Supercontinuum generation and optical damage of sapphire and YAG at high repetition rates

Grigutis, Robertas; Tamošauskas, G.; Jukna, Vytautas; Risos, Alex; Dubietis, A.

doi:10.1364/ol.397481

Cited by 25 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Therefore we performed a complimentary experiment by replacing crystal with undoped sapphire crystal of 15 mm thickness, while keeping identical loose focusing condition ( ) of the pump beam. The light filament in sapphire induces a broadband luminescence with a center wavelength of 280 nm 43 , which is attributed to F center emission 44 . Figure 6 b presents the time evolution of filament-induced luminescence trace in sapphire, with the pump pulse energy of J, which produced a stable SC spectrum spanning from 390 to 700 nm (at the intensity level).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

High repetition rate green-pumped supercontinuum generation in calcium fluoride

Marciulionyte

Jukna

Tamošauskas

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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We compare supercontinuum generation in $$\hbox {CaF}_2$$ CaF 2 crystal under tight and loose focusing of 150 fs, 515 nm second harmonic pulses from an amplified Yb:KGW laser at a repetition rate of 10 kHz. It is demonstrated that supercontinuum generation geometry applying loose focusing ($$\hbox {NA}=0.004$$ NA = 0.004 ) of the pump beam into a long (25 mm) $$\hbox {CaF}_2$$ CaF 2 sample is advantageous in terms of supercontinuum spectral extent and durability of damage-free operation of the nonlinear material as compared to a commonly used supercontinuum generation setup which employs tight focusing ($$\hbox {NA}=0.012$$ NA = 0.012 ) into a short (5 mm) sample and to setup which uses tight focusing into a long (25 mm) sample. More specifically, loose focusing into a long sample showed remarkably longer (20 min) damage-free operation of the nonlinear material, which was not translated with respect of the pump beam, while in tight focusing condition the sample is damaged just within 2 min of operation, leading to a complete extinction of the supercontinuum spectrum. The evolution of optical degradation of the nonlinear material in time and its impact to supercontinuum spectrum is studied in terms of filament-induced luminescence due to self-trapped exciton emission and light scattering at the pump wavelength indicating the onset of optical damage. Our findings are supported by the numerical simulations which compare relevant parameters related to filament propagation in tight and loose focusing conditions.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

High repetition rate green-pumped supercontinuum generation in calcium fluoride

Marciulionyte

Jukna

Tamošauskas

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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“…As a matter of fact, the substrate for supercontinuum generation degrades much faster for pump pulse durations above ≈200 fs and high rep. rates. [ 95 ]…”

Section: Progress On Waveform Synthesismentioning

confidence: 99%

Optical Waveform Synthesis and Its Applications

Cirmi

Mainz

Silva‐Toledo

et al. 2023

Laser & Photonics Reviews

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The quest for ever‐shorter optical pulses has been ongoing for over half a century. Although few‐cycle pulses have been generated for nearly 40 years, pulse lengths below the single‐cycle limit have remained an elusive goal for a long time. For this purpose, optical waveform synthesizers, generating high‐energy, high‐average‐power pulses via coherent combination of multiple pulses covering different spectral regions, have been recently developed. They allow unprecedented control over the generated optical waveforms, spanning an extremely broad spectral range from ultraviolet to infrared. Such control allows for steering strong‐field interactions with increased degrees of freedom. When driving high‐harmonic generation, tailored waveforms can produce bright attosecond pulse trains and even isolated attosecond pulses with tunable spectra up to the soft X‐ray range. In this paper recent progress on parametric and hollow‐core fiber waveform synthesizers is discussed. Newly developed seeding schemes; absolute, relative, and spectral phase measurement; and control techniques suitable for synthesizers are described. The progress on serial and parallel waveform synthesis based on Ti:sapphire and Ytterbium laser systems and their latest applications in high‐harmonic generation in gaseous and solid media, attosecond science, and laser wakefield acceleration is discussed.

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“…6,7 However, SCG in most commonly used wide bandgap dielectrics (sapphire and YAG) at high laser repetition rates becomes a challenging task due to thermal accumulation that causes narrowing of SC spectra indicating the onset of optical degradation, leading to the multipulse damage of the crystal. 8 Accordingly, there is a demand for robust bulk materials with a low SCG threshold in which long-term damagefree SCG could be produced. The potential candidates for this purpose could be narrow bandgap dielectrics such as potassium gadolinium tungstate (KGd(WO 4 ) 2 , KGW) and yttrium vanadate YVO 4 which posses large nonlinear indexes of refraction of 11 × 10 −6 cm 2 /W and 15 × 10 −6 cm 2 /W , respectively.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High repetition rate supercontinuum generation in undoped KGW and YVO4 crystals

Marciulionyte,

Banys,

Vengelis

et al. 2023

Ultrafast Nonlinear Imaging and Spectroscopy XI

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We present a comparative experimental study of supercontinuum generation in undoped KGW and YVO4 crystals pumped with near-IR femtosecond laser pulses. We demonstrate that KGW and YVO4 crystals, compared to commonly used sapphire and YAG, have significantly lower supercontinuum generation thresholds, produce remarkably larger red-shifted spectral broadenings and exhibit durable damage-free long-term operation at 2 MHz and 76 MHz repetition rates. Our results show that KGW and YVO4 crystals are excellent nonlinear materials for high repetition rate infrared supercontinuum generation which could be used for the design of high average power optical parametric amplifiers as well as for the development of ultrafast ultrafast spectroscopic and high-speed imaging systems.

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Supercontinuum generation and optical damage of sapphire and YAG at high repetition rates

Cited by 25 publications

References 33 publications

High repetition rate green-pumped supercontinuum generation in calcium fluoride

High repetition rate green-pumped supercontinuum generation in calcium fluoride

Optical Waveform Synthesis and Its Applications

High repetition rate supercontinuum generation in undoped KGW and YVO4 crystals

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