高强度飞秒激光脉冲在空气中的自压缩

利用高重复频率(1kHz)、吉瓦级飞秒激光脉冲实验验证了高强度飞秒脉冲在空气中的自压缩现象，研究了入射脉冲在不同初始啁啾情况下经空气中聚焦成丝后，时域及频域特性随入射脉冲能量的变化规律．实验结果表明，在无需后继色散补偿情况下，高强度飞秒脉冲仅通过在空气中的非线性传输过程就可以实现脉冲压缩；在入射脉冲为负啁啾情况下，实验观察到脉冲光谱及时域宽度同时得到压缩，并可获得比激光源所能提供的更短的近双曲正割型变换限脉冲．

负啁啾高强度飞秒脉冲在正常色散材料中传输特性研究

利用块状正常色散材料作非线性介质，实验研究了负啁啾强激光飞秒脉冲在正常色散材料的传输过程中，脉冲波形及频谱随入射脉冲能量的变化特性．实验发现，负啁啾脉冲经过材料后激光光谱在被整形和压缩的同时，脉冲宽度也被压缩．实验获得的压缩脉冲宽度短于相等光谱宽度下的双曲正割转换极限脉冲宽度。数值模拟结果显示，在实验条件下模拟结果具有同样的变化特性．

脉冲啁啾对于阿秒脉冲的影响

采用单电子近似和软核势模型，通过数值求解一维含时薛定谔方程，理论研究了当脉冲分别带有正、负啁啾的情况下所产生的阿秒脉冲，分析了不同脉冲啁啾特性对阿秒脉冲的强度和宽度的影响，研究结果表明，无论是正啁啾还是负啁啾，随着啁啾量的增加，都将使激光脉冲由产生单个阿秒脉冲趋向于产生阿秒脉冲链，正啁啾和负啁啾对于阿秒脉冲宽度的影响是不同的，负啁啾对于阿秒脉冲宽度影响很小，适当的负啁啾有利于缩小阿秒脉冲的宽度；而正啁啾脉冲产生的阿秒脉冲较无啁啾时展宽，且随着啁啾量的增加，其阿秒脉冲宽度迅速增大。

μ^-子催化核聚变中强脉冲激光对介原子μ^3He的电离

数值求解了一维含时的Schroedinger方程，研究了μ子催化核聚变反应中激光强度和波长对介原子μ^3He电离的影响．发现当激光强度为10^19-10^23W/cm^2量级时，介原子μ^3He有2．7％左右的电离率；当激光强度达到6．0×10^24W/cm^2时，对介原子μ^3He有显著的电离，并且电离率随着激光的强度、波长而递增，进而会有效提高μ子的催化效率．

影响单电子非线性汤姆孙散射因素的研究

应用电子汤姆孙散射的经典理论，通过理论分析和计算机模拟，研究了超短超强激光脉冲作用下电子产生的辐射脉冲的性质．计算表明，在这种情况下，电子的辐射通常以阿秒脉冲列的形式出现．讨沦了不同激光场参数(包括激光强度、脉宽、初相位和偏振态)、不同电子初始状态(初始速度和位置)对辐射脉冲的时间和空间特性的影响．通常在相对论光强条件下，激光强度越大，电子辐射越强，脉宽越窄，中心频率越大，并且方向性越好；电子在线偏振激光中产生的辐射效率，比在同样强度下圆偏振激光中产生的效率更高；无论入射光是线偏振光，还是圆偏振光，辐射场

Polarization-dependent pulse compression in an argon-filled cell through filamentation

Pulse compression through filamentation in an argon-filled cell was experimentally demonstrated by using circularly and linearly polarized pulses. A 53 fs circularly polarized pulse was successfully compressed to 15 fs. By using circularly polarized pulse input, the broadened spectrum was much wider and the incident energy in the gas cell can be increased by more than 3/2 times. Much shorter pulse could be compressed by using circularly polarized pulse input. [GRAPHICS] The temporal profile of the compressed pulse (C) 2008 by Astro Ltd. Published exclusively by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.

Electron quantum path tuning and isolated attosecond pulse emission driven by a waveform-controlled multi-cycle laser field

We investigate high-order harmonic emission and isolated attosecond pulse (IAP) generation in atoms driven by a two-colour multi-cycle laser field consisting of an 800 nm pulse and an infrared laser pulse at an arbitrary wavelength. With moderate laser intensity, an IAP of similar to 220 as can be generated in helium atoms by using two-colour laser pulses of 35 fs/800 nm and 46 fs/1150 nm. The discussion based on the three-step semiclassical model, and time-frequency analysis shows a clear picture of the high-order harmonic generation in the waveform-controlled laser field which is of benefit to the generation of XUV IAP and attosecond electron pulses. When the propagation effect is included, the duration of the IAP can be shorter than 200 as, when the driving laser pulses are focused 1 mm before the gas medium with a length between 1.5 mm and 2 mm.

Formation of X-waves at fundamental and harmonics by infrared femtosecond pulse filamentation in air

We experimentally observe the formation of X-waves at fundamental, third harmonic, and fifth harmonic wavelengths by infrared (central wavelength at similar to 1500 nm) femtosecond laser pulse filamentation in air. By fitting the angularly resolved spectra of the fundamental and harmonic waves using X-wave relations, we confirm that all the X-waves have nearly the same group velocity, indicating that they are locked in space and time during their propagation in filament.

Large area uniform nanostructures fabricated by direct femtosecond laser ablation

An approach for fabricating large area uniform nanostructures by direct femtosecond (fs) laser ablation is presented. By the simple scanning technique with appropriate irradiation conditions, arbitrary size of uniform, complanate nano-grating, nano-particle, and nano-square structures can be produced on wide bandgap materials as well as graphite. The feature sizes of the formed nanostructures, which can be tuned in a wide range by varying the irradiation wavelength, is about 200 nm with 800 nm fs laser irradiation. The physical properties of the nano-structured surfaces are changed greatly, especially the optical property, which is demonstrated by the extraordinary enhancement of light transmission of the treated area. This technique is efficient, universal, and environmentally friendly, which exhibits great potential for applications in photoelectron devices. (C) 2008 Optical Society of America

Two-color two-photon excitation of indole using a femtosecond laser regenerative amplifier

The fluorescence emission from indole resulting from two-color two-photon (2C2P) excitation with 400 and 800 nm wavelengths is observed, using the second harmonic and fundamental wavelength of a 800 nm 40 fs pulsed Ti:Sapphire femtosecond (fs) regenerative amplifier operating at a repetition rate of 1 kHz. By delaying one fs laser pulse relative to the other, the cross correlation of fluorescence is observed, which indicates the generation of 2C2P fluorescence signal in the experiment. The strongest 2C2P fluorescence emission characterized by the peak of cross correlation curve suggests optimal temporal overlap of the two fs laser pulses. The 2C2P fluorescence signal is linearly dependent on the total excitation intensity. The fluorescence signals with 400 nm and 800 nm irradiation alone are also demonstrated and discussed in this paper. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Phase-matched high-order harmonic generation in a gas cell with midinfrared femtosecond pulses

We experimentally investigate the generation of high-order harmonics in a 4-mm-long gas cell using midinfrared femtosecond pulses at various wavelengths of 1240 nm, 1500 nm, and 1800 nm. It is observed that the yield and cutoff energy of the generated high-order harmonics critically depend on focal position, gas pressure, and size of the input beam which can be controlled by an aperture placed in front of the focal lens. By optimizing the experimental parameters, we achieve a cutoff energy at similar to 190 eV with the 1500 nm driving pulses, which is the highest for the three wavelengths chosen in our experiment.

Ultrafast dynamics in ZnO thin films irradiated by femtosecond lasers

The damage morphologies, threshold fluences in ZnO films were studied with femtosecond laser pulses. Time-resolved reflectivity and transmissivity have been measured by the pump-probe technique at different pump fluences and wavelengths. The results indicate that two-phase transition is the dominant damage mechanism, which is similar to that in narrow band gap semiconductors. The estimated energy loss rate of conduction electrons is 1.5 eV/ps. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Optical breakdown of 6H SiC induced by wavelength-tunable femtosecond laser pulses

The damage mechanisms and micromachining of 6H SiC are studied by using femtosecond laser pulses at wavelengths between near infrared (NIR) and near ultraviolet (NUV) delivered from an optical parametric amplifier (OPA). Our experimental results indicate that high quality microstructures can be fabricated in SiC crystals. On the basis of the dependence of the ablated area and the laser pulse energy, the threshold fluence of SiC is found to increase with the incident laser wavelength in the visible region, while it remains almost constant for the NIR laser. For the NIR laser pulses, both photoionization and impact ionization play important roles in electronic excitation, while for visible lasers, photoionization plays a more important role.

Theoretical and experimental study on femtosecond laser induced damage in CaF2 crystals

We report on the damage threshold in CaF2 crystals induced by femtosecond laser at wavelengths of 800 nm and 400 nm, respectively. The dependences of ablation depths and ablation volumes on laser fluences are also presented. We investigate theoretically the coupling constants between phonon and conduction band electrons (CBE), and calculate the rates of CBE absorbing laser energy. A theoretical model including CBE production, laser energy deposition, and CBE diffusion is applied to study the damage mechanisms. Our results indicate that energy diffusion greatly influences damage threshold and ablation depth.

Pulse self-compression in normally dispersive bulk media

We experimentally demonstrate that high-power femtosecond pulses can be compressed during the nonlinear propagation in the normally dispersive solid bulk medium. The self-compression behavior was detailedly investigated under a variety of experimental conditions, and the temporal and spectral characteristics of resulted pulses were found to be significantly affected by the input pulse intensity, with higher intensity corresponding to shorter compressed pulses. By passing through a piece of BK7 glass, a self-compression from 50 to 20 fs was achieved, with a compression factor of about 2.5. However, the output pulse was observed to be split into two peaks when the input intensity is high enough to generate supercontinuum and conical emission. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.