Search

The acousto-optic modulation over a broad near-infrared (NIR) spectrum with high speed, excellent integrability, and relatively simple scheme is crucial for the application of next-generation opto-electronic and photonic devices. This study aims to experimentally demonstrate ultrafast acousto-optic phenomena in the broad NIR spectral range of 0.77–1.1 eV (1130–1610 nm). Hundreds of GHz of light modulation are revealed in an all-optical configuration by combining ultrafast optical spectroscopy and light–sound conversion in 10–20 nm-thick bismuth selenide (Bi2Se3) van der Waals thin films. The modified optical transition energy and the line shape in the NIR band indicate phonon–photon interactions, resulting in a modulation of optical characteristics by the photoexcited interlayer vibrations in Bi2Se3. This all-optical, ultrafast acousto-optic modulation approach may open avenues for next-generation nanophotonic applications, including optical communications and processing, due to the synergistic combination of large-area capability, high photo-responsivity, and frequency tunability in the NIR spectral range.

With the development of high-frequency carriers and high-capacity communications, ultrahigh-speed spectrum analyzer based on all-optical methods has been demonstrated in many fields. Limited by current data processing algorithms, ultrahigh-speed spectrum analyzers based on time-lens, such as frequency-domain light intensity spectrum analyzer (f-LISA) and parametric spectro-temporal analyzer (PASTA), are not yet to automatically process acquired data, which hinders their practicality. In this paper, a frame segmentation algorithm based on time-domain waveform analysis is proposed to achieve the automatic data processing of these analyzers, which can directly generate the spectro-temporal image of the signal under test. In a single-soliton test based on the f-LISA platform, the algorithm achieves an accuracy of 93.28% when the soliton changes and 90.04% when the soliton is stable. And in this test, the single-frame processing time of the algorithm is 419us. We believe the proposed algorithm will facilitate the practical application of spectrum analyzers like f-LISA and PASTA and provide a reference for other real-time measurement schemes.

Ultrashort light pulses have strong research and application values, while nonlinear inverse Thomson scattering has been considered as a unique source of zepto-yoctosecond pulses. Here, the mechanism of nonlinear inverse Thomson scattering of a high-energy electron colliding with a tightly focused intense laser pulse is investigated through numerical simulation. The time-compression effect was proposed to explain the origin of ultrashort pulses and the nonlinear phenomenon of electron radiation in the time–space joint distribution. It is found that the time scale of electron radiation is orders of magnitude shorter than that of electron motion, and the increases in laser intensity and electron initial energy will result in stronger and shorter pulses. Yoctosecond pulses can be generated by a laser pulse with an intensity of 1.384×1020 W/cm2 and an electron with an initial energy of 51.1 MeV. These results provide theoretical and numerical basis for generating shorter light pulses.

We describe a family of paraxial and quasi-monochromatic optical wave packets with finite energy and smoothly shaped amplitude in space and time that develops a singularity in the intensity when spatio-temporally focused by imparting a converging spherical wavefront and a negative temporal chirp. This singular behavior upon ideal focusing is manifested in actual focusing with finite apertures and in media with high-order dispersion with “exploding” behavior featuring an indefinitely increasing concentration of the energy when opening the aperture radius, thus exercising continuous control on the focal intensity and spatial and temporal resolution. These wave packets offer a new way of focusing that outperforms what can be achieved with standard Gaussian wave packets in terms of focal intensity and resolution, providing new possibilities in applications where energy concentration and its control are crucial.

We present an experimental study of optical time-refraction caused by time-interfaces as short as a single optical cycle. Specifically, we study the propagation of a probe pulse through a sample undergoing a large refractive index change induced by an intense modulator pulse. In these systems, increasing the refractive index abruptly leads to time-refraction where the spectrum of all the waves propagating in the medium is red-shifted, and subsequently blue-shifted when the refractive index relaxes back to its original value. We observe these phenomena in the single-cycle regime. Moreover, by shortening the temporal width of the modulator to ∼5–6 fs, we observe that the rise time of the red-shift associated with time-refraction is proportionally shorter. The experiments are carried out in transparent conducting oxides acting as epsilon-near-zero materials. These observations raise multiple questions on the fundamental physics occurring within such ultrashort time frames, and open the way for experimenting with photonic time-crystals, generated by periodic ultrafast changes to the refractive index, in the near future.

Stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy is a high-speed imaging modality based on intrinsic molecular vibrations, producing chemical maps in living systems. Such capability, allowing for direct visualization without the perturbation of biological processes, has enabled a plethora of biological and medical applications. In this review, after introducing the basic theory and competitive effects of SRS, some crucial features for SRS microscopy implementations, such as noise, spectral bandwidth, speed, chemical sensitivity, spatial resolution, and quantum enhancement, are discussed. Finally, some SRS applications in biological and medical imaging are described. Even if certainly not exhaustive, we aimed to offer a broad overview, providing guidance for newcomers and hinting at a more detailed investigation to interested researchers in this rapidly growing field.

As an exceptional nonlinear material, graphene offers versatile appealing properties, such as electro-optic tunability and high electromagnetic field confinement in the terahertz regime, spurring advance in ultrashort pulse formation, photodetectors and plasmonic emission. However, limited by atomic thickness, weak light–matter interaction still limits the development of integrated optical devices based on graphene. Here, an exquisitely designed meta-cavities combined with patterned graphene is used to overcome this challenge and promote THz-graphene interaction via terahertz location oscillation. By using an 800 nm pump laser, the local field-induced strong interaction allows sensitive responses to the ultrafast energy transfer from the ultrafast optical pump to graphene electron heat, enabling 46.2% enhancement of terahertz transparency. Such optical modulation of terahertz waves shows ultrafast response in delay less than 10 ps. Moreover, thanks to the nature of graphene, the device shows unique potential for electrically dynamic tuning and further bandwidth broadening.

With the development of laser technology, microstructured optical fibers (MOFs) have become an important part of ultrafast optics, providing excellent platforms for ultrafast laser pulse generation, amplification, and compression, promoting the development of fiber laser systems to generate high power, high pulse energy, and few-cycle duration pulses. MOFs extend the ultrafast laser spectrum to the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) and even extreme ultraviolet (EUV) regions based on dispersive wave emission and high harmonic generation, as well as to the mid-infrared region based on soliton self-frequency shift (SSFS), contributing compact and low-cost light sources for precision microscopy and spectroscopy. In this paper, first several common types of MOFs are introduced, then the various applications of MOFs in ultrafast optics are discussed, mainly focusing on the aspects of ultrafast laser pulse scaling in pulse energy and spectral bandwidth, and finally the possible prospects of MOFs are given.

We study the coherence properties of continuum generation in YAG crystals seeded by 180 fs pulses at 1035 nm when the driving beam exhibits small fluctuations of the spatial phase. The relative stability of the continuum spectral phase is first assessed as a function of the driver wavefront aberrations. Furthermore, we evidence and quantify a coupling mechanism between these fluctuations and the spectral phase of the continuum. The coupling coefficients increase with the spectral broadening and are also unexpectedly large (up to tens of rad/rad at $\simeq$ 750 nm). Experimental evidence supports that longitudinal shifts of the position of the filament within the crystal are responsible for such strong effects.

We investigate the generation of ultrabroadband femtosecond ultraviolet (UV) radiation via third-order harmonic generation in highly confined gas media. A dual-stage differential-pumping scheme integrated into a glass microfluidic chip provides an exceptional gas confinement up to several bar and allows the apparatus to be operated under high-vacuum environment. UV pulses are generated both in argon and neon with up to ∼0.8 μ J energy and 0.2% conversion efficiency for spectra that cover the UVB and UVC regions between 200 and 325 nm. Numerical simulations based on the unidirectional pulse propagation equation reveal that ionization plays a critical role for extending the spectral bandwidth of the generated third-harmonic pulse beyond the tripled 800 nm driving laser pulse bandwidth. By delivering UV supercontinua supporting Fourier transform limits below 2 fs, as well as comparable pulse energies with respect to capillary-based techniques that typically provide high spectral tunability but produce narrower bandwidths, our compact device makes a step forward towards the production and application of sub-fs UV pulses for the investigation of electron dynamics in neutral molecules.

Abstract This work presents a general framework for quantum interference between processes that can involve different fundamental particles or quasi‐particles. This framework shows that shaping input wavefunctions is a versatile and powerful tool for producing and controlling quantum interference between distinguishable pathways, beyond previously explored quantum interference between indistinguishable pathways. Two examples of quantum interference enabled by shaping in interactions between free electrons, bound electrons, and photons are presented: i) the vanishing of the zero‐loss peak by destructive quantum interference when a shaped electron wavepacket couples to light, under conditions where the electron's zero‐loss peak otherwise dominates; ii) quantum interference between free electron and atomic (bound electron) spontaneous emission processes, which can be significant even when the free electron and atom are far apart, breaking the common notion that a free electron and an atom must be close by to significantly affect each other's processes. Conclusions show that emerging quantum wave‐shaping techniques unlock the door to greater versatility in light‐matter interactions and other quantum processes in general.

Generation of coherent extreme ultraviolet (XUV) pulses is a nonlinear process of high harmonic generation (HHG). HHG produced in molecular nitrogen (N2) medium has been obtained using ultrashort intense laser pulses. The strong laser field was focused onto a gas cell to produce short wavelengths having photon energy up to 54 eV. The highest photon energy is experimentally observed as the 35th order. The absorption of harmonics restricts the harmonic yield efficiency. The harmonic yield is affected by the interaction length and medium pressure. The harmonic yield changes with the medium parameters. The simulation for the absorption length was performed using the Mathematica program. Variation of the harmonic signal has been attributed to the absorption of harmonics, and it is compared with the absorption length.

Pure Q-switching (self-pulsating) behaviour is shown for the first time in an optically injected two-section quantum-dot laser. Upon CW optical injection, it was possible to switch the operation regime from free-running mode-locking to locked Q-switching. Under this regime, the pulse repetition rate of around 1 GHz was tunable with injection power (by more than 100 MHz) and absorber reverse bias. Moreover, through injection-locking, the Q-switched output was spectrally tunable by around 7 nm, by tuning the master laser. The seamless switch between mode-locking and Q-switching with optical injection as well as the tunability and control afforded by injection-locking could open up a range of applications, such as in multi-modal imaging. On a more fundamental level, this investigation has also generated new insights into the dynamics of quantum-dot lasers and the optical injection process.

Abstract Ultrafast optical switching in plasmonic platforms relies on the third‐order Kerr nonlinearity, which is tightly linked to the dynamics of hot carriers in nanostructured metals. Although extensively utilized, a fundamental understanding on the dependence of the switching dynamics upon optical resonances has often been overlooked. Here, all‐optical control of resonance bands in a hybrid photonic‐plasmonic crystal is employed as an empowering technique for probing the resonance‐dependent switching dynamics upon hot carrier formation. Differential optical transmission measurements reveal an enhanced switching performance near the anti‐crossing point arising from strong coupling between local and nonlocal resonance modes. Furthermore, entangled with hot‐carrier dynamics, the nonlinear correspondence between optical resonances and refractive index change results in tailorable dispersion of recovery speeds which can notably deviate from the characteristic lifetime of hot carriers. The comprehensive understanding provides new protocols for optically characterizing hot‐carrier dynamics and optimizing resonance‐based all‐optical switches for operations across the visible spectrum.

Abstract Birefringence, which modulates the polarization of electromagnetic wave, has been commercially developed and widely used in modern photonics. Fostered by high‐frequency signal processing and communications, feasible birefringence technologies operating in gigahertz (GHz) range are highly desired. Here, a coherent phonon‐induced GHz optical birefringence and its manipulation in SrTiO3 (STO) crystals are demonsrated. With ultrafast laser pumping, the coherent acoustic phonons with low damping are created in the transducer/STO structures. A series of transducer layers are examined and the optimized one with relatively high photon–phonon conversion efficiency, i.e., semiconducting LaRhO3 film, is obtained. The most intriguing finding here is that, by virtue of high sensitivity to strain perturbation of STO, GHz optical birefringence can be induced by the coherent acoustic phonons and the birefringent amplitudes possess crystal orientation dependence. Optical manipulation of both coherent phonons and its induced GHz birefringence by double pump technique are also realized. These findings reveal an alternative mechanism of ultrafast optical birefringence control, and offer prospects for applications in high‐frequency acoustic‐optics devices.

Understanding the mechanisms and controlling the possibilities of surface nanostructuring is of crucial interest for both fundamental science and application perspectives. Here, we report a direct experimental observation of laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) formed near a predesigned gold step edge following single-pulse femtosecond laser irradiation. Simulation results based on a hybrid atomistic-continuum model fully support the experimental observations. We experimentally detect nanosized surface features with a periodicity of ∼300 nm and heights of a few tens of nanometers. We identify two key components of single-pulse LIPSS formation: excitation of surface plasmon polaritons and material reorganization. Our results lay a solid foundation toward simple and efficient usage of light for innovative material processing technologies.

Structuring light–matter interaction at a deeply subwavelength scale is fundamental to optical metamaterials and metasurfaces. Conventionally, the operation of a metasurface is determined by the collective electric polarization response of its lithographically defined structures. The inseparability of electric polarization and current density provides the opportunity to construct metasurfaces from current elements instead of nanostructures. Here, we realize metasurfaces using structured light rather than structured materials. Using coherent control, we transfer structure from light to transient currents in a semiconductor, which act as a source for terahertz radiation. A spatial light modulator is used to control the spatial structure of the currents and the resulting terahertz radiation with a resolution of 5.6±0.8 μm $5.6{\pm}0.8\mathrm{\,\mu m}$ , or approximately λ/54 $\lambda /54$ at a frequency of 1 THz. The independence of the currents from any predefined structures and the maturity of spatial light modulator technology enable this metasurface to be reconfigured with unprecedented flexibility.

The rate of the removal of materials coated with nano−crystalline diamonds by femtosecond laser etching was examined by adjusting the repetition rate of the femtosecond laser, the energy−flux density of the concentrated spot, and the scanning speed. The observational results of the white-light interferometer and the numerical fitting approach were used to develop the removal rate function model of the nano-crystalline diamond-covered material etched by the femtosecond laser. The findings demonstrated that the rate of material removal was not greatly affected by the repetition frequency and that the amount of laser energy accumulated over time on the coated surface is steady. The processing outcomes under different laser scanning speeds are different, and the material removal rate tends to increase and then decrease with an increase in scanning speed. The greater the energy−flux density of the focused spot, the greater the etching intensity, and the greater the material removal rate. With an increase in scanning speed, the rate at which the material is removed often rises initially before falling.

Achieving multi-wavelength synchronous ultra-short pulses with arbitrary wavelength intervals is a difficult problem for fiber lasers. Herein, a laser based on multi-stage cascaded Mamyshev regenerators is proposed as a solution. The regenerators are cascaded to form a single laser cavity, each at a different position within the cavity and corresponding to a different output wavelength. A single pulse oscillating in the cavity has its wavelength sequentially switched by the regenerators. Synchronous multi-wavelength pulsed lasers with 5 nm and 0.01 nm output center-wavelength intervals are realized through numerical simulation; the output pulses have 10 nm spectral widths, peak powers of ~0.7 kW, and durations of ~0.4 ps. Design principles, system stability, and the effects of the filter bandwidth, length of single mode fiber and wavelength ordering in the cavity are discussed.

High-order harmonic generation in solids, the nonlinear up-conversion of coherent radiation resulting from the interaction of a strong and short laser pulse with a solid sample, has come to age. Since the first experiments and theoretical developments, there has been a constant and steady interest in this topic. In this paper, we summarize the progress made so far and propose new possibilities for the generation of high-order harmonics with the aid of plasmonic fields. The driven fields could be adequately engineered both spatially and temporally with nanometric and attosecond resolution, offering to the conventional solid-HHG novel and exciting coherent sources. Just to cite an example, the generation of attosecond pulses using bulk matter is strongly linked to the appropriate manipulation of the driven field to avoid, for instance, reaching the damage threshold of the material. Plasmonics fields as an alternative to conventional laser beams could open new avenues in the development of table-top sources of ultrashort and strong coherent radiation.

Using coupled electromagnetic and hydrodynamic calculations, we elucidate theoretically the topographic transition from a random metallic surface to a periodic sub-wavelength grating by ultrashort laser ablation. The origin of this transition lies in the successive selection of hybrid surface waves scattered by random nanoholes. Contrary to the common belief that surface plasmon polaritons play the dominant role in the process and define the grating periodicity, we show that both quasi-cylindrical and surface plasmon waves are involved, whereas the diversity in the resulting spacings λ/2–λ (λ is the laser wavelength) is the manifestation of a broad frequency overlap of these waves, controlled by their relative phase shifts with respect to the plasmonic counterparts. The topography evolution imposes the dominant contribution to the surface sub-wavelength pattern by selecting the appropriate wave character from plasmonic modes to evanescent cylindrical waves. With the radiation dose, the grating periodicity exhibits a pronounced blue shift due to reinforced dipole–dipole coupling between the nanoholes and surface curvatures in the laser-processed area. This allows the creation of regular patterns with tunable periodicity.

Abstract Standing on the potential for high-speed modulation and switching in the terahertz (THz) regime, all-optical approaches whose response speeds mainly depend on the lifetime of nonequilibrium free carriers have attracted a tremendous attention. Here, we establish a novel bi-direction THz modulation experiment controlled by femtosecond laser for new functional devices. Specifically, time-resolved transmission measurements are conducted on a series of thin layers Bi2Se3 films fabricated straightforwardly on Al2O3 substrates, with the pump fluence range from 25 μJ/cm2 to 200 μJ/cm2 per pulse. After photoexcitation, an ultrafast switching of THz wave with a full recovery time of ~10 ps is observed. For a longer timescale, a photoinduced increase in the transmitted THz amplitude is found in the 8 and 10 quintuple layers (QL) Bi2Se3, which shows a thickness-dependent topological phase transition. Additionally, the broadband modulation effect of the 8 QL Bi2Se3 film is presented at the time delays of 2.2 ps and 12.5 ps which have a maximum modulation depth of 6.4% and 1.3% under the pump fluence of 200 μJ/cm2, respectively. Furthermore, the absorption of α optical phonon at 1.9 THz shows a time-dependent evolution which is consistent with the cooling of lattice temperature.

The generation of high-repetition rate (frep ≥ 10 GHz) ultra-broadband optical frequency combs (OFCs) at 1550 nm and 1310 nm is investigated by seeding two types of highly nonlinear fibers (HNLFs) with 10 GHz picosecond pulses at the pump wavelength of 1550 nm. When pumped near the zero dispersion wavelength (ZDW) in the normal dispersion region of a HNLF, 10 GHz flat-topped OFC with 43 nm bandwidth within 5 dB power variation is generated by self-phase modulation (SPM)-based OFC spectral broadening at 26.5 dBm pump power, and 291 fs pulse trains with 10 GHz repetition rate are obtained at 18 dBm pump power without complicated pulse shaping methods. Furthermore, when pumped in the abnormal dispersion region of a HNLF, OFCs with dispersive waves around 1310 nm are studied using a common HNLF and fluorotellurite fibers, which maintain the good coherence of the pump light at 1550 nm. At the same time, sufficient tunability of the generated dispersive waves is achieved when tuning the pump power or ZDW.

Abstract The layered MoS2 has recently attracted significant attention for its excellent nonlinear optical properties. Here, the ultrafast nonlinear optical (NLO) absorption and excited carrier dynamics of layered MoS2 (monolayer, 3–4 layers, and 6–8 layers) are investigated via Z-scan and transient absorption spectra. Our experimental results reveal that NLO absorption coefficients of these MoS2 increase from–27 × 103 cm/GW to–11 × 103 cm/GW with more layers at 400-nm laser excitation, while the values decrease from 2.0 × 103 cm/GW to 0.8 × 103 cm/GW at 800 nm. In addition, at high pump fluence, when the NLO response occurs, the results show that not only the reformation of the excitonic bands, but also the recovery time of NLO response decreases from 150 ps to 100 ps with an increasing number of layers, while the reductive energy of A excitonic band decreases from 191.7 meV to 51.1 meV. The intriguing NLO response of MoS2 provides excellent potentials for the next-generation optoelectronic and photonic devices.

Yb:CaGdAlO4, or Yb:CALGO, a new laser crystal, has been attracting increasing attention recently in a myriad of laser technologies. This crystal features salient thermal, spectroscopic and mechanical properties, which enable highly efficient and safe generation of continuous-wave radiations and ultrafast pulses with ever short durations. More specifically, its remarkable thermal-optic property and its high conversion efficiency allow high-power operation. Its high nonlinear coefficient facilitates study of optimized mode locking lasers. Besides, its ultrabroad and flat-top emission band benefits the generation of complex structured light with outstanding tunability. In this paper, we review the recent advances in the study of Yb:CALGO, covering its physical properties as well as its growing applications in various fields and prospect for future development.

Energetic, few-fs pulses in the deep-UV region are highly desirable for exploring ultrafast processes on their natural time scales, especially in molecules. The deep-UV source can be generated from gas media irradiated with few-cycle near-infrared laser pulses via a third-order frequency conversion process, which is a perturbative mechanism in a relatively weak field regime. In this work, we demonstrate that the deep-UV generation process is significantly affected by also even higher nonlinear processes, such as the ionization depletion of gas and plasma-induced spatiotemporal distortion of propagating light. In the experiment, by optimizing the deep-UV (3.6–5.7 eV) generation efficiency, the highest deep-UV energy of 1 μJ was observed from a moderately ionized 0.8-bar Ar gas target. The observed UV spectra exhibited frequency shifts depending on the experimental conditions—gas type, gas pressure, and the gas cell location—supporting the importance of the highly nonlinear mechanisms. The experimental observations were well corroborated by numerical simulations.

Graphene is a gapless material with a linear energy-momentum dispersion relationship. Because of its unique band structure, graphene has been demonstrated as an ultra-broadband photon absorption material from the visible to terahertz frequency ranges. Here, we study the reverse process: photon emission from graphene. Using silica microsphere structures and femtosecond laser pulse excitation, photon emission enhancement at visible, near infrared, and terahertz ranges were achieved. These results help to promote graphene as a new type of light generation material, which can overcome the restriction that the emission wavelength is determined by the material bandgap. It is also found that the graphene's electrical properties, such as the nonlinear conductivity, changed significantly with the enhancement of the absorption during the ultrafast process.

As modern complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) circuitry rapidly approaches fundamental speed and bandwidth limitations, optical platforms have become promising candidates to circumvent these limits and facilitate massive increases in computational power. To compete with high density CMOS circuitry, optical technology within the plasmonic regime is desirable, because of the sub-diffraction limited confinement of electromagnetic energy, large optical bandwidth, and ultrafast processing capabilities. As such, nanoplasmonic waveguides act as nanoscale conduits for optical signals, thereby forming the backbone of such a platform. In recent years, significant research interest has developed to uncover the fundamental physics governing phenomena occurring within nanoplasmonic waveguides, and to implement unique optical devices. In doing so, a wide variety of material properties have been exploited. CMOS-compatible materials facilitate passive plasmonic routing devices for directing the confined radiation. Magnetic materials facilitate time-reversal symmetry breaking, aiding in the development of nonreciprocal isolators or modulators. Additionally, strong confinement and enhancement of electric fields within such waveguides require the use of materials with high nonlinear coefficients to achieve increased nonlinear optical phenomenon in a nanoscale footprint. Furthermore, this enhancement and confinement of the fields facilitate the study of strong-field effects within the solid-state environment of the waveguide. Here, we review current state-of-the-art physics and applications of nanoplasmonic waveguides pertaining to passive, magnetoplasmonic, nonlinear, and strong-field devices. Such components are essential elements in integrated optical circuitry, and each fulfill specific roles in truly developing a chip-scale plasmonic computing architecture.

Current approach to space-time coupling (STC) phenomena is given together with a complementary version of the STC concept that emphasizes the finiteness of the energy of the considered pulses. Manifestations of STC are discussed in the framework of the simplest exact localized solution of Maxwell’s equations, exhibiting a “collapsing shell”. It falls onto the center, continuously deforming, and then, having reached maximum compression, expands back without losing energy. Analytical solutions describing this process enable to fully characterize the field in space-time. It allowed to express energy density in the center of collapse in the terms of total pulse energy, frequency and spectral width in the far zone. The change of the pulse shape while travelling from one point to another is important for coherent control of quantum systems. We considered the excitation of a two-level system located in the center of the collapsing EM (electromagnetic) pulse. The result is again expressed through the parameters of the incident pulse. This study showed that as it propagates, a unipolar pulse can turn into a bipolar one, and in the case of measuring the excitation efficiency, we can judge which of these two pulses we are dealing with. The obtained results have no limitation on the number of cycles in a pulse. Our work confirms the productivity of using exact solutions of EM wave equations for describing the phenomena associated with STC effects. This is facilitated by rapid progress in the search for new types of such solutions.

Optical frequency combs have revolutionized optical frequency metrology and are being actively investigated in a number of applications outside of pure optical frequency metrology. For reasons of cost, robustness, performance, and flexibility, the erbium fiber laser frequency comb has emerged as the most commonly used frequency comb system and many different designs of erbium fiber frequency combs have been demonstrated. We review the different approaches taken in the design of erbium fiber frequency combs, including the major building blocks of the underlying mode-locked laser, amplifier, supercontinuum generation and actuators for stabilization of the frequency comb.

Group-velocity matched cross-phase modulation between a fundamental soliton and a dispersive wave packet has been previously suggested for optical switching applications similar to an optical transistor. Moreover, the nonlinear interaction in the resulting group-velocity horizon can be exploited for adiabatic compression of the soliton down into the few-cycle regime. Here, we study the delicate phase- and frequency-matching mechanism of soliton/dispersive wave interaction by controlling the input chirp of the dispersive wave. We demonstrate that such a modification of the dispersive wave can significantly alter the soliton dynamics. In particular, we show that it allows a decrease of the fiber length needed for the best compression and, to some extent, control of the trajectory of the soliton. The mechanism of such an influence is related to the modification of the phase-matching condition between the soliton and dispersive wave.

This paper evaluates novel design strategies to enhance the performance of a recently proposed waveguide-based pulse-shaping method, i.e., discrete space-to-time mapping (D-STM), demonstrating the capability of the method to shape pulse waveforms with duration periods in the tens of picoseconds regime. In particular, we experimentally synthesize 70-ps high-quality flat-top pulses and a 40-ps-long 200-GBd 16-quadrature amplitude modulation (16-QAM) data sequence using D-STM in concatenated co-directional couplers. Our proposed devices have been fabricated on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology platform using ultraviolet and single-etch electron-beam lithography processes. The fabricated devices are all-passive, functioning without needing post-fabrication tuning, which further proves the robust performance of the proposed scheme.

In the past three decades, ultrafast pulse laser technology has greatly progressed and applied widely in many subjects, such as physics, chemistry, biology, materials, and so on. Accordingly, as well as for future developments, to measure or characterize the pulses temporally in femtosecond domain is indispensable but still challenging. Based on the operation principles, the measurement techniques can be classified into three categories: correlation, spectrogram, and spectral interferometry, which operate in time-domain, time-frequency combination, and frequency-domain, respectively. Here, we present a mini-review for these techniques, including their operating principles, development status, characteristics, and challenges.

The dynamical properties of InP-based quantum dot (QD) gain media are surveyed and analyzed for three time scales ranging from tens of picoseconds to less than 200 fs, where quantum coherent phenomena are observable. Each of these time scales determines the important properties of QD devices, i.e., modulation capabilities, nonlinear gain, and coherent light-matter interactions. Experimental investigations and modeling results are described, highlighting the state of the art in QD devices for the important 1550-nm telecom wavelength range.

Exploiting the characteristics of spatially chirped ultrafast pulses has been an increasingly active area of research. In this paper, we review the developments in the past year of the microscopy, materials processing, and micromachining fields, where the spatiotemporal structure of these beams is important. We also summarize progress in theoretical and experimental work to better control and characterize spatially chirped beams.

To exploit the potential of a dual-comb absolute distance ranging system outside a well-controlled laboratory, a compact dual-comb structure is proposed. A beat frequency generated by the repetition rates of two frequency combs serves as an electric reference, which is easily built and maintains a long range and high resolution compared with traditional dual-comb systems. The performance of the proposed method is compared with that of a heterodyne interferometer. The residuals range within -116.6 to 117.2 nm, the standard deviations vary from 46.3 to 137.9 nm, and the non-ambiguity range extension remains reliable throughout a 10-m test. Compared with Michelson-type dual-comb interferometers, this compact dual-comb system omits the redundant optical reference arm, promising practical applications of distance ranging.

Broadband supercontinuum (SC) spanning more than an octave was obtained in tapered seven-core photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) upon pumping with a 150-fs mode-locked fiber laser. The appearance of the second zero dispersion wavelength in the tapered section of the PCF limited the solitons' self-frequency shift. The simulations and experiments suggested that the unique group velocity in the tapered section could change the relative velocity of different spectral components, which resulted in some compression of the pulse in the time domain. It can be found that the spectral defects between the solitons were leveled up, and the visible region was enhanced remarkably, which was beneficial to control the SC generation. In addition, the interference fringes in the far field indicated the good spatial coherence of the output SC of the seven-core PCF.

High-order harmonic generation is an important mechanism to generate coherent radiation in the few–100-eV spectral range with ultrashort laser pulses. Moreover, a closer inspection of the measured spectra provides unique information about the underlying physics and allows deriving guidelines for improvements. The long-range modulation of the spectral envelope is linked to phase matching, and we will show how to improve it with a double-pulse excitation scheme. Additionally, the spectrum contains only every fourth harmonic, which can be well explained by the quantum interference of multiple scattered electrons, and two dominant electron trajectories were selected by X-ray parametric interaction.

The design and realization of grating instruments to handle and condition coherent ultrafast pulses in the extreme ultraviolet spectral region are discussed. The main application of such instruments is the spectral selection of high-order laser harmonics and free-electron-laser pulses in the femtosecond time scale. Broad-band monochromators require the use of diffraction gratings at grazing incidence. Here, we discuss two configurations useful for the realization of grating monochromator with ultrafast response: the single-grating design, applied to high-order laser harmonics, and the time-delay-compensated configuration with two gratings, applied to free-electron lasers.

The ultrafast optical response of the magnetic compound Bi2FeMnO6 (BFMO) is studied through 100−300 K by means of ultrafast transient reflectivity spectroscopy. By using differing pump energy, the optical low spin (LS) transition and high spin (HS) transition in this compound are distinguished as the temperature varies. This charge transfer transition is shown to be spin-dependent and element selected. The ultrafast spin-lattice coupling time also shows the element selected feature, which illustrated the two independent magnetic phase transitions to the antiferromagnet (AFM) Mn−O−Mn and the ferrimagnet (FIM) Mn−O−Fe order, respectively.

This paper is devoted to analyzing the principle and applications of the linear electro-optic (EO) effect for the control of the carrier-envelope-phase (CEP). We introduce and detail here an original method, which relies on the use of an EO dispersive prism pair in a compressor-like configuration. We show that, by choosing an adequate geometry, it is possible to shift the CEP without changing the group delay (isochronous carrier-envelope-phase shifter) or change the induced group delay without varying the CEP. According to our calculations, when applying an electric field around 400 V/cm to the rubidium titanyle phosphate (RTP) prisms in a double pass configuration (2 × 40 mm total length), one obtains a CEP shift of π rad at 800 nm without inducing a group delay. In contrast, this CEP shift is obtained for an electric field around 1.4 kV/cm in a RTP rectangular slab of the same total length and, in this case, the group delay is of the order of a few fs.

A single-grating monochromator can be used for the spectral selection of ultrashort pulses without altering in a significant way the pulse duration, provided that the number of illuminated grooves is equal to the resolution. Two configurations are compared: the classical-diffraction mount (CDM) and the off-plane mount (OPM). The advantages and drawbacks of both configurations are presented. The two geometries can be joined in a new and innovative design of a monochromator with two interchangeable diffracting stages both used at grazing incidence, one with the gratings in the CDM and the other in the OPM. The use of two stages gives great flexibility: the OPM stage is used for sub-50 fs time response and low spectral resolution and the CDM stage for 100-200 fs time response and high spectral resolution. The design overcomes the limits of the two single configurations, giving on the same instrument either ultrafast response with low spectral resolution or slower response with higher resolution.

We introduce and demonstrate a single-shot real-time optical vector spectrum analyzer (VSA). This simple and powerful instrument combines amplified dispersive Fourier transform with stereopsis reconstruction algorithm and is inspired by binocular vision in biological eyes. Moreover, a dynamic time-stretch concept is employed to dramatically enhance the phase reconstruction accuracy and dynamic range for ultrashort optical signals (>; 30 times). We show that, using a noniterative analytical expression, the phase profile of the input signal can be reconstructed using intensity-only measurements. The proposed method is experimentally proved by fully characterizing the time-varying amplitude and phase of single-shot THz-bandwidth optical signals, with durations ranging from sub-ps to 35 000 ps, with ultrasmall to ultralarge temporal phase variations and at 25-MHz update rate. We have also used this instrument to characterize the amplitude and phase of a prechirped 40-Gbps DQPSK optical signal using a 1.5-GHz digitizer and without using a reference signal.

Advanced applications of attosecond pulses require the implementation of experimental techniques for a complete and accurate characterization of the pulse temporal characteristics. The method of choice is the frequency resolved optical gating for the complete reconstruction of attosecond bursts (FROG-CRAB), which requires the development of suitable reconstruction algorithms. In the last few years, various numerical techniques have been proposed and implemented, characterized by different levels of accuracy, robustness, and computational load. Many of them are based on the central momentum approximation (CMA), which may pose severe limits in the reconstruction accuracy. Alternative techniques have been successfully developed, based on the implementation of reconstruction algorithms which do not rely on this approximation, such as the Volkov-transform generalized projection algorithm (VTGPA). The main drawback is a notable increase of the computational load. We propose a new method, called refined iterative ptychographic engine (rePIE), which combines the advantages of a robust algorithm based on CMA, characterized by a fast convergence, with the accuracy of advanced algorithms not based on such approximation. The main idea is to perform a first fast iterative ptychographic engine (ePIE) reconstruction and then refine the result with just a few iterations of the VTGPA in order to correct for the error introduced by the CMA. We analyse the accuracy of the novel reconstruction method by comparing the residual error (i.e., the difference between the reconstructed and the simulated original spectrograms) when VTGPA, ePIE, and rePIE reconstructions are employed. We show that the rePIE approach is particularly useful in the case of short attosecond pulses characterized by a broad spectrum in the vacuum-ultraviolet (VUV)–extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) region.

We have experimentally demonstrated atmospheric transfer of microwave timing references using a femtosecond frequency comb. The excess timing jitter induced by the atmospheric propagation has been characterized, and evidence is provided to show that such characterization is not compromised by the parasitic effect of power-to-phase coupling in the photodetector. The fractional frequency stability for a 60-m total transmission distance is on the order of 10-12 with a 1-s averaging time. The Allan deviation shows a τ-1 dependence up to 500 s. Scale estimate confirms that the measured excess timing noise is caused by clear-air turbulence. Comparisons with previous works show that our results offer a more precise characterization of atmospheric timing transfer. The work may potentially help the development of high-fidelity synchronization for future free-space optical communications.

The use of femtosecond laser pulses to impulsively excite thermal and mechanical transients in matter has led, in the last years, to the development of picosecond acoustics. Recently, the pump-probe approach has been applied to nano-engineered materials to optically generate and detect acoustic waves in the gigahertz-terahertz frequency range. In this paper, we review the latest advances on ultrafast generation and detection of thermal gradients and pseudo-surface acoustic waves in 2-D lattices of metallic nanostructures. Comparing the experimental findings to the numeric analysis of the full thermomechanical problem, these materials emerge as model systems to investigate both the mechanical and thermal energy transfer at the nanoscale. The sensitivity of the technique to the nanostructure mass and shape variations, coupled with the phononic crystal properties of the lattices, opens the way to a variety of applications ranging from hypersonic waveguiding to mass sensors with femtosecond time resolution.

The temporal response of double-grating monochromators is analyzed considering two effects on the ultrafast pulse given by the configuration. The first effect is the compensation of the pulse-front tilt, i.e., all the rays emitted by the source in different directions at the same wavelength have to travel the same optical path. The second effect is the group delay introduced by the two gratings, i.e., different wavelengths within the bandwidth transmitted by the slit travel different paths. The methodology to calculate the group delay introduced by the double-grating configuration is presented. Some practical design examples are provided to show the design rules and the achieved performances.