Near- and Extended-Edge X-Ray-Absorption Fine-Structure Spectroscopy Using Ultrafast Coherent High-Order Harmonic Supercontinua

Recent advances in high-order harmonic generation have made it possible to use a tabletop-scale setup to produce spatially and temporally coherent beams of light with bandwidth spanning 12 octaves, from the ultraviolet up to x-ray photon energies >1.6  keV. Here we demonstrate the use of this light for x-ray-absorption spectroscopy at the K- and L-absorption edges of solids at photon energies near 1 keV. We also report x-ray-absorption spectroscopy in the water window spectral region (284-543 eV) using a high flux high-order harmonic generation x-ray supercontinuum with 10^{9}  photons/s in 1% bandwidth, 3 orders of magnitude larger than has previously been possible using tabletop sources. Since this x-ray radiation emerges as a single attosecond-to-femtosecond pulse with peak brightness exceeding 10^{26}  photons/s/mrad^{2}/mm^{2}/1% bandwidth, these novel coherent x-ray sources are ideal for probing the fastest molecular and materials processes on femtosecond-to-attosecond time scales and picometer length scales.093002

Kelių optinių ciklų trukmės impulsų parametrinis stiprinimas infraraudonojoje srityje

Main objective of this thesis is to generate and amplify few cycle pulses in the infrared region. In this thesis, two approaches were introduced for few cycle pulse parametric amplification at 800 nm and 1.5 μm. First approach is dedicated for prospects for increasing average power of OPCPA via multi-beam pumping; the second approach is dedicated for generation of carrier-envelope-phase (CEP) stable high energy (up to tens of millijoules) few-cycle pulses at 1.5 μm. An experimental investigation of two or three beams-pumped OPCPA system based on type I BBO crystal is presented. The 2nd OPA stage was pumped by two or three pump beams derived from independent Nd:YAG laser amplifiers. The efficiency of interaction was shown to be comparable to that of single-beam pumped OPA and diminishes only slightly due to cascaded parametric diffraction of interacting waves. The effect was observed and its impact on efficiency of parametric amplification process was shown to decrease at larger intersecting angles of pump. In the prospect, the use of multiple lasers for OPA pumping has an appeal for increasing the repetition rate and consequently the average power of an ultrashort pulse laser system. Finally, the concept and realization of hybrid system based on type II KTP OPCPA and filamentation are described. A CEP-stable 1.5 μm OPCPA system with pulse energies up to 12.5 mJ after 4 OPA stages is demonstrated. Furthermore, self-compression of CEP-stable 2.2 mJ, 74.4 fs, 1.57 μm input pulses down to 19.8 fs duration in a single filament in argon gas is also demonstrated. We foresee that our sub-4 cycle pulse will open the door to new experiments in attosecond high-field science in the near future

Infrared Few-Cycle Pulse Optical Parametric Amplifier

Main objective of this thesis is to generate and amplify few cycle pulses in the infrared region. In this thesis, two approaches were introduced for few cycle pulse parametric amplification at 800 nm and 1.5 μm. First approach is dedicated for prospects for increasing average power of OPCPA via multi-beam pumping; the second approach is dedicated for generation of carrier-envelope-phase (CEP) stable high energy (up to tens of millijoules) few-cycle pulses at 1.5 μm. An experimental investigation of two or three beams-pumped OPCPA system based on type I BBO crystal is presented. The 2nd OPA stage was pumped by two or three pump beams derived from independent Nd:YAG laser amplifiers. The efficiency of interaction was shown to be comparable to that of single-beam pumped OPA and diminishes only slightly due to cascaded parametric diffraction of interacting waves. The effect was observed and its impact on efficiency of parametric amplification process was shown to decrease at larger intersecting angles of pump. In the prospect, the use of multiple lasers for OPA pumping has an appeal for increasing the repetition rate and consequently the average power of an ultrashort pulse laser system. Finally, the concept and realization of hybrid system based on type II KTP OPCPA and filamentation are described. A CEP-stable 1.5 μm OPCPA system with pulse energies up to 12.5 mJ after 4 OPA stages is demonstrated. Furthermore, self-compression of CEP-stable 2.2 mJ, 74.4 fs, 1.57 μm input pulses down to 19.8 fs duration in a single filament in argon gas is also demonstrated. We foresee that our sub-4 cycle pulse will open the door to new experiments in attosecond high-field science in the near future

Conductivity and Discharge Guiding Properties of Mid-IR Laser Filaments

The electric conductivity, HV discharge triggering and guiding capabilities of filaments at 3.9 micrometer in air are investigated in the perspective of lightning control applications, and compared to near-IR filaments in identical condition

Multi-mJ mid-IR light bullets in air

We examine mid-IR light bullets generated in ambient air. 2-optical cycle pulses confined in space are generated in filamentation regime. Few-fold solitonic self-compression is achieved for strongly chirped mid-IR pulses

Multi-mJ mid-IR light bullets in air

We examine mid-IR light bullets generated in ambient air. 2-optical cycle pulses confined in space are generated in filamentation regime. Few-fold solitonic self-compression is achieved for strongly chirped mid-IR pulses

White light generation over three octaves by femtosecond filament at 3.9 µm in argon

We report the first (to our knowledge) experimental results and numerical simulations on mid-IR femtosecond pulse filamentation in argon using 0.1 TW peak-power, 80 fs, 3.9 μm pulses. A broadband supercontinuum spanning the spectral range from 350 nm to 5 μmis generated, whereby about 4% of the mid-IR pulse energy is converted into the 350–1700 nm spectral region. These mid-IR–visible coherent continua offer a new, unique tool for time-resolved spectroscopy based on a mid-IR filamentation laser source