Visible pulse compression to 4 fs by optical parametric amplification and programmable dispersion control

Abstract

Angular dispersion of pump frequencies is shown to be an efficient mechanism for bandwidth enhancement in a noncollinear optical parametric amplifier. We demonstrate the generation of a continuous, simultaneously phase-matched 250-THz parametrically amplified spectrum. The resultant visible-near-IR signal-wave pulses were compressed to a 4-fs duration by a micromachined flexible mirror. Feedback for an iterative computer-controlled dispersion compensation algorithm is based on pulse characterization by second-harmonic generation frequency-resolved optical gating.

Attosecond‐precision ultrafast photonics

“…For further investigations and applications of such phase-sensitive phenomena [11,12,[48][49][50][51][52][53][54], a single-cycle optical pulse, comprising only one cycle of the light oscillation, has been pursued in many laboratories. Different approaches include cascaded Raman sideband generation [55], broadband optical parametric amplification [56], and external compression [57][58][59]. To synthesize singlecycle pulses, several groups have worked on the synthesis of optical combs that span the visible to infrared ranges by synchronizing two broadband mode-locked lasers with different center wavelengths [40,60,61] or by synchronizing an optical parametric oscillator and its mode-locked pump laser [62,63].…”

Isolated few-cycle radiation from chirped-pulse compression of a superradiant free-electron laser

“…In the regime of strong pump depletion, we suggest to use tailor designed chirped mirrors or gratings to compensate the nonlinear chirp in the radiation field and achieve transform-limited pulse compression. Alternatively, an adaptive pulse compressor [29] is capable of automatically controlling the spectral phase of an optical field for transform-limited pulse compression.…”

Generation of Few Cycle Femtosecond Pulses via Supercontinuum in a Gas-Filled Hollow-Core Fiber

“…With this technique 6 fs pulses at 620 nm have been generated due to the propagation of short pulses in single-mode optical fibers and by using a prism-pair for external dispersion compensation (Nakatsuka et al, 1981). Furthermore, a 4.5 fs pulses at 800 nm have been achieved using an improved ultrabroad-band dispersion compensation scheme broadened by propagation through a suitable nonlinear medium (Baltuska et al, 1997). However, the use of single-mode optical fibers limits the input pulse energy to a few nanojoules range.…”

“…The higher order nonlinear effect of Self-steepening has to be taken into account as well for the short input pulses. This higher order nonlinear effect is due to the intensity dependence of the group velocity and leads to an asymmetry in the SPM-broadened spectra with a larger broadening on the blue side (blue-shift) (Baltuska et al, 1997).…”