Electron acceleration by an intense short-pulse laser in underdense plasma

Electron acceleration from the interaction of an intense short-pulse laser with low density plasma is considered. The relation between direct electron acceleration within the laser pulse and that in the wake is investigated analytically. The magnitude and location of the ponderomotive-force-caused charge separation field with respect to that of the pulse determine the relative effectiveness of the two acceleration mechanisms. It is shown that there is an optimum condition for acceleration in the wake. Electron acceleration within the pulse dominates as the pulse becomes sufficiently short, and the latter directly drives and even traps the electrons. The latter can reach ultrahigh energies and can be extracted by impinging the pulse on a solid target. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.

High-conversion-efficiency and broadband tunable femtosecond noncollinear optical parametric amplifier

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 1.2 mu m to 2.4 mu m 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 1.3 mu m to 1.7 mu m for signal pulse, from 1.5 mu m to 2.0 mu m for idle pulse respectively).

Propagation of a few-cycle laser pulse in a V-type three-level system

Propagation of a few-cycle laser pulse in a V-type three-level system (fine structure levels of rubidium) is investigated numerically. The full three-level Maxwell-Bloch equations without the rotating wave approximation and the standing slowly varying envelope approximation are solved by using a finite-difference time-domain method. It is shown that, when the usual unequal oscillator strengths are considered, self-induced transparency cannot be recovered and higher spectral components can be produced even for small-area pulses. (c) 2005 Pleiades Publishing, Inc.

Intense local plasma heating by stopping of ultrashort ultraintense laser pulse in dense plasma

Self-trapping, stopping, and absorption of an ultrashort ultraintense linearly polarized laser pulse in a finite plasma slab of near-critical density is investigated by particle-in-cell simulation. As in the underdense plasma, an electron cavity is created by the pressure of the transmitted part of the light pulse and it traps the latter. Since the background plasma is at near-critical density, no wake plasma oscillation is created. The propagating self-trapped light rapidly comes to a stop inside the slab. Subsequent ion Coulomb explosion of the stopped cavity leads to explosive expulsion of its ions and formation of an extended channel having extremely low plasma density. The energetic Coulomb-exploded ions form shock layers of high density and temperature at the channel boundary. In contrast to a propagating pulse in a lower density plasma, here the energy of the trapped light is deposited onto a stationary and highly localized region of the plasma. This highly localized energy-deposition process can be relevant to the fast ignition scheme of inertial fusion.

Electron injection by a nanowire in the bubble regime

The triggering of wave-breaking in a three-dimensional laser plasma wake (bubble) is investigated. The Coulomb potential from a nanowire is used to disturb the wake field to initialize the wave-breaking. The electron acceleration becomes more stable and the laser power needed for self-trapping is lowered. Three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations were performed. Electrons with a charge of about 100 pC can be accelerated stably to energy about 170 MeV with a laser energy of 460 mJ. The first step towards tailoring the electron beam properties such as the energy, energy spread, and charge is discussed. (C) 2007 American Institute of Physics.

Bubble regime for ion acceleration in a laser-driven plasma

Proton trapping and acceleration by an electron bubble-channel structure in laser interaction with high-density plasma is investigated by using three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. It is shown that protons can be trapped, bunched, and efficiently accelerated for appropriate laser and plasma parameters, and the proton acceleration is enhanced if the plasma consists mainly of heavier ions such as tritium. The observed results are analyzed and discussed in terms of a one-dimensional analytical three-component-plasma wake model.

Carrier-envelope phase dependence of few-cycle ultrashort laser pulse propagation in a polar molecule medium

We theoretically investigate carrier-envelope phase dependence of few-cycle ultrashort laser pulse propagation in a polar molecule medium. Our results show that a soliton pulse can be generated during the two-photon resonant propagation of few-cycle pulse in the polar molecule medium. Moreover, the main features of the soliton pulse, such as pulse duration and intensity, depend crucially on the carrier-envelope phase of the incident pulse, which could be utilized to determine the carrier-envelope phase of a few-cycle ultrashort laser pulse from a mode-locked oscillator.

Measuring ultrashort optical pulses using multi-shot second harmonic generation frequency resolved optical gating

Frequency resolved optical gating (FROG), is an effective technique for characterizing the ultrafast laser pulses. The multi-shot second harmonic generation (SHG) FROG is the most sensitive one in different FROGs. In this paper we use this technique to measure the femtosecond optical pulses generated by a conventional Ti:sapphire oscillator.

飞秒激光诱导波纹状微突起结构

利用飞秒激光振荡器产生的脉冲对镀有铬层的玻璃和石英基片进行微加工,发现两种样品表面均有波纹状的微突起结构产生。这些微突起结构离开样品表面的高度为10～300 nm不等,并且随着激光功率的增大而增加,在一定功率下达到饱和状态。它们的形貌、尺寸和高度取决于入射飞秒激光的能流以及飞秒脉冲的参数。通过化学方法证明了这些微突起结构是由玻璃和石英的主要成分SiO2组成的,并非样品表面的铬元素。此外,通过选取适当的飞秒激光功率和样品加工速度,制作了两种不同周期和线宽的光栅结构,显示出飞秒激光振荡器良好的加工性能。

Nd3+螯合物的含氢有机溶液光谱性能研究

Tris-thenoyltrifluroacetonate of Nd3+ has been prepared and dissolved in DMF solation with very high concentration, and the contained hydrogen has not been substituted by deuterium. The absorption spectrum, emission spectrum, and fluorescence lifetime of the solution were measured. Very obvious characteristic fluorescence peaks were observed at 898 and 1058 nm. Based on Judd-Ofelt theory, three intensity parameters were obtained: Omega(2) = 4.9 x 10(-20) cm(2), Omega(4) = 5.1 x 10(-20) cm(2) and Omega(6) = 2.5 x 10(-20) cm(2). Line strengths S-cal, oscillator strengths f(cal), radiative transition probabilities A(ed), radiative lifetimes tau(r) and branch ratios beta were calculated too. The measured lifetime tau of 1058 nm peak is 460 mu s, and that of 898 nm 505 mu s. Comparison between theoretically computed radiative lifetime tau(r)(682 mu s) and the measured lifetime indicates that the non-radiative transition probability of the solution is very low and the fluorescence quantum efficiency very high. High values of three intensity parameters prove the high asymmetric surroundings of Nd3+, which is important for Nd3+ to absorb the excitation energy. Spectropic quality factor Omega(4)/Omega(6) > 1 makes radiation at 898 nm stronger than at 1058 nm.

用于高重复频率热容主振荡功率放大器激光系统的波前检测技术

高重复频率热容主振荡功率放大器(MOPA)激光系统的工作过程一般只持续几秒至几十秒,在此过程中系统输出光束的波前畸变是动态变化的。采用环路径向剪切干涉(CRWSI)技术对高重复频率热容MOPA系统波前畸变的变化过程进行检测,并对系统的总体结构进行了设计。搭建了一个简化的实验系统,采用平凹透镜来代替光放大器产生波前畸变,并由此对环路径向剪切干涉仪的测量精度进行了验证。结果表明,实验测量结果与理论计算值之间的峰值误差为7.8%(0.02λ)。

高功率脉冲双包层光纤激光器的新进展

对高功率脉冲双包层光纤激光器的国内外研究进展进行评述，通过建立了小信号瞬态增益模型，对脉冲激光信号经过双包层光纤放大后的波形进行了数值模拟。分析了基于MOPA方式脉冲双包层光纤激光器的几个问题，报道了中科院上海光机所采用振荡-放大（MOPA）方法获得133．8W平均功率脉冲放大输出的实验结果。

7.3 W国产单频光纤放大器

报道了一种MOPA式国产单频光纤放大器。该放大器采用连续波单频激光器作为主振荡器，采用我国自行设计和制造的大模场面积掺Yb双包层光纤作为功率放大器，在波长1064 nm处实现了最高7.3 W的连续激光输出，斜率效率为39%，光－光转换效率为26%。此外，对光谱特性及放大的自发发射的抑制也进行了探讨。

高功率双包层光纤放大器

高功率双包层光纤放大器在光纤传感、光纤通讯、光谱测量和惯性约束聚变等领域有广泛应用。介绍了两种获得放大激光输出的高功率双包层光纤放大器：单频双包层光纤放大器和脉冲双包层光纤放大器。分析了它们的工作原理及关键技术，并对国内外近期进展作了综述。

种子光功率对脉冲双包层光纤放大器性能的影响

采用国产的大模场面积双包层光纤和(2+1)×1多模泵浦耦合器，研制出近衍射极限输出的MOPA式脉冲光纤放大器。基于该放大器，发现种子光输出平均功率对放大性能有一定的影响。在泵浦功率一定的情况下，为保证脉冲光纤放大器稳定可靠地运行，对种子光功率来讲，存在一个特定的取值范围。种子光输出平均功率70 mW时，对该脉冲光纤放大器的放大性能进行了研究。