0000000000461568
AUTHOR
Rocio Borrego-varillas
Wavelength tuning of femtosecond pulses generated in nonlinear crystals by using diffractive lenses
We demonstrate that diffractive lenses (DLs) can be used as a simple method to tune the central wavelength of femtosecond pulses generated from second-order nonlinear optical processes in birefringent crystals. The wavelength tunability is achieved by changing the relative distance between the nonlinear crystal and the DL, which acts in a focusing configuration. Besides the many practical applications of the so-generated pulses, the proposed method might be extended to other wavelength ranges by demonstrated similar effects on other nonlinear processes, such as high-order harmonic generation.
Unravelling the Intertwined Atomic and Bulk Nature of Localised Excitons by Attosecond Spectroscopy
The electro-optical properties of most semiconductors and insulators of technological interest are dominated by the presence of electron-hole quasi-particles, called excitons. The manipulation of excitons in dielectrics has recently received great attention, with possible applications in different fields including optoelectronics and photonics. Here, we apply attosecond transient reflection spectroscopy in a sequential two-foci geometry and observe sub-femtosecond dynamics of a core-level exciton in bulk MgF2 single crystals. Furthermore, we access absolute phase delays, which allow for an unambiguous comparison with theoretical calculations. Our results show that excitons surprisingly exhi…
Diffractive optics for spectral tuning of second harmonic and supercontinuum generated in nonlinear crystals
It is shown that diffractive lenses can tune the spectrum of femtosecond pulses after nonlinear optical processes. We focus on spectra of second-order pulses generated in birefringent crystals and supercontinuum in sapphire crystals. The tunability is achieved by changing the relative distance between the nonlinear crystal and the diffractive lens.