Lightwave-controlled relativistic plasma mirrors.

We report on attosecond-scale control of high-harmonic and fast electron emission from plasma mirrors driven by relativistic-intensity near-single-cycle light waves at a kHz repetition rate. By controlling the waveform of the intense light transient, we reproducibly form a sub-cycle temporal intensity gate at the plasma mirror surface, leading to the observation of extreme ultraviolet spectral continua, characteristic of isolated attosecond pulse (IAP) generation. We also observe the correlated emission of a waveform-dependent relativistic electron beam, paving the way toward fully lightwave-controlled dynamics of relativistic plasma mirrors.

Simple few-shot method for spectrally resolving the wavefront of an ultrashort laser pulse.

We present a novel, to the best of our knowledge, and straightforward approach for the spatio-spectral characterization of ultrashort pulses. This minimally intrusive method relies on placing a mask with specially arranged pinholes in the beam path before the focusing optic and retrieving the spectrally resolved laser wavefront from the speckle pattern produced at focus. We test the efficacy of this new method by accurately retrieving chromatic aberrations, such as pulse-front tilt (PFT), pulse-front curvature (PFC), and higher-order aberrations introduced by a spherical lens. The simplicity and scalability of this method, combined with its compatibility with single-shot operation, make it a strong complement to existing tools for high-intensity laser facilities.

Survey of spatio-temporal couplings throughout high-power ultrashort lasers.

The investigation of spatio-temporal couplings (STCs) of broadband light beams is becoming a key topic for the optimization as well as applications of ultrashort laser systems. This calls for accurate measurements of STCs. Yet, it is only recently that such complete spatio-temporal or spatio-spectral characterization has become possible, and it has so far mostly been implemented at the output of the laser systems, where experiments take place. In this survey, we present for the first time STC measurements at different stages of a collection of high-power ultrashort laser systems, all based on the chirped-pulse amplification (CPA) technique, but with very different output characteristics. This measurement campaign reveals spatio-temporal effects with various sources, and motivates the expanded use of STC characterization throughout CPA laser chains, as well as in a wider range of types of ultrafast laser systems. In this way knowledge will be gained not only about potential defects, but also about the fundamental dynamics and operating regimes of advanced ultrashort laser systems.

Sub-7 fs radially-polarized pulses by post-compression in thin fused silica plates.

We experimentally demonstrate the post-compression of radially polarized 25 fs pulses at 800 nm central wavelength in a multiple thin plate arrangement for the first time, to the best of our knowledge. Sub-7 fs pulses with 90 µJ energy were obtained after dispersion compensation, corresponding to a compression factor of more than 3.5. Preservation of radial polarization state was confirmed by polarized intensity distribution measurements. Linear projections of the radially polarized pulses were also fully characterized in the temporal domain.

Single-stage few-cycle nonlinear compression of milliJoule energy Ti:Sa femtosecond pulses in a multipass cell.

We report on the nonlinear temporal compression of mJ energy pulses from a Ti:Sa chirped pulse amplifier system in a multipass cell filled with argon. The pulses are compressed from 30 fs down to 5.3 fs, corresponding to two optical cycles. The post-compressed beam exhibits excellent spatial quality and homogeneity. These results provide guidelines for optimizing the compressed pulse quality and further scaling of multipass-cell-based post-compression down to the single-cycle regime.

Anticorrelated Emission of High Harmonics and Fast Electron Beams From Plasma Mirrors.

We report for the first time on the anticorrelated emission of high-order harmonics and energetic electron beams from a solid-density plasma with a sharp vacuum interface-plasma mirror-driven by an intense ultrashort laser pulse. We highlight the key role played by the nanoscale structure of the plasma surface during the interaction by measuring the spatial and spectral properties of harmonics and electron beams emitted by a plasma mirror. We show that the nanoscale behavior of the plasma mirror can be controlled by tuning the scale length of the electron density gradient, which is measured in situ using spatial-domain interferometry.

Spatial-domain interferometer for measuring plasma mirror expansion.

We present a practical spatial-domain interferometer for characterizing the electronic density gradient of laser-induced plasma mirrors with sub-30-femtosecond temporal resolution. Time-resolved spatial imaging of an intensity-shaped pulse reflecting off an expanding plasma mirror induced by a time-delayed pre-pulse allows us to measure characteristic plasma gradients of 10-100 nm with an expansion velocity of 10.8 nm/ps. Spatial-domain interferometry (SDI) can be generalized to the ultrafast imaging of nm to µm size laser-induced phenomena at surfaces.

Passive coherent combining of CEP-stable few-cycle pulses from a temporally divided hollow fiber compressor.

We demonstrate a simple and robust passive coherent combining technique for temporal compression of millijoule energy laser pulses down to few-cycle duration in a gas-filled hollow fiber. High combining efficiency is achieved by using carefully oriented calcite plates for temporal pulse division and recombination. Carrier-envelope phase (CEP)-stable, 6-fs, 800-nm pulses with more than 0.6 mJ energy are routinely generated. This method could aid in the energy scaling of CEP-stable hollow-fiber compressor systems.

Carrier-envelope-phase stable, high-contrast, double chirped-pulse-amplification laser system.

We present the first carrier-envelope-phase stable chirped-pulse amplifier (CPA) featuring high temporal contrast for relativistic intensity laser-plasma interactions at 1 kHz repetition rate. The laser is based on a double-CPA architecture including cross-polarized wave (XPW) filtering technique and a high-energy grism-based compressor. The 8 mJ, 22 fs pulses feature 10⁻¹¹ temporal contrast at -20 ps and a carrier-envelope-phase drift of 240 mrad root mean square.

Generation of high-fidelity few-cycle pulses at 2.1 µm via cross-polarized wave generation.

We demonstrate the generation of temporally clean few-cycle pulses at 2.1 µm by shortening of 6-optical-cycle pulses via cross-polarized wave (XPW) generation in BaF(2), CaF(2) and CVD-Diamond crystals. By combining spectra and single-shot third-order intensity cross-correlation traces in a novel Bayesian pulse retrieval technique, we measured pulse durations of 20 fs, corresponding to 2.8 optical cycles. Our results show that XPW generation in the infrared could provide a high-fidelity source of few-cycle pulses for strong-field physics applications. It could also serve as an injector for high-peak power ultrafast mid-IR wavelength parametric amplifiers.

Carrier-envelope phase stability of hollow fibers used for high-energy few-cycle pulse generation.

We investigated the carrier-envelope phase (CEP) stability of hollow-fiber compression for high-energy few-cycle pulse generation. Saturation of the output pulse energy is observed at 0.6 mJ for a 260 µm inner-diameter, 1 m long fiber, statically filled with neon. The pressure is adjusted to achieve output spectra supporting sub-4-fs pulses. The maximum output pulse energy can be increased to 0.8 mJ by either differential pumping (DP) or circularly polarized input pulses. We observe the onset of an ionization-induced CEP instability, which saturates beyond input pulse energies of 1.25 mJ. There is no significant difference in the CEP stability with DP compared to static-fill.

High repetition rate relativistic laser-solid-plasma interaction platform featuring simultaneous particle and radiation detection.

We report on a uniquely designed high repetition rate relativistic laser-solid-plasma interaction platform, featuring the first simultaneous measurement of emitted high-order harmonics, relativistic electrons, and low divergence proton beams. This versatile setup enables detailed parametric studies of the particle and radiation spatio-spectral beam properties under a wide range of controlled interaction conditions, such as pulse duration and plasma density gradient. Its array of complementary diagnostics unlocks the potential to unravel interdependencies among the observables and should aid in further understanding the complex collective dynamics at play during laser-plasma interactions and in optimizing the secondary beam properties for applications.

High-harmonic generation from plasma mirrors at kilohertz repetition rate.

We report the first demonstration of high-harmonic generation from plasma mirrors at a 1 kHz repetition rate. Harmonics up to nineteenth order are generated at peak intensities close to 10¹8 W/cm² by focusing 1 mJ, 25 fs laser pulses down to 1.7 µm FWHM spot size without any prior wavefront correction onto a moving target. We minimize target surface motion with respect to the laser focus using online interferometry to ensure reproducible interaction conditions for every shot and record data at 1 kHz with unprecedented statistics. This allows us to unambiguously identify coherent wake emission as the main generation mechanism.

Relativistic-intensity near-single-cycle light waveforms at kHz repetition rate.

The development of ultra-intense and ultra-short light sources is currently a subject of intense research driven by the discovery of novel phenomena in the realm of relativistic optics, such as the production of ultrafast energetic particle and radiation beams for applications. It has been a long-standing challenge to unite two hitherto distinct classes of light sources: those achieving relativistic intensity and those with pulse durations approaching a single light cycle. While the former class traditionally involves large-scale amplification chains, the latter class places high demand on the spatiotemporal control of the electromagnetic laser field. Here, we present a light source producing waveform-controlled 1.5-cycle pulses with a 719 nm central wavelength that can be focused to relativistic intensity at a 1 kHz repetition rate based on nonlinear post-compression in a long hollow-core fiber. The unique capabilities of this source allow us to observe the first experimental indications of light waveform effects in laser wakefield acceleration of relativistic energy electrons.

Spectral reshaping and pulse compression via sequential filamentation in gases.

We provide a theoretical description of the spatio-temporal dynamics of sequential filamentation in noble gases that can lead to pulse compression down to nearly single-cycle pulses. We show that the strong pulse compression occurs as a result of serially-generated on-axis filaments and spectral filtering of an extensive blue-shifted compressible spectra. We show that the dynamics of this sequential filamentation can be readily tuned by varying the gas pressure and can be scaled to various pulse energies.

Volumetric intensity dependence on the formation of molecular and atomic ions within a high intensity laser focus.

The mechanism of atomic and molecular ionization in intense, ultra-short laser fields is a subject which continues to receive considerable attention. An inherent difficulty with techniques involving the tight focus of a laser beam is the continuous distribution of intensities contained within the focus, which can vary over several orders of magnitude. The present study adopts time of flight mass spectrometry coupled with a high intensity (8 x 10(15) Wcm(-2)), ultra-short (20 fs) pulse laser in order to investigate the ionization and dissociation of the aromatic molecule benzene-d1 (C(6)H(5)D) as a function of intensity within a focused laser beam, by scanning the laser focus in the direction of propagation, while detecting ions produced only in a "thin" slice (400 and 800 microm) of the focus. The resultant TOF mass spectra varies significantly, highlighting the dependence on the range of specific intensities accessed and their volumetric weightings on the ionization/dissociation pathways accessed.

Energy-scalable temporal cleaning device for femtosecond laser pulses based on cross-polarized wave generation.

We report on a compact energy-scalable device for generating high-fidelity femtosecond laser pulses based on spatial filtering through a hollow-core fiber followed by a nonlinear crystal for cross-polarized wave (XPW) generation. This versatile device is suited for temporal pulse cleaning over a wide range of input energies (from 0.1 to >10 mJ) and is successfully qualified on different ultrafast laser systems. Full characterization of the XPW output is presented. In particular, we demonstrate the generation of 1.6 mJ energy pulses starting from 11 mJ input pulse energy. The temporal contrast of the pulses is enhanced by more than 4 orders of magnitude. In addition, pulse shortening from 40 fs down to 15 fs Fourier-transform limit yields an overall peak-power transmission of up to 50%. This device not only serves as an integrated pulse contrast filter inside an ultrafast laser amplifier but also as a simple back-end solution for temporal post-compression of amplified pulses.

Generation of 4.3 fs, 1 mJ laser pulses via compression of circularly polarized pulses in a gas-filled hollow-core fiber.

We report the generation of 4.3 fs, 1 mJ pulses at 1 kHz using a hollow-core fiber compressor seeded with circularly polarized laser pulses. We observe up to 30% more energy throughput compared to the case of linearly polarized laser input, together with significantly improved output spectral stability. Seeding with circularly polarized pulses proves to be an effective approach for high-energy operation of the hollow-fiber compression technique.

Carrier-envelope phase stabilization and control using a transmission grating compressor and an AOPDF.

Carrier-envelope phase (CEP) stabilization of a femtosecond chirped-pulse amplification system featuring a compact transmission grating compressor is demonstrated. The system includes two amplification stages and routinely generates phase-stable (approximately 250 mrad rms) 2 mJ, 25 fs pulses at 1 kHz. Minimizing the optical pathway in the compressor enables phase stabilization without feedback control of the grating separation or beam pointing. We also demonstrate for the first time to the best of our knowledge, out-of-loop control of the CEP using an acousto-optic programmable dispersive filter inside the laser chain.

Cross-polarized wave generation in the UV region.

We demonstrate experimentally the generation of cross-polarized femtosecond pulses in BaF2 crystal in the UV region. We show that unsaturated cross-polarized wave generation in the UV is six times more efficient than in the visible region, and we deduce the corresponding wavelength dispersion of the third-order nonlinearity.