Search results for "FEMTOSECOND"
showing 10 items of 238 documents
Analytical Evaluation of the Temporal Focal Shift for Arbitrary Pulse Shapes
2004
In this letter, we analyze the propagation of linearly chirped arbitrary-shaped light pulses through a parabolic dispersive medium to derive an analytical formula of assessing the location of the transverse plane where the pulse root-mean-square width is minimum. Closed form expressions for compressed pulses, which are independent of the input pulse shape, are demonstrated. In this way, we demonstrate that both the relative temporal focal shift and the minimum pulsewidth are solely determined by two factors, the temporal equivalent of the Fresnel number of the geometry and the pulse quality factor, i.e., the temporal analogue of the spatial M/sup 2/ beam quality factor. Some examples are di…
Interpretation of negative birefringence observed in strong-field optical pump-probe experiments: High-order Kerr and plasma grating effects
2013
The analysis of negative birefringence optically induced in major air components (Loriot et al., [1, 2]) is revisited in light of the recently reported plasma grating-induced phase-shift effect predicted for strong field pump-probe experiments (Wahlstrand and Milchberg, [3]). The nonlinear birefrin- gence induced by a short and intense laser pulse in argon is measured by femtosecond time-resolved polarimetry. The experiments are performed with degenerate colors, where the pump and probe beam share the same spectrum, or with two different colors and non-overlapping spectra. The in- terpretation of the experimental results is substantiated using a numerical 3D+1 model accounting for nonlinear…
Experimental control over soliton interaction in optical fiber by pre-shaped input field
2011
Interactions between femtosecond solitons in a nonlinear photonic-crystal fiber are of fundamental interest. But many practical applications would abound if solitons could be arbitrarily superposed into multiples in the fiber. Here, we numerically and experimentally demonstrate a first step towards this aim, the creation of a soliton pair with arbitrary relative phase, delay, and frequency throughout almost the entire output parameter space with the aid of a pre-shaped fiber input field.
Quasi-isotropic 3-D resolution in two-photon scanning microscopy.
2009
One of the main challenges in three-dimensional microscopy is to overcome the lack of isotropy of the spatial resolution, which results from the axially-elongated shape of the point spread function. Such anisotropy gives rise to images in which significant axially-oriented structures of the sample are not resolved. In this paper we achieve an important improvement in z resolution in two-photon excitation microscopy through spatial modulation of the incident beam. Specifically, we demonstrate that the design and implementation of a simple shaded ring performs quasi-isotropic three-dimensional imaging and that the corresponding loss in luminosity can be easily compensated by most available fe…
Photodetachment of F− by short laser pulses. Comparison between experiments and numerical results
2009
Recently, angle-resolved photoelectron spectra have been measured by exposing negative F− ions to linearly or circularly polarized infrared femtosecond laser fields. We compare the experimental results with numerical calculations carried out in the framework of a Keldysh-type theory modified to account for both the time shape and the spatial inhomogeneity of the pulse. In order to account for the finite duration of the laser pulse, our results have been obtained through calculations of photodetachment probabilities. By using the saddle-point method it is possible to show that the transition amplitude may be written as a coherent sum of terms giving rise to interferences. This circumstance s…
Ultrafast and Energy-Efficient Quenching of Spin Order: Antiferromagnetism Beats Ferromagnetism
2017
By comparing femtosecond laser pulse induced ferro- and antiferromagnetic dynamics in one and the same material - metallic dysprosium - we show both to behave fundamentally different. Antiferromagnetic order is considerably faster and much more efficiently manipulated by optical excitation than its ferromagnetic counterpart. We assign the fast and extremely efficient process in the antiferromagnet to an interatomic transfer of angular momentum within the spin system. Our findings do not only reveal this angular momentum transfer channel effective in antiferromagnets and other magnetic structures with non-parallel spin alignment, they also point out a possible route towards energy-efficient …
Time- and energy resolved photoemission electron microscopy-imaging of photoelectron time-of-flight analysis by means of pulsed excitations
2010
Abstract The present work enlightens the developments in time- and energy resolved photoemission electron microscopy over the past few years. We describe basic principles of the technique and demonstrate different applications. An energy- and time-filtering photoemission electron microscopy (PEEM) for real-time spectroscopic imaging can be realized either by a retarding field or hemispherical energy analyzer or by using time-of-flight optics with a delay line detector. The latter method has the advantage of no data loss at all as all randomly incoming particles are measured not only by position but also by time. This is of particular interest for pump–probe experiments in the femtosecond an…
Absolute frequency measurements on the 2S→3S transition of lithium-6,7
2009
The frequencies of the 2S–3S two-photon transition for the stable lithium isotopes were measured by cavity-enhanced Doppler-free laser excitation that was controlled by a femtosecond frequency comb. The resulting values of 815 618 181.57(18) and 815 606 727.59(18) MHz, respectively, for 7Li and 6Li are in agreement with previous measurements but are more accurate by an order of magnitude. There is still a discrepancy of about 11.6 and 10.6 MHz from the latest theoretical values. This is comparable to the uncertainty in the theoretical calculations, while uncertainty in our experimental values is more than a hundred-fold smaller. More accurate theoretical calculation of the transition freque…
Hot electrons and nonlinear optical nanoantennas
2017
The large field enhancement generated at the surface of a resonant plasmonic nanoparticle, or optical antennas, is the key mechanism that eventually led to the development of nonlinear plasmonics [1-2]. While the resonance may boost the nonlinear yield of an adjacent structure or surrounding medium, it was soon realized that optical antennas possess nonlinear coefficients comparable or exceeding those of standard nonlinear optical materials [3]. We discuss here two nonlinear optical processes — incoherent multi-photon luminescence (MPL) and coherent second-harmonic generation (SHG) — emitted from gold rod optical antennas upon local illumination with a tightly focused femtosecond near-infra…
Evidence for metastable photo-induced superconductivity in K3C60
2021
Far and mid infrared optical pulses have been shown to induce non-equilibrium unconventional orders in complex materials, including photo-induced ferroelectricity in quantum paraelectrics, magnetic polarization in antiferromagnets and transient superconducting correlations in the normal state of cuprates and organic conductors. In the case of non-equilibrium superconductivity, femtosecond drives have generally resulted in electronic properties that disappear immediately after excitation, evidencing a state that lacks intrinsic rigidity. Here, we make use of a new optical device to drive metallic K$_3$C$_{60}$ with mid-infrared pulses of tunable duration, ranging between one picosecond and o…