The spectral dispersion of ultrashort pulses allows the simultaneous focusing of light in both space and time, which creates so-called spatiotemporal foci. Such space–time coupling may be combined with the existing holographic techniques to give a further dimension of control when generating focal light fields. In the present study, it is shown that a phase-only hologram placed in the pupil plane of an objective and illuminated by a spatially chirped ultrashort pulse can be used to generate three-dimensional arrays of spatio-temporally focused spots. By exploiting the pulse front tilt generated at focus when applying simultaneous spatial and temporal focusing (SSTF), it is possible to overlap neighboring foci in time to create a smooth intensity distribution. The resulting light field displays a high level of axial confinement, with experimental demonstrations given through two-photon microscopy and the non-linear laser fabrication of glass.

FIG. 3. Examples of single wires following spiral and helical paths. Both wires were fabricated with four axially shifted passes of the laser beam. The depth of the helical wire ranged from 10 to 30 lm. The positions of subsequent pillar fabrication are marked in the images. (a) Optical transmission microscope image of the spiral wire. (b) Top view and (c) side view of helical wire. (d) 3D SHG microscope image of the helical wire.

Spatiotemporal focusing, or simultaneous spatial and temporal focusing (SSTF), has already been adopted for various applications in microscopy, photoactivation for biological studies, and laser fabrication. We investigate the effects of aberrations on focus formation in SSTF, in particular, the effects of phase aberrations related to low-order Zernike modes and a refractive index mismatch between the immersion medium and sample. By considering a line focus, we are able to draw direct comparison between the performance of SSTF and conventional spatial focusing (SF). Wide-field SSTF is also investigated and is found to be much more robust to aberrations than either line SSTF or SF. These results show the sensitivity of certain focusing methods to specific aberrations, and can inform on the necessity and benefit of aberration correction.

Ultrafast lasers enable a wide range of physics research and the manipulation of short pulses is a critical part of the ultrafast tool kit. Current methods of laser pulse shaping are usually considered separately in either the spatial or the temporal domain, but laser pulses are complex entities existing in four dimensions, so full freedom of manipulation requires advanced forms of spatiotemporal control. We demonstrate through a combination of adaptable diffractive and reflective optical elements - a liquid crystal spatial light modulator (SLM) and a deformable mirror (DM) - decoupled spatial control over the pulse front (temporal group delay) and phase front of an ultra-short pulse was enabled. Pulse front modulation was confirmed through autocorrelation measurements. This new adaptive optics technique, for the first time enabling in principle arbitrary shaping of the pulse front, promises to offer a further level of control for ultrafast lasers.

Photonics integrated circuitry would benefit considerably from the ability to arbitrarily control waveguide cross-sections with high precision and low loss, in order to provide more degrees of freedom in manipulating propagating light. Here, we report a new method for femtosecond laser writing of optical-fiber-compatible glass waveguides, namely spherical phase-induced multicore waveguide (SPIM-WG), which addresses this challenging task with three-dimensional on-chip light control. Fabricating in the heating regime with high scanning speed, precise deformation of cross-sections is still achievable along the waveguide, with shapes and sizes finely controllable of high resolution in both horizontal and vertical transversal directions. We observed that these waveguides have high refractive index contrast of 0.017, low propagation loss of 0.14 dB/cm, and very low coupling loss of 0.19 dB coupled from a single-mode fiber. SPIM-WG devices were easily fabricated that were able to perform on-chip beam rotation through varying angles, or manipulate the polarization state of propagating light for target wavelengths. We also demonstrated SPIM-WG mode converters that provide arbitrary adiabatic mode conversion with high efficiency between symmetric and asymmetric nonuniform modes; examples include circular, elliptical modes, and asymmetric modes from ppKTP (periodically poled potassium titanyl phosphate) waveguides which are generally applied in frequency conversion and quantum light sources. Created inside optical glass, these waveguides and devices have the capability to operate across ultra-broad bands from visible to infrared wavelengths. The compatibility with optical fiber also paves the way toward packaged photonic integrated circuitry, which usually needs input and output fiber connections.