Search results for "Linear optics"
showing 10 items of 493 documents
The influence of the quantum nature of nuclei in high harmonic generation from H$_2^+$-like molecular ions
2013
We study the full quantum dynamics of a simple molecular ion driven by an intense laser field. In particular we show that the quantum nature of the nuclear dynamics affects the emitted high harmonic generation (HHG) spectra, strongly reshaping the plateau region. In fact, it is evident that the characteristic flat trend is transformed into a descending trend, with the lower harmonics being two orders of magnitude more intense than the higher harmonics. We show that this effect is more pronounced in the lighter isotopic species of H$_2^+$ molecular ions and we also demonstrate that in this case the contribution to HHG from the antibonding electronic energetic surface is of the same order of …
Nonlinear Disorder Mapping Through Three-Wave Mixing
2010
We implement a simple and powerful approach to characterize the domain distribution in the bulk of quadratic ferroelectric crystals via far-field second-harmonic spectroscopy. The approach is demonstrated in a lithium tantalate sample with periodic electric field poling and random mark-to-space ratio.
Silicon metasurfaces with tunable electromagnetic resonances for nonlinear optical conversion
2021
Dielectric metasurfaces sustain electromagnetic modes which can be exploited to enhance nonlinear frequency-conversion processes such as third-harmonic generation. In this work we employ electron-beam lithography to fabricate silicon metasurfaces supporting electromagnetic resonances with different quality factors (Q), ruled by the geometry. This allows to investigate the trade-off between resonant enhancement and matching the spectral bandwidth of the ultrafast excitation source. Both experiments and simulations indicate that higher values of Q do not a priori bring about a stronger third-harmonic generation, which correlates to the spectral overlap between the metasurface resonance and th…
Increasing the Astrophysical Reach of the Advanced Virgo Detector via the Application of Squeezed Vacuum States of Light
2019
Current interferometric gravitational-wave detectors are limited by quantum noise over a wide range of their measurement bandwidth. One method to overcome the quantum limit is the injection of squeezed vacuum states of light into the interferometer's dark port. Here, we report on the successful application of this quantum technology to improve the shot noise limited sensitivity of the Advanced Virgo gravitational-wave detector. A sensitivity enhancement of up to 3.2±0.1 dB beyond the shot noise limit is achieved. This nonclassical improvement corresponds to a 5%-8% increase of the binary neutron star horizon. The squeezing injection was fully automated and over the first 5 months of the thi…
Exact Reconstruction of Sub-wavelength THz Source Profile via Combination of Knife-edge Technique and Time-domain Spectroscopy
2013
Negative and positive Kerr nonlinearity of air calibrated with transient molecular alignment
2009
Talk given by O. Faucher; International audience; Nonlinear electronic Kerr index of the major air constituents has been measured up to high order terms using transient molecular alignment as a reference. Sign reversal associated to negative nonlinearity is observed above a pulse intensity of 26 TW/cm^.2
A universal optical all-fiber omnipolarizer
2012
International audience; Wherever the polarization properties of a light beam are of concern, polarizers and polarizing beamsplitters (PBS) are indispensable devices in linear-, nonlinear- and quantum-optical schemes. By the very nature of their operation principle, transformation of incoming unpolarized or partially polarized beams through these devices introduces large intensity variations in the fully polarized outcoming beam(s). Such intensity fluctuations are often detrimental, particularly when light is post-processed by nonlinear crystals or other polarization-sensitive optic elements. Here we demonstrate the unexpected capability of light to self-organize its own state-of-polarizatio…
Measurement of the soliton number in guiding media through continuum generation.
2020
No general approach is available yet to measure directly the ratio between chromatic dispersion and the nonlinear coefficient, and hence the soliton number for a given optical pulse, in an arbitrary guiding medium. Here we solve this problem using continuum generation. We experimentally demonstrate our method in polarization-maintaining and single-mode fibers with positive and negative chromatic dispersion. Our technique also offers new opportunities to determine the chromatic dispersion of guiding media over a broad spectral range while pumping at a fixed wavelength. (C) 2020 Optical Society of America
Simultaneous polarization attraction and Raman amplification of a light beam in optical fibers
2012
International audience; In this paper, we demonstrate that it is possible to combine both Raman amplification and polarization attraction of a signal wave in a single optical fiber by means of a counterpropagating scheme. Experiments were performed near 1550 nm in a continuous wave regime and by means of a 10 Gbit ∕ s return-to-zero signal injected in a 20 kmlong low polarization mode dispersion optical fiber. Complete repolarization and 6.7 dB amplification of the signal wave was achieved by injecting a 850 mW, 1480 nm counterpropagating polarized pump wave.
Even harmonic pulse train generation by cross-polarization-modulation seeded instability in optical fibers
2012
International audience; We show that, by properly adjusting the relative state of polarization of the pump and of a weak modulation, with a frequency such that at least one of its even harmonics falls within the band of modulation instability, one obtains a fully modulated wave at the second or higher even harmonic of the initial modulation. An application of this principle to the generation of a 80-GHz optical pulse train with high extinction ratio from a 40-GHz weakly modulated pump is experimentally demonstrated using a nonzero dispersion shifted fiber in the telecom C band.