology, which is proved to possess the novel antifriction loss and antiscribble properties. (c) 2007 Optical Society of America.