Erlangen 2018 – scientific programme

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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 62: Poster: Quantum Optics and Photonics V

Q 62.98: Poster

Thursday, March 8, 2018, 16:15–18:15, Redoutensaal

Compression of femtosecond laser pulses using self-phase modulation in dielectric media — •Torben Purz, Sergey Zayko, Ofer Kfir, and Claus Ropers — University of Göttingen, 4th Physical Institute, Göttingen, Germany

The generation of ultrashort laser pulses stimulated the investigation of ultrafast processes at the pico-, femto- and attosecond time scale in physics, chemistry and energy research [1-3]. Pulse compression relies on nonlinear effects, and intense femtosecond pulses are often compressed using a long gas-filled hollow-core waveguide, requiring tight focusing, high beam stability and additional beampath of few meters.

In this work, the compression of femtosecond laser pulses is achieved in solid plates, resulting in a simple, compact and stable setup [4]. We employ self-phase modulation in fused silica and N-BK7 glass to compress 1-2 mJ pulses from a Ti:Sapphire amplifier of 43 fs pulse duration, down to 20 fs. Numerical simulations indicate that self-phase-modulation, self-steepening and intrapulse Raman scattering determine the final pulse shape, in good agreement with the experimental data. We investigate the coupled group-delay dispersion and third-order dispersion dependence of the spectral broadening. The compressed pulses are applied for second harmonic and high-harmonic generation, showing a substantial increase of the harmonics flux.

[1] Zewail et al., Science 266, 1359-1364 (1994)

[2] Gattass et al., Nature Photonics 2, 219-225 (2008)

[3] Ditmire et al., Nature 398, 489-492 (1999)

[4] Kung et al., Optica 6, 400-406 (2014)