Dubietis / Couairon Ultrafast Supercontinuum Generation in Transparent Solid-State Media

1. Auflage 2019
ISBN: 978-3-030-14995-6
Verlag: Springer International Publishing
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 130 Seiten

Reihe: SpringerBriefs in Physics

This book presents the underlying physical picture and an overview of the state of the art of femtosecond supercontinuum generation in various transparent solid-state media, ranging from wide-bandgap dielectrics to semiconductor materials, and across various parts of the optical spectrum, from the ultraviolet to the mid-infrared. A particular emphasis is placed on the most recent experimental developments: multioctave supercontinuum generation with pumping in the mid-infrared spectral range, spectral control, power and energy scaling of broadband radiation and the development of simple, flexible and robust pulse compression techniques, which deliver few optical cycle pulses and which could be readily implemented in a variety of modern ultrafast laser systems. The expected audience includes graduate students, professionals and scientists working in the field of laser-matter interactions and ultrafast nonlinear optics.

Audrius Dubietis graduated from Vilnius University in 1989, and was awarded a PhD in 1996. He has been professor in the Department of Quantum Electronics, Laser Research Center, Vilnius University, since 2006. His areas of research areas include nonlinear optics, laser physics, atmospheric phenomena, physics, optics, and astronomy. In 1992, together with G. Jonušauskas and A. Piskarskas, he proposed a method of parametric amplification of phase-modulated light pulses, which is implemented by the most important ultra-powerful laser centers worldwide. He has published more than 90 scientific articles in the peer-reviewed literature.Arnaud Couairon is a research director at the CNRS. He studied at Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris and did his Ph.D. at Ecole Polytechnique (1997) on the dynamics of open shear flows. Since 1997, he has been working on ultrashort laser pulse filamentation and associated phenomena. He developed a virtual numerical laboratory for simulating the nonlinear propagation of ultrashort laser pulses in gases, liquids, or solids. His research interests include laser-matter interaction, ultrafast and nonlinear optics, and plasma physics.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Dubietis, Audrius

Couairon, Arnaud

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Preface;6
2;Acknowledgments;7
3;Contents;8
4;1 Introduction;10
4.1;References;12
5;Part I Physical Picture of Supercontinuum Generation;15
6;2 Governing Physical Effects;16
6.1;2.1 Self-focusing of Laser Beams;17
6.2;2.2 Self-phase Modulation of Laser Pulses;20
6.3;2.3 Nonlinear Absorption and Ionization;23
6.4;2.4 Plasma Effects;23
6.4.1;2.4.1 Transition of Electrons from the Valence to the Conduction Band;23
6.4.2;2.4.2 Refractive Index Change;24
6.4.3;2.4.3 Plasma-Induced Phase Modulation;24
6.4.4;2.4.4 The Drude–Lorentz Model;26
6.5;2.5 Intensity Clamping;27
6.6;2.6 Chromatic Dispersion;29
6.7;2.7 Self-steepening and Space-Time Focusing;31
6.8;2.8 Four-Wave Mixing and Phase Matching;31
6.9;References;32
7;3 Femtosecond Filamentation in Solid-State Media;34
7.1;3.1 Universal Features of Femtosecond Filamentation;35
7.1.1;3.1.1 Conical Emission;35
7.1.2;3.1.2 Plasma Channel Formation;35
7.1.3;3.1.3 Filament Robustness and Energy Reservoir;36
7.1.4;3.1.4 Conical Waves;37
7.2;3.2 Numerical Model;40
7.3;3.3 Supercontinuum Generation Under Normal GVD;45
7.4;3.4 Supercontinuum Generation in the Region of Anomalous GVD;46
7.5;3.5 Supercontinuum Generation Under Zero GVD;47
7.6;3.6 Conical Emission;48
7.7;References;50
8;Part II Overview of the Experimental Results;54
9;4 General Practical Considerations;55
9.1;4.1 Materials;55
9.2;4.2 External Focusing;58
9.3;4.3 Stability Issues;62
9.4;4.4 Effect of Filament Refocusing;64
9.5;4.5 Multiple Filamentation;66
9.6;References;67
10;5 Experimental Results;70
10.1;5.1 Water as a Prototypical Nonlinear Medium;70
10.2;5.2 Glasses;72
10.3;5.3 Alkali Metal Fluorides;75
10.4;5.4 Laser Hosts;79
10.5;5.5 Crystals with Second-Order Nonlinearity;83
10.6;5.6 Semiconductors;87
10.7;5.7 Other Nonlinear Media;91
10.8;References;92
11;6 New Developments;100
11.1;6.1 Power and Energy Scaling;100
11.2;6.2 Extracavity Pulse Compression;103
11.2.1;6.2.1 Pulse Compression Exploiting SPM in Normally Dispersive Media;104
11.2.2;6.2.2 Soliton Compression Due to Second-Order Cascading;107
11.2.3;6.2.3 Self-compression Through Filamentation;108
11.2.4;6.2.4 Soliton Compression in Isotropic Nonlinear Media with Anomalous GVD;109
11.2.5;6.2.5 Other Compression Mechanisms;112
11.3;6.3 Supercontinuum Generation with Picosecond Laser Pulses;113
11.4;6.4 Control of Supercontinuum Generation;117
11.5;6.5 Supercontinuum Generation with Non-Gaussian Beams;121
11.6;6.6 Other Developments;123
11.7;References;124