Erlangen 2018 – scientific programme
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K: Fachverband Kurzzeit- und angewandte Laserphysik
K 2: Optical Methods - Light and Radiation Sources
K 2.4: Talk
Monday, March 5, 2018, 17:15–17:30, MB HS
PHz-wide spectral interference through coherent plasma-induced fission of higher-order solitons — •Felix Köttig1, Francesco Tani1, John C. Travers1,2, and Philip St.J. Russell1 — 1Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, Erlangen, Germany — 2School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK
Gas-filled hollow-core photonic crystal fibers provide a unique platform for studying strong-field nonlinear fiber optics, in particular the interaction of optical solitons with self-induced plasmas. While this has practical applications, for example in the generation of spectra extending from the ultraviolet to the mid-infrared, soliton-plasma interactions can also lead to as-yet-unexplored soliton dynamics. We report a novel regime of soliton-plasma dynamics in which high-intensity ultrashort pulses of intermediate soliton order undergo coherent plasma-induced fission. Experimental results obtained in gas-filled hollow-core photonic crystal fiber are supported by rigorous numerical simulations. In the anomalous dispersion regime, the cumulative blueshift of higher-order input solitons with ionizing intensities results in pulse splitting before the point of maximum self-compression, leading to the generation of robust ultrashort pulse pairs with PHz bandwidths. The observed dynamics close the gap between plasma-induced adiabatic soliton compression and modulational instability.