Toward Waveform Nonlinear Optics Using Multimillijoule Sub-Cycle Waveform Synthesizers

Waveform nonlinear optics aims to study and control the nonlinear interactions of matter with extremely short optical waveforms custom-tailored within a single cycle of light. Different technological routes to generate such multimillijoule sub-optical-cycle waveforms are currently pursued, opening up unprecedented opportunities in attoscience and strong-field physics. Here, we discuss the experimental schemes, introduce the technological challenges, and present our experimental results on high-energy sub-cycle optical waveform synthesis based on (1) parametric amplification and (2) induced-phase modulation in a two-color-driven gas-filled hollow-core fiber compressor. More specifically, for (1), we demonstrate a carrier-envelope-phase (CEP)-stable, multimillijoule three-channel parametric waveform synthesizer generating a >2-octave-wide spectrum (0.52-2.4 μm). After two amplification stages, the combined 125-μJ output supports 1.9-fs FWHM waveforms; energy scaling to >2 mJ is achieved after three amplification stages. FROG pulse characterization of all three second-stage outputs demonstrates the feasibility to recompress all three channels simultaneously close to the Fourier limit and shows the flexibility of our intricate dispersion management scheme for different experimental situations. For (2), we generate CEP-stable 1.7-mJ waveforms covering 365-930 nm (measured at 1% of the peak intensity) obtained from induced-phase modulation in a two-color-driven gas-filled hollow-core fiber. Using custom-designed double-chirped mirrors and a UV spatial light modulator will permit compression close to the 0.9-fs FWHM transform limit. These novel sources will become versatile tools for controlling strong-field interactions in matter and for attosecond pump-probe spectroscopy using VIS/IR and XUV/soft-X-ray pulses.

[1]  Caterina Vozzi,et al.  Few‐optical‐cycle light pulses with passive carrier‐envelope phase stabilization , 2011 .

[2]  Alfred Leitenstorfer,et al.  Attosecond relative timing jitter and 13 fs tunable pulses from a two-branch Er:fiber laser. , 2007, Optics letters.

[3]  Paolo Farinello,et al.  Multi-mJ parametric synthesizer generating two-octave-wide optical waveforms , 2013, 2013 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Pacific Rim (CLEOPR).

[4]  Tino Lang,et al.  Two-color pumped OPCPA system emitting spectra spanning 1.5 octaves from VIS to NIR. , 2012, Optics express.

[5]  S. Silvestri,et al.  Compression of high-energy laser pulses below 5 fs. , 1997, Optics letters.

[6]  G. Andriukaitis,et al.  Optimization of Quantum Trajectories Driven by Strong-Field Waveforms , 2013, 1308.5510.

[7]  Spectral Phase Characterization of Two-Octave Bandwidth Pulses by Two-Dimensional Spectral Shearing Interferometry Based on Noncollinear Phase Matching With External Pulse Pair , 2011, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters.

[8]  Enhanced attosecond bursts of relativistic high-order harmonics driven by two-color fields. , 2014, Optics letters.

[9]  Takao Fuji,et al.  Visible pulse compression to 4 fs by optical parametric amplification and programmable dispersion control. , 2002, Optics letters.

[10]  J. Cary,et al.  High-quality electron beams from a laser wakefield accelerator using plasma-channel guiding , 2004, Nature.

[11]  Timing jitter characterization of a high-energy sub-cycle optical waveform synthesizer , 2014 .

[12]  A. Wodtke,et al.  Ultrafast low-energy electron diffraction in transmission resolves polymer/graphene superstructure dynamics , 2014, Science.

[13]  B. Schmidt,et al.  Frequency domain optical parametric amplification , 2014, Nature Communications.

[14]  Giulio Cerullo,et al.  Temporal optimization of ultrabroadband high-energy OPCPA. , 2009, Optics express.

[15]  D. Wiersma,et al.  Optical pulse compression to 5 fs at a 1-MHz repetition rate. , 1997, Optics letters.

[16]  J. Biegert,et al.  Generation of intense few-cycle laser pulses through filamentation - parameter dependence. , 2005, Optics express.

[17]  B. Eggleton,et al.  High-energy pulse synthesis with sub-cycle waveform control for strong-field physics , 2011 .

[18]  Coherent Synthesis of Ultra-broadband Optical Parametric Amplifiers , 2012 .

[19]  Günter Steinmeyer,et al.  Self-compression of millijoule pulses to 7.8 fs duration in a white-light filament , 2006, QELS 2006.

[20]  E. Takahashi,et al.  Infrared two-color multicycle laser field synthesis for generating an intense attosecond pulse. , 2010, Physical review letters.

[21]  V Pervak,et al.  Invited article: attosecond photonics: synthesis and control of light transients. , 2012, The Review of scientific instruments.

[22]  O. Mücke,et al.  Coherent pulse synthesis: towards sub‐cycle optical waveforms , 2015 .

[23]  Millijoule-level parametric synthesizer generating two-octave-wide optical waveforms for strong-field experiments , 2013, CLEO: 2013.

[24]  F. Krausz,et al.  Isolated optical attosecond pulses , 2013, CLEO: 2013.

[25]  C. Jin,et al.  Waveforms for optimal sub-keV high-order harmonics with synthesized two- or three-colour laser fields , 2014, Nature Communications.

[26]  J. Kono,et al.  Ultrafast electro-absorption at the transition between classical and quantum response , 2000, Nonlinear Optics: Materials, Fundamentals, and Applications. Technical Digest. Postconference Edition. TOPS Vol.46 (IEEE Cat. No.00CH37174).

[27]  Above-Millijoule Optical Waveforms Compressible to Sub-fs Using Induced-Phase Modulation in a Neon-Filled Hollow-Core Fiber , 2014 .

[28]  Valerijus Smilgevicius,et al.  Self-compression of millijoule 1.5 μm pulses , 2009 .

[29]  S. Fang,et al.  Generation of Sub-900-μJ Supercontinuum With a Two-Octave Bandwidth Based on Induced Phase Modulation in Argon-Filled Hollow Fiber , 2018 .

[30]  Giulio Cerullo,et al.  Optical-parametric-generation process driven by femtosecond pulses: Timing and carrier-envelope phase properties , 2009 .

[31]  M. Wegener,et al.  Evidence for third-harmonic generation in disguise of second-harmonic generation in extreme nonlinear optics. , 2003, Physical review letters.

[32]  High-Energy Carrier-Envelope Phase-Stable Optical Waveforms Compressible to <1 fs Using Induced-Phase Modulation in Argon-Filled Hollow-Core Fiber , 2014 .

[33]  Paolo Farinello,et al.  Spectro-temporal characterization of all channels in a sub-optical-cycle parametric waveform synthesizer , 2014, 2014 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO) - Laser Science to Photonic Applications.

[34]  E. Takahashi,et al.  Coherent water window x ray by phase-matched high-order harmonic generation in neutral media. , 2008, Physical review letters.

[35]  C. Ropers,et al.  Field-driven photoemission from nanostructures quenches the quiver motion , 2012, Nature.

[36]  Alfred Leitenstorfer,et al.  Synthesis of a single cycle of light with compact erbium-doped fibre technology , 2010 .

[37]  Pierre Agostini,et al.  Observation of high-order harmonic generation in a bulk crystal , 2011 .

[38]  B. Eggleton,et al.  Optical waveform synthesizer and its application to high-harmonic generation , 2012 .

[39]  F. Kärtner,et al.  Strong‐field photoemission from silicon field emitter arrays , 2013 .

[40]  F. Krausz.  Attosecond Physics , 2007, 2007 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics - Pacific Rim.

[41]  L. Chipperfield,et al.  Ideal waveform to generate the maximum possible electron recollision energy for any given oscillation period. , 2009, Physical review letters.

[42]  M. Murnane,et al.  Bright Coherent Ultrahigh Harmonics in the keV X-ray Regime from Mid-Infrared Femtosecond Lasers , 2012, Science.

[43]  Peter Hommelhoff,et al.  Attosecond control of electrons emitted from a nanoscale metal tip , 2011, Nature.

[44]  Propagation properties of ultrashort pulsed beams with constant waist width in free space , 2007 .

[45]  Pierre Agostini,et al.  Redshift in the optical absorption of ZnO single crystals in the presence of an intense midinfrared laser field. , 2011, Physical review letters.

[46]  Y. Glinec,et al.  A laser–plasma accelerator producing monoenergetic electron beams , 2004, Nature.

[47]  S. Chen,et al.  MeV-energy x rays from inverse compton scattering with laser-wakefield accelerated electrons. , 2013, Physical review letters.

[48]  Oliver D. Mücke,et al.  Isolated high-order harmonics pulse from two-color-driven Bloch oscillations in bulk semiconductors , 2011 .

[49]  J G Fujimoto,et al.  Generation of 5-fs pulses and octave-spanning spectra directly from a Ti:sapphire laser. , 2001, Optics letters.

[50]  Carrier-envelope phase effects on the strong-field photoemission of electrons from metallic nanostructures , 2013, 1301.4074.

[51]  J. A. Pérez-Hernández,et al.  Beyond carbon K-edge harmonic emission using a spatial and temporal synthesized laser field. , 2012, Physical review letters.

[52]  V. Apalkov,et al.  Optical-field-induced current in dielectrics , 2012, Nature.

[53]  P. Jarillo-Herrero,et al.  Observation of Floquet-Bloch States on the Surface of a Topological Insulator , 2013, Science.

[54]  F. Krausz,et al.  Generation and applications of sub-5-fs multi-10-TW light pulses , 2013, 2013 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Pacific Rim (CLEOPR).

[55]  Keisaku Yamane,et al.  Generation of 2.6 fs optical pulses using induced-phase modulation in a gas-filled hollow fiber , 2007 .

[56]  V. Apalkov,et al.  Controlling dielectrics with the electric field of light , 2012, Nature.

[57]  Taro Sekikawa,et al.  Spatial light modulator of 648 pixels with liquid crystal transparent from ultraviolet to near-infrared and its chirp compensation application. , 2009, Optics letters.

[58]  J. Gagnon,et al.  Synthesized Light Transients , 2011, Science.

[59]  Stephen R. Leone,et al.  Attosecond band-gap dynamics in silicon , 2014, Science.

[60]  M. Wegener,et al.  Role of the carrier-envelope offset phase of few-cycle pulses in nonperturbative resonant nonlinear optics. , 2002, Physical review letters.

[61]  O. Svelto,et al.  Generation of high-energy 10-fs pulses by a new pulse compression technique , 1996, Summaries of papers presented at the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics.

[62]  G. Lambert,et al.  Femtosecond x rays from laser-plasma accelerators , 2013, 1301.5066.

[63]  W. Leemans.  Multi-GeV electron beams from capillary discharge guided sub-petawatt class laser pulses in the self-trapping regime , 2014 .

[64]  Martin Wegener,et al.  Signatures of carrier-wave Rabi flopping in GaAs , 2001, QELS 2001.

[65]  Guoli Wang,et al.  Route to optimal generation of soft X-ray high harmonics with synthesized two-color laser pulses , 2014, Scientific Reports.

[66]  Franz X. Kärtner,et al.  Towards parametric synthesis of millijoule-level two-octave-wide optical waveforms for strong-field experiments , 2014 .

[67]  Ferenc Krausz,et al.  Real-time observation of laser-driven electron acceleration , 2011 .

[68]  Luca Poletto,et al.  High-energy attosecond light sources , 2011 .

[69]  E. Takahashi,et al.  Attosecond nonlinear optics using gigawatt-scale isolated attosecond pulses , 2013, Nature Communications.

[70]  Ecole Nationale,et al.  Generation of intense, carrier-envelope phase-locked few-cycle laser pulses through filamentation , 2004 .

[71]  Resonant Nonperturbative Extreme Nonlinear Optics with Two-Cycle Pulses: Carrier-Wave Rabi Flopping and Role of the Carrier–Envelope Offset Phase , 2004 .

[72]  Franz X. Kärtner,et al.  Two-octave-spanning dispersion-controlled precision optics for sub-optical-cycle waveform synthesizers , 2014 .

[73]  M. Wegener,et al.  Determining the carrier-envelope offset frequency of 5-fs pulses with extreme nonlinear optics in ZnO. , 2002, Optics letters.

[74]  A. E. Dangor,et al.  Monoenergetic beams of relativistic electrons from intense laser–plasma interactions , 2004, Nature.

[75]  Paolo Villoresi,et al.  Few-optical-cycle pulses tunable from the visible to the mid-infrared by optical parametric amplifiers , 2009 .