Mainz 2017 – scientific programme
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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik
Q 49: Ultrashort Laser Pulses: Generation and Applications
Q 49.3: Talk
Thursday, March 9, 2017, 15:00–15:15, P 5
Design and testing of a setup for sub two-cycle optical pulse compression from Ti:sapphire oscillators — •Philip Dienstbier1, Takuya Higuchi1, Francesco Tani2, Michael Frosz2, John Travers3, Philip St. J. Russell2, and Peter Hommelhoff1 — 1Department Physik, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Staudtstraße 1, 91058 Erlangen, Germany — 2Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, Staudtstraße 2, 91058 Erlangen, Germany — 3Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, EH14 4AS, United Kingdom
Ultrashort pulsed lasers with a duration of a single oscillation of the electric field are an ideal tool to investigate the sub-cycle dynamics of electrons under an intense field [1] as the temporal contrast is increased. Recent observation of rescattering physics at nanotips with the aid of optical field enhancement suggests that the strong-field regime can be reached with pulse energies even below 1 nJ [2]. Commercial laser systems in the nJ-regime such as Ti:sapphire oscillators however are limited to pulse durations around two optical cycles. Here we present a setup to spectrally broaden the output of a Ti:sapphire oscillator by a customized solid-core photonic crystal fiber and a prism based 4f-pulse compressor with expected compression down to 3 fs corresponding to a single optical cycle. A MIIPS pulse characterization scheme for various overlapping spectral ranges was realized and used to test the pulse compressor.
[1] M. T. Hassan et al., Rev. Sci. Instrum. 83, 111301 (2012).
[2] M. Krüger, M. Schenk and P. Hommelhoff, Nature 475, 78 (2011).