Methods of Complete Characterization of Ultrashort Optical Pulses

Methods of Complete Characterization of Ultrashort Optical Pulses PDF Author: Victor C. Wong
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 286

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Methods of Complete Characterization of Ultrashort Optical Pulses

Methods of Complete Characterization of Ultrashort Optical Pulses PDF Author: Victor C. Wong
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 286

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Time-resolved Characterization of Ultrashort Pulse Propagation

Time-resolved Characterization of Ultrashort Pulse Propagation PDF Author: Matthew Murray Springer
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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The propagation of ultrashort femtosecond laser pulses in linear dielectric materials is determined in the time, space, and frequency domains by linear Maxwell optics through dispersion and diffraction. For intense pulses, pulse propagation is additionally modified by nonlinearities in the medium such as the optical Kerr effect, plasma generation, and self-phase modulation. In this work we report the results of several experiments on the propagation of ultrashort pulses. In the linear regime, we characterize the temporal evolution of an ultrashort pulse during propagation through a linear dielectric under anomalous dispersion. Under these conditions the pulse evolution departs from the group velocity and group delay dispersion approximations, which leads to the formation of optical precursors. We describe an experiment which observes the propagation of optical precursors in a bulk condensed-matter dielectric. We generate ultrashort laser pulses and propagate the pulses through a bulk dye with an absorption resonance turned to the center wavelength of the femotsecond pulse. The pulse is then characterized in the time domain before and after propagation. Through numerical simulation we verify that the behavior of the precursors in the temporal pulse profille corresponds with the classical model. Under very high intensity laser pulses, the nonlinearities induced by the propagation of the intense ultrashort pulse produce changes in the complex refractive index of the nonlinear material. We report the results of experiments involving time-resolved imaging of the propagation of ultrashort pulses in dielectric materials. We experimentally observe and characterize these effects through a weak-probe imaging effect which directly measures the nonlinearity in a time-resolved manner. In these experiments an intense femtosecond laser pulse is propagated in a nonlinear intensity regime while an unfocused low-intensity femtosecond pulse is used as to probe the nonlinear pulse. We use this technique to characterize femtosecond pulses in air and liquid, especially in the regime of optical filamentation. We subsequently calculate parameters such as the plasma density, the transverse extent, and the instantaneous refractive index within the femtosecond laser fillament under conditions which are not accessible through most standard pulse measurement techniqes. The electronic version of this dissertation is accessible from http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/151868

Frequency-Resolved Optical Gating: The Measurement of Ultrashort Laser Pulses

Frequency-Resolved Optical Gating: The Measurement of Ultrashort Laser Pulses PDF Author: Rick Trebino
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 146151181X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 428

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The Frequency-Resolved Optical-Gating (FROG) technique has revolutionized our ability to measure and understand ultrashort laser pulses. This book contains everything you need to know to measure even the shortest, weakest, or most complex ultrashort laser pulses. Whether you're an undergrad or an advanced researcher, you'll find easy-to-understand descriptions of all the key ideas behind all the FROG techniques, all the practical details of pulse measurement, and many new directions of research. This book is not like any other scientific book. It is a lively discussion of the basic concepts. It is an advanced treatment of research-level issues.

Ultrashort Pulse Characterization and Coherent Time-frequency Light Processing

Ultrashort Pulse Characterization and Coherent Time-frequency Light Processing PDF Author: Aleksandr S. Radunsky
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 91

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"Over the past several decades ultrafast laser science and technology has evolved into an extensive and diverse yet still one of the most rapidly growing and developing areas of optics. This evolution has been one of mutual interdependence. Each current generation of technological innovations not only solves the specific problems it was designed for, but uncovers new application opportunities and enables the exploration of new basic research areas. In turn, these new challenges will give rise to the next generation of technological improvements born of the currently existing technologies and the advances in fundamental scientific knowledge and understanding. Ultrashort pulse characterization has always been an essential part of this ultrafast optics evolution. The thesis makes yet another contribution to it by describing the principle, design, construction, development and operation of a novel interferometric ultrashort pulse characterization device. It consists of a new implementation of spectral-shearing interferometry for reconstructing the electric field of ultrashort pulses, requiring only a single optical element to encode the temporal field of the pulse under test. The technique relies on an asymmetric group velocity matching type II sum frequency generation process in a single long nonlinear crystal. We analyze the performance of the device for a wide range of experimentally available input pulse parameters. The device - potential building block for the future generations of ultrashort diagnostics - proves a practical, elegant, compact, robust, and sensitive option for complete amplitude and phase ultrashort pulse characterization. As the femtosecond systems of increasingly larger bandwidth become a widespread reality, the detrimental effects of dispersion require careful consideration. Dispersive pulse distortion degrades longitudinal resolution of broadband interferometric imaging methods such as optical coherence tomography and lowcoherence interferometry. We address the issue with a novel signal processing dispersion compensation method. This numerical technique improves the axial resolution without a priori knowledge of the material dispersive properties of the sample under consideration. The dispersion compensation is based on the generalized temporal fourth order field autoconvolution function computed from the readily available experimental interferometric scans and has an intuitive depiction in the time-frequency phase-space via the Wigner distribution function formalism"--Page viii-ix.

Ultrashort Laser Pulse Phenomena

Ultrashort Laser Pulse Phenomena PDF Author: Jean-Claude Diels
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0080466400
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 675

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Book Description
Ultrashort Laser Pulse Phenomena, Second Edition serves as an introduction to the phenomena of ultra short laser pulses and describes how this technology can be used to examine problems in areas such as electromagnetism, optics, and quantum mechanics. Ultrashort Laser Pulse Phenomena combines theoretical backgrounds and experimental techniques and will serve as a manual on designing and constructing femtosecond ("faster than electronics") systems or experiments from scratch. Beyond the simple optical system, the various sources of ultrashort pulses are presented, again with emphasis on the basic concepts and how they apply to the design of particular sources (dye lasers, solid state lasers, semiconductor lasers, fiber lasers, and sources based on frequency conversion). - Provides an easy to follow guide through "faster than electronics" probing and detection methods - THE manual on designing and constructing femtosecond systems and experiments - Discusses essential technology for applications in micro-machining, femtochemistry, and medical imaging

Rapid Techniques for Ultrashort Optical Pulse Characterisation

Rapid Techniques for Ultrashort Optical Pulse Characterisation PDF Author: Iain Gavin Cormack
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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Tailoring Ultrashort Pulses for Surface Structuring and Characterizing Ultrashort Pulses

Tailoring Ultrashort Pulses for Surface Structuring and Characterizing Ultrashort Pulses PDF Author: Billy Lam (Optics scientist)
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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"This thesis is focused on the methods for tailoring ultrashort pulses for surface structuring and the methods for characterizing ultrashort pulses. In other words, the primary goal is to modulate as well as measure the spatio-temporal electric field E(x, y, t) = |E(x, y, t)|e i[phi](x,y,t) of an ultrashort pulse. Existing vector optical field (VOF) generators are either inefficient or require many optical elements with intensive alignment. I have demonstrated both a non-diffraction-based and a diffraction-based VOF-generator with a theoretical efficiency close to 100% using a spatial light modulator (SLM) to shape the focus of a femtosecond (fs) laser beam arbitrarily for surface structuring. Besides the beam focus, I have also fabricated curved laser-induced periodic surface structure (LIPSS) out-of-focus by controlling the polarization distribution of the beam. Both VOF-generators are compact with only a few optical elements and are easy to align for fs laser beams. These methods present an effective and energy-efficient way to shape the fs laser beam dynamically to create complex surface structures. For beam characterization, I have developed the wedged reversal shearing interferometer (WRSI), consisting of a single beam splitter cube (BSC), to retrieve the spatially resolved electric field E(x, y). The main advantages of the WRSI over existing techniques are its simplicity, stability, robustness, capability, and guaranteed zero-delay for ultrashort pulses. The WRSI can also be used together with a scanning Michelson interferometer, along with an additional temporal measurement using frequency-resolved optical gating (FROG), to measure the spatio-temporal field E(x, y, t). In addition, this thesis explores a new method to temporally characterize (E(t)) an ultrashort pulse with precise information on the carrier-envelope phase (CEP) in a single-shot operation. A feat unachievable by previous methods such as FROG and spectral phase interferometry for direct electric-field reconstruction (SPIDER), since spectrally resolved autocorrelation and spectral shear are insensitive to the CEP. The CEP is an important parameter of a few-cycle pulse because the CEP can vary from pulse to pulse and has a large impact on laser-matter interaction. The ability to measure the spectral phase and CEP of an arbitrary non-repeating ultrashort event is important for the study of ultrafast optical phenomena"--Pages xi-xii.

Ultrafast Phenomena XIV

Ultrafast Phenomena XIV PDF Author: Takayoshi Kobayashi
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3540272135
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 914

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Book Description
This volume is a collection of papers presented at the Fourteenth International Conference on Ultrafast Phenomena held in Niigata, Japan from July 25-30, 2004. The Ultrafast Phenomena Conferences are held every two years and provide a forum for discussion of the latest results in ultrafast optics and their applications in science and engineering. A total of more than 300 papers were presented, reporting the forefront of research in ultrashort pulse generation and characterization, including new techniques for shortening the duration of laser pulses, for stabilizing their absolute phase, and for improving tenability over broad wavelength ranges, output powers and peak intensities. Ultrafast spectroscopies, particularly time-resolved X-ray and electron diffraction and two-dimensional spectroscopy, continue to give new insights into fundamental processes in physics, chemistry and biology. Control and optimization of the outcome of ultrafast processes represent another important field of research. There are an increasing number of applications of ultrafast methodology in material diagnostics and processing, microscopy and medical imaging. The enthusiasm of the participants, the involvement of many students, the high quality of the papers in both oral and poster sessions made the conference very successful. Many people and organizations made invaluable contributions. The members of the international program committee reviewed the submissions and organized the program. The staff of the Optical Society of America deserves special thanks for making the meeting arrangements and running the meeting smoothly.

Thin Film Micro-Optics

Thin Film Micro-Optics PDF Author: Ruediger Grunwald
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0080471250
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 307

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Book Description
"Thin-film microoptics" stands for novel types of microoptical components and systems which combine the well-known features of miniaturized optical elements with the specific advantages of thin optical layers. This approach enables for innovative solutions in shaping light fields in spatial, temporal and spectral domain. Low-dispersion and small-angle systems for tailoring and diagnosing laser pulses under extreme conditions as well as VUV-capable microoptics can be realized. Continuous-relief microstructures of refractive, reflective and hybrid characteristics are obtained by vapor deposition technologies with shadow masks in rotating systems. The book gives a comprehensive overview on fundamental laws of microoptics, types of thin-film microoptical components, methods and constraints of their design, fabrication and characterization, structure transfer into substrates, optical functions and applications. Recent theoretical and experimental results of basic and applied research are addressed. Particular emphasis will be laid on the generation of localized, nondiffracting few-cycle wavepackets of extended depth of focus and high tolerance against distortions. It is shown that the spectral interference of ultrabroadband conical beams results in spatio-temporal structures of characteristic X-shape, so-called X-waves, which are interesting for robust optical communication. New prospects are opened by exploiting small conical angles from nanolayer microoptics and self-apodized truncation of Bessel beams leading to the formation of single-maximum nondiffracting beams or "needle beams". Thin-film microoptical beam shapers have an enormous potential for future applications like the two-dimensional ultrafast optical processing, multichannel laser-matter interaction, nonlinear spectroscopy or advanced measuring techniques.- Introduces a new and promising branch of microoptics - Gives a compact overview on the types, properties and applications of the most important microoptical components containing valuable data and facts- Helps to understand the basic optical laws - Reports on the historical development line of thin-film microoptics - Provides brand new results of research and development in the field of ultrashort-pulse laser beam shaping and diagnostics- Discusses the future trends and first approaches of next generation microoptics- Contains a carefully assorted glossary of the most important technical terms

Ultrashort Pulse Laser Technology

Ultrashort Pulse Laser Technology PDF Author: Stefan Nolte
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319176595
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 365

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Book Description
Ultrashort laser pulses with durations in the femtosecond range up to a few picoseconds provide a unique method for precise materials processing or medical applications. Paired with the recent developments in ultrashort pulse lasers, this technology is finding its way into various application fields. The book gives a comprehensive overview of the principles and applications of ultrashort pulse lasers, especially applied to medicine and production technology. Recent advances in laser technology are discussed in detail. This covers the development of reliable and cheap low power laser sources as well as high average power ultrashort pulse lasers for large scale manufacturing. The fundamentals of laser-matter-interaction as well as processing strategies and the required system technology are discussed for these laser sources with respect to precise materials processing. Finally, different applications within medicine, measurement technology or materials processing are highlighted.