Ultrabroadband flying-focus using an axiparabola-echelon pair.

Flying-focus pulses promise to revolutionize laser-driven secondary sources by decoupling the trajectory of the peak intensity from the native group velocity of the medium over distances much longer than a Rayleigh range. Previous demonstrations of the flying focus have either produced an uncontrolled trajectory or a trajectory that is engineered using chromatic methods that limit the duration of the peak intensity to picosecond scales. Here we demonstrate a controllable ultrabroadband flying focus using a nearly achromatic axiparabola-echelon pair. Spectral interferometry using an ultrabroadband superluminescent diode was used to measure designed super- and subluminal flying-focus trajectories and the effective temporal pulse duration as inferred from the measured spectral phase. The measurements demonstrate that a nearly transform- and diffraction-limited moving focus can be created over a centimeter-scale-an extended focal region more than 50 Rayleigh ranges in length. This ultrabroadband flying-focus and the novel axiparabola-echelon configuration used to produce it are ideally suited for applications and scalable to >100 TW peak powers.

Programmable-trajectory ultrafast flying focus pulses.

"Flying focus" techniques produce laser pulses with dynamic focal points that travel distances much greater than a Rayleigh length. The implementation of these techniques in laser-based applications requires the design of optical configurations that can both extend the focal range and structure the radial group delay. This article describes a method for designing optical configurations that produce ultrashort flying focus pulses with programmable-trajectory focal points. The method is illustrated by several examples that employ an axiparabola for extending the focal range and either a reflective echelon or a deformable mirror-spatial light modulator pair for structuring the radial group delay. The latter configuration enables rapid exploration and optimization of flying foci, which could be ideal for experiments.

Multi-atmosphere picosecond CO2 amplifier optically pumped at 4.3 µm.

The possibility of the amplification of picosecond 10 µm pulses to gigawatt powers in an optically pumped 20 atmosphere CO2 laser is shown using numerical simulations. Multi-millijoule 4.3 µm pulses generated by a tunable Fe:ZnSe laser are considered for pumping.

Long-wave infrared picosecond parametric amplifier based on Raman shifter technology.

A new method for a long-wave infrared (LWIR), picosecond difference frequency generation (DFG) source using one near-infrared laser and a Raman shifter is experimentally tested and characterized. The signal seed for DFG is a Stokes pulse generated via transient stimulated Raman scattering in a nonlinear medium with a Raman frequency in the 2-20 µm range. A study of the dynamics of the transient Raman regime in liquid C6D6 has shown that the efficiency of Stokes production can be increased and the central wavelength can be controlled by chirping the pump pulse in order to compensate for chirping caused by self-phase modulation. High energy, ≥3 µJ, picosecond pulses at 10.6 µm have been generated in a GaSe crystal pumped by 1 mJ pulses of 1060 nm light from a Nd:glass laser.

Measurements of the nonlinear refractive index of air, N2, and O2 at 10 µm using four-wave mixing.

We report on measurements of the nonlinear index of refraction of air, N2, and O2 at a wavelength close to 10 µm by collinear four-wave mixing of a 200 MW CO2 laser beat-wave. The use of a 200 ps long beat-wave comprising radiation amplified on the 10P20 and 10R16 lines of the CO2 laser provides a sensitive method to measure the small nonlinearities characteristic of the gas phase in a spectral region where no such data exists.

High-power, mid-infrared, picosecond pulses generated by compression of a CO2 laser beat-wave in GaAs.

We report on the generation of a train of ∼2 ps, 10 µm laser pulses via multiple four-wave mixing and compression of an infrared laser beat-wave propagating in the negative group velocity dispersion region of bulk GaAs and a combination of GaAs and NaCl crystals. The use of a 200 ps, 106 GHz beat-wave, produced by combining laser pulses amplified on the 10P(20) and 10P(16) transition of a CO2 laser, provides a novel method for generating high-power, picosecond, mid-IR laser pulses at a high repetition rate. By using 165 and 882 GHz beat-waves, we show that cascaded phase-mismatched difference frequency generation plays a significant role in the four-wave mixing process in GaAs.

Supercontinuum generation from 2 to 20 µm in GaAs pumped by picosecond CO2 laser pulses.

We report on the generation of supercontinuum radiation from 2 to 20 µm in a 67 mm long GaAs crystal pumped by a train of 3 ps CO2 laser pulses. Temporal measurements indicate that sub-picosecond pulse splitting is involved in the production of such wide-bandwidth radiation in GaAs. The results show that the observed spectral broadening is heavily influenced by four-wave mixing and stimulated Raman scattering.

Amplification of multi-gigawatt 3 ps pulses in an atmospheric CO2 laser using ac Stark effect.

The 3 ps pulses are amplified to ~20 GW peak power in a TEA CO(2) laser using ac Stark broadening. Demonstration of such broadband coherent amplification of 10 µm pulses opens opportunities for a powerful mid-IR source at a high-repetition rate.