High-power extracavity pulse compression in solid materials

A novel technique for high-power extracavity pulse compression with a nonlinear solid material is demonstrated. Before spectral broadening by self-phase modulation in the solid material, a short filament generated in argon is used as a spatial filter, which works for a uniform spectrum broadening over the spatial profile. Compensated by chirped mirrors, a 15-fs pulse is generated from a 32-fs input laser pulse. A total transmission larger than 80% after the solid material is achieved.

Ion cascade acceleration from the interaction of a relativistic femtosecond laser pulse with a narrow thin target

Particle-in-cell simulations are performed to study the acceleration of ions due to the interaction of a relativistic femtosecond laser pulse with a narrow thin target. The numerical results show that ions can be accelerated in a cascade by two electrostatic fields if the width of the target is smaller than the laser beam waist. The first field is formed in front of the target by the central part of the laser beam, which pushes the electron layer inward. The major part of the abaxial laser energy propagates along the edges to the rear side of the target and pulls out some hot electrons from the edges of the target, which form another electrostatic field at the rear side of the target. The ions from the front surface are accelerated stepwise by these two electrostatic fields to high energies at the rear side of the target. The simulations show that the largest ion energy gain for a narrow target is about four times higher than in the case of a wide target. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.

High and stable conversion efficiency obtaining in single-stage multi-crystal optical parametric chirped pulse amplification system

An optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification system is demonstrated to provide 32.9% pump-to-signal conversion efficiency . Special techniques are used to make the signal and pump pulses match with each other in both spectral and temporal domains. The broadband 9.5-mJ pulses are produced at the repetition rate of 1 Hz with the gain of over 1.9 x 10(8). The output energy fluctuation of 7.8% is achieved for the saturated amplification process against the pump fluctuation of 10%.

Femtosecond pulse laser-induced self-organized nanostructures on the surface of ZnO crystal

This paper reports self-organized nanostructures observed on the surface of ZnO crystal after irradiation by a focused beam of a femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser with a repetition rate of 250 kHz. For a linearly polarized femtosecond laser, the periodic nanograting structure on the ablation crater surface was promoted. The period of self-organization structures is about 180 nm. The grating orientation is adjusted by the laser polarization direction. A long range Bragg-like grating is formed by moving the sample at a speed of 10 mu m/s. For a circularly polarized laser beam, uniform spherical nanoparticles were formed as a result of Coulomb explosion during the interaction of near-infrared laser with ZnO crystal.

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.

Optimization of multi-cycle two-color laser fields for the generation of an isolated attosecond pulse

The effect of the mixing of pulsed two color fields on the generation of an isolated attosecond pulse has been systematically investigated. One main color is 800 nm and the other color (or secondary color) is varied from 1.2 to 2.4 mu m. This work shows that the continuum length behaves in a similar way to the behavior of the difference in the square of the amplitude of the strongest and next strongest cycle. As the mixing ratio is increased, the optimal wavelength for the extended continuum shifts toward shorter wavelength side. There is a certain mixing ratio of intensities at which the continuum length bifurcates, i.e., the existence of two optimal wavelengths. As the mixing ratio is further increased, each branch bifurcates again into two sub-branches. This 2D map analysis of the mixing ratio and the wavelength of the secondary field easily allows one to select a proper wavelength and the mixing ratio for a given pulse duration of the primary field. The study shows that an isolated sub-100 attosecond pulse can be generated mixing an 11 fs full-width-half-maximum (FWHM), 800 laser pulse with an 1840 nm FWHM pulse. Furthermore the result reveals that a 33 fs FWHM, 800 nm pulse can produce an isolated pulse below 200 as, when properly mixed. (c) 2008 Optical Society of America.

Effects of Lorentz local field correction on propagation properties of few-cycle pulse in dense Λ-type atomic medium

By solving numerically the full Maxwell-Bloch equations without the slowly varying envelope approximation and the rotating-wave approximation, we investigate the effects of Lorentz local field correction (LFC) on the propagation properties of few-cycle laser pulse in a dense A-type three-level atomic medium. We find that: when the area of the input pulse is larger, split of pulse occurs and the number of the sub-pulses with LFC is larger than that without LFC; at the same distance, the time interval between the first sub-pulse and the second sub-pulse in the case without LFC is longer than that with LFC, the time of pulse appearing in the case without LFC is later than that in the case with LFC, and the two phenomena are more obvious with propagation distance increasing; time evolution rules of the populations of levels vertical bar 1 >, vertical bar 2 > and vertical bar 3 > in the two cases with and without LFC are much different. When the area of the input pulse is smaller, effects of LFC on time evolutions of the pulse and populations are remarkably smaller than those in the case of larger area pulse. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A plasma channel scheme for the interaction of an intense femtosecond laser pulse with a deuterium cluster jet

We propose a plasma channel scheme to obtain an improved table-top laser driven fusion neutron yield as a result of explosions of large deuterium clusters irradiated by an intense laser pulse. A cylindrical plasma channel is created by two moderate intensity laser prepulses at the edge of a deuterium cluster jet along which an intense main laser pulse propagates several nanoseconds later. With the aid of this plasma channel, the main laser pulse will be allowed to deposit its energy into the central region of the deuterium gas jet where the cluster sizes are larger and the atomic density is higher. The plasma channel formation and its impact on the deuterium ion energy spectrum and the consequent fusion neutron yield have been investigated. The calculated results show that a remarkable increase of the table-top laser driven fusion neutron yield would be expected.

Control of single attosecond pulse generation from the reflection of a synthesized relativistic laser pulse on a solid surface

The influence of the carrier-envelope phase (CEP) of the driving laser pulse on the generation of single attosecond (as) pulses from surface harmonics by using the polarization gating technique is investigated in detail. It is found that the modulation depth of the high-order harmonic spectrum depends on the CEP, and a strong single 68 as pulse can be generated when the CEP is stable and has the proper value. The physical origin of the influence of the CEP is explained in terms of the oscillating mirror model. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics. [DOI: 10.1063/1.2997342]

Coulomb expansion of deuterated methane clusters irradiated by an ultrashort intense laser pulse

The simulations of three-dimensional particle dynamics show that when irradiated by an ultrashort intense laser pulse, the deuterated methane cluster expands and the majority of deuterons overrun the more slowly expanding carbon ions, resulting in the creation of two separated subclusters. The enhanced deuteron kinetic energy and a narrow peak around the energy maximum in the deuteron energy distribution make a considerable contribution to the efficiency of nuclear fusion compared with the case of homonuclear deuterium clusters. With the intense laser irradiation, the nuclear fusion yield increases with the increase of the cluster size, so that deuterated heteronuclear clusters with larger sizes are required to achieve a greater neutron yield.

Acceleration of initially moving electrons by a copropagation intense laser pulse

Acceleration of an initially moving electron by a copropagation ultra-short ultra-intense laser pulse in vacuum is studied. It is shown that when appropriate laser pulse parameters and focusing conditions are imposed, the acceleration of electron by ascending front of laser pulse can be much stronger compared to the deceleration by descending part. Consequently, the electron can obtain significantly high net energy gain. We also report the results of the new scheme that enables a second-step acceleration of electron using laser pulses of peak intensity in the range of 10(19)-10(20) W mu m(2)/cm(2). In the first step the electron acceleration from rest is limited to energies of a few MeV, while in the second step the electron acceleration can be considerably enhanced to about 100 MeV energy.

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.

Generation of periodic ultrashort electron bunches and strongly asymmetric ion Coulomb explosion in nanometer foils interacting with ultra-intense laser pulse

The interaction of a linearly polarized intense laser pulse with an ultrathin nanometer plasma layer is investigated to understand the physics of the ion acceleration. It is shown by the computer simulation that the plasma response to the laser pulse comprises two steps. First, due to the vxB effect, electrons in the plasma layer are extracted and periodic ultrashort relativistic electron bunches are generated every half of a laser period. Second, strongly asymmetric Coulomb explosion of ions in the foil occurs due to the strong electrostatic charge separation, once the foil is burnt through. Followed by the laser accelerated electron bunch, the ion expansion in the forward direction occurs along the laser beam that is much stronger as compared to the backward direction. (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics.

Pulse temporal cleaner based on nonlinear ellipse rotation by using BK7 glass plate

We report a new pulse cleaning technique to enhance the contrast ratio of intense ultra-short laser pulses. A pulse temporal cleaner based on nonlinear ellipse rotation by using BK7 glass plate is developed, and a contrast ratio improvement of two orders of magnitude for the milli-joule level femtosecond input pulses is demonstrated, the total transmission efficiency of the pulse cleaner is 16.7%.