Supercontinuum generation in bulk solid-state material with bursts of femtosecond laser pulses.

We report on experimental and numerical investigation of burst-mode supercontinuum generation in sapphire crystal. The experiments were performed using bursts consisting of two 190 fs, 1030 nm pulses with intra-burst repetition rates of 62.5 MHz and 2.5 GHz from an amplified 1 MHz Yb:KGW laser and revealed higher filamentation and supercontinuum generation threshold for the second pulse in the burst, which increases with the increase of intra-burst repetition rate. The experimental results were quantitatively reproduced numerically, using a developed model, which accounted for altered material response due to residual excitations remaining after propagation of the first pulse. The simulation results unveiled that residual free electron plasma and self-trapped excitons contribute to elevated densities of free electron plasma generated by the second pulse in the burst and so stronger plasma defocusing, significantly affecting its nonlinear propagation dynamics. The presented results identify the fundamental and practical issues for supercontinuum generation in solid-state materials using femtosecond pulse bursts with very high intra-burst repetition rates, which may also apply to the case of single pulses at very high repetition rate, where residual material excitations become relevant and should be accounted for.

Supercontinuum generation by co-filamentation of two color femtosecond laser pulses.

In this paper, we experimentally investigate supercontinuum generation via collinear two-color filamentation in sapphire crystal, by launching two femtosecond pulses at fundamental (1030 nm) and second harmonic (515 nm) wavelengths from an amplified Yb:KGW laser. By changing the time delay between the incident pulses, we observe dramatic changes in the supercontinuum spectrum, transmitted energy, position of the nonlinear focus and intensity distribution along the filamentinduced luminescence traces. In particular, we show that at some delays the two pump wavelengths can assist each other in generating supercontinuum, whilst at other delays large portions of the supercontinuum spectrum are completely extinguished. The transition between supercontinuum generation and its extinction occurs within a very short (20 fs) span of the delay times, despite the fact that the pump pulses are 220 fs long. We propose that the observed non-trivial spectral dynamics can be interpreted by a mechanism, where co-propagating two pump pulses perturb the nonlinear refractive properties of the medium via Kerr effect and generation of free electron plasma thereby affecting pulse splitting and pulse front steepening, which are the key players in the process of supercontinuum generation in a normally dispersive medium.

Femtosecond filamentation and supercontinuum generation in bulk silicon.

We experimentally study filamentation and supercontinuum generation in bulk silicon crystal using femtosecond mid-infrared pulses with carrier wavelengths in the range of 3.25-4.7 µm, in the presence of three-, four-, and five-photon absorption. Spectral measurements show a fairly stable blueshifted cutoff in the 2.5-2.7 µm range and gradual increase of the long-wave extent with increasing wavelength of the incident pulses, eventually yielding an octave-spanning supercontinuum, covering the wavelength range from 2.5 to 5.8 µm with the input pulses at 4.7 µm. The recorded spatiotemporal intensity distributions of a single filament revealed pulse splitting after the nonlinear focus, in line with the pulse-splitting-based filamentation scenario inherent to normally dispersive dielectric nonlinear media.

Odd harmonics-enhanced supercontinuum in bulk solid-state dielectric medium.

We report on generation of ultrabroadband, more than 4 octave spanning supercontinuum in thin CaF2 crystal, as pumped by intense mid-infrared laser pulses with central wavelength of 2.4 µm. The supercontinuum spectrum covers wavelength range from the ultraviolet to the mid-infrared and its short wavelength side is strongly enhanced by cascaded generation of third, fifth and seventh harmonics. Our results capture the transition from Kerr-dominated to plasma-dominated filamentation regime and uncover that in the latter the spectral superbroadening originates from dramatic plasma-induced compression of the driving pulse, which in turn induces broadening of the harmonics spectra due to cross-phase modulation effects. The experimental measurements are backed up by the numerical simulations based on a nonparaxial unidirectional propagation equation for the electric field of the pulse, which accounts for the cubic nonlinearity-induced effects, and which reproduce the experimental data in great detail.

Spatiotemporal light bullets and supercontinuum generation in ß-BBO crystal with competing quadratic and cubic nonlinearities.

We experimentally study filamentation and supercontinuum generation in a birefringent medium [beta-barium borate (ß-BBO) crystal] pumped by intense 90 fs, 1.8 µm laser pulses whose carrier wavelength falls in the range of anomalous group velocity dispersion of the crystal. We demonstrate that the competition between the intrinsic cubic and cascaded-quadratic nonlinearities may serve as a useful tool for controlling the self-action effects via phase matching condition. In particular, we found that spectral superbroadening of the ordinary polarization is linked to three-dimensional self-focusing and formation of self-compressed spatiotemporal light bullets that could be accessed within a certain range of either positive or negative phase mismatch. In the extraordinary polarization, we detect giant spectral shifts of the second harmonic radiation, which are attributed to a light bullet-induced self-phase matching.

In situ study of two interacting femtosecond filaments in sapphire.

Interaction dynamics of two copropagating femtosecond light filaments in sapphire crystal is studied by means of time-resolved off-axis digital holographic and shadowgraphic microscopy with 22 fs temporal and 1 µm spatial resolution. In particular, we demonstrate that filament interaction originates from instantaneous modification of the refractive index resulting from the Kerr effect. Fusion, splitting, and even suppression of the resulting plasma channels induced by interacting filaments was observed by varying time delay between the input pulses. Free electron channels were reconstructed in the form of the time-lapse movie with unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution.

Carrier-envelope phase-stable spatiotemporal light bullets.

We present an extensive experimental investigation of the self-focusing and filamentation of intense 90 fs, 1.8 µm, carrier-envelope phase-stable laser pulses in fused silica in the anomalous group velocity dispersion region. Spectral measurements in a wedge-shaped sample uncover dynamics of spectral broadening, which captures the evolution of third-harmonic, resonant radiation, and supercontinuum spectra as a function of the propagation distance with unprecedented detail. The relevant events of spectral broadening are linked to the formation and propagation dynamics of spatiotemporal light bullets as measured by a three-dimensional imaging technique. We also show that at a higher input power, the light bullet splits into two bullets, which retain characteristic O-shaped spatiotemporal intensity distributions and propagate with different group velocities. Finally, we demonstrate that the light bullets have a stable carrier-envelope phase that is preserved even after the bullet splitting event, as verified by f-2f interferometric measurements.

Nature of spatiotemporal light bullets in bulk Kerr media.

We present a detailed experimental investigation which uncovers the nature of light bullets generated from self-focusing in a bulk dielectric medium with Kerr nonlinearity in the anomalous group velocity dispersion regime. By high dynamic range measurements of three-dimensional intensity profiles, we demonstrate that the light bullets consist of a sharply localized high-intensity core, which carries the self-compressed pulse and contains approximately 25% of the total energy, and a ring-shaped spatiotemporal periphery. Subdiffractive propagation along with dispersive broadening of the light bullets in free space after they exit the nonlinear medium indicate a strong space-time coupling within the bullet. This finding is confirmed by measurements of a spatiotemporal energy density flux that exhibits the same features as a stationary, polychromatic Bessel beam, thus highlighting the nature of the light bullets.

Self-reconstructing spatiotemporal light bullets.

We show that spatiotemporal light bullets generated by self-focusing and filamentation of 100 fs, 1.8 µm pulses in a dielectric medium with anomalous group velocity dispersion (sapphire) are extremely robust to external perturbations. We present the experimental results supported by the numerical simulations that demonstrate complete spatiotemporal self-reconstruction of the light bullet after hitting an obstacle, which blocks its intense core carrying the self-compressed pulse, in nonlinear as well as in linear (free-space) propagation regimes.

Cavitation dynamics and directional microbubble ejection induced by intense femtosecond laser pulses in liquids.

We study cavitation dynamics when focusing ring-shaped femtosecond laser beams in water. This focusing geometry reduces detrimental nonlinear beam distortions and enhances energy deposition within the medium, localized at the focal spot. We observe remarkable postcollapse dynamics of elongated cavitation bubbles with high-speed ejection of microbubbles out of the laser focal region. Bubbles are ejected along the laser axis in both directions (away and towards the laser). The initial shape of the cavitation bubble is also seen to either enhance or completely suppress jet formation during collapse. In the absence of jetting, microbubble ejection occurs orthogonal to the laser propagation axis.

Rogue-wave-like statistics in ultrafast white-light continuum generation in sapphire.

We experimentally study the statistics of the white-light continuum generated by focusing of 130 fs, 800 nm pulses in a sapphire plate and show that the statistical distributions of the spectral intensity of the blue-shifted continuum components obey the extreme-value statistics. This rogue-wave-like behavior is detected only within a narrow input-pulse energy interval. By the use of numerical simulations, we show that the observed rogue-wave-like behavior is associated with pulse splitting and build-up of intense trailing pulse. The extreme events are thereafter suppressed by the intensity clamping.

Generation of broadly tunable sub-30-fs infrared pulses by four-wave optical parametric amplification.

We report on the generation of sub-30-fs near-IR light pulses by means of broadband four-wave parametric amplification in fused silica. This is achieved by frequency downconversion of visible broadband pulses provided by a commercial blue-pumped beta-barium borate crystal-based noncollinear optical parametric amplifier. The proposed method produces the IR idler pulses with energy up to ∼20 µJ and tunable in wavelength from 1 to 1.5 µm. The shortest pulse duration is 17.6 fs, measured at 1.2 µm.

Generation of 30-fs ultraviolet pulses by four-wave optical parametric chirped pulse amplification.

We report on the generation of approximately 30-fs ultraviolet pulses with approximately 10 microJ energy by means of four-wave optical parametric chirped pulse amplification in fused silica. The four-wave optical parametric amplifier is pumped by the second-harmonic of the Ti:sapphire laser and is seeded by visible broadband chirped signal pulses. The idler pulses are produced in the ultraviolet by four-wave mixing and are compressed in a medium with normal group velocity dispersion.

Observation of spontaneous parametric down-conversion excited by high brightness blue LED.

We report on what is to our knowledge the first observation of the parametric fluorescence in bulk nonlinear crystals excited by commercial high-brightness incoherent blue LED.

High-energy broadband four-wave optical parametric amplification in bulk fused silica.

Efficient broadband four-wave optical parametric amplification in bulk Kerr medium (fused silica) is demonstrated by means of noncollinear phase matching and cylindrical focusing geometry without the onset of beam breakup and filamentation. Amplified signal energy as high as 180 microJ with 1 ps, 1.8 mJ pumping at 1,055 nm is achieved with pump-to-signal energy conversion close to 10%. More than 70 nm FWHM parametric gain bandwidth around 740 nm is demonstrated without imposing angular dispersion on the frequency components of the broadband seed signal.

Observation of conical waves in focusing, dispersive, and dissipative Kerr media.

Excitation of unbalanced-Bessel beams by a gradual increase of nonlinearity in a water sample outlines the achievement of the first ever observed quasimonochromatic wave packet that propagates stably for hundreds of Rayleigh lengths in a focusing and dispersive Kerr medium, i.e., in the absence of spectral broadening and conical emission. A modulational instability analysis reveals the key role of nonlinear dissipation in quenching the growth of spatiotemporal unstable modes.

Axial emission and spectral broadening in self-focusing of femtosecond Bessel beams.

We report on the experimental observations of on-axis spectral broadening arising from self-focusing of the axicon-generated femtosecond Bessel beam in water. The observed spectral broadening is interpreted by a nonlinearly phase-matched four-wave mixing process involving the intense conical pump, the axial signal and a conical idler wave.

Highly efficient four-wave parametric amplification in transparent bulk Kerr medium.

We report on highly efficient four-wave optical parametric amplification in a water cell pumped by an elliptically shaped, ultrashort pulsed laser beam under non-collinear phase-matching configuration. Energy conversion from pump to parametric waves as high as 25 % is obtained owing to the achievement of 1-dimensional spatial-soliton regime, which guarantees high intensity over a large interaction length and ensures high beam quality.

Spatio-temporal reshaping and X Wave dynamics in optical filaments.

Focus Serial: Frontiers of Nonlinear Optics

Near-field dynamics of ultrashort pulsed Bessel beams in media with Kerr nonlinearity.

The near-field dynamics of a femtosecond Bessel beam propagating in a Kerr nonlinear medium (fused silica) is investigated both numerically and experimentally. We demonstrate that the input Bessel beam experiences strong nonlinear reshaping. Due to the combined action of self-focusing and nonlinear losses the reshaped beam exhibits a radial compression and reduced visibility of the Bessel oscillations. Moreover, we show that the reshaping process starts from the intense central core and gradually replaces the Bessel beam profile during propagation, highlighting the conical geometry of the energy flow.