Formation of Optical Subcycle Pulses and Full Maxwell-Bloch Solitary Waves by Coherent Propagation Effects

Kalosha, V. P.; Herrmann, Joachim

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.83.544

Cited by 156 publications

(98 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Two paths toward attosecond pulses can be identified; the first one, associated with solid-state laser oscillator technology (5), has pushed the limit of the shortest laser pulse down to 4.5 fs in the near-IR to visible domain. At these wavelengths, breaking the attosecond threshold implies the generation of subcycle pulses (6,7). The other path is based on the careful combination of some of the short wavelength harmonics generated in the ionization of a rare gas by intense femtosecond laser pulses (8), leading to 100-as extreme UV pulses (3).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Generation of ultra-intense single-cycle laser pulses by using photon deceleration

Tsung

Ren

Silva

et al. 2001

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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A scheme to generate single-cycle laser pulses is presented based on photon deceleration in underdense plasmas. This robust and tunable process is ideally suited for lasers above critical power because it takes advantage of the relativistic self-focusing of these lasers and the nonlinear features of the plasma wake. The mechanism is demonstrated by particle-in-cell simulations in three and 2 1 ⁄2 dimensions, resulting in pulse shortening up to a factor of 4, thus making it feasible to generate few-femtosecond single-cycle pulses in the optical to IR domain with intensities I > 10 20 W͞cm 2 by using present-day laser technology.T he quest for attosecond laser pulses is at the forefront of research in laser physics (1-3). Pulses in the attosecond range may give rise to the development of attoelectronics, making it possible to study the dynamics and to control electronic processes in biology, chemistry, and solid-state physics, in the same way femtosecond laser technology led to femtochemistry (1). On the other hand, state-of-the art ultra-intense lasers can deliver up to 1 PW, with pulse durations from 500 fs down to 18 fs, at 800 nm to 1 m (4). Two paths toward attosecond pulses can be identified; the first one, associated with solid-state laser oscillator technology (5), has pushed the limit of the shortest laser pulse down to 4.5 fs in the near-IR to visible domain. At these wavelengths, breaking the attosecond threshold implies the generation of subcycle pulses (6, 7). The other path is based on the careful combination of some of the short wavelength harmonics generated in the ionization of a rare gas by intense femtosecond laser pulses (8), leading to 100-as extreme UV pulses (3). The possibility of producing even shorter single-cycle, ultra-intense pulses opens the way to new unexplored physics and the possibility of generating ultra-intense attosecond pulses (3).Current methods for ultra-short pulse generation and compression already push the limits of the linear and nonlinear optics of conventional materials (5). Further developments on ultraintense lasers must then be based on the nonlinear optics of plasmas (the medium capable of handling high-power densities and heat loads) at relativistic intensities (9). An example is, for instance, the plasma equivalent of the optical parametric amplifier (10), recently introduced by Shvets et al. (11).In this article, we propose a method to further shorten the existing shortest pulses to ultra-intense single-cycle pulses. This method is based on the frequency downshift (or photon deceleration) experienced by a laser pulse in a plasma because of the combined self-interaction with the relativistic mass nonlinearity and the laser wake field (12). The photon frequency downshift is accompanied by the conservation of the total wave action, leading to a strong enhancement of the laser field vector potential (13). Relativistic self-focusing also provides an additional amplification of the peak laser field. Using threedimensional (3D) and two-dimensional (2D) particle-in-cel...

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

Generation of ultra-intense single-cycle laser pulses by using photon deceleration

Tsung

Ren

Silva

et al. 2001

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…Half-cycle pulses have been experimentally obtained from laser-driven plasma in a solid target [25] and from a double foil target irradiated with intense few-cycle laser pulses [26]. Theoretically unipolar pulses were predicted when an initially bipolar ultrashort pulse propagates in a nonlinear resonant medium [27][28][29][30] and in Raman-active medium in the self-induced transparency regime [31,32] or under the excitation by few-cycle pulses [33][34][35].…”

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confidence: 99%

All-optical control of unipolar pulse generation in a resonant medium with nonlinear field coupling

et al. 2017

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We study optical response of a resonant medium possessing nonlinear coupling to external field driven by a few-cycle pump pulse sequence. We demonstrate the possibility to directly produce unipolar half-cycle pulses from the medium possessing an arbitrary nonlinearity, by choosing the proper pulse-to-pulse distance of the pump pulses in the sequence. We examine the various ways of the shaping of the medium response using different geometrical configurations of nonlinear oscillators and different wavefront shapes for the excitation pulse sequence. Our approach defines a general framework to produce unipolar pulses of controllable form.

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“…Theoretically, such possibility was predicted to occur when an initially bipolar ultrashort pulse propagates in a nonlinear resonant medium [30][31][32][33]. Generation of unipolar dissipative solitons in a two-level resonant medium was also theoretically predicted [34][35][36][37][38]. Another approach, based on excitation of nonlinear oscillators by a train of few-cycle pump pulses was proposed in [39][40][41][42][43].…”

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confidence: 99%

Generation of unipolar half-cycle pulses via unusual reflection of a single-cycle pulse from an optically thin metallic or dielectric layer

Архипов

Пахомов

et al. 2017

Opt. Lett.

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We present a significantly different reflection process from an optically thin flat metallic or dielectric layer and propose a strikingly simple method to form approximately unipolar half-cycle optical pulses via reflection of a single-cycle optical pulse. Unipolar pulses in reflection arise due to specifics of effectively one-dimensional pulse propagation. Namely, we show that in considered system the field emitted by a flat medium layer is proportional to the velocity of oscillating medium charges instead of their acceleration as it is usually the case. When the single-cycle pulse interacts with linear optical medium, the oscillation velocity of medium charges can be then forced to keep constant sign throughout the pulse duration. Our results essentially differ from the direct mirror reflection and suggest a possibility of unusual transformations of the few-cycle light pulses in linear optical systems.

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Formation of Optical Subcycle Pulses and Full Maxwell-Bloch Solitary Waves by Coherent Propagation Effects

Cited by 156 publications

References 17 publications

Generation of ultra-intense single-cycle laser pulses by using photon deceleration

Generation of ultra-intense single-cycle laser pulses by using photon deceleration

All-optical control of unipolar pulse generation in a resonant medium with nonlinear field coupling

Generation of unipolar half-cycle pulses via unusual reflection of a single-cycle pulse from an optically thin metallic or dielectric layer

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