Search results for "Ultra"
showing 10 items of 4451 documents
Laser driven parametric amplification of xuv and soft-x-rays in neutral gases
2010
We present the first theoretical description and also experimental evidence for the amplification of XUV and soft-X-ray radiation by parametric stimulated emission in neutral gases driven by near-IR laser pulses reaching small-signal-gain up to 8000.
Lab-based Ultrafast Molecular Structure
2010
The proliferation of various laser-driven approaches to sub-picosecond hard X-ray and short-wavelength radiation generation in the past few decades has opened many avenues for the laboratory-based development of traditionally facility-based short wavelength ultrafast molecular structure science. Together with the introduction of microcalorimeter detection schemes, this opens the floodgates to widespread, decentralized implementation of what were until recently specialist short wavelength techniques. A parallel situation exists for the contemporary adoption of sub-wavelength resolution optical microscopies. In what follows, a few ultrafast molecular structure developments and their rationale…
Angular spectrum of diffracted wave fields with apochromatic correction.
2008
We report on compensation of diffraction-induced angular dispersion of ultrashort pulses up to a second order. A strategy for chromatic correction profits from high dispersion of kinoform-type zone plates. Ultraflat dispersion curves rely on a saddle point that may be tuned at a prescribed wavelength. Validity of our approach may reach the few-cycles regime.
Experimental generation of high-contrast Talbot images with an ultrashort laser pulse
2008
A femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser oscillator emitting pulses with 800 nm central wavelength, 10.9 fs pulse width, and 75 MHz repetition rate, combined with a dispersion-compensated diffractive system, was used to implement a large-area, high-contrast, broadband optical interference technique based on the Talbot effect. Chromatic artifacts associated with the huge spectrum of the optical source (approximately 150 nm) are compensated for with an air-separated hybrid diffractive-refractive lens doublet. The spatial resolution of the chromatically compensated Talbot images under femtosecond illumination is nearly identical to that achieved under continuous wave monochromatic illumination. Further…
Ultrafast hybrid plasmonics
2008
Abstract We review our recent studies of electromagnetic coupling and associated temporal dynamics of molecular excitations with plasmonic resonances supported by either localized or extended planar geometries. We focus on coherent interactions between plasmon resonances and molecular excitations, which are experimentally challenging due to the very short (∼10–100 fs) coherence times of plasmons. Recent experimental results and theoretical analysis for observing and controlling coherences between molecular excitations and plasmonic polarizations are shown. Advances will explore new directions in ultrafast coherent control of molecular excited states and energy dissipation processes, as well…
PEEM with high time resolution—imaging of transient processes and novel concepts of chromatic and spherical aberration correction
2006
The potential of time-resolved photoemission electron microscopy (PEEM) for imaging ultrafast processes and for aberration correction in full-field imaging is discussed. In particular, we focus on stroboscopic imaging of precessional magnetic excitations via XMCD-PEEM exploiting the time structure of synchrotron radiation (magnetic field pulse pump–X-ray probe). In a special bunch-compression mode at BESSY, a time resolution of about 15 ps has been obtained. Further, we discuss an all-optical pump–probe technique using femtosecond laser excitation. A highly promising alternative to stroboscopic imaging is an approach using time-resolved image detection. As a second application of time-resol…
Probing ultrafast thermalization with field-free molecular alignment
2012
International audience; The rotation-translation thermalization of CO2 gas is investigated 500 ps after its preheating by a nonresonant short and intense laser pulse. The temperature of thermalization is optically determined with two additional short laser pulses enabling a field-free molecular alignment process and its probing, respectively. The measurements are performed for various intensities of the preheat pulse, leading to the observation of different temperatures which are in very good agreement with classical molecular dynamics simulations. The results can be regarded as a step towards real-time tracking of ultrafast relaxation pathways in molecular motion.
Nonlinear effects in optical pumping of a cold and slow atomic beam
2015
By photoionizing hyperfine (HF) levels of the Cs state $6{\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}}^{2}{P}_{3/2}$ in a slow and cold atom beam, we find how their population depends on the excitation laser power. The long time (around $180\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{s})$ spent by the slow atoms inside the resonant laser beam is large enough to enable exploration of a unique atom-light interaction regime heavily affected by time-dependent optical pumping. We demonstrate that, under such conditions, the onset of nonlinear effects in the population dynamics and optical pumping occurs at excitation laser intensities much smaller than the conventional respective saturation values. The ev…
A two-dimensional liquid-filled ionization chamber array prototype for small-field verification: characterization and first clinical tests.
2012
In this work we present the design, characterization and first clinical tests of an in-house developed two-dimensional liquid-filled ionization chamber prototype for the verification of small radiotherapy fields and treatments containing such small fields as in radiosurgery, which consists of 2 mm × 2 mm pixels arranged on a 16×8 rectangular grid. The ionization medium is isooctane. The characterization of the device included the study of depth, field-size and dose-rate dependences, which are sufficiently moderate for a good operation at therapy radiation levels. However, the detector presents an important anisotropic response, up to ≃ 12% for front versus near-lateral incidence, which can …
Spectral imaging system for scaling the power spectrum of optical waveforms.
2007
We propose and analyze a new photonic system to change the scale of the optical power spectrum of an ultrashort pulse. Our device corresponds to the dual (spectral domain) configuration of a temporal imaging system. It is configured with two time lenses separated by a linear first-order dispersive medium. The specific relation between the chirp rates and the first-order dispersion coefficient is obtained. The main practical constraints are discussed, and the system performance is tested by means of a numerical simulation.