Tubular filamentation for laser material processing

PubMed Central

Xie, Chen; Jukna, Vytautas; Milián, Carles; Giust, Remo; Ouadghiri-Idrissi, Ismail; Itina, Tatiana; Dudley, John M.; Couairon, Arnaud; Courvoisier, Francois

2015-01-01

An open challenge in the important field of femtosecond laser material processing is the controlled internal structuring of dielectric materials. Although the availability of high energy high repetition rate femtosecond lasers has led to many advances in this field, writing structures within transparent dielectrics at intensities exceeding 1013 W/cm2 has remained difficult as it is associated with significant nonlinear spatial distortion. This letter reports the existence of a new propagation regime for femtosecond pulses at high power that overcomes this challenge, associated with the generation of a hollow uniform and intense light tube that remains propagation invariant even at intensities associated with dense plasma formation. This regime is seeded from higher order nondiffracting Bessel beams, which carry an optical vortex charge. Numerical simulations are quantitatively confirmed by experiments where a novel experimental approach allows direct imaging of the 3D fluence distribution within transparent solids. We also analyze the transitions to other propagation regimes in near and far fields. We demonstrate how the generation of plasma in this tubular geometry can lead to applications in ultrafast laser material processing in terms of single shot index writing, and discuss how it opens important perspectives for material compression and filamentation guiding in atmosphere. PMID:25753215

10-fs-level synchronization of photocathode laser with RF-oscillator for ultrafast electron and X-ray sources

PubMed Central

Yang, Heewon; Han, Byungheon; Shin, Junho; Hou, Dong; Chung, Hayun; Baek, In Hyung; Jeong, Young Uk; Kim, Jungwon

2017-01-01

Ultrafast electron-based coherent radiation sources, such as free-electron lasers (FELs), ultrafast electron diffraction (UED) and Thomson-scattering sources, are becoming more important sources in today’s ultrafast science. Photocathode laser is an indispensable common subsystem in these sources that generates ultrafast electron pulses. To fully exploit the potentials of these sources, especially for pump-probe experiments, it is important to achieve high-precision synchronization between the photocathode laser and radio-frequency (RF) sources that manipulate electron pulses. So far, most of precision laser-RF synchronization has been achieved by using specially designed low-noise Er-fibre lasers at telecommunication wavelength. Here we show a modular method that achieves long-term (>1 day) stable 10-fs-level synchronization between a commercial 79.33-MHz Ti:sapphire laser oscillator and an S-band (2.856-GHz) RF oscillator. This is an important first step toward a photocathode laser-based femtosecond RF timing and synchronization system that is suitable for various small- to mid-scale ultrafast X-ray and electron sources. PMID:28067288

10-fs-level synchronization of photocathode laser with RF-oscillator for ultrafast electron and X-ray sources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Heewon; Han, Byungheon; Shin, Junho; Hou, Dong; Chung, Hayun; Baek, In Hyung; Jeong, Young Uk; Kim, Jungwon

2017-01-01

Ultrafast electron-based coherent radiation sources, such as free-electron lasers (FELs), ultrafast electron diffraction (UED) and Thomson-scattering sources, are becoming more important sources in today’s ultrafast science. Photocathode laser is an indispensable common subsystem in these sources that generates ultrafast electron pulses. To fully exploit the potentials of these sources, especially for pump-probe experiments, it is important to achieve high-precision synchronization between the photocathode laser and radio-frequency (RF) sources that manipulate electron pulses. So far, most of precision laser-RF synchronization has been achieved by using specially designed low-noise Er-fibre lasers at telecommunication wavelength. Here we show a modular method that achieves long-term (>1 day) stable 10-fs-level synchronization between a commercial 79.33-MHz Ti:sapphire laser oscillator and an S-band (2.856-GHz) RF oscillator. This is an important first step toward a photocathode laser-based femtosecond RF timing and synchronization system that is suitable for various small- to mid-scale ultrafast X-ray and electron sources.

10-fs-level synchronization of photocathode laser with RF-oscillator for ultrafast electron and X-ray sources.

PubMed

Yang, Heewon; Han, Byungheon; Shin, Junho; Hou, Dong; Chung, Hayun; Baek, In Hyung; Jeong, Young Uk; Kim, Jungwon

2017-01-09

Ultrafast electron-based coherent radiation sources, such as free-electron lasers (FELs), ultrafast electron diffraction (UED) and Thomson-scattering sources, are becoming more important sources in today's ultrafast science. Photocathode laser is an indispensable common subsystem in these sources that generates ultrafast electron pulses. To fully exploit the potentials of these sources, especially for pump-probe experiments, it is important to achieve high-precision synchronization between the photocathode laser and radio-frequency (RF) sources that manipulate electron pulses. So far, most of precision laser-RF synchronization has been achieved by using specially designed low-noise Er-fibre lasers at telecommunication wavelength. Here we show a modular method that achieves long-term (>1 day) stable 10-fs-level synchronization between a commercial 79.33-MHz Ti:sapphire laser oscillator and an S-band (2.856-GHz) RF oscillator. This is an important first step toward a photocathode laser-based femtosecond RF timing and synchronization system that is suitable for various small- to mid-scale ultrafast X-ray and electron sources.

Progress in ultrafast laser processing and future prospects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sugioka, Koji

2017-03-01

The unique characteristics of ultrafast lasers have rapidly revolutionized materials processing after their first demonstration in 1987. The ultrashort pulse width of the laser suppresses heat diffusion to the surroundings of the processed region, which minimizes the formation of a heat-affected zone and thereby enables ultrahigh precision micro- and nanofabrication of various materials. In addition, the extremely high peak intensity can induce nonlinear multiphoton absorption, which extends the diversity of materials that can be processed to transparent materials such as glass. Nonlinear multiphoton absorption enables three-dimensional (3D) micro- and nanofabrication by irradiation with tightly focused femtosecond laser pulses inside transparent materials. Thus, ultrafast lasers are currently widely used for both fundamental research and practical applications. This review presents progress in ultrafast laser processing, including micromachining, surface micro- and nanostructuring, nanoablation, and 3D and volume processing. Advanced technologies that promise to enhance the performance of ultrafast laser processing, such as hybrid additive and subtractive processing, and shaped beam processing are discussed. Commercial and industrial applications of ultrafast laser processing are also introduced. Finally, future prospects of the technology are given with a summary.

Distributed ultrafast fibre laser

PubMed Central

Liu, Xueming; Cui, Yudong; Han, Dongdong; Yao, Xiankun; Sun, Zhipei

2015-01-01

A traditional ultrafast fibre laser has a constant cavity length that is independent of the pulse wavelength. The investigation of distributed ultrafast (DUF) lasers is conceptually and technically challenging and of great interest because the laser cavity length and fundamental cavity frequency are changeable based on the wavelength. Here, we propose and demonstrate a DUF fibre laser based on a linearly chirped fibre Bragg grating, where the total cavity length is linearly changeable as a function of the pulse wavelength. The spectral sidebands in DUF lasers are enhanced greatly, including the continuous-wave (CW) and pulse components. We observe that all sidebands of the pulse experience the same round-trip time although they have different round-trip distances and refractive indices. The pulse-shaping of the DUF laser is dominated by the dissipative processes in addition to the phase modulations, which makes our ultrafast laser simple and stable. This laser provides a simple, stable, low-cost, ultrafast-pulsed source with controllable and changeable cavity frequency. PMID:25765454

Scattering properties of ultrafast laser-induced refractive index shaping lenticular structures in hydrogels

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wozniak, Kaitlin T.; Germer, Thomas A.; Butler, Sam C.; Brooks, Daniel R.; Huxlin, Krystel R.; Ellis, Jonathan D.

2018-02-01

We present measurements of light scatter induced by a new ultrafast laser technique being developed for laser refractive correction in transparent ophthalmic materials such as cornea, contact lenses, and/or intraocular lenses. In this new technique, called intra-tissue refractive index shaping (IRIS), a 405 nm femtosecond laser is focused and scanned below the corneal surface, inducing a spatially-varying refractive index change that corrects vision errors. In contrast with traditional laser correction techniques, such as laser in-situ keratomileusis (LASIK) or photorefractive keratectomy (PRK), IRIS does not operate via photoablation, but rather changes the refractive index of transparent materials such as cornea and hydrogels. A concern with any laser eye correction technique is additional scatter induced by the process, which can adversely affect vision, especially at night. The goal of this investigation is to identify sources of scatter induced by IRIS and to mitigate possible effects on visual performance in ophthalmic applications. Preliminary light scattering measurements on patterns written into hydrogel showed four sources of scatter, differentiated by distinct behaviors: (1) scattering from scanned lines; (2) scattering from stitching errors, resulting from adjacent scanning fields not being aligned to one another; (3) diffraction from Fresnel zone discontinuities; and (4) long-period variations in the scans that created distinct diffraction peaks, likely due to inconsistent line spacing in the writing instrument. By knowing the nature of these different scattering errors, it will now be possible to modify and optimize the design of IRIS structures to mitigate potential deficits in visual performance in human clinical trials.

Ultrafast laser direct hard-mask writing for high efficiency c-Si texture designs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumar, Kitty; Lee, Kenneth K. C.; Nogami, Jun; Herman, Peter R.; Kherani, Nazir P.

2013-03-01

This study reports a high-resolution hard-mask laser writing technique to facilitate the selective etching of crystalline silicon (c-Si) into an inverted-pyramidal texture with feature size and periodicity on the order of the wavelength which, thus, provides for both anti-reflection and effective light-trapping of infrared and visible light. The process also enables engineered positional placement of the inverted-pyramid thereby providing another parameter for optimal design of an optically efficient pattern. The proposed technique, a non-cleanroom process, is scalable for large area micro-fabrication of high-efficiency thin c-Si photovoltaics. Optical wave simulations suggest the fabricated textured surface with 1.3 μm inverted-pyramids and a single anti-reflective coating increases the relative energy conversion efficiency by 11% compared to the PERL-cell texture with 9 μm inverted pyramids on a 400 μm thick wafer. This efficiency gain is anticipated to improve further for thinner wafers due to enhanced diffractive light trapping effects.

Ultrafast Laser System for Producing on-Demand Single-and Multi-Photon Quantum States

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-09-20

14-Mar-2015 Approved for Public Release; Distribution Unlimited Final Report: Ultrafast laser system for producing on-demand single- and multi...Champaign, IL 61820 -7406 14-Mar-2015 ABSTRACT Number of Papers published in peer-reviewed journals: Final Report: Ultrafast laser system for producing

Pump polarization insensitive and efficient laser-diode pumped Yb:KYW ultrafast oscillator.

PubMed

Wang, Sha; Wang, Yan-Biao; Feng, Guo-Ying; Zhou, Shou-Huan

2016-02-01

We theoretically and experimentally report and evaluate a novel split laser-diode (LD) double-end pumped Yb:KYW ultrafast oscillator aimed at improving the performance of an ultrafast laser. Compared to a conventional unpolarized single-LD end-pumped ultrafast laser system, we improve the laser performance such as absorption efficiency, slope efficiency, cw mode-locking threshold, and output power by this new structure LD-pumped Yb:KYW ultrafast laser. Experiments were carried out with a 1 W output fiber-coupled LD. Experimental results show that the absorption increases from 38.7% to 48.4%, laser slope efficiency increases from 18.3% to 24.2%, cw mode-locking threshold decreases 12.7% from 630 to 550 mW in cw mode-locking threshold, and maximum output-power increases 28.5% from 158.4 to 221.5 mW when we switch the pump scheme from an unpolarized single-end pumping structure to a split LD double-end pumping structure.

Study on Ultrafast Photodynamics of Novel Multilayered Thin Films for Device Applications

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-07-31

study ultrafast phase-transition of VO2 thin film. This part of work was started right after the new laser installed. With better laser output...1-3]. With the purpose of combined effect that the proposed ultrafast phase-transition VO2 thin film deposited on a substrate of heavy metal...second point of focus was to study ultrafast phase-transition of VO2 thin film. This part of work was started right after the new laser installed

High spatial resolution fiber optical sensors for simultaneous temperature and chemical sensing for energy industries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yan, Aidong; Huang, Sheng; Li, Shuo; Zaghloul, Mohamed; Ohodnicki, Paul; Buric, Michael; Chen, Kevin P.

2017-05-01

This paper demonstrates optical fibers as high-temperature sensor platforms. Through engineering and onfiber integration of functional metal oxide sensory materials, we report the development of an integrated sensor solution to perform temperature and chemical measurements for high-temperature energy applications. Using the Rayleigh optical frequency domain reflectometry (OFDR) distributed sensing scheme, the temperature and hydrogen concentration were measured along the fiber. To overcome the weak Rayleighbackscattering intensity exhibited by conventional optical fibers, an ultrafast laser was used to enhance the Rayleigh scattering by a direct laser writing method. Using the Rayleigh-enhanced fiber as sensor platform, both temperature and hydrogen reaction were monitored at high temperature up to 750°C with 4-mm spatial resolution.

Direct writing of birefringent elements by ultrafast laser nanostructuring in multicomponent glass

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fedotov, S. S.; Drevinskas, R.; Lotarev, S. V.; Lipatiev, A. S.; Beresna, M.; ČerkauskaitÄ--, A.; Sigaev, V. N.; Kazansky, P. G.

2016-02-01

Self-assembled nanostructures created by femtosecond laser irradiation are demonstrated in alkali-free aluminoborosilicate glass. The growth of the induced retardance associated with the nanograting formation is three orders of magnitude slower than in silica glass and is observed only within a narrow range of pulse energies. However, the strength of retardance asymptotically approaches the value typically measured in pure silica glass, which is attractive for practical applications. A similar intensity threshold for nanograting formation of about 1 TW/cm2 is observed for all glasses studied. The radially polarized vortex beam micro-converter designed as a space-variant quarter-wave retarder for the near-infrared spectral range is imprinted in commercial Schott AF32 glass.

Rapid assessment of nonlinear optical propagation effects in dielectrics

PubMed Central

Hoyo, J. del; de la Cruz, A. Ruiz; Grace, E.; Ferrer, A.; Siegel, J.; Pasquazi, A.; Assanto, G.; Solis, J.

2015-01-01

Ultrafast laser processing applications need fast approaches to assess the nonlinear propagation of the laser beam in order to predict the optimal range of processing parameters in a wide variety of cases. We develop here a method based on the simple monitoring of the nonlinear beam shaping against numerical prediction. The numerical code solves the nonlinear Schrödinger equation with nonlinear absorption under simplified conditions by employing a state-of-the art computationally efficient approach. By comparing with experimental results we can rapidly estimate the nonlinear refractive index and nonlinear absorption coefficients of the material. The validity of this approach has been tested in a variety of experiments where nonlinearities play a key role, like spatial soliton shaping or fs-laser waveguide writing. The approach provides excellent results for propagated power densities for which free carrier generation effects can be neglected. Above such a threshold, the peculiarities of the nonlinear propagation of elliptical beams enable acquiring an instantaneous picture of the deposition of energy inside the material realistic enough to estimate the effective nonlinear refractive index and nonlinear absorption coefficients that can be used for predicting the spatial distribution of energy deposition inside the material and controlling the beam in the writing process. PMID:25564243

Rapid assessment of nonlinear optical propagation effects in dielectrics.

PubMed

del Hoyo, J; de la Cruz, A Ruiz; Grace, E; Ferrer, A; Siegel, J; Pasquazi, A; Assanto, G; Solis, J

2015-01-07

Ultrafast laser processing applications need fast approaches to assess the nonlinear propagation of the laser beam in order to predict the optimal range of processing parameters in a wide variety of cases. We develop here a method based on the simple monitoring of the nonlinear beam shaping against numerical prediction. The numerical code solves the nonlinear Schrödinger equation with nonlinear absorption under simplified conditions by employing a state-of-the art computationally efficient approach. By comparing with experimental results we can rapidly estimate the nonlinear refractive index and nonlinear absorption coefficients of the material. The validity of this approach has been tested in a variety of experiments where nonlinearities play a key role, like spatial soliton shaping or fs-laser waveguide writing. The approach provides excellent results for propagated power densities for which free carrier generation effects can be neglected. Above such a threshold, the peculiarities of the nonlinear propagation of elliptical beams enable acquiring an instantaneous picture of the deposition of energy inside the material realistic enough to estimate the effective nonlinear refractive index and nonlinear absorption coefficients that can be used for predicting the spatial distribution of energy deposition inside the material and controlling the beam in the writing process.

Rapid assessment of nonlinear optical propagation effects in dielectrics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hoyo, J. Del; de La Cruz, A. Ruiz; Grace, E.; Ferrer, A.; Siegel, J.; Pasquazi, A.; Assanto, G.; Solis, J.

2015-01-01

Ultrafast laser processing applications need fast approaches to assess the nonlinear propagation of the laser beam in order to predict the optimal range of processing parameters in a wide variety of cases. We develop here a method based on the simple monitoring of the nonlinear beam shaping against numerical prediction. The numerical code solves the nonlinear Schrödinger equation with nonlinear absorption under simplified conditions by employing a state-of-the art computationally efficient approach. By comparing with experimental results we can rapidly estimate the nonlinear refractive index and nonlinear absorption coefficients of the material. The validity of this approach has been tested in a variety of experiments where nonlinearities play a key role, like spatial soliton shaping or fs-laser waveguide writing. The approach provides excellent results for propagated power densities for which free carrier generation effects can be neglected. Above such a threshold, the peculiarities of the nonlinear propagation of elliptical beams enable acquiring an instantaneous picture of the deposition of energy inside the material realistic enough to estimate the effective nonlinear refractive index and nonlinear absorption coefficients that can be used for predicting the spatial distribution of energy deposition inside the material and controlling the beam in the writing process.

Ultrafast Laser-Based Spectroscopy and Sensing: Applications in LIBS, CARS, and THz Spectroscopy

PubMed Central

Leahy-Hoppa, Megan R.; Miragliotta, Joseph; Osiander, Robert; Burnett, Jennifer; Dikmelik, Yamac; McEnnis, Caroline; Spicer, James B.

2010-01-01

Ultrafast pulsed lasers find application in a range of spectroscopy and sensing techniques including laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), coherent Raman spectroscopy, and terahertz (THz) spectroscopy. Whether based on absorption or emission processes, the characteristics of these techniques are heavily influenced by the use of ultrafast pulses in the signal generation process. Depending on the energy of the pulses used, the essential laser interaction process can primarily involve lattice vibrations, molecular rotations, or a combination of excited states produced by laser heating. While some of these techniques are currently confined to sensing at close ranges, others can be implemented for remote spectroscopic sensing owing principally to the laser pulse duration. We present a review of ultrafast laser-based spectroscopy techniques and discuss the use of these techniques to current and potential chemical and environmental sensing applications. PMID:22399883

Several new directions for ultrafast fiber lasers [Invited].

PubMed

Fu, Walter; Wright, Logan G; Sidorenko, Pavel; Backus, Sterling; Wise, Frank W

2018-04-16

Ultrafast fiber lasers have the potential to make applications of ultrashort pulses widespread - techniques not only for scientists, but also for doctors, manufacturing engineers, and more. Today, this potential is only realized in refractive surgery and some femtosecond micromachining. The existing market for ultrafast lasers remains dominated by solid-state lasers, primarily Ti:sapphire, due to their superior performance. Recent advances show routes to ultrafast fiber sources that provide performance and capabilities equal to, and in some cases beyond, those of Ti:sapphire, in compact, versatile, low-cost devices. In this paper, we discuss the prospects for future ultrafast fiber lasers built on new kinds of pulse generation that capitalize on nonlinear dynamics. We focus primarily on three promising directions: mode-locked oscillators that use nonlinearity to enhance performance; systems that use nonlinear pulse propagation to achieve ultrashort pulses without a mode-locked oscillator; and multimode fiber lasers that exploit nonlinearities in space and time to obtain unparalleled control over an electric field.

Simple and robust generation of ultrafast laser pulse trains using polarization-independent parallel-aligned thin films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Andong; Jiang, Lan; Li, Xiaowei; Wang, Zhi; Du, Kun; Lu, Yongfeng

2018-05-01

Ultrafast laser pulse temporal shaping has been widely applied in various important applications such as laser materials processing, coherent control of chemical reactions, and ultrafast imaging. However, temporal pulse shaping has been limited to only-in-lab technique due to the high cost, low damage threshold, and polarization dependence. Herein we propose a novel design of ultrafast laser pulse train generation device, which consists of multiple polarization-independent parallel-aligned thin films. Various pulse trains with controllable temporal profile can be generated flexibly by multi-reflections within the splitting films. Compared with other pulse train generation techniques, this method has advantages of compact structure, low cost, high damage threshold and polarization independence. These advantages endow it with high potential for broad utilization in ultrafast applications.

Ultrafast graphene and carbon nanotube film patterning by picosecond laser pulses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bobrinetskiy, Ivan I.; Emelianov, Alexey V.; Otero, Nerea; Romero, Pablo M.

2016-03-01

Carbon nanomaterials is among the most promising technologies for advanced electronic applications, due to their extraordinary chemical and physical properties. Nonetheless, after more than two decades of intensive research, the application of carbon-based nanostructures in real electronic and optoelectronic devices is still a big challenge due to lack of scalable integration in microelectronic manufacturing. Laser processing is an attractive tool for graphene device manufacturing, providing a large variety of processes through direct and indirect interaction of laser beams with graphene lattice: functionalization, oxidation, reduction, etching and ablation, growth, etc. with resolution down to the nanoscale. Focused laser radiation allows freeform processing, enabling fully mask-less fabrication of devices from graphene and carbon nanotube films. This concept is attractive to reduce costs, improve flexibility, and reduce alignment operations, by producing fully functional devices in single direct-write operations. In this paper, a picosecond laser with a wavelength of 515 nm and pulse width of 30 ps is used to pattern carbon nanostructures in two ways: ablation and chemical functionalization. The light absorption leads to thermal ablation of graphene and carbon nanotube film under the fluence 60-90 J/cm2 with scanning speed up to 2 m/s. Just under the ablation energy, the two-photon absorption leads to add functional groups to the carbon lattice which change the optical properties of graphene. This paper shows the results of controlled modification of geometrical configuration and the physical and chemical properties of carbon based nanostructures, by laser direct writing.

Intense Plasma Waveguide Terahertz Sources for High-Field THz Probe Science with Ultrafast Lasers for Solid State Physics

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-08-25

AFRL-AFOSR-UK-TR-2016-0029 Intense Plasma-Waveguide Terahertz Sources for High-Field THz probe science with ultrafast lasers for Solid State Physics...Plasma-Waveguide Terahertz Sources for High-Field THz probe science with ultrafast lasers for Solid State Physics, 5a.  CONTRACT NUMBER 5b.  GRANT...an existing high energy laser system, has been applied to the study of intense terahertz radiation generated in gaseous plasmas in purpose

Real-time visualization of soliton molecules with evolving behavior in an ultrafast fiber laser

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Meng; Li, Heng; Luo, Ai-Ping; Cui, Hu; Xu, Wen-Cheng; Luo, Zhi-Chao

2018-03-01

Ultrafast fiber lasers have been demonstrated to be great platforms for the investigation of soliton dynamics. The soliton molecules, as one of the most fascinating nonlinear phenomena, have been a hot topic in the field of nonlinear optics in recent years. Herein, we experimentally observed the real-time evolving behavior of soliton molecule in an ultrafast fiber laser by using the dispersive Fourier transformation technology. Several types of evolving soliton molecules were obtained in our experiments, such as soliton molecules with monotonically or chaotically evolving phase, flipping and hopping phase. These results would be helpful to the communities interested in soliton nonlinear dynamics as well as ultrafast laser technologies.

Low damage electrical modification of 4H-SiC via ultrafast laser irradiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahn, Minhyung; Cahyadi, Rico; Wendorf, Joseph; Bowen, Willie; Torralva, Ben; Yalisove, Steven; Phillips, Jamie

2018-04-01

The electrical properties of 4H-SiC under ultrafast laser irradiation in the low fluence regime (<0.50 J/cm2) are presented. The appearance of high spatial frequency laser induced periodic surface structures is observed at a fluence near 0.25 J/cm2 and above, with variability in environments like in air, nitrogen, and a vacuum. In addition to the formation of periodic surface structures, ultrafast laser irradiation results in possible surface oxidation and amorphization of the material. Lateral conductance exhibits orders of magnitude increase, which is attributed to either surface conduction or modification of electrical contact properties, depending on the initial material conductivity. Schottky barrier formation on ultrafast laser irradiated 4H-SiC shows an increase in the barrier height, an increase in the ideality factor, and sub-bandgap photovoltaic responses, suggesting the formation of photo-active point defects. The results suggest that the ultrafast laser irradiation technique provides a means of engineering spatially localized structural and electronic modification of wide bandgap materials such as 4H-SiC with relatively low surface damage via low temperature processing.

Structural, mechanical and optical studies on ultrafast laser inscribed chalcogenide glass waveguide

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ayiriveetil, Arunbabu; Varma, G. Sreevidya; Chaturvedi, Abhishek; Sabapathy, Tamilarasan; Ramamurty, Upadrasta; Asokan, Sundarrajan

2017-04-01

Multi-scan waveguides have been inscribed in GeS2 glass sample with different pulse energies and translation speeds. Mechanical and structural changes on GeS2 binary glass in response to irradiation to 1047 nm femto-second laser pulses have been investigated. The optical characterization of these waveguides has been done at 1550 nm of laser wavelength and the material response to laser exposure is characterized by both nanoindentation studies and micro-Raman spectroscopy. Nanoindentation investigations show a decrease in hardness (H) and elastic modulus (E) upon laser irradiation. The change in E and H are found to be varying with the translational speed, pulse energy and hence the net-fluence at the sample. These changes are correlated with variations in the Raman response of photo-exposed glass which is interpreted in terms of structural modifications made by the laser inscriptions to the glassy network. The mechanical behavior and local structural changes on waveguide writing is found to be dependent on net-fluence and it is correlated with the preparation conditions like melt temperature and cooling rate.

Internal structure of the nanogratings generated inside bulk fused silica by ultrafast laser direct writing

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sharma, S. P.; Vilar, R.; Instituto Superior Técnico, Avenida Rovisco Pais no 1, 1049-001 Lisbon

The aim of the present work was to characterize the internal structure of nanogratings generated inside bulk fused silica by ultrafast laser processing and to study the influence of diluted hydrofluoric acid etching on their structure. The nanogratings were inscribed at a depth of 100 μm within fused silica wafers by a direct writing method, using 1030 nm radiation wavelength and the following processing parameters: E = 5 μJ, τ = 560 fs, f = 10 kHz, and v = 100 μm/s. The results achieved show that the laser-affected regions are elongated ellipsoids with a typical major diameter of about 30 μm and a minor diameter of about 6 μm. The nanogratings within these regionsmore » are composed of alternating nanoplanes of damaged and undamaged material, with an average periodicity of 351 ± 21 nm. The damaged nanoplanes contain nanopores randomly dispersed in a material containing a large density of defects. These nanopores present a roughly bimodal size distribution with average dimensions for each class of pores 65 ± 20 × 16 ± 8 × 69 ± 16 nm{sup 3} and 367 ± 239 × 16 ± 8 × 360 ± 194 nm{sup 3}, respectively. The number and size of the nanopores increases drastically when an hydrofluoric acid treatment is performed, leading to the coalescence of these voids into large planar discontinuities parallel to the nanoplanes. The preferential etching of the damaged material by the hydrofluoric acid solution, which is responsible for the pores growth and coalescence, confirms its high defect density.« less

Ultrafast Science Opportunities with Electron Microscopy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Durr, Hermann

X-rays and electrons are two of the most fundamental probes of matter. When the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), the world’s first x-ray free electron laser, began operation in 2009, it transformed ultrafast science with the ability to generate laser-like x-ray pulses from the manipulation of relativistic electron beams. This document describes a similar future transformation. In Transmission Electron Microscopy, ultrafast relativistic (MeV energy) electron pulses can achieve unsurpassed spatial and temporal resolution. Ultrafast temporal resolution will be the next frontier in electron microscopy and can ideally complement ultrafast x-ray science done with free electron lasers. This document describes themore » Grand Challenge science opportunities in chemistry, material science, physics and biology that arise from an MeV ultrafast electron diffraction & microscopy facility, especially when coupled with linac-based intense THz and X-ray pump capabilities.« less

Studies on nanosecond 532nm and 355nm and ultrafast 515nm and 532nm laser cutting super-hard materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Jie; Tao, Sha; Wang, Brian; Zhao, Jay

2017-02-01

In this paper, micro-processing of three kinds of super-hard materials of poly-crystal diamond (PCD)/tungsten-carbide (WC), CVD-diamond and cubic boron nitride (CNB) has been systematically studied using nanosecond laser (532nm and 355nm), and ultrafast laser (532nm and 515nm). Our purpose is to investigate a full laser micro-cutting solution to achieve a ready-to-use cutting tool insert (CTI). The results show a clean cut with little burns and recasting at edge. The cutting speed of 2-10mm/min depending on thickness was obtained. The laser ablation process was also studied by varying laser parameters (wavelength, pulse width, pulse energy, repetition rate) and tool path to improve cutting speed. Also, studies on material removal efficiency (MRE) of PCD/WC with 355nm-ns and 515nm-fs laser as a function of laser fluence show that 355nm-ns laser is able to achieve higher MRE for PCD and WC. Thus, ultrafast laser is not necessarily used for superhard material cutting. Instead, post-polishing with ultrafast laser can be used to clean cutting surface and improve smoothness.

Graphene-clad microfibre saturable absorber for ultrafast fibre lasers.

PubMed

Liu, X M; Yang, H R; Cui, Y D; Chen, G W; Yang, Y; Wu, X Q; Yao, X K; Han, D D; Han, X X; Zeng, C; Guo, J; Li, W L; Cheng, G; Tong, L M

2016-05-16

Graphene, whose absorbance is approximately independent of wavelength, allows broadband light-matter interactions with ultrafast responses. The interband optical absorption of graphene can be saturated readily under strong excitation, thereby enabling scientists to exploit the photonic properties of graphene to realize ultrafast lasers. The evanescent field interaction scheme of the propagating light with graphene covered on a D-shaped fibre or microfibre has been employed extensively because of the nonblocking configuration. Obviously, most of the fibre surface is unused in these techniques. Here, we exploit a graphene-clad microfibre (GCM) saturable absorber in a mode-locked fibre laser for the generation of ultrafast pulses. The proposed all-surface technique can guarantee a higher efficiency of light-graphene interactions than the aforementioned techniques. Our GCM-based saturable absorber can generate ultrafast optical pulses within 1.5 μm. This saturable absorber is compatible with current fibre lasers and has many merits such as low saturation intensities, ultrafast recovery times, and wide wavelength ranges. The proposed saturable absorber will pave the way for graphene-based wideband photonics.

Graphene-clad microfibre saturable absorber for ultrafast fibre lasers

PubMed Central

Liu, X. M.; Yang, H. R.; Cui, Y. D.; Chen, G. W.; Yang, Y.; Wu, X. Q.; Yao, X. K.; Han, D. D.; Han, X. X.; Zeng, C.; Guo, J.; Li, W. L.; Cheng, G.; Tong, L. M.

2016-01-01

Graphene, whose absorbance is approximately independent of wavelength, allows broadband light–matter interactions with ultrafast responses. The interband optical absorption of graphene can be saturated readily under strong excitation, thereby enabling scientists to exploit the photonic properties of graphene to realize ultrafast lasers. The evanescent field interaction scheme of the propagating light with graphene covered on a D-shaped fibre or microfibre has been employed extensively because of the nonblocking configuration. Obviously, most of the fibre surface is unused in these techniques. Here, we exploit a graphene-clad microfibre (GCM) saturable absorber in a mode-locked fibre laser for the generation of ultrafast pulses. The proposed all-surface technique can guarantee a higher efficiency of light–graphene interactions than the aforementioned techniques. Our GCM-based saturable absorber can generate ultrafast optical pulses within 1.5 μm. This saturable absorber is compatible with current fibre lasers and has many merits such as low saturation intensities, ultrafast recovery times, and wide wavelength ranges. The proposed saturable absorber will pave the way for graphene-based wideband photonics. PMID:27181419

Broadband atomic-layer MoS₂ optical modulators for ultrafast pulse generations in the visible range.

PubMed

Zhang, Yuxia; Yu, Haohai; Zhang, Rui; Zhao, Gang; Zhang, Huaijin; Chen, Yanxue; Mei, Liangmo; Tonelli, Mauro; Wang, Jiyang

2017-02-01

Visible lasers are a fascinating regime, and their significance is illustrated by the 2014 Noble prizes in physics and chemistry. With the development of blue laser diodes (LDs), the LD-pumped solid-state visible lasers become a burgeoning direction today. Constrained by the scarce visible optical modulators, the solid-state ultrafast visible lasers are rarely realized. Based on the bandgap structure and optoelectronic properties of atomic-layer MoS₂, it can be proposed that MoS₂ has the potential as a visible optical modulator. Here, by originally revealing layer-dependent nonlinear absorption of the atomic-layer MoS₂ in the visible range, broadband atomic-layer MoS₂ optical modulators for the visible ultrafast pulse generation are developed and selected based on the proposed design criteria for novel two-dimensional (2D) optical modulators. By applying the selected MoS₂ optical modulators in the solid-state praseodymium lasers, broadband mode-locked ultrafast lasers from 522 to 639 nm are originally realized. We believe that this Letter should promote the development of visible ultrafast photonics and further applications of 2D optoelectronic materials.

Dynamic absorption and scattering of water and hydrogel during high-repetition-rate (>100 MHz) burst-mode ultrafast-pulse laser ablation.

PubMed

Qian, Zuoming; Covarrubias, Andrés; Grindal, Alexander W; Akens, Margarete K; Lilge, Lothar; Marjoribanks, Robin S

2016-06-01

High-repetition-rate burst-mode ultrafast-laser ablation and disruption of biological tissues depends on interaction of each pulse with the sample, but under those particular conditions which persist from previous pulses. This work characterizes and compares the dynamics of absorption and scattering of a 133-MHz repetition-rate, burst-mode ultrafast-pulse laser, in agar hydrogel targets and distilled water. The differences in energy partition are quantified, pulse-by-pulse, using a time-resolving integrating-sphere-based device. These measurements reveal that high-repetition-rate burst-mode ultrafast-laser ablation is a highly dynamical process affected by the persistence of ionization, dissipation of plasma plume, neutral material flow, tissue tensile strength, and the hydrodynamic oscillation of cavitation bubbles.

The picosecond structure of ultra-fast rogue waves

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klein, Avi; Shahal, Shir; Masri, Gilad; Duadi, Hamootal; Sulimani, Kfir; Lib, Ohad; Steinberg, Hadar; Kolpakov, Stanislav A.; Fridman, Moti

2018-02-01

We investigated ultrafast rogue waves in fiber lasers and found three different patterns of rogue waves: single- peaks, twin-peaks, and triple-peaks. The statistics of the different patterns as a function of the pump power of the laser reveals that the probability for all rogue waves patterns increase close to the laser threshold. We developed a numerical model which prove that the ultrafast rogue waves patterns result from both the polarization mode dispersion in the fiber and the non-instantaneous nature of the saturable absorber. This discovery reveals that there are three different types of rogue waves in fiber lasers: slow, fast, and ultrafast, which relate to three different time-scales and are governed by three different sets of equations: the laser rate equations, the nonlinear Schrodinger equation, and the saturable absorber equations, accordingly. This discovery is highly important for analyzing rogue waves and other extreme events in fiber lasers and can lead to realizing types of rogue waves which were not possible so far such as triangular rogue waves.

Ultrafast nonlinear optofluidics in selectively liquid-filled photonic crystal fibers.

PubMed

Vieweg, M; Gissibl, T; Pricking, S; Kuhlmey, B T; Wu, D C; Eggleton, B J; Giessen, H

2010-11-22

Selective filling of photonic crystal fibers with different media enables a plethora of possibilities in linear and nonlinear optics. Using two-photon direct-laser writing we demonstrate full flexibility of individual closing of holes and subsequent filling of photonic crystal fibers with highly nonlinear liquids. We experimentally demonstrate solitonic supercontinuum generation over 600 nm bandwidth using a compact femtosecond oscillator as pump source. Encapsulating our fibers at the ends we realize a compact ultrafast nonlinear optofluidic device. Our work is fundamentally important to the field of nonlinear optics as it provides a new platform for investigations of spatio-temporal nonlinear effects and underpins new applications in sensing and communications. Selective filling of different linear and nonlinear liquids, metals, gases, gain media, and liquid crystals into photonic crystal fibers will be the basis of new reconfigurable and versatile optical fiber devices with unprecedented performance. Control over both temporal and spatial dispersion as well as linear and nonlinear coupling will lead to the generation of spatial-temporal solitons, so-called optical bullets.

Filter-Based Dispersion-Managed Versatile Ultrafast Fibre Laser

PubMed Central

Peng, Junsong; Boscolo, Sonia

2016-01-01

We present the operation of an ultrafast passively mode-locked fibre laser, in which flexible control of the pulse formation mechanism is readily realised by an in-cavity programmable filter the dispersion and bandwidth of which can be software configured. We show that conventional soliton, dispersion-managed (DM) soliton (stretched-pulse) and dissipative soliton mode-locking regimes can be reliably targeted by changing the filter’s dispersion and bandwidth only, while no changes are made to the physical layout of the laser cavity. Numerical simulations are presented which confirm the different nonlinear pulse evolutions inside the laser cavity. The proposed technique holds great potential for achieving a high degree of control over the dynamics and output of ultrafast fibre lasers, in contrast to the traditional method to control the pulse formation mechanism in a DM fibre laser, which involves manual optimisation of the relative length of fibres with opposite-sign dispersion in the cavity. Our versatile ultrafast fibre laser will be attractive for applications requiring different pulse profiles such as in optical signal processing and optical communications. PMID:27183882

Development of integrated photonic-dicers for reformatting the point-spread-function of a telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

MacLachlan, David G.; Harris, Robert; Choudhury, Debaditya; Arriola, Alexander; Brown, Graeme; Allington-Smith, Jeremy; Thomson, Robert R.

2014-07-01

Spectroscopy is a technique of paramount importance to astronomy, as it enables the chemical composition, distances and velocities of celestial objects to be determined. As the diameter of a ground-based telescope increases, the pointspread- function (PSF) becomes increasingly degraded due to atmospheric seeing. A degraded PSF requires a larger spectrograph slit-width for efficient coupling and current spectrographs for large telescopes are already on the metre scale. This presents numerous issues in terms of manufacturability, cost and stability. As proposed in 2010 by Bland-Hawthorn et al, one approach which may help to improve spectrograph stability is a guided wave transition, known as a "photonic-lantern". These devices enable the low-loss reformatting of a multimode PSF into a diffraction-limited source (in one direction). This pseudo-slit can then be used as the input to a traditional spectrograph operating at the diffraction limit. In essence, this approach may enable the use of diffractionlimited spectrographs on large telescopes without an unacceptable reduction in throughput. We have recently demonstrated that ultrafast laser inscription can be used to realize "integrated" photoniclanterns, by directly writing three-dimensional optical waveguide structures inside a glass substrate. This paper presents our work on developing ultrafast laser inscribed devices capable of reformatting a multimode telescope PSF into a diffraction-limited slit.

High-speed ultrafast laser machining with tertiary beam positioning (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Chuan; Zhang, Haibin

2017-03-01

For an industrial laser application, high process throughput and low average cost of ownership are critical to commercial success. Benefiting from high peak power, nonlinear absorption and small-achievable spot size, ultrafast lasers offer advantages of minimal heat affected zone, great taper and sidewall quality, and small via capability that exceeds the limits of their predecessors in via drilling for electronic packaging. In the past decade, ultrafast lasers have both grown in power and reduced in cost. For example, recently, disk and fiber technology have both shown stable operation in the 50W to 200W range, mostly at high repetition rate (beyond 500 kHz) that helps avoid detrimental nonlinear effects. However, to effectively and efficiently scale the throughput with the fast-growing power capability of the ultrafast lasers while keeping the beneficial laser-material interactions is very challenging, mainly because of the bottleneck imposed by the inertia-related acceleration limit and servo gain bandwidth when only stages and galvanometers are being used. On the other side, inertia-free scanning solutions like acoustic optics and electronic optical deflectors have small scan field, and therefore not suitable for large-panel processing. Our recent system developments combine stages, galvanometers, and AODs into a coordinated tertiary architecture for high bandwidth and meanwhile large field beam positioning. Synchronized three-level movements allow extremely fast local speed and continuous motion over the whole stage travel range. We present the via drilling results from such ultrafast system with up to 3MHz pulse to pulse random access, enabling high quality low cost ultrafast machining with emerging high average power laser sources.

Ultrafast Laser Beam Switching and Pulse Train Generation by Using Coupled Vertical-Cavity, Surface-Emitting Lasers (VCSELS)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Goorjian, Peter M. (Inventor); Ning, Cun-Zheng (Inventor)

2005-01-01

Ultrafast directional beam switching is achieved using coupled VCSELs. This approach is demonstrated to achieve beam switching frequencies of 40 GHz and more and switching directions of about eight degrees. This switching scheme is likely to be useful for ultrafast optical networks at frequencies much higher than achievable with other approaches.

Gain-guided soliton fiber laser with high-quality rectangle spectrum for ultrafast time-stretch microscopy.

PubMed

Hu, Song; Yao, Jian; Liu, Meng; Luo, Ai-Ping; Luo, Zhi-Chao; Xu, Wen-Cheng

2016-05-16

The ultrafast time-stretch microscopy has been proposed to enhance the temporal resolution of a microscopy system. The optical source is a key component for ultrafast time-stretch microscopy system. Herein, we reported on the gain-guided soliton fiber laser with high-quality rectangle spectrum for ultrafast time-stretch microscopy. By virtue of the excellent characteristics of the gain-guided soliton, the output power and the 3-dB bandwidth of the stable mode-locked soliton could be up to 3 mW and 33.7 nm with a high-quality rectangle shape, respectively. With the proposed robust optical source, the ultrafast time-stretch microscopy with the 49.6 μm resolution and a scan rate of 11 MHz was achieved without the external optical amplification. The obtained results demonstrated that the gain-guided soliton fiber laser could be used as an alternative high-quality optical source for ultrafast time-stretch microscopy and will introduce some applications in fields such as biology, chemical, and optical sensing.

Ablation experiment and threshold calculation of titanium alloy irradiated by ultra-fast pulse laser

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zheng, Buxiang; Jiang, Gedong; Wang, Wenjun, E-mail: wenjunwang@mail.xjtu.edu.cn

The interaction between an ultra-fast pulse laser and a material's surface has become a research hotspot in recent years. Micromachining of titanium alloy with an ultra-fast pulse laser is a very important research direction, and it has very important theoretical significance and application value in investigating the ablation threshold of titanium alloy irradiated by ultra-fast pulse lasers. Irradiated by a picosecond pulse laser with wavelengths of 1064 nm and 532 nm, the surface morphology and feature sizes, including ablation crater width (i.e. diameter), ablation depth, ablation area, ablation volume, single pulse ablation rate, and so forth, of the titanium alloymore » were studied, and their ablation distributions were obtained. The experimental results show that titanium alloy irradiated by a picosecond pulse infrared laser with a 1064 nm wavelength has better ablation morphology than that of the green picosecond pulse laser with a 532 nm wavelength. The feature sizes are approximately linearly dependent on the laser pulse energy density at low energy density and the monotonic increase in laser pulse energy density. With the increase in energy density, the ablation feature sizes are increased. The rate of increase in the feature sizes slows down gradually once the energy density reaches a certain value, and gradually saturated trends occur at a relatively high energy density. Based on the linear relation between the laser pulse energy density and the crater area of the titanium alloy surface, and the Gaussian distribution of the laser intensity on the cross section, the ablation threshold of titanium alloy irradiated by an ultra-fast pulse laser was calculated to be about 0.109 J/cm{sup 2}.« less

Fiber Based Seed Laser for CO 2 Ultrafast Laser Systems

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chen, Yuchuan

A compact and effective 10-micron femtosecond laser with pulse duration <500fs and repetition rate of >100Hz or smaller is desirable by DOE for seeding CO 2 ultrafast laser systems to improve the stability, reliability and efficiency in generating 10-micron laser from GW up to 100TW peak power, which is irreplaceable in driving an accelerator for particle beam generation due to the efficiency proportional to the square of the laser wavelength. Agiltron proposes a fiber based ultrafast 10-micron seed laser that can provide the required specifications and high performance. Its success will directly benefit DOE’s compact proton and ion sources. Themore » innovative technology can be used for ultrafast laser generation over the whole mid-IR range, and speed up the development of mid-IR laser applications. Agiltron, Inc. has successfully completed all tasks and demonstrated the feasibility of a fiber based 10-micron ultrafast laser in Phase I of the Program. We built a mode-locked fiber laser that generated < 400fs ultrafast laser pulses and successfully controlled the repetition rate to be the required 100Hz. Using this mode-locked laser, we demonstrated the feasibility of parametric femtosecond laser generation based on frequency down conversion. The experimental results agree with our simulation results. The investigation results of Phase I will be used to optimize the design of the laser system and build a fully functional prototype for delivery to the DOE in the Phase II program. The prototype development in Phase II program will be in the collaboration with Professor Chandrashekhar Joshi, the leader of UCLA Laser-Plasma group. Prof. Joshi discovered a new mechanism for generation of monoenergetic proton/ion beams: Shock Wave Acceleration in a near critical density plasma and demonstrated that high-energy proton beams using CO 2 laser driven collisionless shocks in a gas jet plasma, which opened an opportunity to develop a rather compact high-repetition rate ion source for medical and other applications which could be significantly cheaper than that based on RF acceleration. We propose an output energy >1 μJ, one order of magnitude higher than the DOE original requirement. The performance of the prototype will be tested at UCLA by directly seeding the CO 2 laser system driving an accelerator.« less

Ultrafast pulsed laser utilizing broad bandwidth laser glass

DOEpatents

Payne, Stephen A.; Hayden, Joseph S.

1997-01-01

An ultrafast laser uses a Nd-doped phosphate laser glass characterized by a particularly broad emission bandwidth to generate the shortest possible output pulses. The laser glass is composed primarily of P.sub.2 O.sub.5, Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 and MgO, and possesses physical and thermal properties that are compatible with standard melting and manufacturing methods. The broad bandwidth laser glass can be used in modelocked oscillators as well as in amplifier modules.

Roadmap on ultrafast optics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reid, Derryck T.; Heyl, Christoph M.; Thomson, Robert R.; Trebino, Rick; Steinmeyer, Günter; Fielding, Helen H.; Holzwarth, Ronald; Zhang, Zhigang; Del'Haye, Pascal; Südmeyer, Thomas; Mourou, Gérard; Tajima, Toshiki; Faccio, Daniele; Harren, Frans J. M.; Cerullo, Giulio

2016-09-01

The year 2015 marked the 25th anniversary of modern ultrafast optics, since the demonstration of the first Kerr lens modelocked Ti:sapphire laser in 1990 (Spence et al 1990 Conf. on Lasers and Electro-Optics, CLEO, pp 619-20) heralded an explosion of scientific and engineering innovation. The impact of this disruptive technology extended well beyond the previous discipline boundaries of lasers, reaching into biology labs, manufacturing facilities, and even consumer healthcare and electronics. In recognition of such a milestone, this roadmap on Ultrafast Optics draws together articles from some of the key opinion leaders in the field to provide a freeze-frame of the state-of-the-art, while also attempting to forecast the technical and scientific paradigms which will define the field over the next 25 years. While no roadmap can be fully comprehensive, the thirteen articles here reflect the most exciting technical opportunities presented at the current time in Ultrafast Optics. Several articles examine the future landscape for ultrafast light sources, from practical solid-state/fiber lasers and Raman microresonators to exotic attosecond extreme ultraviolet and possibly even zeptosecond x-ray pulses. Others address the control and measurement challenges, requiring radical approaches to harness nonlinear effects such as filamentation and parametric generation, coupled with the question of how to most accurately characterise the field of ultrafast pulses simultaneously in space and time. Applications of ultrafast sources in materials processing, spectroscopy and time-resolved chemistry are also discussed, highlighting the improvements in performance possible by using lasers of higher peak power and repetition rate, or by exploiting the phase stability of emerging new frequency comb sources.

Direct diode pumped Ti:sapphire ultrafast regenerative amplifier system

DOE PAGES

Backus, Sterling; Durfee, Charles; Lemons, Randy; ...

2017-02-10

Here, we report on a direct diode-pumped Ti:sapphire ultrafast regenerative amplifier laser system producing multi-uJ energies with repetition rate from 50 to 250 kHz. By combining cryogenic cooling of Ti:sapphire with high brightness fiber-coupled 450nm laser diodes, we for the first time demonstrate a power-scalable CW-pumped architecture that can be directly applied to demanding ultrafast applications such as coherent high-harmonic EUV generation without any complex post-amplification pulse compression. Initial results promise a new era for Ti:sapphire amplifiers not only for ultrafast laser applications, but also for tunable CW sources. We discuss the unique challenges to implementation, as well as themore » solutions to these challenges.« less

Direct diode pumped Ti:sapphire ultrafast regenerative amplifier system

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Backus, Sterling; Durfee, Charles; Lemons, Randy

Here, we report on a direct diode-pumped Ti:sapphire ultrafast regenerative amplifier laser system producing multi-uJ energies with repetition rate from 50 to 250 kHz. By combining cryogenic cooling of Ti:sapphire with high brightness fiber-coupled 450nm laser diodes, we for the first time demonstrate a power-scalable CW-pumped architecture that can be directly applied to demanding ultrafast applications such as coherent high-harmonic EUV generation without any complex post-amplification pulse compression. Initial results promise a new era for Ti:sapphire amplifiers not only for ultrafast laser applications, but also for tunable CW sources. We discuss the unique challenges to implementation, as well as themore » solutions to these challenges.« less

Ultrafast fiber lasers: practical applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pastirk, Igor; Sell, Alexander; Herda, Robert; Brodschelm, Andreas; Zach, Armin

2015-05-01

Over past three decades ultrafast lasers have come a long way from the bulky, demanding and very sensitive scientific research projects to widely available commercial products. For the majority of this period the titanium-sapphire-based ultrafast systems were the workhorse for scientific and emerging industrial and biomedical applications. However the complexity and intrinsic bulkiness of solid state lasers have prevented even larger penetration into wider array of practical applications. With emergence of femtosecond fiber lasers, based primarily on Er-doped and Yb-doped fibers that provide compact, inexpensive and dependable fs and ps pulses, new practical applications have become a reality. The overview of current state of the art ultrafast fiber sources, their basic principles and most prominent applications will be presented, including micromachining and biomedical implementations (ophthalmology) on one end of the pulse energy spectrum and 3D lithography and THz applications on the other.

Ultrafast laser ablation for targeted atherosclerotic plaque removal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lanvin, Thomas; Conkey, Donald B.; Descloux, Laurent; Frobert, Aurelien; Valentin, Jeremy; Goy, Jean-Jacques; Cook, Stéphane; Giraud, Marie-Noelle; Psaltis, Demetri

2015-07-01

Coronary artery disease, the main cause of heart disease, develops as immune cells and lipids accumulate into plaques within the coronary arterial wall. As a plaque grows, the tissue layer (fibrous cap) separating it from the blood flow becomes thinner and increasingly susceptible to rupturing and causing a potentially lethal thrombosis. The stabilization and/or treatment of atherosclerotic plaque is required to prevent rupturing and remains an unsolved medical problem. Here we show for the first time targeted, subsurface ablation of atherosclerotic plaque using ultrafast laser pulses. Excised atherosclerotic mouse aortas were ablated with ultrafast near-infrared (NIR) laser pulses. The physical damage was characterized with histological sections of the ablated atherosclerotic arteries from six different mice. The ultrafast ablation system was integrated with optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging for plaque-specific targeting and monitoring of the resulting ablation volume. We find that ultrafast ablation of plaque just below the surface is possible without causing damage to the fibrous cap, which indicates the potential use of ultrafast ablation for subsurface atherosclerotic plaque removal. We further demonstrate ex vivo subsurface ablation of a plaque volume through a catheter device with the high-energy ultrafast pulse delivered via hollow-core photonic crystal fiber.

Mitigating intrinsic defects and laser damage using pulsetrain-burst (>100 MHz) ultrafast laser processing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McKinney, Luke; Frank, Felix; Graper, David; Dean, Jesse; Forrester, Paul; Rioblanc, Maxence; Nantel, Marc; Marjoribanks, Robin

2005-09-01

Ultrafast-laser micromachining has promise as an approach to trimming and 'healing' small laser-produced damage sites in laser-system optics--a common experience in state-of-the-art high-power laser systems. More-conventional approaches currently include mechanical micromachining, chemical modification, and treatment using cw and long-pulse lasers. Laser-optics materials of interest include fused silica, multilayer dielectric stacks for anti-reflection coatings or high-reflectivity mirrors, and inorganic crystals such as KD*P, used for Pockels cells and frequency-doubling. We report on novel efforts using ultrafast-laser pulsetrain-burst processing (microsecond bursts at 133 MHz) to mitigate damage in fused silica, dielectric coatings, and KD*P crystals. We have established the characteristics of pulsetrain-burst micromachining in fused silica, multilayer mirrors, and KD*P, and determined the etch rates and morphology under different conditions of fluence-delivery. From all of these, we have begun to identify new means to optimize the laser-repair of optics defects and damage.

Ultrafast pulsed laser utilizing broad bandwidth laser glass

DOEpatents

Payne, S.A.; Hayden, J.S.

1997-09-02

An ultrafast laser uses a Nd-doped phosphate laser glass characterized by a particularly broad emission bandwidth to generate the shortest possible output pulses. The laser glass is composed primarily of P{sub 2}O{sub 5}, Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} and MgO, and possesses physical and thermal properties that are compatible with standard melting and manufacturing methods. The broad bandwidth laser glass can be used in modelocked oscillators as well as in amplifier modules. 7 figs.

Precision machining of pig intestine using ultrafast laser pulses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beck, Rainer J.; Góra, Wojciech S.; Carter, Richard M.; Gunadi, Sonny; Jayne, David; Hand, Duncan P.; Shephard, Jonathan D.

2015-07-01

Endoluminal surgery for the treatment of early stage colorectal cancer is typically based on electrocautery tools which imply restrictions on precision and the risk of harm through collateral thermal damage to the healthy tissue. As a potential alternative to mitigate these drawbacks we present laser machining of pig intestine by means of picosecond laser pulses. The high intensities of an ultrafast laser enable nonlinear absorption processes and a predominantly nonthermal ablation regime. Laser ablation results of square cavities with comparable thickness to early stage colorectal cancers are presented for a wavelength of 1030 nm using an industrial picosecond laser. The corresponding histology sections exhibit only minimal collateral damage to the surrounding tissue. The depth of the ablation can be controlled precisely by means of the pulse energy. Overall, the application of ultrafast lasers to ablate pig intestine enables significantly improved precision and reduced thermal damage to the surrounding tissue compared to conventional techniques.

Ultrafast dynamics of hard tissue ablation using fs-lasers.

PubMed

Domke, Matthias; Wick, Sebastian; Laible, Maike; Rapp, Stephan; Huber, Heinz P; Sroka, Ronald

2018-05-29

Several studies on hard tissue laser ablation demonstrated that ultrafast lasers enable precise material removal without thermal side effects. Although the principle ablation mechanisms have been thoroughly investigated, there are still open questions regarding the influence of material properties on transient dynamics. In this investigation, we applied pump-probe microscopy to record ablation dynamics of biomaterials with different tensile strengths (dentin, chicken bone, gallstone, kidney stones) at delay times between 1 ps and 10 μs. Transient reflectivity changes, pressure and shock wave velocities, and elastic constants were determined. The result revealed that absorption and excitation show the typical well-known transient behaviour of dielectric materials. We observed for all samples a photomechanical laser ablation process, where ultrafast expansion of the excited volume generates pressure waves leading to fragmentation around the excited region. Additionally, we identified tensile-strength-related differences in the size of ablated craters and ejected particles. The elastic constants derived were in agreement with literature values. In conclusion, pressure-wave-assisted material removal seems to be a general mechanism for hard tissue ablation with ultrafast lasers. This photomechanical process increases ablation efficiency and removes heated material, thus ultrafast laser ablation is of interest for clinical application where heating of the tissue must be avoided. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Spin-controlled ultrafast vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Höpfner, Henning; Lindemann, Markus; Gerhardt, Nils C.; Hofmann, Martin R.

2014-05-01

Spin-controlled semiconductor lasers are highly attractive spintronic devices providing characteristics superior to their conventional purely charge-based counterparts. In particular, spin-controlled vertical-cavity surface emitting lasers (spin-VCSELs) promise to offer lower thresholds, enhanced emission intensity, spin amplification, full polarization control, chirp control and ultrafast dynamics. Most important, the ability to control and modulate the polarization state of the laser emission with extraordinarily high frequencies is very attractive for many applications like broadband optical communication and ultrafast optical switches. We present a novel concept for ultrafast spin-VCSELs which has the potential to overcome the conventional speed limitation for directly modulated lasers by the relaxation oscillation frequency and to reach modulation frequencies significantly above 100 GHz. The concept is based on the coupled spin-photon dynamics in birefringent micro-cavity lasers. By injecting spin-polarized carriers in the VCSEL, oscillations of the coupled spin-photon system can by induced which lead to oscillations of the polarization state of the laser emission. These oscillations are decoupled from conventional relaxation oscillations of the carrier-photon system and can be much faster than these. Utilizing these polarization oscillations is thus a very promising approach to develop ultrafast spin-VCSELs for high speed optical data communication in the near future. Different aspects of the spin and polarization dynamics, its connection to birefringence and bistability in the cavity, controlled switching of the oscillations, and the limitations of this novel approach will be analysed theoretically and experimentally for spin-polarized VCSELs at room temperature.

Transverse Mode Dynamics and Ultrafast Modulation of Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ning, Cun-Zheng; Biegel, Bryan A. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

We show that multiple transverse mode dynamics of VCSELs (Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers) can be utilized to generate ultrafast intensity modulation at a frequency over 100 GHz, much higher than the relaxation oscillation frequency. Such multimode beating can be greatly enhanced by taking laser output from part of the output facet.

In vivo studies of ultrafast near-infrared laser tissue bonding and wound healing

PubMed Central

Sriramoju, Vidyasagar; Alfano, Robert R.

2015-01-01

Abstract. Femtosecond (fs) pulse lasers in the near-infrared (NIR) range exhibit very distinct properties upon their interaction with biomolecules compared to the corresponding continuous wave (CW) lasers. Ultrafast NIR laser tissue bonding (LTB) was used to fuse edges of two opposing animal tissue segments in vivo using fs laser photoexcitation of the native vibrations of chomophores. The fusion of the incised tissues was achieved in vivo at the molecular level as the result of the energy–matter interactions of NIR laser radiation with water and the structural proteins like collagen in the target tissues. Nonthermal vibrational excitation from the fs laser absorption by water and collagen induced the formation of cross-links between tissue proteins on either sides of the weld line resulting in tissue bonding. No extrinsic agents were used to facilitate tissue bonding in the fs LTB. These studies were pursued for the understanding and evaluation of the role of ultrafast NIR fs laser radiation in the LTB and consequent wound healing. The fs LTB can be used for difficult to suture structures such as blood vessels, nerves, gallbladder, liver, intestines, and other viscera. Ultrafast NIR LTB yields promising outcomes and benefits in terms of wound closure and wound healing under optimal conditions. PMID:26465615

In vivo studies of ultrafast near-infrared laser tissue bonding and wound healing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sriramoju, Vidyasagar; Alfano, Robert R.

2015-10-01

Femtosecond (fs) pulse lasers in the near-infrared (NIR) range exhibit very distinct properties upon their interaction with biomolecules compared to the corresponding continuous wave (CW) lasers. Ultrafast NIR laser tissue bonding (LTB) was used to fuse edges of two opposing animal tissue segments in vivo using fs laser photoexcitation of the native vibrations of chomophores. The fusion of the incised tissues was achieved in vivo at the molecular level as the result of the energy-matter interactions of NIR laser radiation with water and the structural proteins like collagen in the target tissues. Nonthermal vibrational excitation from the fs laser absorption by water and collagen induced the formation of cross-links between tissue proteins on either sides of the weld line resulting in tissue bonding. No extrinsic agents were used to facilitate tissue bonding in the fs LTB. These studies were pursued for the understanding and evaluation of the role of ultrafast NIR fs laser radiation in the LTB and consequent wound healing. The fs LTB can be used for difficult to suture structures such as blood vessels, nerves, gallbladder, liver, intestines, and other viscera. Ultrafast NIR LTB yields promising outcomes and benefits in terms of wound closure and wound healing under optimal conditions.

Probing ultrafast proton induced dynamics in transparent dielectrics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taylor, M.; Coughlan, M.; Nersisyan, G.; Senje, L.; Jung, D.; Currell, F.; Riley, D.; Lewis, C. L. S.; Zepf, M.; Dromey, B.

2018-05-01

A scheme has been developed permitting the spatial and temporal characterisation of ultrafast dynamics induced by laser driven proton bursts in transparent dielectrics. Advantage is taken of the high degree of synchronicity between the proton bursts generated during laser-foil target interactions and the probing laser to provide the basis for streaking of the dynamics. Relaxation times of electrons (<10‑12 s) are measured following swift excitation across the optical band gap for various glass samples. A temporal resolution of <500 fs is achieved demonstrating that these ultrafast dynamics can be characterized on a single-shot basis.

Eternal 5D data storage by ultrafast laser writing in glass

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, J.; ČerkauskaitÄ--, A.; Drevinskas, R.; Patel, A.; Beresna, M.; Kazansky, P. G.

2016-03-01

Securely storing large amounts of information over relatively short timescales of 100 years, comparable to the span of the human memory, is a challenging problem. Conventional optical data storage technology used in CDs and DVDs has reached capacities of hundreds of gigabits per square inch, but its lifetime is limited to a decade. DNA based data storage can hold hundreds of terabytes per gram, but the durability is limited. The major challenge is the lack of appropriate combination of storage technology and medium possessing the advantages of both high capacity and long lifetime. The recording and retrieval of the digital data with a nearly unlimited lifetime was implemented by femtosecond laser nanostructuring of fused quartz. The storage allows unprecedented properties including hundreds of terabytes per disc data capacity, thermal stability up to 1000 °C, and virtually unlimited lifetime at room temperature opening a new era of eternal data archiving.

Operation of Ho:YAG ultrafast laser inscribed waveguide lasers.

PubMed

McDaniel, Sean; Thorburn, Fiona; Lancaster, Adam; Stites, Ronald; Cook, Gary; Kar, Ajoy

2017-04-20

We report fabrication and operation of multi-watt level waveguide lasers utilizing holmium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Ho:YAG). The waveguides were fabricated using ultrafast laser inscription, which relies on a chirped pulse ytterbium fiber laser to create depressed cladding structures inside the material. A variety of waveguides were created inside the Ho:YAG samples. We demonstrate output powers of ∼2  W from both a single-mode 50 μm waveguide laser and a multimode 80 μm waveguide laser. In addition, laser action from a co-doped Yb:Ho:YAG sample under in-band pumping conditions was demonstrated.

Optical laser systems at the Linac Coherent Light Source

DOE PAGES

Minitti, Michael P.; Robinson, Joseph S.; Coffee, Ryan N.; ...

2015-04-22

Ultrafast optical lasers play an essential role in exploiting the unique capabilities of recently commissioned X-ray free-electron laser facilities such as the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS). Pump–probe experimental techniques reveal ultrafast dynamics in atomic and molecular processes and reveal new insights in chemistry, biology, material science and high-energy-density physics. This manuscript describes the laser systems and experimental methods that enable cutting-edge optical laser/X-ray pump–probe experiments to be performed at LCLS.

Morphological changes in ultrafast laser ablation plumes with varying spot size.

PubMed

Harilal, S S; Diwakar, P K; Polek, M P; Phillips, M C

2015-06-15

We investigated the role of spot size on plume morphology during ultrafast laser ablation of metal targets. Our results show that the spatial features of fs LA plumes are strongly dependent on the focal spot size. Two-dimensional self-emission images showed that the shape of the ultrafast laser ablation plumes changes from spherical to cylindrical with an increasing spot size from 100 to 600 μm. The changes in plume morphology and internal structures are related to ion emission dynamics from the plasma, where broader angular ion distribution and faster ions are noticed for the smallest spot size used. The present results clearly show that the morphological changes in the plume with spot size are independent of laser pulse width.

Ultrafast Phenomena XIV

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kobayashi, Takayoshi; Okada, Tadashi; Kobayashi, Tetsuro; Nelson, Keith A.; de Silvestri, Sandro

Ultrafast Phenomena XIV presents the latest advances in ultrafast science, including ultrafast laser and measurement technology as well as studies of ultrafast phenomena. Pico-, femto-, and atosecond processes relevant in physics, chemistry, biology, and engineering are presented. Ultrafast technology is now having a profound impact within a wide range of applications, among them imaging, material diagnostics, and transformation and high-speed optoelectronics . This book summarizes results presented at the 14th Ultrafast Phenomena Conference and reviews the state of the art in this important and rapidly advancing field.

Multiphoton microscopy in every lab: the promise of ultrafast semiconductor disk lasers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Emaury, Florian; Voigt, Fabian F.; Bethge, Philipp; Waldburger, Dominik; Link, Sandro M.; Carta, Stefano; van der Bourg, Alexander; Helmchen, Fritjof; Keller, Ursula

2017-07-01

We use an ultrafast diode-pumped semiconductor disk laser (SDL) to demonstrate several applications in multiphoton microscopy. The ultrafast SDL is based on an optically pumped Vertical External Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VECSEL) passively mode-locked with a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) and generates 170-fs pulses at a center wavelength of 1027 nm with a repetition rate of 1.63 GHz. We demonstrate the suitability of this laser for structural and functional multiphoton in vivo imaging in both Drosophila larvae and mice for a variety of fluorophores (including mKate2, tdTomato, Texas Red, OGB-1, and R-CaMP1.07) and for endogenous second-harmonic generation in muscle cell sarcomeres. We can demonstrate equivalent signal levels compared to a standard 80-MHz Ti:Sapphire laser when we increase the average power by a factor of 4.5 as predicted by theory. In addition, we compare the bleaching properties of both laser systems in fixed Drosophila larvae and find similar bleaching kinetics despite the large difference in pulse repetition rates. Our results highlight the great potential of ultrafast diode-pumped SDLs for creating a cost-efficient and compact alternative light source compared to standard Ti:Sapphire lasers for multiphoton imaging.

Engineering model for ultrafast laser microprocessing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Audouard, E.; Mottay, E.

2016-03-01

Ultrafast laser micro-machining relies on complex laser-matter interaction processes, leading to a virtually athermal laser ablation. The development of industrial ultrafast laser applications benefits from a better understanding of these processes. To this end, a number of sophisticated scientific models have been developed, providing valuable insights in the physics of the interaction. Yet, from an engineering point of view, they are often difficult to use, and require a number of adjustable parameters. We present a simple engineering model for ultrafast laser processing, applied in various real life applications: percussion drilling, line engraving, and non normal incidence trepanning. The model requires only two global parameters. Analytical results are derived for single pulse percussion drilling or simple pass engraving. Simple assumptions allow to predict the effect of non normal incident beams to obtain key parameters for trepanning drilling. The model is compared to experimental data on stainless steel with a wide range of laser characteristics (time duration, repetition rate, pulse energy) and machining conditions (sample or beam speed). Ablation depth and volume ablation rate are modeled for pulse durations from 100 fs to 1 ps. Trepanning time of 5.4 s with a conicity of 0.15° is obtained for a hole of 900 μm depth and 100 μm diameter.

The indispensable role of the transversal spin fluctuations mechanism in laser-induced demagnetization of Co/Pt multilayers with nanoscale magnetic domains.

PubMed

Zhang, Wei; He, Wei; Peng, Li-Cong; Zhang, Ying; Cai, Jian-Wang; Evans, Richard F L; Zhang, Xiang-Qun; Cheng, Zhao-Hua

2018-07-06

The switching of magnetic domains induced by an ultrashort laser pulse has been demonstrated in nanostructured ferromagnetic films. This leads to the dawn of a new era in breaking the ultimate physical limit for the speed of magnetic switching and manipulation, which is relevant to current and future information storage. However, our understanding of the interactions between light and spins in magnetic heterostructures with nanoscale domain structures is still lacking. Here, both time-resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect experiments and atomistic simulations are carried out to investigate the dominant mechanism of laser-induced ultrafast demagnetization in [Co/Pt] 20 multilayers with nanoscale magnetic domains. It is found that the ultrafast demagnetization time remains constant with various magnetic configurations, indicating that the domain structures play a minor role in laser-induced ultrafast demagnetization. In addition, both in experiment and atomistic simulations, we find a dependence of ultrafast demagnetization time τ M on the laser fluence, which is in contrast to the observations of spin transport within magnetic domains. The remarkable agreement between experiment and atomistic simulations indicates that the local dissipation of spin angular momentum is the dominant demagnetization mechanism in this system. More interestingly, we made a comparison between the atomistic spin dynamic simulation and the longitudinal spin flip model, highlighting that the transversal spin fluctuations mechanism is responsible for the ultrafast demagnetization in the case of inhomogeneous magnetic structures. This is a significant advance in clarifying the microscopic mechanism underlying the process of ultrafast demagnetization in inhomogeneous magnetic structures.

Quantum simulation of ultrafast dynamics using trapped ultracold atoms.

PubMed

Senaratne, Ruwan; Rajagopal, Shankari V; Shimasaki, Toshihiko; Dotti, Peter E; Fujiwara, Kurt M; Singh, Kevin; Geiger, Zachary A; Weld, David M

2018-05-25

Ultrafast electronic dynamics are typically studied using pulsed lasers. Here we demonstrate a complementary experimental approach: quantum simulation of ultrafast dynamics using trapped ultracold atoms. Counter-intuitively, this technique emulates some of the fastest processes in atomic physics with some of the slowest, leading to a temporal magnification factor of up to 12 orders of magnitude. In these experiments, time-varying forces on neutral atoms in the ground state of a tunable optical trap emulate the electric fields of a pulsed laser acting on bound charged particles. We demonstrate the correspondence with ultrafast science by a sequence of experiments: nonlinear spectroscopy of a many-body bound state, control of the excitation spectrum by potential shaping, observation of sub-cycle unbinding dynamics during strong few-cycle pulses, and direct measurement of carrier-envelope phase dependence of the response to an ultrafast-equivalent pulse. These results establish cold-atom quantum simulation as a complementary tool for studying ultrafast dynamics.

Compression of Ultrafast Laser Beams

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-03-01

Copyright 2003, AIP Publishing LLC. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.1611998.) When designing the pulse shaper, the laser beam must completely fill the...for the design of future versions of this device. The easiest way to align the pulse shaper is to use the laser beam that will be shaped, without...Afterward, an ultrafast thin beam splitter is placed into the system after the diameter of the laser beam is reduced; this is done to monitor the beam

Plasma Heating and Ultrafast Semiconductor Laser Modulation Through a Terahertz Heating Field

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Li, Jian-Zhong; Ning, C. Z.

2000-01-01

Electron-hole plasma heating and ultrafast modulation in a semiconductor laser under a terahertz electrical field are investigated using a set of hydrodynamic equations derived from the semiconductor Bloch equations. The self-consistent treatment of lasing and heating processes leads to the prediction of a strong saturation and degradation of modulation depth even at moderate terahertz field intensity. This saturation places a severe limit to bandwidth achievable with such scheme in ultrafast modulation. Strategies for increasing modulation depth are discussed.

Ultrafast laser induced periodic sub-wavelength aluminum surface structures and nanoparticles in air and liquids

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kuladeep, Rajamudili; Dar, Mudasir H.; Rao, D. Narayana, E-mail: dnrsp@uohyd.ac.in, E-mail: dnr-laserlab@yahoo.com

2014-09-21

In this communication, we demonstrate the generation of laser-induced periodic sub-wavelength surface structures (LIPSS) or ripples on a bulk aluminum (Al) and Al nanoparticles (NPs) by femtosecond (fs) laser direct writing technique. Laser irradiation was performed on Al surface at normal incidence in air and by immersing in ethanol (C₂H₅OH) and water (H₂O) using linearly polarized Ti:sapphire fs laser pulses of ~110 fs pulse duration and ~800 nm wavelength. Field emission scanning electron microscope is utilized for imaging surface morphology of laser written structures and it reveals that the spatial periodicity as well as the surface morphology of the LIPSSmore » depends on the surrounding dielectric medium and also on the various laser irradiation parameters. The observed LIPSS have been classified as low spatial frequency LIPSS which are perpendicularly oriented to the laser polarization with a periodicity from 460 to 620 nm and high spatial frequency LIPSS which spectacles a periodicity less than 100 nm with the orientation parallel to the polarization of the incident laser beam. Fabricated colloidal solutions, which contain the Al NPs, were characterized by UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). TEM results reveal the formation of internal cavities in Al NPs both in ethanol and water. Formation mechanism of LIPSS and cavities inside the nanoparticles are discussed in detail.« less

Multiscale 3D manufacturing: combining thermal extrusion printing with additive and subtractive direct laser writing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Malinauskas, Mangirdas; Lukoševičius, Laurynas; MackevičiÅ«tÄ--, DovilÄ--; BalčiÅ«nas, Evaldas; RekštytÄ--, Sima; Paipulas, Domas

2014-05-01

A novel approach for efficient manufacturing of three-dimensional (3D) microstructured scaffolds designed for cell studies and tissue engineering applications is presented. A thermal extrusion (fused filament fabrication) 3D printer is employed as a simple and low-cost tabletop device enabling rapid materialization of CAD models out of biocompatible and biodegradable polylactic acid (PLA). Here it was used to produce cm- scale microporous (pore size varying from 100 to 400 µm) scaffolds. The fabricated objects were further laser processed in a direct laser writing (DLW) subtractive (ablation) and additive (lithography) manners. The first approach enables precise surface modification by creating micro-craters, holes and grooves thus increasing the surface roughness. An alternative way is to immerse the 3D PLA scaffold in a monomer solution and use the same DLW setup to refine its inner structure by fabricating dots, lines or a fine mesh on top as well as inside the pores of previously produced scaffolds. The DLW technique is empowered by ultrafast lasers - it allows 3D structuring with high spatial resolution in a great variety of photosensitive materials. Structure geometry on macro- to micro- scales could be finely tuned by combining these two fabrication techniques. Such artificial 3D substrates could be used for cell growth or as biocompatible-biodegradable implants. This combination of distinct material processing techniques enables rapid fabrication of diverse functional micro- featured and integrated devices. Hopefully, the proposed approach will find numerous applications in the field of ms, microfluidics, microoptics and many others.

Morphological changes in ultrafast laser ablation plumes with varying spot size

DOE PAGES

Harilal, S. S.; Diwakar, P. K.; Polek, M. P.; ...

2015-06-04

We investigated the role of spot size on plume morphology during ultrafast laser ablation of metal targets. Our results show that the spatial features of fs LA plumes are strongly dependent on the focal spot size. Two-dimensional self-emission images showed that the shape of the ultrafast laser ablation plumes changes from spherical to cylindrical with an increasing spot size from 100 to 600 μm. The changes in plume morphology and internal structures are related to ion emission dynamics from the plasma, where broader angular ion distribution and faster ions are noticed for the smallest spot size used. The present resultsmore » clearly show that the morphological changes in the plume with spot size are independent of laser pulse width.« less

Dynamic trapping of a polarization rotation vector soliton in a fiber laser.

PubMed

Liu, Meng; Luo, Ai-Ping; Luo, Zhi-Chao; Xu, Wen-Cheng

2017-01-15

Ultrafast fiber laser, as a dissipative nonlinear optical system, plays an important role in investigating various nonlinear phenomena and soliton dynamics. Vector features of solitons, including polarization locked and polarization rotation vector solitons (PRVSs), are interesting nonlinear dynamics in ultrafast fiber lasers. Herein, we experimentally reveal the trapping characteristics of PRVSs for the first time, to the best of our best knowledge. We show that, for the conventional soliton trapping in the ultrafast fiber laser, the soliton central wavelengths of the two polarization components are constant at the laser output port. However, it is found that the dynamic trapping can be observed for the PRVS. That is, the peak frequencies along the two orthogonal polarization directions are dynamically alternating, depending on the relative intensities of the two polarization components. The obtained results would further unveil the physical mechanism of PRVSs.

Characterization of Ultrafast Laser Pulses using a Low-dispersion Frequency Resolved Optical Grating Spectrometer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Whitelock, Hope; Bishop, Michael; Khosravi, Soroush; Obaid, Razib; Berrah, Nora

2016-05-01

A low dispersion frequency-resolved optical gating (FROG) spectrometer was designed to characterize ultrashort (<50 femtosecond) laser pulses from a commercial regenerative amplifier, optical parametric amplifier, and a home-built non-colinear optical parametric amplifier. This instrument splits a laser pulse into two replicas with a 90:10 intensity ratio using a thin pellicle beam-splitter and then recombines the pulses in a birefringent medium. The instrument detects a wavelength-sensitive change in polarization of the weak probe pulse in the presence of the stronger pump pulse inside the birefringent medium. Scanning the time delay between the two pulses and acquiring spectra allows for characterization of the frequency and time content of ultrafast laser pulses, that is needed for interpretation of experimental results obtained from these ultrafast laser systems. Funded by the DoE-BES, Grant No. DE-SC0012376.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bates, Robert; McConnell, Elizabeth

Machining methods across many industries generally require multiple operations to machine and process advanced materials, features with micron precision, and complex shapes. The resulting multiple machining platforms can significantly affect manufacturing cycle time and the precision of the final parts, with a resultant increase in cost and energy consumption. Ultrafast lasers represent a transformative and disruptive technology that removes material with micron precision and in a single step manufacturing process. Such precision results from athermal ablation without modification or damage to the remaining material which is the key differentiator between ultrafast laser technologies and traditional laser technologies or mechanical processes.more » Athermal ablation without modification or damage to the material eliminates post-processing or multiple manufacturing steps. Combined with the appropriate technology to control the motion of the work piece, ultrafast lasers are excellent candidates to provide breakthrough machining capability for difficult-to-machine materials. At the project onset in early 2012, the project team recognized that substantial effort was necessary to improve the application of ultrafast laser and precise motion control technologies (for micromachining difficult-to-machine materials) to further the aggregate throughput and yield improvements over conventional machining methods. The project described in this report advanced these leading-edge technologies thru the development and verification of two platforms: a hybrid enhanced laser chassis and a multi-application testbed.« less

The effect of ultrafast fiber laser application on the bond strength of resin cement to titanium.

PubMed

Ates, Sabit Melih; Korkmaz, Fatih Mehmet; Caglar, Ipek Satıroglu; Duymus, Zeynep Yeşil; Turgut, Sedanur; Bagis, Elif Arslan

2017-07-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of ultrafast fiber laser treatment on the bond strength between titanium and resin cement. A total of 60 pure titanium discs (15 mm × 2 mm) were divided into six test groups (n = 10) according to the surface treatment used: group (1) control, machining; group (2) grinding with a diamond bur; group (3) ultrafast fiber laser application; group (4) resorbable blast media (RBM) application; group (5) electro-erosion with copper; and group (6) sandblasting. After surface treatments, resin cements were applied to the treated titanium surfaces. Shear bond strength testing of the samples was performed with a universal testing machine after storing in distilled water at 37 °C for 24 h. One-way ANOVA and Tukey's HSD post hoc test were used to analyse the data (P < 0.05). The highest bond strength values were observed in the laser application group, while the lowest values were observed in the grinding group. Sandblasting and laser application resulted in significantly higher bond strengths than control treatment (P < 0.05). Ultrafast fiber laser treatment and sandblasting may improve the bond strength between resin cement and titanium.

Carbon Nanotubes as an Ultrafast Emitter with a Narrow Energy Spread at Optical Frequency.

PubMed

Li, Chi; Zhou, Xu; Zhai, Feng; Li, Zhenjun; Yao, Fengrui; Qiao, Ruixi; Chen, Ke; Cole, Matthew Thomas; Yu, Dapeng; Sun, Zhipei; Liu, Kaihui; Dai, Qing

2017-08-01

Ultrafast electron pulses, combined with laser-pump and electron-probe technologies, allow ultrafast dynamics to be characterized in materials. However, the pursuit of simultaneous ultimate spatial and temporal resolution of microscopy and spectroscopy is largely subdued by the low monochromaticity of the electron pulses and their poor phase synchronization to the optical excitation pulses. Field-driven photoemission from metal tips provides high light-phase synchronization, but suffers large electron energy spreads (3-100 eV) as driven by a long wavelength laser (>800 nm). Here, ultrafast electron emission from carbon nanotubes (≈1 nm radius) excited by a 410 nm femtosecond laser is realized in the field-driven regime. In addition, the emitted electrons have great monochromaticity with energy spread as low as 0.25 eV. This great performance benefits from the extraordinarily high field enhancement and great stability of carbon nanotubes, superior to metal tips. The new nanotube-based ultrafast electron source opens exciting prospects for extending current characterization to sub-femtosecond temporal resolution as well as sub-nanometer spatial resolution. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Unraveling shock-induced chemistry using ultrafast lasers

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Moore, David Steven

The exquisite time synchronicity between shock and diagnostics needed to unravel chemical events occurring in picoseconds has been achieved using a shaped ultrafast laser pulse to both drive the shocks and interrogate the sample via a multiplicity of optical diagnostics. The shaped laser drive pulse can produce well-controlled shock states of sub-ns duration with sub-10 ps risetimes, sufficient for investigation offast reactions or phase transformations in a thin layer with picosecond time resolution. The shock state is characterized using ultrafast dynamic ellipsometry (UDE) in either planar or Gaussian spatial geometries, the latter allowing measurements of the equation of state ofmore » materials at a range of stresses in a single laser pulse. Time-resolved processes in materials are being interrogated using UDE, ultrafast infrared absorption, ultrafast UV/visible absorption, and femtosecond stimulated Raman spectroscopy. Using these tools we showed that chemistry in an energetic thin film starts only after an induction time of a few tens of ps, an observation that allows differentiation between proposed shock-induced reaction mechanisms. These tools are presently being applied to a variety of energetic and reactive sample systems, from nitromethane and carbon disulfide, to microengineered interfaces in tunable energetic mixtures. Recent results will be presented, and future trends outlined.« less

Versatile multi-wavelength ultrafast fiber laser mode-locked by carbon nanotubes

PubMed Central

Liu, Xueming; Han, Dongdong; Sun, Zhipei; Zeng, Chao; Lu, Hua; Mao, Dong; Cui, Yudong; Wang, Fengqiu

2013-01-01

Multi-wavelength lasers have widespread applications (e.g. fiber telecommunications, pump-probe measurements, terahertz generation). Here, we report a nanotube-mode-locked all-fiber ultrafast oscillator emitting three wavelengths at the central wavelengths of about 1540, 1550, and 1560 nm, which are tunable by stretching fiber Bragg gratings. The output pulse duration is around 6 ps with a spectral width of ~0.5 nm, agreeing well with the numerical simulations. The triple-laser system is controlled precisely and insensitive to environmental perturbations with <0.04% amplitude fluctuation. Our method provides a simple, stable, low-cost, multi-wavelength ultrafast-pulsed source for spectroscopy, biomedical research and telecommunications. PMID:24056500

Ultrafast strong-field photoelectron emission from biased metal surfaces: exact solution to time-dependent Schrödinger Equation

PubMed Central

Zhang, Peng; Lau, Y. Y.

2016-01-01

Laser-driven ultrafast electron emission offers the possibility of manipulation and control of coherent electron motion in ultrashort spatiotemporal scales. Here, an analytical solution is constructed for the highly nonlinear electron emission from a dc biased metal surface illuminated by a single frequency laser, by solving the time-dependent Schrödinger equation exactly. The solution is valid for arbitrary combinations of dc electric field, laser electric field, laser frequency, metal work function and Fermi level. Various emission mechanisms, such as multiphoton absorption or emission, optical or dc field emission, are all included in this single formulation. The transition between different emission processes is analyzed in detail. The time-dependent emission current reveals that intense current modulation may be possible even with a low intensity laser, by merely increasing the applied dc bias. The results provide insights into the electron pulse generation and manipulation for many novel applications based on ultrafast laser-induced electron emission. PMID:26818710

Phase transformation pathways of ultrafast-laser-irradiated Ln2O3 (Ln =Er -Lu )

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rittman, Dylan R.; Tracy, Cameron L.; Chen, Chien-Hung; Solomon, Jonathan M.; Asta, Mark; Mao, Wendy L.; Yalisove, Steven M.; Ewing, Rodney C.

2018-01-01

Ultrafast laser irradiation causes intense electronic excitations in materials, leading to transient high temperatures and pressures. Here, we show that ultrafast laser irradiation drives an irreversible cubic-to-monoclinic phase transformation in Ln2O3 (Ln =Er -Lu ), and explore the mechanism by which the phase transformation occurs. A combination of grazing incidence x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy are used to determine the magnitude and depth-dependence of the phase transformation, respectively. Although all compositions undergo the same transformation, their transformation mechanisms differ. The transformation is pressure-driven for Ln =Tm -Lu , consistent with the material's phase behavior under equilibrium conditions. However, the transformation is thermally driven for Ln =Er , revealing that the nonequilibrium conditions of ultrafast laser irradiation can lead to novel transformation pathways. Ab initio molecular-dynamics simulations are used to examine the atomic-scale effects of electronic excitation, showing the production of oxygen Frenkel pairs and the migration of interstitial oxygen to tetrahedrally coordinated constitutional vacancy sites, the first step in a defect-driven phase transformation.

Phase transformation pathways of ultrafast-laser-irradiated Ln 2 O 3 ( Ln = Er – Lu )

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rittman, Dylan R.; Tracy, Cameron L.; Chen, Chien-Hung

Ultrafast laser irradiation causes intense electronic excitations in materials, leading to transient high temperatures and pressures. Here, we show that ultrafast laser irradiation drives an irreversible cubic-to-monoclinic phase transformation in Ln 2O 3 ( Ln = Er – Lu ) , and explore the mechanism by which the phase transformation occurs. A combination of grazing incidence x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy are used to determine the magnitude and depth-dependence of the phase transformation, respectively. Although all compositions undergo the same transformation, their transformation mechanisms differ. The transformation is pressure-driven for Ln = Tm – Lu , consistent with themore » material's phase behavior under equilibrium conditions. However, the transformation is thermally driven for Ln = Er , revealing that the nonequilibrium conditions of ultrafast laser irradiation can lead to novel transformation pathways. Ab initio molecular-dynamics simulations are used to examine the atomic-scale effects of electronic excitation, showing the production of oxygen Frenkel pairs and the migration of interstitial oxygen to tetrahedrally coordinated constitutional vacancy sites, the first step in a defect-driven phase transformation.« less

Phase transformation pathways of ultrafast-laser-irradiated Ln 2 O 3 ( Ln = Er – Lu )

DOE PAGES

Rittman, Dylan R.; Tracy, Cameron L.; Chen, Chien-Hung; ...

2018-01-10

Ultrafast laser irradiation causes intense electronic excitations in materials, leading to transient high temperatures and pressures. Here, we show that ultrafast laser irradiation drives an irreversible cubic-to-monoclinic phase transformation in Ln 2O 3 ( Ln = Er – Lu ) , and explore the mechanism by which the phase transformation occurs. A combination of grazing incidence x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy are used to determine the magnitude and depth-dependence of the phase transformation, respectively. Although all compositions undergo the same transformation, their transformation mechanisms differ. The transformation is pressure-driven for Ln = Tm – Lu , consistent with themore » material's phase behavior under equilibrium conditions. However, the transformation is thermally driven for Ln = Er , revealing that the nonequilibrium conditions of ultrafast laser irradiation can lead to novel transformation pathways. Ab initio molecular-dynamics simulations are used to examine the atomic-scale effects of electronic excitation, showing the production of oxygen Frenkel pairs and the migration of interstitial oxygen to tetrahedrally coordinated constitutional vacancy sites, the first step in a defect-driven phase transformation.« less

Femtosecond laser melting of silver nanoparticles: comparison of model simulations and experimental results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheng, Chung-Wei; Chang, Chin-Lun; Chen, Jinn-Kuen; Wang, Ben

2018-05-01

Ultrafast laser-induced melting of silver nanoparticles (NPs) using a femtosecond laser pulse is investigated both theoretically and experimentally. The sintered Ag structure fabricated from printed Ag NP ink using femtosecond laser (1064 nm, 300 fs) irradiation is experimentally studied. A two-temperature model with dynamic optical properties and particle size effects on the melting temperature of Ag NPs is considered. The rapid phase change model is incorporated to simulate the Ag NPs' ultrafast laser-induced melting process, and a multi-shot melting threshold fluence predicted from the simulated single-shot melting threshold is developed.

Shaping ultrafast laser inscribed optical waveguides using a deformable mirror.

PubMed

Thomson, R R; Bockelt, A S; Ramsay, E; Beecher, S; Greenaway, A H; Kar, A K; Reid, D T

2008-08-18

We use a two-dimensional deformable mirror to shape the spatial profile of an ultrafast laser beam that is then used to inscribe structures in a soda-lime silica glass slide. By doing so we demonstrate that it is possible to control the asymmetry of the cross section of ultrafast laser inscribed optical waveguides via the curvature of the deformable mirror. When tested using 1.55 mum light, the optimum waveguide exhibited coupling losses of approximately 0.2 dB/facet to Corning SMF-28 single mode fiber and propagation losses of approximately 1.5 dB.cm(-1). This technique promises the possibility of combining rapid processing speeds with the ability to vary the waveguide cross section along its length.

Probing ultrafast changes of spin and charge density profiles with resonant XUV magnetic reflectivity at the free-electron laser FERMI.

PubMed

Gutt, C; Sant, T; Ksenzov, D; Capotondi, F; Pedersoli, E; Raimondi, L; Nikolov, I P; Kiskinova, M; Jaiswal, S; Jakob, G; Kläui, M; Zabel, H; Pietsch, U

2017-09-01

We report the results of resonant magnetic XUV reflectivity experiments performed at the XUV free-electron laser FERMI. Circularly polarized XUV light with the photon energy tuned to the Fe M 2,3 edge is used to measure resonant magnetic reflectivities and the corresponding Q -resolved asymmetry of a Permalloy/Ta/Permalloy trilayer film. The asymmetry exhibits ultrafast changes on 240 fs time scales upon pumping with ultrashort IR laser pulses. Depending on the value of the wavevector transfer Q z , we observe both decreasing and increasing values of the asymmetry parameter, which is attributed to ultrafast changes in the vertical spin and charge density profiles of the trilayer film.

Nonthermal ultrafast optical control of the magnetization in garnet films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hansteen, Fredrik; Kimel, Alexey; Kirilyuk, Andrei; Rasing, Theo

2006-01-01

We demonstrate coherent optical control of the magnetization in ferrimagnetic garnet films on the femtosecond time scale through a combination of two different ultrafast and nonthermal photomagnetic effects and by employing multiple pump pulses. Linearly polarized laser pulses are shown to create a long-lived modification of the magnetocrystalline anisotropy via optically induced electron transfer between nonequivalent ion sites while circularly polarized pulses additionally act as strong transient magnetic field pulses originating from the nonabsorptive inverse Faraday effect. Due to the slow phonon-magnon interaction in these dielectrics, thermal effects of the laser excitation are clearly distinguished from the ultrafast nonthermal effects and can be seen only on the time scale of nanoseconds for sample temperatures near the Curie point. The reported effects open exciting possibilities for ultrafast manipulation of spins by light, and provide insight into the physics of magnetism on ultrafast time scales.

Ultrafast transmission electron microscopy using a laser-driven field emitter: Femtosecond resolution with a high coherence electron beam.

PubMed

Feist, Armin; Bach, Nora; Rubiano da Silva, Nara; Danz, Thomas; Möller, Marcel; Priebe, Katharina E; Domröse, Till; Gatzmann, J Gregor; Rost, Stefan; Schauss, Jakob; Strauch, Stefanie; Bormann, Reiner; Sivis, Murat; Schäfer, Sascha; Ropers, Claus

2017-05-01

We present the development of the first ultrafast transmission electron microscope (UTEM) driven by localized photoemission from a field emitter cathode. We describe the implementation of the instrument, the photoemitter concept and the quantitative electron beam parameters achieved. Establishing a new source for ultrafast TEM, the Göttingen UTEM employs nano-localized linear photoemission from a Schottky emitter, which enables operation with freely tunable temporal structure, from continuous wave to femtosecond pulsed mode. Using this emission mechanism, we achieve record pulse properties in ultrafast electron microscopy of 9Å focused beam diameter, 200fs pulse duration and 0.6eV energy width. We illustrate the possibility to conduct ultrafast imaging, diffraction, holography and spectroscopy with this instrument and also discuss opportunities to harness quantum coherent interactions between intense laser fields and free-electron beams. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Modelling ultrafast laser ablation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rethfeld, Baerbel; Ivanov, Dmitriy S.; E Garcia, Martin; Anisimov, Sergei I.

2017-05-01

This review is devoted to the study of ultrafast laser ablation of solids and liquids. The ablation of condensed matter under exposure to subpicosecond laser pulses has a number of peculiar properties which distinguish this process from ablation induced by nanosecond and longer laser pulses. The process of ultrafast ablation includes light absorption by electrons in the skin layer, energy transfer from the skin layer to target interior by nonlinear electronic heat conduction, relaxation of the electron and ion temperatures, ultrafast melting, hydrodynamic expansion of heated matter accompanied by the formation of metastable states and subsequent formation of breaks in condensed matter. In case of ultrashort laser excitation, these processes are temporally separated and can thus be studied separately. As for energy absorption, we consider peculiarities of the case of metal irradiation in contrast to dielectrics and semiconductors. We discuss the energy dissipation processes of electronic thermal wave and lattice heating. Different types of phase transitions after ultrashort laser pulse irradiation as melting, vaporization or transitions to warm dense matter are discussed. Also nonthermal phase transitions, directly caused by the electronic excitation before considerable lattice heating, are considered. The final material removal occurs from the physical point of view as expansion of heated matter; here we discuss approaches of hydrodynamics, as well as molecular dynamic simulations directly following the atomic movements. Hybrid approaches tracing the dynamics of excited electrons, energy dissipation and structural dynamics in a combined simulation are reviewed as well.

Time of flight emission spectroscopy of laser produced nickel plasma: Short-pulse and ultrafast excitations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Smijesh, N.; Chandrasekharan, K.; Joshi, Jagdish C.

2014-07-07

We report the experimental investigation and comparison of the temporal features of short-pulse (7 ns) and ultrafast (100 fs) laser produced plasmas generated from a solid nickel target, expanding into a nitrogen background. When the ambient pressure is varied in a large range of 10⁻⁶Torr to 10²Torr, the plume intensity is found to increase rapidly as the pressure crosses 1 Torr. Time of flight (TOF) spectroscopy of emission from neutral nickel (Ni I) at 361.9 nm (3d⁹(²D) 4p → 3d⁹(²D) 4s transition) reveals two peaks (fast and slow species) in short-pulse excitation and a single peak in ultrafast excitation. Themore » fast and slow peaks represent recombined neutrals and un-ionized neutrals, respectively. TOF emission from singly ionized nickel (Ni II) studied using the 428.5 nm (3p⁶3d⁸(³P) 4s→ 3p⁶3d⁹ 4s) transition shows only a single peak for either excitation. Velocities of the neutral and ionic species are determined from TOF measurements carried out at different positions (i.e., at distances of 2 mm and 4 mm, respectively, from the target surface) on the plume axis. Measured velocities indicate acceleration of neutrals and ions, which is caused by the Coulomb pull of the electrons enveloping the plume front in the case of ultrafast excitation. Both Coulomb pull and laser-plasma interaction contribute to the acceleration in the case of short-pulse excitation. These investigations provide new information on the pressure dependent temporal behavior of nickel plasmas produced by short-pulse and ultrafast laser pulses, which have potential uses in applications such as pulsed laser deposition and laser-induced nanoparticle generation.« less

Ultrafast all-optical control of the magnetization in magnetic dielectrics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kirilyuk, Andrei; Kimel, Alexey; Hansteen, Fredrik; Rasing, Theo; Pisarev, Roman V.

2006-08-01

The purpose of this review is to summarize the recent progress on laser-induced magnetization dynamics in magnetic dielectrics. Due to the slow phonon-magnon interaction in these materials, direct thermal effects of the laser excitation can only be seen on the time scale of almost a nanosecond and thus are clearly distinguished from the ultrafast nonthermal effects. However, laser pulses are shown to indirectly modify the magnetic anisotropy in rare-earth orthoferrites via the crystal field, and to bring about spin reorientation within a few picoseconds. More interesting, however, are the direct nonthermal effects of light on spin systems. We demonstrate coherent optical control of the magnetization in ferrimagnetic garnet films on a femtosecond time scale through a combination of two different ultrafast and nonthermal photomagnetic effects and by employing multiple pump pulses. Linearly polarized laser pulses are shown to create a long-lived modification of the magnetocrystalline anisotropy via optically induced electron transfer between nonequivalent ion sites. In addition, circularly polarized pulses are shown to act as strong transient magnetic field pulses originating from the nonabsorptive inverse Faraday effect. An all-optical scheme of excitation and detection of different antiferromagnetic resonance modes with frequencies of up to 500GHz will be discussed as well. The reported effects open new and exciting possibilities for ultrafast manipulation of spins by light and provide new insight into the physics of magnetism on ultrafast time scales.

Single-shot Monitoring of Ultrafast Processes via X-ray Streaking at a Free Electron Laser.

PubMed

Buzzi, Michele; Makita, Mikako; Howald, Ludovic; Kleibert, Armin; Vodungbo, Boris; Maldonado, Pablo; Raabe, Jörg; Jaouen, Nicolas; Redlin, Harald; Tiedtke, Kai; Oppeneer, Peter M; David, Christian; Nolting, Frithjof; Lüning, Jan

2017-08-03

The advent of x-ray free electron lasers has extended the unique capabilities of resonant x-ray spectroscopy techniques to ultrafast time scales. Here, we report on a novel experimental method that allows retrieving with a single x-ray pulse the time evolution of an ultrafast process, not only at a few discrete time delays, but continuously over an extended time window. We used a single x-ray pulse to resolve the laser-induced ultrafast demagnetisation dynamics in a thin cobalt film over a time window of about 1.6 ps with an excellent signal to noise ratio. From one representative single shot measurement we extract a spin relaxation time of (130 ± 30) fs with an average value, based on 193 single shot events of (113 ± 20) fs. These results are limited by the achieved experimental time resolution of 120 fs, and both values are in excellent agreement with previous results and theoretical modelling. More generally, this new experimental approach to ultrafast x-ray spectroscopy paves the way to the study of non-repetitive processes that cannot be investigated using traditional repetitive pump-probe schemes.

Capturing Structural Dynamics in Crystalline Silicon Using Chirped Electrons from a Laser Wakefield Accelerator

PubMed Central

He, Z.-H.; Beaurepaire, B.; Nees, J. A.; Gallé, G.; Scott, S. A.; Pérez, J. R. Sánchez; Lagally, M. G.; Krushelnick, K.; Thomas, A. G. R.; Faure, J.

2016-01-01

Recent progress in laser wakefield acceleration has led to the emergence of a new generation of electron and X-ray sources that may have enormous benefits for ultrafast science. These novel sources promise to become indispensable tools for the investigation of structural dynamics on the femtosecond time scale, with spatial resolution on the atomic scale. Here, we demonstrate the use of laser-wakefield-accelerated electron bunches for time-resolved electron diffraction measurements of the structural dynamics of single-crystal silicon nano-membranes pumped by an ultrafast laser pulse. In our proof-of-concept study, we resolve the silicon lattice dynamics on a picosecond time scale by deflecting the momentum-time correlated electrons in the diffraction peaks with a static magnetic field to obtain the time-dependent diffraction efficiency. Further improvements may lead to femtosecond temporal resolution, with negligible pump-probe jitter being possible with future laser-wakefield-accelerator ultrafast-electron-diffraction schemes. PMID:27824086

Capturing Structural Dynamics in Crystalline Silicon Using Chirped Electrons from a Laser Wakefield Accelerator

DOE PAGES

He, Z. -H.; Beaurepaire, B.; Nees, J. A.; ...

2016-11-08

Recent progress in laser wakefield acceleration has led to the emergence of a new generation of electron and X-ray sources that may have enormous benefits for ultrafast science. These novel sources promise to become indispensable tools for the investigation of structural dynamics on the femtosecond time scale, with spatial resolution on the atomic scale. Here in this paper, we demonstrate the use of laser-wakefield-accelerated electron bunches for time-resolved electron diffraction measurements of the structural dynamics of single-crystal silicon nano-membranes pumped by an ultrafast laser pulse. In our proof-of-concept study, we resolve the silicon lattice dynamics on a picosecond time scalemore » by deflecting the momentum-time correlated electrons in the diffraction peaks with a static magnetic field to obtain the time-dependent diffraction efficiency. Further improvements may lead to femtosecond temporal resolution, with negligible pump-probe jitter being possible with future laser-wakefield-accelerator ultrafast-electron-diffraction schemes.« less

PREFACE: Ultrafast biophotonics Ultrafast biophotonics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gu, Min; Reid, Derryck; Ben-Yakar, Adela

2010-08-01

The use of light to explore biology can be traced to the first observations of tissue made with early microscopes in the mid-seventeenth century, and has today evolved into the discipline which we now know as biophotonics. This field encompasses a diverse range of activities, each of which shares the common theme of exploiting the interaction of light with biological material. With the rapid advancement of ultrafast optical technologies over the last few decades, ultrafast lasers have increasingly found applications in biophotonics, to the extent that the distinctive new field of ultrafast biophotonics has now emerged, where robust turnkey ultrafast laser systems are facilitating cutting-edge studies in the life sciences to take place in everyday laboratories. The broad spectral bandwidths, precision timing resolution, low coherence and high peak powers of ultrafast optical pulses provide unique opportunities for imaging and manipulating biological systems. Time-resolved studies of bio-molecular dynamics exploit the short pulse durations from such lasers, while other applications such as optical coherence tomography benefit from the broad optical bandwidths possible by using super-continuum generation and additionally allowing for high speed imaging with speeds as high as 47 000 scans per second. Continuing progress in laser-system technology is accelerating the adoption of ultrafast techniques across the life sciences, both in research laboratories and in clinical applications, such as laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) eye surgery. Revolutionizing the field of optical microscopy, two-photon excitation fluorescence (TPEF) microscopy has enabled higher spatial resolution with improved depth penetration into biological specimens. Advantages of this nonlinear optical process include: reduced photo-interactions, allowing for extensive imaging time periods; simultaneously exciting multiple fluorescent molecules with only one excitation wavelength; and reduced chromatic aberration effects. These extensive advantages have led to further exploration of nonlinear processes including second-harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy and third-harmonic generation (THG) microscopy. Second-harmonic generation has provided biologists with an extremely powerful tool for generating contrast in biological imaging, with the additional benefit of non-invasive three-dimensional imaging. The recent popularity of THG microscopy is largely due to the fact that three-dimensional imaging is achievable without the need for any labels, but rather relying on the intrinsic properties of the biological specimen itself. This optical nonlinear technique has attracted much attention recently from the biological community due to its non-invasive capabilities. Users of ultrafast lasers in the biological and medical fields are becoming a fast-growing community, employing pulse-shaping microscopy, resolution-enhancing microscopy techniques, linear and nonlinear micro-spectroscopy, functional deep-tissue imaging, optical coherence tomography, nonlinear fluorescence microscopy, molecular imaging and control, harmonic microscopy and femtosecond lifetime imaging, for cutting-edge research concerning the interaction of light with biological dynamics. The adaptability of ultrafast lasers to interact with a large array of materials through nonlinear excitation has enabled precise control of laser fluence allowing for highly localized material interactions, permitting micro-structured fabricated surfaces. The resultant multi-dimensional fabricated micro-structures are capable of replicating and/or manipulating microenvironments for controlled cell biology. In this special issue of Journal of Optics readers have a chance to view a collection of new contributions to the growing research field of ultrafast biophotonics. They are presented with recent advances in ultrafast technology applied to biological and medical investigations, where topics include advances in the visualization and identification of photo-reaction dynamics of biological functions under relevant physiological conditions, theoretically proposed imaging designs for obtaining super-resolved optical sectioned images in single exposures and fabricated micro-structured surfaces for biological micro-environments. We hope the collection will stimulate innovative new research in this growing field by showcasing new techniques for the visualization and manipulation of complex biological systems using linear and and nonlinear optical processes. Professor Min Gu would like to acknowledge Dr Betty Kouskousis for her contribution and support towards this editorial.

Power scaling of ultrafast laser inscribed waveguide lasers in chromium and iron doped zinc selenide.

PubMed

McDaniel, Sean A; Lancaster, Adam; Evans, Jonathan W; Kar, Ajoy K; Cook, Gary

2016-02-22

We report demonstration of Watt level waveguide lasers fabricated using Ultrafast Laser Inscription (ULI). The waveguides were fabricated in bulk chromium and iron doped zinc selenide crystals with a chirped pulse Yb fiber laser. The depressed cladding structure in Fe:ZnSe produced output powers of 1 W with a threshold of 50 mW and a slope efficiency of 58%, while a similar structure produced 5.1 W of output in Cr:ZnSe with a laser threshold of 350 mW and a slope efficiency of 41%. These results represent the current state-of-the-art for ULI waveguides in zinc based chalcogenides.

Pump-probe imaging of laser-induced periodic surface structures after ultrafast irradiation of Si

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Murphy, Ryan D.; Torralva, Ben; Adams, David P.

2013-09-30

Ultrafast pump-probe microscopy has been used to investigate laser-induced periodic surface structure (LIPSS) formation on polished Si surfaces. A crater forms on the surface after irradiation by a 150 fs laser pulse, and a second, subsequent pulse forms LIPSS within the crater. Sequentially delayed images show that LIPSS with a periodicity slightly less than the fundamental laser wavelength of 780 nm appear on Si surfaces ∼50 ps after arrival of the second pump laser pulse, well after the onset of melting. LIPSS are observed on the same timescale as material removal, suggesting that their formation involves material ejection.

Generation of an ultrafast femtosecond soliton fiber laser by carbon nanotube as saturable absorber

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salim, M. A. M.; Ahmad, H.; Harun, S. W.; Bidin, N.; Krishnan, G.

2018-05-01

This paper reports the demonstration of ultrafast fiber laser in a simple erbium-doped fiber (EDF) laser that employed a carbon nanotube (CNT) thin film saturable absorber (SA) to generate a stable soliton pulse. The repetition rate of 10.8 MHz pulse consistently achieved has narrowest pulse width of 640 fs and 1555.78 nm central wavelength for an hour operation in room temperature. This proposed setup has the capability for reliable and stable system features.

Perspective: Opportunities for ultrafast science at SwissFEL

PubMed Central

Abela, Rafael; Beaud, Paul; van Bokhoven, Jeroen A.; Chergui, Majed; Feurer, Thomas; Haase, Johannes; Ingold, Gerhard; Johnson, Steven L.; Knopp, Gregor; Lemke, Henrik; Milne, Chris J.; Pedrini, Bill; Radi, Peter; Schertler, Gebhard; Standfuss, Jörg; Staub, Urs; Patthey, Luc

2018-01-01

We present the main specifications of the newly constructed Swiss Free Electron Laser, SwissFEL, and explore its potential impact on ultrafast science. In light of recent achievements at current X-ray free electron lasers, we discuss the potential territory for new scientific breakthroughs offered by SwissFEL in Chemistry, Biology, and Materials Science, as well as nonlinear X-ray science. PMID:29376109

Optimal and robust control of quantum state transfer by shaping the spectral phase of ultrafast laser pulses.

PubMed

Guo, Yu; Dong, Daoyi; Shu, Chuan-Cun

2018-04-04

Achieving fast and efficient quantum state transfer is a fundamental task in physics, chemistry and quantum information science. However, the successful implementation of the perfect quantum state transfer also requires robustness under practically inevitable perturbative defects. Here, we demonstrate how an optimal and robust quantum state transfer can be achieved by shaping the spectral phase of an ultrafast laser pulse in the framework of frequency domain quantum optimal control theory. Our numerical simulations of the single dibenzoterrylene molecule as well as in atomic rubidium show that optimal and robust quantum state transfer via spectral phase modulated laser pulses can be achieved by incorporating a filtering function of the frequency into the optimization algorithm, which in turn has potential applications for ultrafast robust control of photochemical reactions.

3D microstructuring inside glass by ultrafast laser

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sugioka, Koji; Hanada, Yasutaka; Midorikawa, Katsumi; Kawano, Hiroyuki; Ishikawa, Ikuko S.; Miyawaki, Atsushi

2012-01-01

We demonstrate three-dimensional (3D) microstructuring inside glass by ultrafast laser to fabricate microfluidic chips integrated with some functional microcomponents such as optical attenuators and optical waveguides. The fabricated microchips are applied to understand phenomena and functions of microorganisms and cyanobacteria. Ultrafast laser irradiation followed by thermal treatment and wet etching in dilute hydrofluoric acid solution resulted in fabrication of 3D microfludic structures embedded in a photosensitive glass. The embedded microfludic structures enabled us to easily and efficiently observe Phormidium gliding to the seedling root, which accelerates growth of the vegetable. In addition, integration of optical attenuators and optical waveguides into the microfluidic structures clarified the mechanism of the gliding movement of Phormidium. We termed such integrated microchips nanoaquariums, realizing the highly efficient and functional observation and analysis of various microorganisms.

Patterning of OPV modules by ultra-fast laser

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kubiš, Peter; Lucera, Luca; Guo, Fei; Spyropolous, George; Voigt, Monika M.; Brabec, Christoph J.

2014-10-01

A novel production process combining slot-die coating, transparent flexible IMI (ITO-Metal-ITO) electrodes and ultra-fast laser ablation can be used for the realization of P3HT:PCBM based thin film flexible OPV modules. The fast and precise laser ablation allows an overall efficiency over 3 % and a device geometric fill factor (GFF) over 95 %. Three functional layers can be ablated using the same wavelength only with varying the laser fluence and overlap. Different OPV device architectures with multilayers utilizing various materials are challenging for ablation but can be structured by using a systematical approach.

Dynamic surface acoustic response to a thermal expansion source on an anisotropic half space.

PubMed

Zhao, Peng; Zhao, Ji-Cheng; Weaver, Richard

2013-05-01

The surface displacement response to a distributed thermal expansion source is solved using the reciprocity principle. By convolving the strain Green's function with the thermal stress field created by an ultrafast laser illumination, the complete surface displacement on an anisotropic half space induced by laser absorption is calculated in the time domain. This solution applies to the near field surface displacement due to pulse laser absorption. The solution is validated by performing ultrafast laser pump-probe measurements and showing very good agreement between the measured time-dependent probe beam deflection and the computed surface displacement.

Theory of spin and lattice wave dynamics excited by focused laser pulses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shen, Ka; Bauer, Gerrit E. W.

2018-06-01

We develop a theory of spin wave dynamics excited by ultrafast focused laser pulses in a magnetic film. We take into account both the volume and surface spin wave modes in the presence of applied, dipolar and magnetic anisotropy fields and include the dependence on laser spot exposure size and magnetic damping. We show that the sound waves generated by local heating by an ultrafast focused laser pulse can excite a wide spectrum of spin waves (on top of a dominant magnon–phonon contribution). Good agreement with recent experiments supports the validity of the model.

Time-resolved molecular imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Junliang; Blaga, Cosmin I.; Agostini, Pierre; DiMauro, Louis F.

2016-06-01

Time-resolved molecular imaging is a frontier of ultrafast optical science and physical chemistry. In this article, we review present and future key spectroscopic and microscopic techniques for ultrafast imaging of molecular dynamics and show their differences and connections. The advent of femtosecond lasers and free electron x-ray lasers bring us closer to this goal, which eventually will extend our knowledge about molecular dynamics to the attosecond time domain.

Critical switching fluence of L10-FePt nanoparticles with practical size to ultrafast all-optical polarization switching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Tao; Wang, Haiwei; Cheng, Weiming; Zou, Yuhao; Xie, Changsheng

2017-06-01

The magnetic storage industry will be pushed into a new era by emerging magnetic materials and ingenious read/write techniques. Recently, L10-FePt nanoparticles with exceptionally high uniaxial anisotropy, combined with the technique of all-optical magnetic switching, have increasingly drawn the attention of researchers. Focusing on L10-FePt nanoparticles, we report the superparamagnetic size limits and three elaborate stages of magnetic orientation switching, which demonstrate that in terms of the opto-magnetic responses of L10-FePt nanoparticles with the size of 6 nm, the fluence of an ultrashort laser pulse should not be larger than the level of 40 mJ/cm2 in order to achieve the helicity-dependent all-optical switching.

Large-area tungsten disulfide for ultrafast photonics.

PubMed

Yan, Peiguang; Chen, Hao; Yin, Jinde; Xu, Zihan; Li, Jiarong; Jiang, Zike; Zhang, Wenfei; Wang, Jinzhang; Li, Irene Ling; Sun, Zhipei; Ruan, Shuangchen

2017-02-02

Two-dimensional (2D) layered transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have attracted significant interest in various optoelectronic applications due to their excellent nonlinear optical properties. One of the most important applications of TMDs is to be employed as an extraordinary optical modulation material (e.g., the saturable absorber (SA)) in ultrafast photonics. The main challenge arises while embedding TMDs into fiber laser systems to generate ultrafast pulse trains and thus constraints their practical applications. Herein, few-layered WS 2 with a large-area was directly transferred on the facet of the pigtail and acted as a SA for erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) systems. In our study, WS 2 SA exhibited remarkable nonlinear optical properties (e.g., modulation depth of 15.1% and saturable intensity of 157.6 MW cm -2 ) and was used for ultrafast pulse generation. The soliton pulses with remarkable performances (e.g., ultrashort pulse duration of 1.49 ps, high stability of 71.8 dB, and large pulse average output power of 62.5 mW) could be obtained in a telecommunication band. To the best of our knowledge, the average output power of the mode-locked pulse trains is the highest by employing TMD materials in fiber laser systems. These results indicate that atomically large-area WS 2 could be used as excellent optical modulation materials in ultrafast photonics.

Clean sub-8-fs pulses at 400 nm generated by a hollow fiber compressor for ultraviolet ultrafast pump-probe spectroscopy.

PubMed

Liu, Jun; Okamura, Kotaro; Kida, Yuichiro; Teramoto, Takahiro; Kobayashi, Takayoshi

2010-09-27

Clean 7.5 fs pulses at 400 nm with less than 3% energy in tiny satellite pulses were obtained by spectral broadening in a hollow fiber and dispersive compensating using a prism pair together with a deformable mirror system. As an example, this stable and clean pulse was used to study the ultrafast pump-probe spectroscopy of photoactive yellow protein. Moreover, the self-diffraction signal shows a smoothed and broadened laser spectrum and is expected to have a further clean laser pulse, which makes it more useful in the ultrafast pump-probe spectroscopy in the future.

WS2 mode-locked ultrafast fiber laser

PubMed Central

Mao, Dong; Wang, Yadong; Ma, Chaojie; Han, Lei; Jiang, Biqiang; Gan, Xuetao; Hua, Shijia; Zhang, Wending; Mei, Ting; Zhao, Jianlin

2015-01-01

Graphene-like two dimensional materials, such as WS2 and MoS2, are highly anisotropic layered compounds that have attracted growing interest from basic research to practical applications. Similar with MoS2, few-layer WS2 has remarkable physical properties. Here, we demonstrate for the first time that WS2 nanosheets exhibit ultrafast nonlinear saturable absorption property and high optical damage threshold. Soliton mode-locking operations are achieved separately in an erbium-doped fiber laser using two types of WS2-based saturable absorbers, one of which is fabricated by depositing WS2 nanosheets on a D-shaped fiber, while the other is synthesized by mixing WS2 solution with polyvinyl alcohol, and then evaporating them on a substrate. At the maximum pump power of 600 mW, two saturable absorbers can work stably at mode-locking state without damage, indicating that few-layer WS2 is a promising high-power flexible saturable absorber for ultrafast optics. Numerous applications may benefit from the ultrafast nonlinear features of WS2 nanosheets, such as high-power pulsed laser, materials processing, and frequency comb spectroscopy. PMID:25608729

Laser selective cutting of biological tissues by impulsive heat deposition through ultrafast vibrational excitations.

PubMed

Franjic, Kresimir; Cowan, Michael L; Kraemer, Darren; Miller, R J Dwayne

2009-12-07

Mechanical and thermodynamic responses of biomaterials after impulsive heat deposition through vibrational excitations (IHDVE) are investigated and discussed. Specifically, we demonstrate highly efficient ablation of healthy tooth enamel using 55 ps infrared laser pulses tuned to the vibrational transition of interstitial water and hydroxyapatite around 2.95 microm. The peak intensity at 13 GW/cm(2) was well below the plasma generation threshold and the applied fluence 0.75 J/cm(2) was significantly smaller than the typical ablation thresholds observed with nanosecond and microsecond pulses from Er:YAG lasers operating at the same wavelength. The ablation was performed without adding any superficial water layer at the enamel surface. The total energy deposited per ablated volume was several times smaller than previously reported for non-resonant ultrafast plasma driven ablation with similar pulse durations. No micro-cracking of the ablated surface was observed with a scanning electron microscope. The highly efficient ablation is attributed to an enhanced photomechanical effect due to ultrafast vibrational relaxation into heat and the scattering of powerful ultrafast acoustic transients with random phases off the mesoscopic heterogeneous tissue structures.

Case study on the dynamics of ultrafast laser heating and ablation of gold thin films by ultrafast pump-probe reflectometry and ellipsometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pflug, T.; Wang, J.; Olbrich, M.; Frank, M.; Horn, A.

2018-02-01

To increase the comprehension of ultrafast laser ablation, the ablation process has to be portrayed with sufficient temporal resolution. For example, the temporal modification of the complex refractive index {\\tilde{n}} and the relative reflectance of a sample material after irradiation with ultrafast single-pulsed laser radiation can be measured with a pump-probe setup. This work describes the construction and validation of a pump-probe setup enabling spatially, temporally, and spectroscopically resolved Brewster angle microscopy, reflectometry, ellipsometry, and shadow photography. First pump-probe reflectometry and ellipsometry measurements are performed on gold at λ _{probe}= 440 nm and three fluences of the single-pulsed pump radiation at λ _{pump}= 800 nm generating no, gentle, and strong ablation. The relative reflectance overall increases at no and gentle ablation. At strong ablation, the relative reflectance locally decreases, presumable caused by emitted thermal electrons, ballistic electrons, and ablating material. The refractive index n is slightly decreasing after excitation, while the extinction coefficient k is increasing.

Supercomputations and big-data analysis in strong-field ultrafast optical physics: filamentation of high-peak-power ultrashort laser pulses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Voronin, A. A.; Panchenko, V. Ya; Zheltikov, A. M.

2016-06-01

High-intensity ultrashort laser pulses propagating in gas media or in condensed matter undergo complex nonlinear spatiotemporal evolution where temporal transformations of optical field waveforms are strongly coupled to an intricate beam dynamics and ultrafast field-induced ionization processes. At the level of laser peak powers orders of magnitude above the critical power of self-focusing, the beam exhibits modulation instabilities, producing random field hot spots and breaking up into multiple noise-seeded filaments. This problem is described by a (3  +  1)-dimensional nonlinear field evolution equation, which needs to be solved jointly with the equation for ultrafast ionization of a medium. Analysis of this problem, which is equivalent to solving a billion-dimensional evolution problem, is only possible by means of supercomputer simulations augmented with coordinated big-data processing of large volumes of information acquired through theory-guiding experiments and supercomputations. Here, we review the main challenges of supercomputations and big-data processing encountered in strong-field ultrafast optical physics and discuss strategies to confront these challenges.

Tunable and switchable dual-waveband ultrafast fiber laser with 100 GHz repetition-rate.

PubMed

Tan, Xiao-Mei; Chen, Hong-Jie; Cui, Hu; Lv, Yao-Kun; Zhao, Guan-Kai; Luo, Zhi-Chao; Luo, Ai-Ping; Xu, Wen-Cheng

2017-07-10

We demonstrate a tunable and switchable dual-waveband 100 GHz high-repetition-rate (HRR) ultrafast fiber laser based on dissipative four-wave-mixing (DFWM) mode-locked technique. Each waveband maintains HRR operation. The DFWM effect was realized by combining a Fabry-Perot (F-P) filter and a piece of highly nonlinear fiber (HNLF). The tunable and switchable operations were achieved by nonlinear polarization rotation (NPR) technique. Through appropriately controlling the filtering effect induced by NPR, the laser could operate at two kinds of tunable regimes. One is that the spacing between these two wavebands could be tuned while keeping their center at 1559 nm. The other is that the central position of the entire dual-waveband is tunable while with the same separation between these two wavebands of 13.2 nm. Moreover, the laser could switch between these two wavebands. Correspondingly, the center of the single-waveband has a tuning range of 15.2 nm. This versatile ultrafast fiber laser may find applications in fields of optical frequency combs, high speed optical communications, where HRR pulses are necessary.

Ultrafast direct laser writing of cladding waveguides in the 0.8CaSiO3-0.2Ca3(PO4)2 eutectic glass doped with Nd3+ ions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martínez de Mendívil, J.; Sola, D.; Vázquez de Aldana, J. R.; Lifante, G.; de Aza, A. H.; Pena, P.; Peña, J. I.

2015-01-01

We report on tubular cladding optical waveguides fabricated in Neodymium doped Wollastonite-Tricalcium Phosphate glass in the eutectic composition. The glass samples were prepared by melting the eutectic powder mixture in a Pt-Rh crucible at 1600 °C and pouring it in a preheated brass mould. Afterwards, the glass was annealed to relieve the inner stresses. Cladding waveguides were fabricated by focusing beneath the sample surface using a pulsed Ti:sapphire laser with a pulsewidth of 120 fs working at 1 kHz. The optical properties of these waveguides have been assessed in terms of near-field intensity distribution and transmitted power, and these results have been compared to previously reported waveguides with double-line configuration. Optical properties have also been studied as function of the temperature. Heat treatments up to 700 °C were carried out to diminish colour centre losses where waveguide's modes and transmitted power were compared in order to establish the annealing temperature at which the optimal optical properties were reached. Laser experiments are in progress to evaluate the ability of the waveguides for 1064 nm laser light generation under 800 nm optical pumping.

Single-order laser high harmonics in XUV for ultrafast photoelectron spectroscopy of molecular wavepacket dynamics.

PubMed

Fushitani, Mizuho; Hishikawa, Akiyoshi

2016-11-01

We present applications of extreme ultraviolet (XUV) single-order laser harmonics to gas-phase ultrafast photoelectron spectroscopy. Ultrashort XUV pulses at 80 nm are obtained as the 5th order harmonics of the fundamental laser at 400 nm by using Xe or Kr as the nonlinear medium and separated from other harmonic orders by using an indium foil. The single-order laser harmonics is applied for real-time probing of vibrational wavepacket dynamics of I 2 molecules in the bound and dissociating low-lying electronic states and electronic-vibrational wavepacket dynamics of highly excited Rydberg N 2 molecules.

Infrared laser damage thresholds in corneal tissue phantoms using femtosecond laser pulses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boretsky, Adam R.; Clary, Joseph E.; Noojin, Gary D.; Rockwell, Benjamin A.

2018-02-01

Ultrafast lasers have become a fixture in many biomedical, industrial, telecommunications, and defense applications in recent years. These sources are capable of generating extremely high peak power that can cause laser-induced tissue breakdown through the formation of a plasma upon exposure. Despite the increasing prevalence of such lasers, current safety standards (ANSI Z136.1-2014) do not include maximum permissible exposure (MPE) values for the cornea with pulse durations less than one nanosecond. This study was designed to measure damage thresholds in corneal tissue phantoms in the near-infrared and mid-infrared to identify the wavelength dependence of laser damage thresholds from 1200-2500 nm. A high-energy regenerative amplifier and optical parametric amplifier outputting 100 femtosecond pulses with pulse energies up to 2 mJ were used to perform exposures and determine damage thresholds in transparent collagen gel tissue phantoms. Three-dimensional imaging, primarily optical coherence tomography, was used to evaluate tissue phantoms following exposure to determine ablation characteristics at the surface and within the bulk material. The determination of laser damage thresholds in the near-IR and mid-IR for ultrafast lasers will help to guide safety standards and establish the appropriate MPE levels for exposure sensitive ocular tissue such as the cornea. These data will help promote the safe use of ultrafast lasers for a wide range of applications.

Ultrafast Beam Switching Using Coupled VCSELs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ning, Cun-Zheng; Goorjian, Peter

2001-01-01

We propose a new approach to performing ultrafast beam switching using two coupled Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers (VCSELs). The strategy is demonstrated by numerical simulation, showing a beam switching of 10 deg at 42 GHz.

Multiphoton in vivo imaging with a femtosecond semiconductor disk laser

PubMed Central

Voigt, Fabian F.; Emaury, Florian; Bethge, Philipp; Waldburger, Dominik; Link, Sandro M.; Carta, Stefano; van der Bourg, Alexander; Helmchen, Fritjof; Keller, Ursula

2017-01-01

We use an ultrafast diode-pumped semiconductor disk laser (SDL) to demonstrate several applications in multiphoton microscopy. The ultrafast SDL is based on an optically pumped Vertical External Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VECSEL) passively mode-locked with a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) and generates 170-fs pulses at a center wavelength of 1027 nm with a repetition rate of 1.63 GHz. We demonstrate the suitability of this laser for structural and functional multiphoton in vivo imaging in both Drosophila larvae and mice for a variety of fluorophores (including mKate2, tdTomato, Texas Red, OGB-1, and R-CaMP1.07) and for endogenous second-harmonic generation in muscle cell sarcomeres. We can demonstrate equivalent signal levels compared to a standard 80-MHz Ti:Sapphire laser when we increase the average power by a factor of 4.5 as predicted by theory. In addition, we compare the bleaching properties of both laser systems in fixed Drosophila larvae and find similar bleaching kinetics despite the large difference in pulse repetition rates. Our results highlight the great potential of ultrafast diode-pumped SDLs for creating a cost-efficient and compact alternative light source compared to standard Ti:Sapphire lasers for multiphoton imaging. PMID:28717563

Ultrafast Manipulation of Magnetic Order with Electrical Pulses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Yang

During the last 30 years spintronics has been a very rapidly expanding field leading to lots of new interesting physics and applications. As with most technology-oriented fields, spintronics strives to control devices with very low energy consumption and high speed. The combination of spin and electronics inherent to spintronics directly tackles energy efficiency, due to the non-volatility of magnetism. However, speed of operation of spintronic devices is still rather limited ( nanoseconds), due to slow magnetization precessional frequencies. Ultrafast magnetism (or opto-magnetism) is a relatively new field that has been very active in the last 20 years. The main idea is that intense femtosecond laser pulses can be used in order to manipulate the magnetization at very fast time-scales ( 100 femtoseconds). However, the use of femtosecond lasers poses great application challenges such as diffraction limited optical spot sizes which hinders device density, and bulky and expensive integration of femtosecond lasers into devices. In this thesis, our efforts to combine ultrafast magnetism and spintronics are presented. First, we show that the magnetization of ferrimagnetic GdFeCo films can be switched by picosecond electronic heat current pulses. This result shows that a non-thermal distribution of electrons directly excited by laser is not necessary for inducing ultrafast magnetic dynamics. Then, we fabricate photoconductive switch devices on a LT-GaAs substrate, to generate picosecond electrical pulses. Intense electrical pulses with 10ps (FWHM) duration and peak current up to 3A can be generated and delivered into magnetic films. Distinct magnetic dynamics in CoPt films are found between direct optical heating and electrical heating. More importantly, by delivering picosecond electrical pulses into GdFeCo films, we are able to deterministically reverse the magnetization of GdFeCo within 10ps. This is more than one order of magnitude faster than any other electrically controlled magnetic switching. Our results present a fundamentally new switching mechanism electrically, without requirement for any spin polarized current or spin transfer/orbit torques. Our discovery that ultrafast magnetization switching can be achieved with electrical pulses will launch a new frontier of spintronics science and herald a new generation of spintronic devices that operate at high speed with low energy consumption. At last, to push ultrafast spintronics to practical use, ultrafast switching of a ferromagnetic film is desired. By exploiting the exchange interaction between GdFeCo and ferromagnetic Co/Pt layer, we achieved ultrafast (sub 10ps) switching of ferromagnetic film with a single laser pulse. This result will open up the possibility to control ferromagnetic materials at ultrafast time scale, critical for practical applications.

Single-shot ultrafast tomographic imaging by spectral multiplexing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matlis, N. H.; Axley, A.; Leemans, W. P.

2012-10-01

Computed tomography has profoundly impacted science, medicine and technology by using projection measurements scanned over multiple angles to permit cross-sectional imaging of an object. The application of computed tomography to moving or dynamically varying objects, however, has been limited by the temporal resolution of the technique, which is set by the time required to complete the scan. For objects that vary on ultrafast timescales, traditional scanning methods are not an option. Here we present a non-scanning method capable of resolving structure on femtosecond timescales by using spectral multiplexing of a single laser beam to perform tomographic imaging over a continuous range of angles simultaneously. We use this technique to demonstrate the first single-shot ultrafast computed tomography reconstructions and obtain previously inaccessible structure and position information for laser-induced plasma filaments. This development enables real-time tomographic imaging for ultrafast science, and offers a potential solution to the challenging problem of imaging through scattering surfaces.

Exploring Ultrafast Structural Dynamics for Energetic Enhancement or Disruption

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-03-01

it. In a pump -push/ dump probe experiment, a secondary laser pulse (push/ dump ) is used after the initial perturbation due to the pump pulse. The...increased. The pump -push/ dump probe technique is a difficult experiment that requires a highly stable laser source. Ultrafast pump -probe experiments...decomposition of solids. Journal of Applied Physics. 2001;89:4156–4166. 17. Kee TW. Femtosecond pump -push-probe and pump - dump -probe spectroscopy of

Optimal control of laser-induced spin-orbit mediated ultrafast demagnetization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Elliott, P.; Krieger, K.; Dewhurst, J. K.; Sharma, S.; Gross, E. K. U.

2016-01-01

Laser induced ultrafast demagnetization is the process whereby the magnetic moment of a ferromagnetic material is seen to drop significantly on a timescale of 10-100 s of femtoseconds due to the application of a strong laser pulse. If this phenomenon can be harnessed for future technology, it offers the possibility for devices operating at speeds several orders of magnitude faster than at present. A key component to successful transfer of such a process to technology is the controllability of the process, i.e. that it can be tuned in order to overcome the practical and physical limitations imposed on the system. In this paper, we demonstrate that the spin-orbit mediated form of ultrafast demagnetization recently investigated (Krieger et al 2015 J. Chem. Theory Comput. 11 4870) by ab initio time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) can be controlled. To do so we use quantum optimal control theory (OCT) to couple our TDDFT simulations to the optimization machinery of OCT. We show that a laser pulse can be found which maximizes the loss of moment within a given time interval while subject to several practical and physical constraints. Furthermore we also include a constraint on the fluence of the laser pulses and find the optimal pulse that combines significant demagnetization with a desire for less powerful pulses. These calculations demonstrate optimal control is possible for spin-orbit mediated ultrafast demagnetization and lays the foundation for future optimizations/simulations which can incorporate even more constraints.

Towards simultaneous measurements of electronic and structural properties in ultra-fast x-ray free electron laser absorption spectroscopy experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gaudin, J.; Fourment, C.; Cho, B. I.; Engelhorn, K.; Galtier, E.; Harmand, M.; Leguay, P. M.; Lee, H. J.; Nagler, B.; Nakatsutsumi, M.; Ozkan, C.; Störmer, M.; Toleikis, S.; Tschentscher, Th; Heimann, P. A.; Dorchies, F.

2014-04-01

The rapidly growing ultrafast science with X-ray lasers unveils atomic scale processes with unprecedented time resolution bringing the so called ``molecular movie'' within reach. X-ray absorption spectroscopy is one of the most powerful x-ray techniques providing both local atomic order and electronic structure when coupled with ad-hoc theory. Collecting absorption spectra within few x-ray pulses is possible only in a dispersive setup. We demonstrate ultrafast time-resolved measurements of the LIII-edge x-ray absorption near-edge spectra of irreversibly laser excited Molybdenum using an average of only few x-ray pulses with a signal to noise ratio limited only by the saturation level of the detector. The simplicity of the experimental set-up makes this technique versatile and applicable for a wide range of pump-probe experiments, particularly in the case of non-reversible processes.

Ultrafast cavitation induced by an X-ray laser in water drops

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stan, Claudiu; Willmott, Philip; Stone, Howard; Koglin, Jason; Liang, Mengning; Aquila, Andrew; Robinson, Joseph; Gumerlock, Karl; Blaj, Gabriel; Sierra, Raymond; Boutet, Sebastien; Guillet, Serge; Curtis, Robin; Vetter, Sharon; Loos, Henrik; Turner, James; Decker, Franz-Josef

2016-11-01

Cavitation in pure water is determined by an intrinsic heterogeneous cavitation mechanism, which prevents in general the experimental generation of large tensions (negative pressures) in bulk liquid water. We developed an ultrafast decompression technique, based on the reflection of shock waves generated by an X-ray laser inside liquid drops, to stretch liquids to large negative pressures in a few nanoseconds. Using this method, we observed cavitation in liquid water at pressures below -100 MPa. These large tensions exceed significantly those achieved previously, mainly due to the ultrafast decompression. The decompression induced by shock waves generated by an X-ray laser is rapid enough to continue to stretch the liquid phase after the heterogeneous cavitation occurs in water, despite the rapid growth of cavitation nanobubbles. We developed a nucleation-and-growth hydrodynamic cavitation model that explains our results and estimates the concentration of heterogeneous cavitation nuclei in water.

Towards simultaneous measurements of electronic and structural properties in ultra-fast x-ray free electron laser absorption spectroscopy experiments

PubMed Central

Gaudin, J.; Fourment, C.; Cho, B. I.; Engelhorn, K.; Galtier, E.; Harmand, M.; Leguay, P. M.; Lee, H. J.; Nagler, B.; Nakatsutsumi, M.; Ozkan, C.; Störmer, M.; Toleikis, S.; Tschentscher, Th; Heimann, P. A.; Dorchies, F.

2014-01-01

The rapidly growing ultrafast science with X-ray lasers unveils atomic scale processes with unprecedented time resolution bringing the so called “molecular movie” within reach. X-ray absorption spectroscopy is one of the most powerful x-ray techniques providing both local atomic order and electronic structure when coupled with ad-hoc theory. Collecting absorption spectra within few x-ray pulses is possible only in a dispersive setup. We demonstrate ultrafast time-resolved measurements of the LIII-edge x-ray absorption near-edge spectra of irreversibly laser excited Molybdenum using an average of only few x-ray pulses with a signal to noise ratio limited only by the saturation level of the detector. The simplicity of the experimental set-up makes this technique versatile and applicable for a wide range of pump-probe experiments, particularly in the case of non-reversible processes. PMID:24740172

Towards simultaneous measurements of electronic and structural properties in ultra-fast x-ray free electron laser absorption spectroscopy experiments

DOE PAGES

Gaudin, J.; Fourment, C.; Cho, B. I.; ...

2014-04-17

The rapidly growing ultrafast science with X-ray lasers unveils atomic scale processes with unprecedented time resolution bringing the so called “molecular movie” within reach. X-ray absorption spectroscopy is one of the most powerful x-ray techniques providing both local atomic order and electronic structure when coupled with ad-hoc theory. Collecting absorption spectra within few x-ray pulses is possible only in a dispersive setup. We demonstrate ultrafast time-resolved measurements of the LIII-edge x-ray absorption near-edge spectra of irreversibly laser excited Molybdenum using an average of only few x-ray pulses with a signal to noise ratio limited only by the saturation level ofmore » the detector. The simplicity of the experimental set-up makes this technique versatile and applicable for a wide range of pump-probe experiments, particularly in the case of non-reversible processes.« less

Photonic crystal fiber technology for compact fiber-delivered high-power ultrafast fiber lasers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Triches, Marco; Michieletto, Mattia; Johansen, Mette M.; Jakobsen, Christian; Olesen, Anders S.; Papior, Sidsel R.; Kristensen, Torben; Bondue, Magalie; Weirich, Johannes; Alkeskjold, Thomas T.

2018-02-01

Photonic crystal fiber (PCF) technology has radically impacted the scientific and industrial ultrafast laser market. Reducing platform dimensions are important to decrease cost and footprint while maintaining high optical efficiency. We present our recent work on short 85 μm core ROD-type fiber amplifiers that maintain single-mode performance and excellent beam quality. Robust long-term performance at 100 W average power and 250 kW peak power in 20 ps pulses at 1030 nm wavelength is presented, exceeding 500 h with stable performance in terms of both polarization and power. In addition, we present our recent results on hollow-core ultrafast fiber delivery maintaining high beam quality and polarization purity.

Femtosecond Optical and X-Ray Measurement of the Semiconductor-to-Metal Transition in VO2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cavalleri, Andrea; Toth, Csaba; Squier, Jeff; Siders, Craig; Raksi, Ferenc; Forget, Patrick; Kieffer, Jean-Claude

2001-03-01

While the use of ultrashort visible pulses allows access to ultrafast changes in the optical properties during phase transitions, measurement of the correlation between atomic movement and electronic rearrangement has proven more elusive. Here, we report on the conjunct measurement of ultrafast electronic and structural dynamics during a semiconductor-to-metal phase transition in VO2. Rearrangement of the unit cell from monoclinic to rutile (measured by ultrafast x-ray diffraction) is accompanied by a sharp increase in the electrical conductivity and perturbation of the optical properties (measured with ultrafast visible spectroscopy). Ultrafast x-ray diffraction experiments were performed using femtosecond bursts of Cu-Ka from a laser generated plasma source. A clear rise of the diffraction signal originating from the impulsively generated metallic phase was observable on the sub-picosecond timescale. Optical experiments were performed using time-resolved microscopy, providing temporally and spatially resolved measurements of the optical reflectivity at 800 nm. The data indicate that the reflectivity of the low-temperature semiconducting solid is driven to that of the equilibrium, high-temperature metallic phase within 400 fs after irradiation with a 50-fs laser pulse at fluences in excess of 10 mJ/cm2. In conclusion, the data presented in this contribution suggest that the semiconductor-to-metal transition in VO2 occurs within 500 fs after laser-irradiation. A nonthermal physical mechanism governs the re-arrangement.

Deviation from threshold model in ultrafast laser ablation of graphene at sub-micron scale

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gil-Villalba, A.; Xie, C.; Salut, R.

We investigate a method to measure ultrafast laser ablation threshold with respect to spot size. We use structured complex beams to generate a pattern of craters in CVD graphene with a single laser pulse. A direct comparison between beam profile and SEM characterization allows us to determine the dependence of ablation probability on spot-size, for crater diameters ranging between 700 nm and 2.5 μm. We report a drastic decrease of ablation probability when the crater diameter is below 1 μm which we interpret in terms of free-carrier diffusion.

Single-shot high aspect ratio bulk nanostructuring of fused silica using chirp-controlled ultrafast laser Bessel beams

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bhuyan, M. K.; Velpula, P. K.; Colombier, J. P.

2014-01-13

We report single-shot, high aspect ratio nanovoid fabrication in bulk fused silica using zeroth order chirp-controlled ultrafast laser Bessel beams. We identify a unique laser pulse length and energy dependence of the physical characteristics of machined structures over which nanovoids of diameter in the range 200–400 nm and aspect ratios exceeding 1000 can be fabricated. A mechanism based on the axial energy deposition of nonlinear ultrashort Bessel beams and subsequent material densification or rarefaction in fused silica is proposed, intricating the non-diffractive nature with the diffusing character of laser-generated free carriers. Fluid flow through nanochannel is also demonstrated.

152 fs nanotube-mode-locked thulium-doped all-fiber laser

PubMed Central

Wang, Jinzhang; Liang, Xiaoyan; Hu, Guohua; Zheng, Zhijian; Lin, Shenghua; Ouyang, Deqin; Wu, Xu; Yan, Peiguang; Ruan, Shuangchen; Sun, Zhipei; Hasan, Tawfique

2016-01-01

Ultrafast fiber lasers with broad bandwidth and short pulse duration have a variety of applications, such as ultrafast time-resolved spectroscopy and supercontinuum generation. We report a simple and compact all-fiber thulium-doped femtosecond laser mode-locked by carbon nanotubes. The oscillator operates in slightly normal cavity dispersion at 0.055 ps2, and delivers 152 fs pulses with 52.8 nm bandwidth and 0.19 nJ pulse energy. This is the shortest pulse duration and the widest spectral width demonstrated from Tm-doped all-fiber lasers based on 1 or 2 dimensional nanomaterials, underscoring their growing potential as versatile saturable absorber materials. PMID:27374764

Circularly polarized attosecond pulse generation and applications to ultrafast magnetism

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bandrauk, André D.; Guo, Jing; Yuan, Kai-Jun

2017-12-01

Attosecond science is a growing new field of research and potential applications which relies on the development of attosecond light sources. Achievements in the generation and application of attosecond pulses enable to investigate electron dynamics in the nonlinear nonperturbative regime of laser-matter interactions on the electron’s natural time scale, the attosecond. In this review, we describe the generation of circularly polarized attosecond pulses and their applications to induce attosecond magnetic fields, new tools for ultrafast magnetism. Simulations are performed on aligned one-electron molecular ions by using nonperturbative nonlinear solutions of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation. We discuss how bichromatic circularly polarized laser pulses with co-rotating or counter-rotating components induce electron-parent ion recollisions, thus producing circularly polarized high-order harmonic generation, the source of circularly polarized attosecond pulses. Ultrafast quantum electron currents created by the generated attosecond pulses give rise to attosecond magnetic field pulses. The results provide a guiding principle for producing circularly polarized attosecond pulses and ultrafast magnetic fields in complex molecular systems for future research in ultrafast magneto-optics.

Ultrafast Three-Dimensional X-ray Imaging of Deformation Modes in ZnO Nanocrystals.

PubMed

Cherukara, Mathew J; Sasikumar, Kiran; Cha, Wonsuk; Narayanan, Badri; Leake, Steven J; Dufresne, Eric M; Peterka, Tom; McNulty, Ian; Wen, Haidan; Sankaranarayanan, Subramanian K R S; Harder, Ross J

2017-02-08

Imaging the dynamical response of materials following ultrafast excitation can reveal energy transduction mechanisms and their dissipation pathways, as well as material stability under conditions far from equilibrium. Such dynamical behavior is challenging to characterize, especially operando at nanoscopic spatiotemporal scales. In this letter, we use X-ray coherent diffractive imaging to show that ultrafast laser excitation of a ZnO nanocrystal induces a rich set of deformation dynamics including characteristic "hard" or inhomogeneous and "soft" or homogeneous modes at different time scales, corresponding respectively to the propagation of acoustic phonons and resonant oscillation of the crystal. By integrating the 3D nanocrystal structure obtained from the ultrafast X-ray measurements with a continuum thermo-electro-mechanical finite element model, we elucidate the deformation mechanisms following laser excitation, in particular, a torsional mode that generates a 50% greater electric potential gradient than that resulting from the flexural mode. Understanding of the time-dependence of these mechanisms on ultrafast scales has significant implications for development of new materials for nanoscale power generation.

Ultrafast Three-Dimensional X-ray Imaging of Deformation Modes in ZnO Nanocrystals

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cherukara, Mathew J.; Sasikumar, Kiran; Cha, Wonsuk

Imaging the dynamical response of materials following ultrafast excitation can reveal energy transduction mechanisms and their dissipation pathways, as well as material stability under conditions far from equilibrium. Such dynamical behaviour is challenging to characterize, especially operando at nanoscopic spatiotemporal scales. In this letter, we use x-ray coherent diffractive imaging to show that ultrafast laser excitation of a ZnO nanocrystal induces a rich set of deformation dynamics including characteristic ‘hard’ or inhomogeneous and ‘soft’ or homogeneous modes at different time scales, corresponding respectively to the propagation of acoustic phonons and resonant oscillation of the crystal. By integrating the 3D nanocrystalmore » structure obtained from the ultrafast x-ray measurements with a continuum thermo-electro-mechanical finite element model, we elucidate the deformation mechanisms following laser excitation, in particular, a torsional mode that generates a 50% greater electric potential gradient than that resulting from the flexural mode. Furthermore, understanding of the time-dependence of these mechanisms on ultrafast scales has significant implications for development of new materials for nanoscale power generation.« less

Ultrafast Three-Dimensional X-ray Imaging of Deformation Modes in ZnO Nanocrystals

DOE PAGES

Cherukara, Mathew J.; Sasikumar, Kiran; Cha, Wonsuk; ...

2016-12-27

Imaging the dynamical response of materials following ultrafast excitation can reveal energy transduction mechanisms and their dissipation pathways, as well as material stability under conditions far from equilibrium. Such dynamical behaviour is challenging to characterize, especially operando at nanoscopic spatiotemporal scales. In this letter, we use x-ray coherent diffractive imaging to show that ultrafast laser excitation of a ZnO nanocrystal induces a rich set of deformation dynamics including characteristic ‘hard’ or inhomogeneous and ‘soft’ or homogeneous modes at different time scales, corresponding respectively to the propagation of acoustic phonons and resonant oscillation of the crystal. By integrating the 3D nanocrystalmore » structure obtained from the ultrafast x-ray measurements with a continuum thermo-electro-mechanical finite element model, we elucidate the deformation mechanisms following laser excitation, in particular, a torsional mode that generates a 50% greater electric potential gradient than that resulting from the flexural mode. Furthermore, understanding of the time-dependence of these mechanisms on ultrafast scales has significant implications for development of new materials for nanoscale power generation.« less

Ultrafast Spectroscopy of Mid-Infrared Semiconductors Using the Signal and Idler Beams of a Synchronous Optical Parametric Oscillator

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-03-01

then used to fit theoretical models describing radiative and non-radiative relaxation processes. 3.2 Experimental Setup This thesis uses a mode...Russian Efforts. Master’s thesis, Naval Postgraduate School, 2005. 5. Chirsto, Farid C. “Thermochemistry and Kinetics Models for MagnesiumTe- flon/Viton...Coherent Mira Model 900-F Laser. 7. Cooley, William T. Measurement of Ultrafast Carrier Recombination Dynamics in Mid-Infrared Semiconductor Laser Material

Laser direct writing of micro- and nano-scale medical devices

PubMed Central

Gittard, Shaun D; Narayan, Roger J

2010-01-01

Laser-based direct writing of materials has undergone significant development in recent years. The ability to modify a variety of materials at small length scales and using short production times provides laser direct writing with unique capabilities for fabrication of medical devices. In many laser-based rapid prototyping methods, microscale and submicroscale structuring of materials is controlled by computer-generated models. Various laser-based direct write methods, including selective laser sintering/melting, laser machining, matrix-assisted pulsed-laser evaporation direct write, stereolithography and two-photon polymerization, are described. Their use in fabrication of microstructured and nanostructured medical devices is discussed. Laser direct writing may be used for processing a wide variety of advanced medical devices, including patient-specific prostheses, drug delivery devices, biosensors, stents and tissue-engineering scaffolds. PMID:20420557

Experimental demonstration of 55-fs spin canting in photoexcited iron nanoarrays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ren, Yuhang; Lai, Wei; Cevher, Zehra; Gong, Yu; Zhang, G. P.

2017-02-01

As magnetic storage density approaches 1TB/in2, a grand challenge is looming as how to read/write such a huge amount of data within a reasonable time. The ultrafast optical manipulation of magnetization offers a solution, but little is known about the intrinsic speed limit of quantum spin switching. Here, we report that low-energy 50-fs laser pulses can induce spin canting in Fe nanoparticles within 55 fs, breaking the previous record by at least one order of magnitude. Both linearly and circularly polarized light can be used to tilt spins. In our model, the incident laser field first excites the orbital angular momentum, and through spin-orbit coupling, the spin cants out-of-plane and results in a distinctive diamond hysteresis loop. The spin canting time decreases with spin angular momentum. This spin canting is not limited to Fe nanoparticles and is also observed in Fe/Pt and Fe3O4 nanoparticles. Our results demonstrate the potential of magnetic nanostructures as a viable magnetic medium for high density and fast-switching magnetic storage devices.

Temporally resolved proton radiography of rapidly varying electric and magnetic fields in laser-driven capacitor coil targets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morace, A.; Santos, J. J.; Bailly-Grandvaux, M.; Ehret, M.; Alpinaniz, J.; Brabetz, C.; Schaumann, G.; Volpe, L.

2017-02-01

Understanding the dynamics of rapidly varying electromagnetic fields in intense short pulse laser plasma interactions is of key importance to understand the mechanisms at the basis of a wide variety of physical processes, from high energy density physics and fusion science to the development of ultrafast laser plasma devices to control laser-generated particle beams. Target normal sheath accelerated (TNSA) proton radiography represents an ideal tool to diagnose ultrafast electromagnetic phenomena, providing 2D spatially and temporally resolved radiographs with temporal resolution varying from 2-3 ps to few tens of ps. In this work we introduce the proton radiography technique and its application to diagnose the spatial and temporal evolution of electromagnetic fields in laser-driven capacitor coil targets.

Ultrafast Bessel beams: advanced tools for laser materials processing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stoian, Razvan; Bhuyan, Manoj K.; Zhang, Guodong; Cheng, Guanghua; Meyer, Remy; Courvoisier, Francois

2018-05-01

Ultrafast Bessel beams demonstrate a significant capacity of structuring transparent materials with a high degree of accuracy and exceptional aspect ratio. The ability to localize energy on the nanometer scale (bypassing the 100-nm milestone) makes them ideal tools for advanced laser nanoscale processing on surfaces and in the bulk. This allows to generate and combine micron and nano-sized features into hybrid structures that show novel functionalities. Their high aspect ratio and the accurate location can equally drive an efficient material modification and processing strategy on large dimensions. We review, here, the main concepts of generating and using Bessel non-diffractive beams and their remarkable features, discuss general characteristics of their interaction with matter in ablation and material modification regimes, and advocate their use for obtaining hybrid micro and nanoscale structures in two and three dimensions (2D and 3D) performing complex functions. High-throughput applications are indicated. The example list ranges from surface nanostructuring and laser cutting to ultrafast laser welding and the fabrication of 3D photonic systems embedded in the volume.

Imaging strategies for the study of gas turbine spark ignition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gord, James R.; Tyler, Charles; Grinstead, Keith D., Jr.; Fiechtner, Gregory J.; Cochran, Michael J.; Frus, John R.

1999-10-01

Spark-ignition systems play a critical role in the performance of essentially all gas turbine engines. These devices are responsible for initiating the combustion process that sustains engine operation. Demanding applications such as cold start and high-altitude relight require continued enhancement of ignition systems. To characterize advanced ignition systems, we have developed a number of laser-based diagnostic techniques configured for ultrafast imaging of spark parameters including emission, density, temperature, and species concentration. These diagnostics have been designed to exploit an ultrafast- framing charge-coupled-device (CCD) camera and high- repetition-rate laser sources including mode-locked Ti:sapphire oscillators and regenerative amplifiers. Spontaneous-emission and laser-shlieren measurements have been accomplished with this instrumentation and the result applied to the study of a novel Unison Industries spark igniter that shows great promise for improved cold-start and high-altitude-relight capability as compared to that of igniters currently in use throughout military and commercial fleets. Phase-locked and ultrafast real-time imaging strategies are explored, and details of the imaging instrumentation, particularly the CCD camera and laser sources, are discussed.

WS₂ as a saturable absorber for ultrafast photonic applications of mode-locked and Q-switched lasers.

PubMed

Wu, Kan; Zhang, Xiaoyan; Wang, Jun; Li, Xing; Chen, Jianping

2015-05-04

Two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials, especially the transition metal sulfide semiconductors, have drawn great interests due to their potential applications in viable photonic and optoelectronic devices. In this work, 2D tungsten disulfide (WS2) based saturable absorber (SA) for ultrafast photonic applications was demonstrated. WS2 nanosheets were prepared using liquid-phase exfoliation method and embedded in polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) thin film for the practical usage. Saturable absorption was discovered in the WS2-PVA SA at the telecommunication wavelength near 1550 nm. By incorporating WS2-PVA SA into a fiber laser cavity, both stable mode locking operation and Q-switching operation were achieved. In the mode locking operation, the laser obtained femtosecond output pulse width and high spectral purity in the radio frequency spectrum. In the Q-switching operation, the laser had tunable repetition rate and output pulse energy of a few tens of nano joule. Our findings suggest that few-layer WS2 nanosheets embedded in PVA thin film are promising nonlinear optical materials for ultrafast photonic applications as a mode locker or Q-switcher.

Ultrafast demagnetisation dependence on film thickness: A TDDFT calculation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, N.; Sharma, S.

2018-04-01

Ferromagnetic materials when subjected to intense laser pulses leads to reduction of their magnetisation on an ultrafast scale. Here, we perform an ab-initio calculation to study the behavior of ultrafast demagnetisation as a function of film thickness for Nickel as compared to the bulk of the material. In thin films surface formation results in amplification of demagnetisation with the percentage of demagnetisation depending upon the film thickness.

Ultrafast magnetodynamics with free-electron lasers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Malvestuto, Marco; Ciprian, Roberta; Caretta, Antonio; Casarin, Barbara; Parmigiani, Fulvio

2018-02-01

The study of ultrafast magnetodynamics has entered a new era thanks to the groundbreaking technological advances in free-electron laser (FEL) light sources. The advent of these light sources has made possible unprecedented experimental schemes for time-resolved x-ray magneto-optic spectroscopies, which are now paving the road for exploring the ultimate limits of out-of-equilibrium magnetic phenomena. In particular, these studies will provide insights into elementary mechanisms governing spin and orbital dynamics, therefore contributing to the development of ultrafast devices for relevant magnetic technologies. This topical review focuses on recent advancement in the study of non-equilibrium magnetic phenomena from the perspective of time-resolved extreme ultra violet (EUV) and soft x-ray spectroscopies at FELs with highlights of some important experimental results.

White light Z-scan measurements of ultrafast optical nonlinearity in reduced graphene oxide nanosheets in the 400–700 nm region

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Perumbilavil, Sreekanth; Sankar, Pranitha; Priya Rose, T.

Wavelength dispersion of optical power limiting is an important factor to be considered while designing potential optical limiters for laser safety applications. We report the observation of broadband, ultrafast optical limiting in reduced graphene oxide (rGO), measured by a single open aperture Z-scan using a white light continuum (WLC) source. WLC Z-scan is fast when the nonlinearity is to be measured over broad wavelength ranges, and it obviates the need for an ultrafast tunable laser making it cost-economic compared to conventional Z-scan. The nonlinearity arises from nondegenerate two-photon absorption, owing mostly to the crystallinity and extended π conjugation of rGO.

EFFECTS OF LASER RADIATION ON MATTER. LASER PLASMA: Laser—ultrasonic formation of melts of high-speed tool steels

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gureev, D. M.

1994-09-01

A study was made of the influence of ultrasonic vibrations on the processes of heat and mass transfer, and of structure formation during ultrafast crystallisation of laser melts of T1 high-speed tool steel. Acoustic flows which appeared in laser melts effectively smoothed out the temperature inhomogeneities and flattened the relief of the molten surface even when the laser radiation acted for just ~1 ms. The transformation of the mechanical energy of ultrasonic vibrations into heat increased the depth of the laser melt baths and suppressed crack formation. The observed changes in the structural and phase composition appeared as a change in the microhardness of the solidified laser melts. The geometry of coupling of ultrasound into a laser melt influenced the changes in the microhardness, suggesting a need for a more detailed analysis of the structure formation processes in the course of ultrafast crystallisation of laser melts in an ultrasonic field.

Enhanced Ultrafast Nonlinear Optics With Microstructure Fibers And Photonic Crystals

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-07-01

NANOHOLES FREQUENCY-TUNABLE ANTI-STOKES LINE EMISSION BY EIGENMODES OF A BIREFRINGENT MICROSTRUCTURE FIBER GENERATION OF FEMTOSECOND ANTI-STOKES PULSES...laser technologies, and ultrafast photonics. ANTI-STOKES GENERATION IN GUIDED MODES OF PHOTONIC-CRYSTAL FIBERS MODIFIED WITH AN ARRAY OF NANOHOLES

Bacterial Adhesion on the Titanium and Stainless-Steel Surfaces Undergone Two Different Treatment Methods: Polishing and Ultrafast Laser Treatment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chik, N.; Zain, W. S. Wan Md; Mohamad, A. J.; Sidek, M. Z.; Ibrahim, W. H. Wan; Reif, A.; Rakebrandt, J. H.; Pfleging, W.; Liu, X.

2018-05-01

Bacterial adhesion has become a significant problem in many industries causing billions of dollars for its complicated removal treatment and maintenance. In this study, metal surfaces undergone treatment with ultrafast laser with varies power. The microstructure produced on its original surfaces were expected to prevent the adhesion of Escherichia coli (E. coli) ATCC 8739 and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) ATCC 6838. The laser treatment was performed at 380 fs pulse duration, 515 µm central wavelength and a repetition rate of 200 kHz. Stainless steel AISI 316L was treated with an average laser power of 0.04 W (SS-0.04) and 0.11 W (SS-0.11), while Grade 5 titanium alloy was tested with high laser power 0.11 W (T-0.11). The adhesion was observed after 16 hours and the number of adhering bacteria was counted per cm2. The result achieved shows that, increasing the average laser power is leading to an enhanced S. aureus adhesion while E. coli adhesion is reduced which is due to the hydrophobicity interaction and difference in surface texture. Meanwhile, the laser treatment showed significant reduction of the bacterial adhesion on its surface compared to the polished surfaces. Thus, ultrafast laser texturing can be suggested as a promising method to reduce the bacterial adhesion, which reduced the adhesion of >80% for E. coli and >20% for S. aureus.

Wavelength and pulse duration tunable ultrafast fiber laser mode-locked with carbon nanotubes.

PubMed

Li, Diao; Jussila, Henri; Wang, Yadong; Hu, Guohua; Albrow-Owen, Tom; C T Howe, Richard; Ren, Zhaoyu; Bai, Jintao; Hasan, Tawfique; Sun, Zhipei

2018-02-09

Ultrafast lasers with tunable parameters in wavelength and time domains are the choice of light source for various applications such as spectroscopy and communication. Here, we report a wavelength and pulse-duration tunable mode-locked Erbium doped fiber laser with single wall carbon nanotube-based saturable absorber. An intra-cavity tunable filter is employed to continuously tune the output wavelength for 34 nm (from 1525 nm to 1559 nm) and pulse duration from 545 fs to 6.1 ps, respectively. Our results provide a novel light source for various applications requiring variable wavelength or pulse duration.

Environmentally stable seed source for high power ultrafast laser

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Samartsev, Igor; Bordenyuk, Andrey; Gapontsev, Valentin

2017-02-01

We present an environmentally stable Yb ultrafast ring oscillator utilizing a new method of passive mode-locking. The laser is using all-fiber architecture which makes it insensitive to environmental factors, like temperature, humidity, vibrations, and shocks. The new method of mode-locking is utilizing crossed bandpass transmittance filters in ring architecture to discriminate against CW lasing. Broadband pulse evolves from cavity noise under amplification, after passing each filter, causing strong spectral broadening. The laser is self-starting. It generates transform limited spectrally flat pulses of 1 - 50 nm width at 6 - 15 MHz repetition rate and pulse energy 0.2 - 15 nJ at 1010 - 1080 nm CWL.

Ultrafast pre-breakdown dynamics in Al₂O₃SiO₂ reflector by femtosecond UV laser spectroscopy.

PubMed

Du, Juan; Li, Zehan; Xue, Bing; Kobayashi, Takayoshi; Han, Dongjia; Zhao, Yuanan; Leng, Yuxin

2015-06-29

Ultrafast carrier dynamics in Al2O3/SiO2 high reflectors has been investigated by UV femtosecond laser. It is identified by laser spectroscopy that, the carrier dynamics contributed from the front few layers of Al2O3 play a dominating role in the initial laser-induced damage of the UV reflector. Time-resolved reflection decrease after the UV excitation is observed, and conduction electrons is found to relaxed to a mid-gap defect state locating about one photon below the conduction band . To interpret the laser induced carrier dynamics further, a theoretical model including electrons relaxation to a mid-gap state is built, and agrees very well with the experimental results.. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study on the pre-damage dynamics in UV high reflector induced by femtosecond UV laser.

Ultrafast direct laser writing of cladding waveguides in the 0.8CaSiO{sub 3}-0.2Ca{sub 3}(PO{sub 4}){sub 2} eutectic glass doped with Nd{sup 3+} ions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Martínez de Mendívil, J., E-mail: jon.martinez@uam.es; Lifante, G.; Sola, D.

2015-01-28

We report on tubular cladding optical waveguides fabricated in Neodymium doped Wollastonite-Tricalcium Phosphate glass in the eutectic composition. The glass samples were prepared by melting the eutectic powder mixture in a Pt-Rh crucible at 1600 °C and pouring it in a preheated brass mould. Afterwards, the glass was annealed to relieve the inner stresses. Cladding waveguides were fabricated by focusing beneath the sample surface using a pulsed Ti:sapphire laser with a pulsewidth of 120 fs working at 1 kHz. The optical properties of these waveguides have been assessed in terms of near-field intensity distribution and transmitted power, and these results have been comparedmore » to previously reported waveguides with double-line configuration. Optical properties have also been studied as function of the temperature. Heat treatments up to 700 °C were carried out to diminish colour centre losses where waveguide's modes and transmitted power were compared in order to establish the annealing temperature at which the optimal optical properties were reached. Laser experiments are in progress to evaluate the ability of the waveguides for 1064 nm laser light generation under 800 nm optical pumping.« less

Phase transformation pathways of Ln2O3 irradiated by ultrafast laser

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rittman, Dylan; Solomon, Jonathan; Chen, Curtis; Tracy, Cameron; Yalisove, Steven; Asta, Mark; Mao, Wendy; Ewing, Rodney

Ultrafast laser irradiation induces highly non-equilibrium conditions in materials through intense electronic excitation over very short timescales. Here, we show that ultrafast laser irradiation drives an irreversible cubic-to-monoclinic phase transformation in Ln2O3 (Ln = Er-Lu). A combination of grazing incidence X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy is used to characterize the amount and depth-dependence of the phase transformation. Results indicate that-although all materials experience the same transformation-it is achieved through different damage mechanisms (pressure vs. thermal), and the short timescales associated with damage provides non-equilibrium routes of material modification. Ab initio molecular dynamics are used to isolate the effects of electronic excitations, and results are shown to be consistent with the trend in radiation resistance observed experimentally. Overall, this study provides a path to gain insight into the relationship between a material's equilibrium phase diagram and its behavior under highly non-equilibrium conditions. DOE/BES.

Ultrafast proton radiography of the magnetic fields generated by a laser-driven coil current

DOE PAGES

Gao, Lan; Ji, Hantao; Fiksel, Gennady; ...

2016-04-15

Magnetic fields generated by a current flowing through a U-shaped coil connecting two copper foils were measured using ultrafast proton radiography. Two ~ 1.25 kJ, 1-ns laser pulses propagated through laser entrance holes in the front foil and were focused to the back foil with an intensity of ~ 3 x 10 16 W/cm 2. The intense laser-solid interaction induced a high voltage between the copper foils and generated a large current in the connecting coil. The proton data show ~ 40-50 T magnetic fields at the center of the coil ~ 3-4 ns after laser irradiation. In conclusion, themore » experiments provide significant insight for future target designs that aim to develop a powerful source of external magnetic fields for various applications in high-energy-density science.« less

Physical mechanisms of SiN{sub x} layer structuring with ultrafast lasers by direct and confined laser ablation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rapp, S., E-mail: rapp@hm.edu; Erlangen Graduate School in Advanced Optical Technologies; Heinrich, G.

2015-03-14

In the production process of silicon microelectronic devices and high efficiency silicon solar cells, local contact openings in thin dielectric layers are required. Instead of photolithography, these openings can be selectively structured with ultra-short laser pulses by confined laser ablation in a fast and efficient lift off production step. Thereby, the ultrafast laser pulse is transmitted by the dielectric layer and absorbed at the substrate surface leading to a selective layer removal in the nanosecond time domain. Thermal damage in the substrate due to absorption is an unwanted side effect. The aim of this work is to obtain a deepermore » understanding of the physical laser-material interaction with the goal of finding a damage-free ablation mechanism. For this, thin silicon nitride (SiN{sub x}) layers on planar silicon (Si) wafers are processed with infrared fs-laser pulses. Two ablation types can be distinguished: The known confined ablation at fluences below 300 mJ/cm{sup 2} and a combined partial confined and partial direct ablation at higher fluences. The partial direct ablation process is caused by nonlinear absorption in the SiN{sub x} layer in the center of the applied Gaussian shaped laser pulses. Pump-probe investigations of the central area show ultra-fast reflectivity changes typical for direct laser ablation. Transmission electron microscopy results demonstrate that the Si surface under the remaining SiN{sub x} island is not damaged by the laser ablation process. At optimized process parameters, the method of direct laser ablation could be a good candidate for damage-free selective structuring of dielectric layers on absorbing substrates.« less

A new paradigm for use of ultrafast lasers in ophthalmology for enhancement of corneal mechanical properties and permanent correction of refractive errors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Chao; Fomovsky, Mikhail; Hall, Jamie R.; Paik, David C.; Trokel, Stephen L.; Vukelic, Sinisa

2017-02-01

A new paradigm for strengthening of corneal tissue as well as permanent correction of refractive errors has been proposed. Ultrafast laser irradiation is confined to the levels below optical breakdown such that tissue damage is avoided while creating an ionization field responsible for subsequent photochemical modification of the stroma. The concept was assed using newly developed platform for precise application of a near-IR femtosecond laser irradiation to the cornea in in-vitro experiments. Targeted irradiation with tightly focused ultrafast laser pulses allows spatially resolved crosslinking in the interior of the porcine cornea in the absence of photosensitizers. The formation of intra- or interstromal covalent bonds in collagen matrix locally increases lamellar density. Due to high resolution, treatment is spatially resolved and therefore can be tailored to either enhance structure of corneal stroma or adjust corneal curvature towards correcting refractive errors. As the induced modification is primarily driven by nonlinear absorption, the treatment is essentially wavelength independent, and as such potentially less harmful than current method of choice, joint application of UVA light irradiation in conjunction with riboflavin. Potential applicability of a near-IR femtosecond laser for biomechanical stabilization of cornea and non-invasive refractive eye corrections is discussed.

Ultrafast Pulse Generation in an Organic Nanoparticle-Array Laser.

PubMed

Daskalakis, Konstantinos S; Väkeväinen, Aaro I; Martikainen, Jani-Petri; Hakala, Tommi K; Törmä, Päivi

2018-04-11

Nanoscale coherent light sources offer potentially ultrafast modulation speeds, which could be utilized for novel sensors and optical switches. Plasmonic periodic structures combined with organic gain materials have emerged as promising candidates for such nanolasers. Their plasmonic component provides high intensity and ultrafast nanoscale-confined electric fields, while organic gain materials offer fabrication flexibility and a low acquisition cost. Despite reports on lasing in plasmonic arrays, lasing dynamics in these structures have not been experimentally studied yet. Here we demonstrate, for the first time, an organic dye nanoparticle-array laser with more than a 100 GHz modulation bandwidth. We show that the lasing modulation speed can be tuned by the array parameters. Accelerated dynamics is observed for plasmonic lasing modes at the blue side of the dye emission.

Solving the jitter problem in microwave compressed ultrafast electron diffraction instruments: Robust sub-50 fs cavity-laser phase stabilization

PubMed Central

Otto, M. R.; René de Cotret, L. P.; Stern, M. J.; Siwick, B. J.

2017-01-01

We demonstrate the compression of electron pulses in a high-brightness ultrafast electron diffraction instrument using phase-locked microwave signals directly generated from a mode-locked femtosecond oscillator. Additionally, a continuous-wave phase stabilization system that accurately corrects for phase fluctuations arising in the compression cavity from both power amplification and thermal drift induced detuning was designed and implemented. An improvement in the microwave timing stability from 100 fs to 5 fs RMS is measured electronically, and the long-term arrival time stability (>10 h) of the electron pulses improves to below our measurement resolution of 50 fs. These results demonstrate sub-relativistic ultrafast electron diffraction with compressed pulses that is no longer limited by laser-microwave synchronization. PMID:28852686

Development of a high brightness ultrafast Transmission Electron Microscope based on a laser-driven cold field emission source.

PubMed

Houdellier, F; Caruso, G M; Weber, S; Kociak, M; Arbouet, A

2018-03-01

We report on the development of an ultrafast Transmission Electron Microscope based on a cold field emission source which can operate in either DC or ultrafast mode. Electron emission from a tungsten nanotip is triggered by femtosecond laser pulses which are tightly focused by optical components integrated inside a cold field emission source close to the cathode. The properties of the electron probe (brightness, angular current density, stability) are quantitatively determined. The measured brightness is the largest reported so far for UTEMs. Examples of imaging, diffraction and spectroscopy using ultrashort electron pulses are given. Finally, the potential of this instrument is illustrated by performing electron holography in the off-axis configuration using ultrashort electron pulses. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Development of Ultrafast Indirect Flash Heating Methods for RDX

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-02-01

8 1 1. Introduction The mission of the Multiscale Response of Energetic Materials program is to establish...vinyl nitrate ) Films. J. Phys. Chem. A 2004, 108 (43), 9342–9347. 11 12. Gottfried, J. L.; de Lucia, F. C., Jr.; Piraino, S. M. Ultrafast Laser

Spatial and temporal laser pulse design for material processing on ultrafast scales

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stoian, R.; Colombier, J. P.; Mauclair, C.; Cheng, G.; Bhuyan, M. K.; Velpula, P. K.; Srisungsitthisunti, P.

2014-01-01

The spatio-temporal design of ultrafast laser excitation can have a determinant influence on the physical and engineering aspects of laser-matter interactions, with the potential of upgrading laser processing effects. Energy relaxation channels can be synergetically stimulated as the energy delivery rate is synchronized with the material response on ps timescales. Experimental and theoretical loops based on the temporal design of laser irradiation and rapid monitoring of irradiation effects are, therefore, able to predict and determine ideal optimal laser pulse forms for specific ablation objectives. We illustrate this with examples on manipulating the thermodynamic relaxation pathways impacting the ablation products and nanostructuring of bulk and surfaces using longer pulse envelopes. Some of the potential control factors will be pointed out. At the same time the spatial character can dramatically influence the development of laser interaction. We discuss spatial beam engineering examples such as parallel and non-diffractive approaches designed for high-throughput, high-accuracy processing events.

Laser technologies for ultrasensitive groundwater dating using long-lived isotopes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Backus, Sterling

In this phase I work, we propose to construct and demonstrate a 103 nm laser based on resonantly enhanced and phase matched fifth harmonic generation in hollow waveguides driven by a high power, low cost and compact ultrafast fiber laser. (Figure 4) This VUV laser source can potentially produce >100 milliwatts of VUV light at 103 nm with pulse repetition-rates of 100 kHz to 100 MHz, ideal for the above-mentioned applications. This technology is state-of-the-art and potentially compact, fieldable, low-cost, and of broad interest for a variety of science and technology applications. Laser-based VUV sources in the past have exhibitedmore » low repetition rate, low efficiency, low beam quality, and are based on expensive laser sources. Our approch is to combine ultrafast fiber laser drive technology, ultrafast pulses, and our proven waveguide technology, to create a high repetition rate, high average power VUV source for producing high yield metastable Krypton. At KMLabs we have been offering EUV light sources employing the high harmonic generation (HHG) process driven by high-power femtosecond lasers for >5 years now. Recently, we have developed much smaller scale (briefcase size), but still high average power femtosecond fiber laser sources to supply other markets, and create new ones. By combining these new laser sources with our patented waveguide frequency upconversion technology, we expect to be able to obtain >20mW average power initially, with potentially much higher powers depending on wavelength, in an affordable VUV product. For comparison, our current EUV light sources based on ti:sapphire generate an average power of ~5 µW (albeit at shorter 29 nm wavelength), and we are aware of one other supplier that has developed a VUV (112 nm) light source with ~10-20 µW power.« less

Electron diffraction using ultrafast electron bunches from a laser-wakefield accelerator at kHz repetition rate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Z.-H.; Thomas, A. G. R.; Beaurepaire, B.; Nees, J. A.; Hou, B.; Malka, V.; Krushelnick, K.; Faure, J.

2013-02-01

We show that electron bunches in the 50-100 keV range can be produced from a laser wakefield accelerator using 10 mJ, 35 fs laser pulses operating at 0.5 kHz. It is shown that using a solenoid magnetic lens, the electron bunch distribution can be shaped. The resulting transverse and longitudinal coherence is suitable for producing diffraction images from a polycrystalline 10 nm aluminum foil. The high repetition rate, the stability of the electron source, and the fact that its uncorrelated bunch duration is below 100 fs make this approach promising for the development of sub-100 fs ultrafast electron diffraction experiments.

Dissipative rogue waves induced by soliton explosions in an ultrafast fiber laser.

PubMed

Liu, Meng; Luo, Ai-Ping; Xu, Wen-Cheng; Luo, Zhi-Chao

2016-09-01

We reported on the observation of dissipative rogue waves (DRWs) induced by soliton explosions in an ultrafast fiber laser. It was found that the soliton explosions could be obtained in the fiber laser at a critical pump power level. During the process of the soliton explosion, the high-amplitude waves that fulfill the rogue wave criteria could be detected. The appearance of the DRWs was identified by characterizing the intensity statistics of the time-stretched soliton profile based on the dispersive Fourier-transform method. Our findings provide the first experimental demonstration that the DRWs could be observed in the soliton explosion regime and further enhance the understanding of the physical mechanism of optical RW generation.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Harilal, S. S.; Diwakar, P. K.; Polek, M. P.

We investigated the role of spot size on plume morphology during ultrafast laser ablation of metal targets. Our results show that the spatial features of fs LA plumes are strongly dependent on the focal spot size. Two-dimensional self-emission images showed that the shape of the ultrafast laser ablation plumes changes from spherical to cylindrical with an increasing spot size from 100 to 600 μm. The changes in plume morphology and internal structures are related to ion emission dynamics from the plasma, where broader angular ion distribution and faster ions are noticed for the smallest spot size used. The present resultsmore » clearly show that the morphological changes in the plume with spot size are independent of laser pulse width.« less

Ultrafast gating of a mid-infrared laser pulse by a sub-pC relativistic electron beam

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cesar, D. B.; Musumeci, P.; Alesini, D.

In this paper we discuss a relative time-of-arrival measurement scheme between an electron beam and a mid-infrared laser pulse based on the electron-beam controlled transmission in semiconductor materials. This technique can be used as a time-stamping diagnostic in ultrafast electron diffraction or microscopy. In particular, our characterization of Germanium demonstrates that sub-ps time-of-arrival sensitivity could be achieved in a single shot and with very low charge beams (<1 pC). Detailed measurements as a function of the beam charge and the laser wavelength offer insights on the free carrier dynamics in the semiconductor upon excitation by the electron beam.

Periodic surface structure bifurcation induced by ultrafast laser generated point defect diffusion in GaAs

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Abere, Michael J.; Yalisove, Steven M.; Torralva, Ben

2016-04-11

The formation of high spatial frequency laser induced periodic surface structures (HSFL) with period <0.3 λ in GaAs after irradiation with femtosecond laser pulses in air is studied. We have identified a point defect generation mechanism that operates in a specific range of fluences in semiconductors between the band-gap closure and ultrafast-melt thresholds that produces vacancy/interstitial pairs. Stress relaxation, via diffusing defects, forms the 350–400 nm tall and ∼90 nm wide structures through a bifurcation process of lower spatial frequency surface structures. The resulting HSFL are predominately epitaxial single crystals and retain the original GaAs stoichiometry.

650-nJ pulses from a cavity-dumped Yb:fiber-pumped ultrafast optical parametric oscillator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lamour, Tobias P.; Reid, Derryck T.

2011-08-01

Sub-250-fs pulses with energies of up to 650 nJ and peak powers up to 2.07 MW were generated from a cavity-dumped optical parametric oscillator, synchronously-pumped at 15.3 MHz with sub-400-fs pulses from an Yb:fiber laser. The average beam quality factor of the dumped output was M2 ~1.2 and the total relative-intensity noise was 8 mdBc, making the system a promising candidate for ultrafast laser inscription of infrared materials.

Using Lasers and X-rays to Reveal the Motion of Atoms and Electrons (LBNL Summer Lecture Series)

ScienceCinema

Schoenlein, Robert [Deputy Director, Advanced Light Source

2017-12-09

Summer Lecture Series 2009: The ultrafast motion of atoms and electrons lies at the heart of chemical reactions, advanced materials with exotic properties, and biological processes such as the first event in vision. Bob Schoenlein, Deputy Director for Science at the Advanced Light Source, will discuss how such processes are revealed by using laser pulses spanning a millionth of a billionth of a second, and how a new generation of light sources will bring the penetrating power of x-rays to the world of ultrafast science.

Using Lasers and X-rays to Reveal the Motion of Atoms and Electrons (LBNL Summer Lecture Series)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Schoenlein, Robert

2009-07-07

Summer Lecture Series 2009: The ultrafast motion of atoms and electrons lies at the heart of chemical reactions, advanced materials with exotic properties, and biological processes such as the first event in vision. Bob Schoenlein, Deputy Director for Science at the Advanced Light Source, will discuss how such processes are revealed by using laser pulses spanning a millionth of a billionth of a second, and how a new generation of light sources will bring the penetrating power of x-rays to the world of ultrafast science.

Using Lasers and X-rays to Reveal the Motion of Atoms and Electrons (LBNL Summer Lecture Series)

ScienceCinema

Schoenlein, Robert [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Advanced Light Source (ALS), Materials Sciences Division and Chemical Sciences Division

2018-05-07

Summer Lecture Series 2009: The ultrafast motion of atoms and electrons lies at the heart of chemical reactions, advanced materials with exotic properties, and biological processes such as the first event in vision. Bob Schoenlein, Deputy Director for Science at the Advanced Light Source, will discuss how such processes are revealed by using laser pulses spanning a millionth of a billionth of a second, and how a new generation of light sources will bring the penetrating power of x-rays to the world of ultrafast science.

Ultrafast proton radiography of the magnetic fields generated by a laser-driven coil current

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gao, Lan; Ji, Hantao; Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08543

2016-04-15

Magnetic fields generated by a current flowing through a U-shaped coil connecting two copper foils were measured using ultrafast proton radiography. Two ∼1.25 kJ, 1-ns laser pulses propagated through laser entrance holes in the front foil and were focused to the back foil with an intensity of ∼3 × 10{sup 16 }W/cm{sup 2}. The intense laser-solid interaction induced a high voltage between the copper foils and generated a large current in the connecting coil. The proton data show ∼40–50 T magnetic fields at the center of the coil ∼3–4 ns after laser irradiation. The experiments provide significant insight for future target designs that aim tomore » develop a powerful source of external magnetic fields for various applications in high-energy-density science.« less

Generation of coherent terahertz radiation in ultrafast laser-gas interactionsa)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Ki-Yong

2009-05-01

The generation of intense terahertz radiation in ultrafast laser-gas interactions is studied on a basis of transient electron current model. When an ultrashort pulse laser's fundamental and its second harmonic fields are mixed to ionize a gas, a nonvanishing, directional photoelectron current can be produced, which simultaneously emits terahertz radiation in the far field. Here, the generation mechanism is examined with an analytic derivation and numerical simulations, in which tunneling ionization and subsequent electron motion in the combined laser field play a key role. In the simulations, three types of laser-gas interactions are considered: (i) mixing the fundamental and its second harmonic fields, (ii) mixing nonharmonic, two-color fields, and (iii) focusing single-color, few-cycle pulses. In these interactions, terahertz generation and other nonlinear effects driven by the transient current are investigated. In particular, anticorrelation between terahertz and second (or third) harmonic generation is observed and analyzed.

Laser-driven ultrafast antiproton beam

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Shun; Pei, Zhikun; Shen, Baifei; Xu, Jiancai; Zhang, Lingang; Zhang, Xiaomei; Xu, Tongjun; Yu, Yong; Bu, Zhigang

2018-02-01

Antiproton beam generation is investigated based on the ultra-intense femtosecond laser pulse by using two-dimensional particle-in-cell and Geant4 simulations. A high-flux proton beam with an energy of tens of GeV is generated in sequential radiation pressure and bubble regime and then shoots into a high-Z target for producing antiprotons. Both yield and energy of the antiproton beam increase almost linearly with the laser intensity. The generated antiproton beam has a short pulse duration of about 5 ps and its flux reaches 2 × 10 20 s - 1 at the laser intensity of 2.14 × 10 23 W / cm 2 . Compared to conventional methods, this new method based on the ultra-intense laser pulse is able to provide a compact, tunable, and ultrafast antiproton source, which is potentially useful for quark-gluon plasma study, all-optical antihydrogen generation, and so on.

Parametric spectro-temporal analyzer (PASTA) for ultrafast optical performance monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Chi; Wong, Kenneth K. Y.

2013-12-01

Ultrafast optical spectrum monitoring is one of the most challenging tasks in observing ultrafast phenomena, such as the spectroscopy, dynamic observation of the laser cavity, and spectral encoded imaging systems. However, conventional method such as optical spectrum analyzer (OSA) spatially disperses the spectrum, but the space-to-time mapping is realized by mechanical rotation of a grating, so are incapable of operating at high speed. Besides the spatial dispersion, temporal dispersion provided by dispersive fiber can also stretches the spectrum in time domain in an ultrafast manner, but is primarily confined in measuring short pulses. In view of these constraints, here we present a real-time spectrum analyzer called parametric spectro-temporal analyzer (PASTA), which is based on the time-lens focusing mechanism. It achieves a 100-MHz frame rate and can measure arbitrary waveforms. For the first time, we observe the dynamic spectrum of an ultrafast swept-source: Fourier domain mode-locked (FDML) laser, and the spectrum evolution of a laser cavity during its stabilizing process. In addition to the basic single-lens structure, the multi-lens configurations (e.g. telescope or wide-angle scope) will provide a versatile operating condition, which can zoom in to achieve 0.05-nm resolution and zoom out to achieve 10-nm observation range, namely 17 times zoom in/out ratio. In view of the goal of achieving spectrum analysis with fine accuracy, PASTA provides a promising path to study the real-time spectrum of some dynamic phenomena and non-repetitive events, with orders of magnitude enhancement in the frame rate over conventional OSAs.

Lasers '92; Proceedings of the International Conference on Lasers and Applications, 15th, Houston, TX, Dec. 7-10, 1992

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wang, Charles P. (Editor)

1993-01-01

Papers from the conference are presented, and the topics covered include the following: x-ray lasers, excimer lasers, chemical lasers, high power lasers, blue-green lasers, dye lasers, solid state lasers, semiconductor lasers, gas and discharge lasers, carbon dioxide lasers, ultrafast phenomena, nonlinear optics, quantum optics, dynamic gratings and wave mixing, laser radar, lasers in medicine, optical filters and laser communication, optical techniques and instruments, laser material interaction, and industrial and manufacturing applications.

Ultrashort x-ray backlighters and applications

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Umstadter, D., University of Michigan

Previously, using ultrashort laser pulses focused onto solid targets, we have experimentally studied a controllable ultrafast broadband radiation source in the extreme ultraviolet for time-resolved dynamical studies in ultrafast science [J. Workman, A. Maksimchuk, X. Llu, U. Ellenberger, J. S. Coe, C.-Y. Chien, and D. Umstadter, ``Control of Bright Picosecond X-Ray Emission from Intense Sub- Picosecond Laser-Plasma Interactions,`` Phys. Rev. Lett. 75, 2324 (1995)]. Once armed with a bright ultrafast broadband continuum x-ray source and appropriate detectors, we used the source as a backlighter to study a remotely produced plasma. The application of the source to a problem relevant tomore » high-density matter completes the triad: creating and controlling, efficiently detecting, and applying the source. This work represented the first use of an ultrafast laser- produced x-ray source as a time-resolving probe in an application relevant to atomic, plasma and high-energy-density matter physics. Using the x-ray source as a backlighter, we adopted a pump-probe geometry to investigate the dynamic changes in electronic structure of a thin metallic film as it is perturbed by an ultrashort laser pulse. Because the laser deposits its energy in a skin depth of about 100 {Angstrom} before expansion occurs, up to gigabar pressure shock waves lasting picosecond in duration have been predicted to form in these novel plasmas. This raises the possibility of studying high- energy-density matter relevant to inertial confinement fusion (ICF) and astrophysics in small-scale laboratory experiments. In the past, time-resolved measurements of K-edge shifts in plasmas driven by nanosecond pulses have been used to infer conditions in highly compressed materials. In this study, we used 100-fs laser pulses to impulsively drive shocks into a sample (an untamped 1000 {Angstrom} aluminum film on 2000 {Angstrom} of parylene-n), measuring L-edge shifts.« less

Lasers for nonlinear microscopy.

PubMed

Wise, Frank

2013-03-01

Various versions of nonlinear microscopy are revolutionizing the life sciences, almost all of which are made possible because of the development of ultrafast lasers. In this article, the main properties and technical features of short-pulse lasers used in nonlinear microscopy are summarized. Recent research results on fiber lasers that will impact future instruments are also discussed.

Human mesenchymal stem cell behavior on femtosecond laser-textured Ti-6Al-4V surfaces.

PubMed

Cunha, Alexandre; Zouani, Omar Farouk; Plawinski, Laurent; Botelho do Rego, Ana Maria; Almeida, Amélia; Vilar, Rui; Durrieu, Marie-Christine

2015-01-01

The aim of the present work was to investigate ultrafast laser surface texturing as a surface treatment of Ti-6Al-4V alloy dental and orthopedic implants to improve osteoblastic commitment of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs). Surface texturing was carried out by direct writing with an Yb:KYW chirped-pulse regenerative amplification laser system with a central wavelength of 1030 nm and a pulse duration of 500 fs. The surface topography and chemical composition were investigated by scanning electron microscopy and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, respectively. Three types of surface textures with potential interest to improve implant osseointegration can be produced by this method: laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSSs); nanopillars (NPs); and microcolumns covered with LIPSSs, forming a bimodal roughness distribution. The potential of the laser treatment in improving hMSC differentiation was assessed by in vitro study of hMSCs spreading, adhesion, elongation and differentiation using epifluorescence microscopy at different times after cell seeding, after specific stainings and immunostainings. Cell area and focal adhesion area were lower on the laser-textured surfaces than on a polished reference surface. Obviously, the laser-textured surfaces have an impact on cell shape. Osteoblastic commitment was observed independently of the surface topography after 2 weeks of cell seeding. When the cells were cultured (after 4 weeks of seeding) in osteogenic medium, LIPSS- and NP- textured surfaces enhanced matrix mineralization and bone-like nodule formation as compared with polished and microcolumn-textured surfaces. The present work shows that surface nanotextures consisting of LIPSSs and NPs can, potentially, improve hMSC differentiation into an osteoblastic lineage.

Lattice-level measurement of material strength with LCLS during ultrafast dynamic compression

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Milathianaki, Despina; Boutet, Sebastien; Ratner, Daniel; White, William; Williams, Garth; Gleason, Arianna; Swift, Damian; Higginbotham, Andrew; Wark, Justin

2013-10-01

An in-depth understanding of the stress-strain behavior of materials during ultrafast dynamic compression requires experiments that offer in-situ observation of the lattice at the pertinent temporal and spatial scales. To date, the lattice response under extreme strain-rate conditions (>108 s-1) has been inferred predominantly from continuum-level measurements and multi-million atom molecular dynamics simulations. Several time-resolved x-ray diffraction experiments have captured important information on plasticity kinetics, while limited to nanosecond timescales due to the lack of high brilliance ultrafast x-ray sources. Here we present experiments at LCLS combining ultrafast laser-shocks and serial femtosecond x-ray diffraction. The high spectral brightness (~1012 photons per pulse, ΔE/E = 0.2%) and subpicosecond temporal resolution (<100 fs pulsewidth) of the LCLS x-ray free electron laser allow investigations that link simulations and experiments at the fundamental temporal and spatial scales for the first time. We present movies of the lattice undergoing rapid shock-compression, composed by a series of single femtosecond x-ray snapshots, demonstrating the transient behavior while successfully decoupling the elastic and plastic response in polycrystalline Cu.

Concept and design of a beam blanker with integrated photoconductive switch for ultrafast electron microscopy.

PubMed

Weppelman, I G C; Moerland, R J; Hoogenboom, J P; Kruit, P

2018-01-01

We present a new method to create ultrashort electron pulses by integrating a photoconductive switch with an electrostatic deflector. This paper discusses the feasibility of such a system by analytical and numerical calculations. We argue that ultrafast electron pulses can be achieved for micrometer scale dimensions of the blanker, which are feasible with MEMS-based fabrication technology. According to basic models, the design presented in this paper is capable of generating 100 fs electron pulses with spatial resolutions of less than 10 nm. Our concept for an ultrafast beam blanker (UFB) may provide an attractive alternative to perform ultrafast electron microscopy, as it does not require modification of the microscope nor realignment between DC and pulsed mode of operation. Moreover, only low laser pulse energies are required. Due to its small dimensions the UFB can be inserted in the beam line of a commercial microscope via standard entry ports for blankers or variable apertures. The use of a photoconductive switch ensures minimal jitter between laser and electron pulses. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Ultra-fast movies of thin-film laser ablation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Domke, Matthias; Rapp, Stephan; Schmidt, Michael; Huber, Heinz P.

2012-11-01

Ultra-short-pulse laser irradiation of thin molybdenum films from the glass substrate side initiates an intact Mo disk lift off free from thermal effects. For the investigation of the underlying physical effects, ultra-fast pump-probe microscopy is used to produce stop-motion movies of the single-pulse ablation process, initiated by a 660-fs laser pulse. The ultra-fast dynamics in the femtosecond and picosecond ranges are captured by stroboscopic illumination of the sample with an optically delayed probe pulse of 510-fs duration. The nanosecond and microsecond delay ranges of the probe pulse are covered by an electronically triggered 600-ps laser. Thus, the setup enables an observation of general laser ablation processes from the femtosecond delay range up to the final state. A comparison of time- and space-resolved observations of film and glass substrate side irradiation of a 470-nm molybdenum layer reveals the driving mechanisms of the Mo disk lift off initiated by glass-side irradiation. Observations suggest that a phase explosion generates a liquid-gas mixture in the molybdenum/glass interface about 10 ps after the impact of the pump laser pulse. Then, a shock wave and gas expansion cause the molybdenum layer to bulge, while the enclosed liquid-gas mixture cools and condenses at delay times in the 100-ps range. The bulging continues for approximately 20 ns, when an intact Mo disk shears and lifts off at a velocity of above 70 m/s. As a result, the remaining hole is free from thermal effects.

Strong-Field Control of Laser Filamentation Mechanisms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Levis, Robert; Romanov, Dmitri; Filin, Aleskey; Compton, Ryan

2008-05-01

The propagation of short strong-file laser pulses in gas and solution phases often result in formation of filaments. This phenomenon involves many nonlinear processes including Kerr lensing, group velocity dispersion, multi-photon ionization, plasma defocusing, intensity clamping, and self-steepening. Of these, formation and dynamics of pencil-shape plasma areas plays a crucial role. The fundamental understanding of these laser-induced plasmas requires additional effort, because the process is highly nonlinear and complex. We studied the ultrafast laser-generated plasma dynamics both experimentally and theoretically. Ultrafast plasma dynamics was probed using Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Scattering. The measurements were made in a room temperature gas maintained at 1 atm in a flowing cell. The time dependent scattering was measured by delaying the CARS probe with respect to the intense laser excitation pulse. A general trend is observed between the spacing of the ground state and the first allowed excited state with the rise time for the noble gas series and the molecular gases. This trend is consistent with our theoretical model, which considers the ultrafast dynamics of the strong field generated plasma as a three-step process; (i) strong-field ionization followed by the electron gaining considerable kinetic energy during the pulse; (ii) immediate post-pulse dynamics: fast thermalization, impact-ionization-driven electron multiplication and cooling; (iii) ensuing relaxation: evolution to electron-ion equilibrium and eventual recombination.

Normal-mode selectivity in ultrafast Raman excitations in C60

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, G. P.; George, Thomas F.

2006-01-01

Ultrafast Raman spectra are a powerful tool to probe vibrational excitations, but inherently they are not normal-mode specific. For a system as complicated as C60 , there is no general rule to target a specific mode. A detailed study presented here aims to investigate normal-mode selectivity in C60 by an ultrafast laser. To accurately measure mode excitation, we formally introduce the kinetic-energy-based normal-mode analysis which overcomes the difficulty with the strong lattice anharmonicity and relaxation. We first investigate the resonant excitation and find that mode selectivity is normally difficult to achieve. However, for off-resonant excitations, it is possible to selectively excite a few modes in C60 by properly choosing an optimal laser pulse duration, which agrees with previous experimental and theoretical findings. Going beyond the phenomenological explanation, our study shines new light on the origin of the optimal duration: The phase matching between the laser field and mode vibration determines which mode is strongly excited or suppressed. This finding is very robust and should be a useful guide for future experimental and theoretical studies in more complicated systems.

Normal mode selectivity in ultrafast Raman excitations in C60

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Guoping; George, Thomas F.

2006-05-01

Ultrafast Raman spectra are a powerful tool to probe vibrational excitations, but inherently they are not normal-mode specific. For a system as complicated as C60, there is no general rule to target a specific mode. A detailed study presented here aims to investigate normal mode selectivity in C60 by an ultrafast laser. To accurately measure mode excitation, we formally introduce the kinetic energy-based normal mode analysis which overcomes the difficulty with the strong lattice anharmonicity and relaxation. We first investigate the resonant excitation and find that mode selectivity is normally difficult to achieve. However, for off-resonant excitations, it is possible to selectively excite a few modes in C60 by properly choosing an optimal laser pulse duration, which agrees with previous experimental and theoretical findings. Going beyond the phenomenological explanation, our study shines new light on the origin of the optimal duration: The phase matching between laser field and mode vibration determines which mode is strongly excited or suppressed. This finding is very robust and may be a useful guide for future experimental and theoretical studies in more complicated systems.

Ultrafast time scale X-rotation of cold atom storage qubit using Rubidium clock states

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, Yunheung; Lee, Han-Gyeol; Kim, Hyosub; Jo, Hanlae; Ahn, Jaewook

2017-04-01

Ultrafast-time-scale optical interaction is a local operation on the electronic subspace of an atom, thus leaving its nuclear state intact. However, because atomic clock states are maximally entangled states of the electronic and nuclear degrees of freedom, their entire Hilbert space should be accessible only with local operations and classical communications (LOCC). Therefore, it may be possible to achieve hyperfine qubit gates only with electronic transitions. Here we show an experimental implementation of ultrafast X-rotation of atomic hyperfine qubits, in which an optical Rabi oscillation induces a geometric phase between the constituent fine-structure states, thus bringing about the X-rotation between the two ground hyperfine levels. In experiments, cold atoms in a magneto-optical trap were controlled with a femtosecond laser pulse from a Ti:sapphire laser amplifier. Absorption imaging of the as-controlled atoms initially in the ground hyperfine state manifested polarization dependence, strongly agreeing with the theory. The result indicates that single laser pulse implementations of THz clock speed qubit controls are feasible for atomic storage qubits. Samsung Science and Technology Foundation [SSTF-BA1301-12].

Ultra-fast laser system

DOEpatents

Dantus, Marcos; Lozovoy, Vadim V

2014-01-21

A laser system is provided which selectively excites Raman active vibrations in molecules. In another aspect of the present invention, the system includes a laser, pulse shaper and detection device. A further aspect of the present invention employs a femtosecond laser and binary pulse shaping (BPS). Still another aspect of the present invention uses a laser beam pulse, a pulse shaper and remote sensing.

Trends in laser micromachining

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gaebler, Frank; van Nunen, Joris; Held, Andrew

2016-03-01

Laser Micromachining is well established in industry. Depending on the application lasers with pulse length from μseconds to femtoseconds and wavelengths from 1064nm and its harmonics up to 5μm or 10.6μm are used. Ultrafast laser machining using pulses with pico or femtosecond duration pulses is gaining traction, as it offers very precise processing of materials with low thermal impact. Large-scale industrial ultrafast laser applications show that the market can be divided into various sub segments. One set of applications demand low power around 10W, compact footprint and are extremely sensitive to the laser price whilst still demanding 10ps or shorter laser pulses. A second set of applications are very power hungry and only become economically feasible for large scale deployments at power levels in the 100+W class. There is also a growing demand for applications requiring fs-laser pulses. In our presentation we would like to describe these sub segments by using selected applications from the automotive and electronics industry e.g. drilling of gas/diesel injection nozzles, dicing of LED substrates. We close the presentation with an outlook to micromachining applications e.g. glass cutting and foil processing with unique new CO lasers emitting 5μm laser wavelength.

2012 MULTIPHOTON PROCESSES GRC, JUNE 3-8, 2012

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Walker, Barry

2012-03-08

The sessions will focus on:  Attosecond science;  Strong-field processes in molecules and solids;  Generation of harmonics and attosecond pulses;  Free-electron laser experiments and theory;  Ultrafast imaging;  Applications of very high intensity lasers;  Propagation of intense laser fields.

Ultrafast web inspection with hybrid dispersion laser scanner.

PubMed

Chen, Hongwei; Wang, Chao; Yazaki, Akio; Kim, Chanju; Goda, Keisuke; Jalali, Bahram

2013-06-10

We report an ultrafast web inspector that operates at a 1000 times higher scan rate than conventional methods. This system is based on a hybrid dispersion laser scanner that performs line scans at nearly 100 MHz. Specifically, we demonstrate web inspection with detectable resolution of 48.6 μm/pixel (scan direction) × 23 μm (web flow direction) within a width of view of 6 mm at a record high scan rate of 90.9 MHz. We demonstrate the identification and evaluation of particles on silicon wafers. This method holds great promise for speeding up quality control and hence reducing manufacturing costs.

Ultrafast lattice dynamics in lead selenide quantum dot induced by laser excitation

DOE PAGES

Wang, Xuan; Rahmani, Hamidreza; Zhou, Jun; ...

2016-10-10

We directly monitored the lattice dynamics in PbSe quantum dots induced by laser excitation using ultrafast electron di raction. The energy relaxation between the carriers and the lattice took place within 10 ps, showing no evidence of any signi cant phonon bottleneck e ect. Meanwhile, the lattice dilation exhibited some unusual features that could not be explained by the available mechanisms of photon- induced acoustic vibrations in semiconductors alone. The heat transport between the QDs and the substrate deviates signi cantly from Fourier's Law, which opens questions about the heat transfer under nonequilibrium conditions in nanoscale materials.

Reversible ultrafast melting in bulk CdSe

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wu, Wenzhi; Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712; He, Feng

2016-02-07

In this work, transient reflectivity changes in bulk CdSe have been measured with two-color femtosecond pump-probe spectroscopy under a wide range of pump fluences. Three regions of reflectivity change with pump fluences have been consistently revealed for excited carrier density, coherent phonon amplitude, and lattice temperature. For laser fluences from 13 to 19.3 mJ/cm{sup 2}, ultrafast melting happens in first several picoseconds. This melting process is purely thermal and reversible. A complete phase transformation in bulk CdSe may be reached when the absorbed laser energy is localized long enough, as observed in nanocrystalline CdSe.

Free electron laser-driven ultrafast rearrangement of the electronic structure in Ti

PubMed Central

Principi, E.; Giangrisostomi, E.; Cucini, R.; Bencivenga, F.; Battistoni, A.; Gessini, A.; Mincigrucci, R.; Saito, M.; Di Fonzo, S.; D'Amico, F.; Di Cicco, A.; Gunnella, R.; Filipponi, A.; Giglia, A.; Nannarone, S.; Masciovecchio, C.

2015-01-01

High-energy density extreme ultraviolet radiation delivered by the FERMI seeded free-electron laser has been used to create an exotic nonequilibrium state of matter in a titanium sample characterized by a highly excited electron subsystem at temperatures in excess of 10 eV and a cold solid-density ion lattice. The obtained transient state has been investigated through ultrafast absorption spectroscopy across the Ti M2,3-edge revealing a drastic rearrangement of the sample electronic structure around the Fermi level occurring on a time scale of about 100 fs. PMID:26798835

Communication using VCSEL laser array

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Goorjian, Peter M. (Inventor)

2008-01-01

Ultrafast directional beam switching, using coupled vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) is combined with a light modulator to provide information transfer at bit rates of tens of GHz. This approach is demonstrated to achieve beam switching frequencies of 32-50 GHz in some embodiments and directional beam switching with angular differences of about eight degrees. This switching scheme is likely to be useful for ultrafast optical networks at frequencies much higher than achievable with other approaches. A Mach-Zehnder interferometer, a Fabry-Perot etalon, or a semiconductor-based electro-absorption transmission channel, among others, can be used as a light modulator.

Ultrafast lattice dynamics in lead selenide quantum dot induced by laser excitation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wang, Xuan; Rahmani, Hamidreza; Zhou, Jun

We directly monitored the lattice dynamics in PbSe quantum dots induced by laser excitation using ultrafast electron di raction. The energy relaxation between the carriers and the lattice took place within 10 ps, showing no evidence of any signi cant phonon bottleneck e ect. Meanwhile, the lattice dilation exhibited some unusual features that could not be explained by the available mechanisms of photon- induced acoustic vibrations in semiconductors alone. The heat transport between the QDs and the substrate deviates signi cantly from Fourier's Law, which opens questions about the heat transfer under nonequilibrium conditions in nanoscale materials.

Structure and Dynamics with Ultrafast Electron Microscopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Siwick, Bradley

In this talk I will describe how combining ultrafast lasers and electron microscopes in novel ways makes it possible to directly `watch' the time-evolving structure of condensed matter, both at the level of atomic-scale structural rearrangements in the unit cell and at the level of a material's nano- microstructure. First, I will briefly describe my group's efforts to develop ultrafast electron diffraction using radio- frequency compressed electron pulses in the 100keV range, a system that rivals the capabilities of xray free electron lasers for diffraction experiments. I will give several examples of the new kinds of information that can be gleaned from such experiments. In vanadium dioxide we have mapped the detailed reorganization of the unit cell during the much debated insulator-metal transition. In particular, we have been able to identify and separate lattice structural changes from valence charge density redistribution in the material on the ultrafast timescale. In doing so we uncovered a previously unreported optically accessible phase/state of vanadium dioxide that has monoclinic crystallography like the insulator, but electronic structure and properties that are more like the rutile metal. We have also combined these dynamic structural measurements with broadband ultrafast spectroscopy to make detailed connections between structure and properties for the photoinduced insulator to metal transition. Second, I will show how dynamic transmission electron microscopy (DTEM) can be used to make direct, real space images of nano-microstructural evolution during laser-induced crystallization of amorphous semiconductors at unprecedented spatio-temporal resolution. This is a remarkably complex process that involves several distinct modes of crystal growth and the development of intricate microstructural patterns on the nanosecond to ten microsecond timescales all of which can be imaged directly with DTEM.

Laser-combined scanning tunnelling microscopy for probing ultrafast transient dynamics.

PubMed

Terada, Yasuhiko; Yoshida, Shoji; Takeuchi, Osamu; Shigekawa, Hidemi

2010-07-07

The development of time-resolved scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM), in particular, attempts to combine STM with ultrafast laser technology, is reviewed with emphasis on observed physical quantities and spatiotemporal resolution. Ultrashort optical pulse technology has allowed us to observe transient phenomena in the femtosecond range, which, however, has the drawback of a relatively low spatial resolution due to the electromagnetic wavelength used. In contrast, STM and its related techniques, although the time resolution is limited by the circuit bandwidth (∼100 kHz), enable us to observe structures at the atomic level in real space. Our purpose has been to combine these two techniques to achieve a new technology that satisfies the requirements for exploring the ultrafast transient dynamics of the local quantum functions in organized small structures, which will advance the pursuit of future nanoscale scientific research in terms of the ultimate temporal and spatial resolutions. © 2010 IOP Publishing Ltd

Photoelectron diffraction from single oriented molecules: Towards ultrafast structure determination of molecules using x-ray free-electron lasers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kazama, Misato; Fujikawa, Takashi; Kishimoto, Naoki; Mizuno, Tomoya; Adachi, Jun-ichi; Yagishita, Akira

2013-06-01

We provide a molecular structure determination method, based on multiple-scattering x-ray photoelectron diffraction (XPD) calculations. This method is applied to our XPD data on several molecules having different equilibrium geometries. Then it is confirmed that, by our method, bond lengths and bond angles can be determined with a resolution of less than 0.1 Å and 10∘, respectively. Differently from any other scenario of ultrafast structure determination, we measure the two- or three-dimensional XPD of aligned or oriented molecules in the energy range from 100 to 200 eV with a 4π detection velocity map imaging spectrometer. Thanks to the intense and ultrashort pulse properties of x-ray free-electron lasers, our approach exhibits the most probable method for obtaining ultrafast real-time structural information on small to medium-sized molecules consisting of light elements, i.e., a “molecular movie.”

Phosphorene quantum dot saturable absorbers for ultrafast fiber lasers

PubMed Central

Du, J.; Zhang, M.; Guo, Z.; Chen, J.; Zhu, X.; Hu, G.; Peng, P.; Zheng, Z.; Zhang, H.

2017-01-01

We fabricate ultrasmall phosphorene quantum dots (PQDs) with an average size of 2.6 ± 0.9 nm using a liquid exfoliation method involving ultrasound probe sonication followed by bath sonication. By coupling the as-prepared PQDs with microfiber evanescent light field, the PQD-based saturable absorber (SA) device exhibits ultrafast nonlinear saturable absorption property, with an optical modulation depth of 8.1% at the telecommunication band. With the integration of the all-fiber PQD-based SA, a continuous-wave passively mode-locked erbium-doped (Er-doped) laser cavity delivers stable, self-starting pulses with a pulse duration of 0.88 ps and at the cavity repetition rate of 5.47 MHz. Our results contribute to the growing body of work studying the nonlinear optical properties of ultrasmall PQDs that present new opportunities of this two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterial for future ultrafast photonic technologies. PMID:28211471

Ultrafast saturable absorption in TiS2 induced by non-equilibrium electrons and the generation of a femtosecond mode-locked laser.

PubMed

Tian, Xiangling; Wei, Rongfei; Liu, Meng; Zhu, Chunhui; Luo, Zhichao; Wang, Fengqiu; Qiu, Jianrong

2018-05-24

Non-equilibrium electrons induced by ultrafast laser excitation in a correlated electron material can disturb the Fermi energy as well as optical nonlinearity. Here, non-equilibrium electrons translate a semiconductor TiS2 material into a plasma to generate broad band nonlinear optical saturable absorption with a sub-picosecond recovery time of ∼768 fs (corresponding to modulation frequencies over 1.3 THz) and a modulation response up to ∼145%. Based on this optical nonlinear modulator, a stable femtosecond mode-locked pulse with a pulse duration of ∼402 fs and a pulse train with a period of ∼175.5 ns is observed in the all-optical system. The findings indicate that non-equilibrium electrons can promote a TiS2-based saturable absorber to be an ultrafast switch for a femtosecond pulse output.

Ultrafast acousto-optic mode conversion in optically birefringent ferroelectrics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lejman, Mariusz; Vaudel, Gwenaelle; Infante, Ingrid C.; Chaban, Ievgeniia; Pezeril, Thomas; Edely, Mathieu; Nataf, Guillaume F.; Guennou, Mael; Kreisel, Jens; Gusev, Vitalyi E.; Dkhil, Brahim; Ruello, Pascal

2016-08-01

The ability to generate efficient giga-terahertz coherent acoustic phonons with femtosecond laser makes acousto-optics a promising candidate for ultrafast light processing, which faces electronic device limits intrinsic to complementary metal oxide semiconductor technology. Modern acousto-optic devices, including optical mode conversion process between ordinary and extraordinary light waves (and vice versa), remain limited to the megahertz range. Here, using coherent acoustic waves generated at tens of gigahertz frequency by a femtosecond laser pulse, we reveal the mode conversion process and show its efficiency in ferroelectric materials such as BiFeO3 and LiNbO3. Further to the experimental evidence, we provide a complete theoretical support to this all-optical ultrafast mechanism mediated by acousto-optic interaction. By allowing the manipulation of light polarization with gigahertz coherent acoustic phonons, our results provide a novel route for the development of next-generation photonic-based devices and highlight new capabilities in using ferroelectrics in modern photonics.

Ultrafast Directional Beam Switching in Coupled VCSELs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ning, Cun-Zheng; Goorjian, Peter

2001-01-01

We propose a new approach to performing ultrafast directional beam switching using two coupled Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers (VCSELs). The proposed strategy is demonstrated for two VCSELs of 5.6 microns in diameter placed about 1 micron apart from the edges, showing a switching speed of 42 GHz with a maximum far-field angle span of about 10 degrees.

Obtaining Cross-Sections of Paint Layers in Cultural Artifacts Using Femtosecond Pulsed Lasers

PubMed Central

Harada, Takaaki; Spence, Stephanie; Margiolakis, Athanasios; Deckoff-Jones, Skylar; Ploeger, Rebecca; Shugar, Aaron N.; Hamm, James F.; Dani, Keshav M.; Dani, Anya R.

2017-01-01

Recently, ultrafast lasers exhibiting high peak powers and extremely short pulse durations have created a new paradigm in materials processing. The precision and minimal thermal damage provided by ultrafast lasers in the machining of metals and dielectrics also suggests a novel application in obtaining precise cross-sections of fragile, combustible paint layers in artwork and cultural heritage property. Cross-sections of paint and other decorative layers on artwork provide critical information into its history and authenticity. However, the current methodology which uses a scalpel to obtain a cross-section can cause further damage, including crumbling, delamination, and paint compression. Here, we demonstrate the ability to make controlled cross-sections of paint layers with a femtosecond pulsed laser, with minimal damage to the surrounding artwork. The femtosecond laser cutting overcomes challenges such as fragile paint disintegrating under scalpel pressure, or oxidation by the continuous-wave (CW) laser. Variations in laser power and translational speed of the laser while cutting exhibit different benefits for cross-section sampling. The use of femtosecond lasers in studying artwork also presents new possibilities in analyzing, sampling, and cleaning of artwork with minimal destructive effects. PMID:28772468

Obtaining Cross-Sections of Paint Layers in Cultural Artifacts Using Femtosecond Pulsed Lasers.

PubMed

Harada, Takaaki; Spence, Stephanie; Margiolakis, Athanasios; Deckoff-Jones, Skylar; Ploeger, Rebecca; Shugar, Aaron N; Hamm, James F; Dani, Keshav M; Dani, Anya R

2017-01-26

Recently, ultrafast lasers exhibiting high peak powers and extremely short pulse durations have created a new paradigm in materials processing. The precision and minimal thermal damage provided by ultrafast lasers in the machining of metals and dielectrics also suggests a novel application in obtaining precise cross-sections of fragile, combustible paint layers in artwork and cultural heritage property. Cross-sections of paint and other decorative layers on artwork provide critical information into its history and authenticity. However, the current methodology which uses a scalpel to obtain a cross-section can cause further damage, including crumbling, delamination, and paint compression. Here, we demonstrate the ability to make controlled cross-sections of paint layers with a femtosecond pulsed laser, with minimal damage to the surrounding artwork. The femtosecond laser cutting overcomes challenges such as fragile paint disintegrating under scalpel pressure, or oxidation by the continuous-wave (CW) laser. Variations in laser power and translational speed of the laser while cutting exhibit different benefits for cross-section sampling. The use of femtosecond lasers in studying artwork also presents new possibilities in analyzing, sampling, and cleaning of artwork with minimal destructive effects.

An ultrafast electron microscope gun driven by two-photon photoemission from a nanotip cathode

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bormann, Reiner; Strauch, Stefanie; Schäfer, Sascha, E-mail: schaefer@ph4.physik.uni-goettingen.de

We experimentally and numerically investigate the performance of an advanced ultrafast electron source, based on two-photon photoemission from a tungsten needle cathode incorporated in an electron microscope gun geometry. Emission properties are characterized as a function of the electrostatic gun settings, and operating conditions leading to laser-triggered electron beams of very low emittance (below 20 nm mrad) are identified. The results highlight the excellent suitability of optically driven nano-cathodes for the further development of ultrafast transmission electron microscopy.

Understanding Intense Laser Interactions with Solid Density Plasma

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-01-04

obtain the time-dependent diffraction efficiency. Further improvements may lead to femtosecond temporal resolution, with negligible pump-probe jitter...with negligible pump-probe jitter being possible with future laser- wakefield-accelerator ultrafast-electron-diffraction schemes. Distribution

Nonequilibrium dynamics of the phonon gas in ultrafast-excited antimony

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krylow, Sergej; Zijlstra, Eeuwe S.; Kabeer, Fairoja Cheenicode; Zier, Tobias; Bauerhenne, Bernd; Garcia, Martin E.

2017-12-01

The ultrafast relaxation dynamics of a nonequilibrium phonon gas towards thermal equilibrium involves many-body collisions that cannot be properly described by perturbative approaches. Here, we develop a nonperturbative method to elucidate the microscopic mechanisms underlying the decay of laser-excited coherent phonons in the presence of electron-hole pairs, which so far are not fully understood. Our theory relies on ab initio molecular dynamics simulations on laser-excited potential-energy surfaces. Those simulations are compared with runs in which the laser-excited coherent phonon is artificially deoccupied. We apply this method to antimony and show that the decay of the A1 g phonon mode at low laser fluences can be accounted mainly to three-body down-conversion processes of an A1 g phonon into acoustic phonons. For higher excitation strengths, however, we see a crossover to a four-phonon process, in which two A1 g phonons decay into two optical phonons.

Initial Atomic Motion Immediately Following Femtosecond-Laser Excitation in Phase-Change Materials.

PubMed

Matsubara, E; Okada, S; Ichitsubo, T; Kawaguchi, T; Hirata, A; Guan, P F; Tokuda, K; Tanimura, K; Matsunaga, T; Chen, M W; Yamada, N

2016-09-23

Despite the fact that phase-change materials are widely used for data storage, no consensus exists on the unique mechanism of their ultrafast phase change and its accompanied large and rapid optical change. By using the pump-probe observation method combining a femtosecond optical laser and an x-ray free-electron laser, we substantiate experimentally that, in both GeTe and Ge_{2}Sb_{2}Te_{5} crystals, rattling motion of mainly Ge atoms takes place with keeping the off-center position just after femtosecond-optical-laser irradiation, which eventually leads to a higher symmetry or disordered state. This very initial rattling motion in the undistorted lattice can be related to instantaneous optical change due to the loss of resonant bonding that characterizes GeTe-based phase change materials. Based on the amorphous structure derived by first-principles molecular dynamics simulation, we infer a plausible ultrafast amorphization mechanism via nonmelting.

Frequency domain optical parametric amplification

PubMed Central

Schmidt, Bruno E.; Thiré, Nicolas; Boivin, Maxime; Laramée, Antoine; Poitras, François; Lebrun, Guy; Ozaki, Tsuneyuki; Ibrahim, Heide; Légaré, François

2014-01-01

Today’s ultrafast lasers operate at the physical limits of optical materials to reach extreme performances. Amplification of single-cycle laser pulses with their corresponding octave-spanning spectra still remains a formidable challenge since the universal dilemma of gain narrowing sets limits for both real level pumped amplifiers as well as parametric amplifiers. We demonstrate that employing parametric amplification in the frequency domain rather than in time domain opens up new design opportunities for ultrafast laser science, with the potential to generate single-cycle multi-terawatt pulses. Fundamental restrictions arising from phase mismatch and damage threshold of nonlinear laser crystals are not only circumvented but also exploited to produce a synergy between increased seed spectrum and increased pump energy. This concept was successfully demonstrated by generating carrier envelope phase stable, 1.43 mJ two-cycle pulses at 1.8 μm wavelength. PMID:24805968

Unified Time and Frequency Picture of Ultrafast Atomic Excitation in Strong Laser Fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zimmermann, H.; Patchkovskii, S.; Ivanov, M.; Eichmann, U.

2017-01-01

Excitation and ionization in strong laser fields lies at the heart of such diverse research directions as high-harmonic generation and spectroscopy, laser-induced diffraction imaging, emission of femtosecond electron bunches from nanotips, self-guiding, filamentation and mirrorless lasing during propagation of light in atmospheres. While extensive quantum mechanical and semiclassical calculations on strong-field ionization are well backed by sophisticated experiments, the existing scattered theoretical work aiming at a full quantitative understanding of strong-field excitation lacks experimental confirmation. Here we present experiments on strong-field excitation in both the tunneling and multiphoton regimes and their rigorous interpretation by time dependent Schrödinger equation calculations, which finally consolidates the seemingly opposing strong-field regimes with their complementary pictures. Most strikingly, we observe an unprecedented enhancement of excitation yields, which opens new possibilities in ultrafast strong-field control of Rydberg wave packet excitation and laser intensity characterization.

Ultrafast demagnetization enhancement in CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB magnetic tunneling junction driven by spin tunneling current.

PubMed

He, Wei; Zhu, Tao; Zhang, Xiang-Qun; Yang, Hai-Tao; Cheng, Zhao-Hua

2013-10-07

The laser-induced ultrafast demagnetization of CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB magnetic tunneling junction is exploited by time-resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect (TRMOKE) for both the parallel state (P state) and the antiparallel state (AP state) of the magnetizations between two magnetic layers. It was observed that the demagnetization time is shorter and the magnitude of demagnetization is larger in the AP state than those in the P state. These behaviors are attributed to the ultrafast spin transfer between two CoFeB layers via the tunneling of hot electrons through the MgO barrier. Our observation indicates that ultrafast demagnetization can be engineered by the hot electrons tunneling current. It opens the door to manipulate the ultrafast spin current in magnetic tunneling junctions.

Mega-electron-volt ultrafast electron diffraction at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Weathersby, S. P.; Brown, G.; Chase, T. F.

Ultrafast electron probes are powerful tools, complementary to x-ray free-electron lasers, used to study structural dynamics in material, chemical, and biological sciences. High brightness, relativistic electron beams with femtosecond pulse duration can resolve details of the dynamic processes on atomic time and length scales. SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory recently launched the Ultrafast Electron Diffraction (UED) and microscopy Initiative aiming at developing the next generation ultrafast electron scattering instruments. As the first stage of the Initiative, a mega-electron-volt (MeV) UED system has been constructed and commissioned to serve ultrafast science experiments and instrumentation development. The system operates at 120-Hz repetition ratemore » with outstanding performance. In this paper, we report on the SLAC MeV UED system and its performance, including the reciprocal space resolution, temporal resolution, and machine stability.« less

Mega-electron-volt ultrafast electron diffraction at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

PubMed

Weathersby, S P; Brown, G; Centurion, M; Chase, T F; Coffee, R; Corbett, J; Eichner, J P; Frisch, J C; Fry, A R; Gühr, M; Hartmann, N; Hast, C; Hettel, R; Jobe, R K; Jongewaard, E N; Lewandowski, J R; Li, R K; Lindenberg, A M; Makasyuk, I; May, J E; McCormick, D; Nguyen, M N; Reid, A H; Shen, X; Sokolowski-Tinten, K; Vecchione, T; Vetter, S L; Wu, J; Yang, J; Dürr, H A; Wang, X J

2015-07-01

Ultrafast electron probes are powerful tools, complementary to x-ray free-electron lasers, used to study structural dynamics in material, chemical, and biological sciences. High brightness, relativistic electron beams with femtosecond pulse duration can resolve details of the dynamic processes on atomic time and length scales. SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory recently launched the Ultrafast Electron Diffraction (UED) and microscopy Initiative aiming at developing the next generation ultrafast electron scattering instruments. As the first stage of the Initiative, a mega-electron-volt (MeV) UED system has been constructed and commissioned to serve ultrafast science experiments and instrumentation development. The system operates at 120-Hz repetition rate with outstanding performance. In this paper, we report on the SLAC MeV UED system and its performance, including the reciprocal space resolution, temporal resolution, and machine stability.

Investigations of ultrafast charge dynamics in laser-irradiated targets by a self probing technique employing laser driven protons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahmed, H.; Kar, S.; Cantono, G.; Nersisyan, G.; Brauckmann, S.; Doria, D.; Gwynne, D.; Macchi, A.; Naughton, K.; Willi, O.; Lewis, C. L. S.; Borghesi, M.

2016-09-01

The divergent and broadband proton beams produced by the target normal sheath acceleration mechanism provide the unique opportunity to probe, in a point-projection imaging scheme, the dynamics of the transient electric and magnetic fields produced during laser-plasma interactions. Commonly such experimental setup entails two intense laser beams, where the interaction produced by one beam is probed with the protons produced by the second. We present here experimental studies of the ultra-fast charge dynamics along a wire connected to laser irradiated target carried out by employing a 'self' proton probing arrangement - i.e. by connecting the wire to the target generating the probe protons. The experimental data shows that an electromagnetic pulse carrying a significant amount of charge is launched along the wire, which travels as a unified pulse of 10s of ps duration with a velocity close to speed of light. The experimental capabilities and the analysis procedure of this specific type of proton probing technique are discussed.

Electronic and structural response of nanomaterials to ultrafast and ultraintense laser pulses.

PubMed

Jiang, Chen-Wei; Zhou, Xiang; Lin, Zhibin; Xie, Rui-Hua; Li, Fu-Li; Allen, Roland E

2014-02-01

The interaction of materials with ultrafast and ultraintense laser pulses is a current frontier of science both experimentally and theoretically. In this review, we briefly discuss some recent theoretical studies by the present authors with our method of semiclassical electron-radiation-ion dynamics (SERID). In particular, Zhou et al. and Jiang et al. respectively, determined the optimal duration and optimal timing for a series of femtosecond scale laser pulses to excite a specific vibrational mode in a general chemical system. A set of such modes can be used as a "fingerprint" for characterizing a particular molecule or a complex in a solid. One can therefore envision many applications, ranging from fundamental studies to detection of chemical or biological agents. Allen et al. proved that dimers are preferentially emitted during photofragmentation of C60 under an ultrafast and ultraintense laser pulse. For interactions between laser pulses and semiconductors, e.g., GaAs, Si and InSb, besides experimentally accessible optical properties--epsilon(omega) and chi(2)-Allen et al. offered many other indicators to confirm the nonthermal nature of structural changes driven by electronic excitations and occurring during the first few hundred femtoseconds. Lin et al. found that, after the application of a femtosecond laser pulse, excited electrons in materials automatically equilibrate to a Fermi-Dirac distribution within roughly 100 fs, solely because of their coupling to the nuclear motion, even though the resulting electronic temperature is one to two orders of magnitude higher than the kinetic temperature defined by the nuclear motion.

Laser ablation with applied magnetic field for electric propulsion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Batishcheva, Alla; Batishchev, Oleg; Cambier, Jean-Luc

2012-10-01

Using ultrafast lasers with tera-watt-level power allows efficient ablation and ionization of solid-density materials [1], creating dense and hot (˜100eV) plasma. We propose ablating small droplets in the magnetic nozzle configurations similar to mini-helicon plasma source [2]. Such approach may improve the momentum coupling compared to ablation of solid surfaces and facilitate plasma detachment. Results of 2D modeling of solid wire ablation in the applied magnetic field are presented and discussed. [4pt] [1] O. Batishchev et al, Ultrafast Laser Ablation for Space Propulsion, AIAA technical paper 2008-5294, -16p, 44th JPC, Hartford, 2008.[0pt] [2] O. Batishchev and J.L. Cambier, Experimental Study of the Mini-Helicon Thruster, Air Force Research Laboratory Report, AFRL-RZ-ED-TR-2009-0020, 2009.

Modulation of ultrafast laser-induced magnetization precession in BiFeO3-coated La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 thin films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wan, Qian; Jin, KuiJuan; Wang, JieSu; Yao, HongBao; Gu, JunXing; Guo, HaiZhong; Xu, XiuLai; Yang, GuoZhen

2017-04-01

The ultrafast laser-excited magnetization dynamics of ferromagnetic (FM) La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 (LSMO) thin films with BiFeO3 (BFO) coating layers grown by laser molecular beam epitaxy are investigated using the optical pump-probe technique. Uniform magnetization precessions are observed in the films under an applied external magnetic field by measuring the time-resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect. The magnetization precession frequencies of the LSMO thin films with the BFO coating layers are lower than those of uncoated LSMO films, which is attributed to the suppression of the anisotropy field induced by the exchange interaction at the interface between the antiferromagnetic order of BFO and the FM order of LSMO.

Ultraprecise medical applications with ultrafast lasers: corneal surgery with femtosecond lasers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Loesel, Frieder H.; Kurtz, Ron M.; Horvath, Christopher; Sayegh, Samir I.; Mourou, Gerard A.; Bille, Josef F.; Juhasz, Tibor

1999-02-01

We investigated refractive corneal surgery in vivo and in vitro by intrastromal photodisruption using a compact ultrafast femtosecond laser system. Ultrashort-pulsed lasers operating in the femtosecond time regime are associated with significantly smaller and deterministic threshold energies for photodisruption, as well as reduced shock waves and smaller cavitation bubbles than the nanosecond or picosecond lasers. Our reliable all-solid-state laser system was specifically designed for real world medical applications. By scanning the 5 micron focus spot of the laser below the corneal surface, the overlapping small ablation volumes of single pulses resulted in contiguous tissue cutting and vaporization. Pulse energies were typically in the order of a few microjoules. Combination of different scanning patterns enabled us to perform corneal flap cutting, femtosecond-LASIK, and femtosecond intrastromal keratectomy in porcine, rabbit, and primate eyes. The cuts proved to be highly precise and possessed superior dissection and surface quality. Preliminary studies show consistent refractive changes in the in vivo studies. We conclude that the technology is capable to perform a variety of corneal refractive procedures at high precision, offering advantages over current mechanical and laser devices and enabling entirely new approaches for refractive surgery.

Recombination emissions and spectral blueshift of pump radiation from ultrafast laser induced plasma in a planar water microjet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anija, M.; Philip, Reji

2009-09-01

We report spectroscopic investigations of an ultrafast laser induced plasma generated in a planar water microjet. Plasma recombination emissions along with the spectral blueshift and broadening of the pump laser pulse contribute to the total emission. The laser pulses are of 100 fs duration, and the incident intensity is around 10 15 W/cm 2. The dominant mechanisms leading to plasma formation are optical tunnel ionization and collisional ionization. Spectrally resolved polarization measurements show that the high frequency region of the emission is unpolarized whereas the low frequency region is polarized. Results indicate that at lower input intensities the emission arises mainly from plasma recombinations, which is accompanied by a weak blueshift of the incident laser pulse. At higher input intensities strong recombination emissions are seen, along with a broadening and asymmetric spectral blueshift of the pump laser pulse. From the nature of the blueshifted laser pulse it is possible to deduce whether the rate of change of free electron density is a constant or variable within the pulse lifetime. Two input laser intensity regimes, in which collisional and tunnel ionizations are dominant respectively, have been thus identified.

Beam engineering for zero conicity cutting and drilling with ultra fast laser (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Letan, Amelie; Mishchik, Konstantin; Audouard, Eric; Hoenninger, Clemens; Mottay, Eric P.

2017-03-01

With the development of high average power, high repetition rate, industrial ultrafast lasers, it is now possible to achieve a high throughput with femtosecond laser processing, providing that the operating parameters are finely tuned to the application. Femtosecond lasers play a key role in these processes, due to their ability to high quality micro processing. They are able to drill high thickness holes (up to 1 mm) with arbitrary shapes, such as zero-conicity or even inversed taper, but can also perform zero-taper cutting. A clear understanding of all the processing steps necessary to optimize the processing speed is a main challenge for industrial developments. Indeed, the laser parameters are not independent of the beam steering devices. Pulses energy and repetition rate have to be precisely adjusted to the beam angle with the sample, and to the temporal and spatial sequences of pulses superposition. The purpose of the present work is to identify the role of these parameters for high aspect ratio drilling and cutting not only with experimental trials, but also with numerical estimations, using a simple engineering model based on the two temperature description of ultra-fast ablation. Assuming a nonlinear logarithmic response of the materials to ultrafast pulses, each material can be described by only two adjustable parameters. Simple assumptions allow to predict the effect of beam velocity and non-normal incident beams to estimate profile shapes and processing time.

Ultrafast nonlinear optical properties of thin-solid DNA film and their application as a saturable absorber in femtosecond mode-locked fiber laser

PubMed Central

Khazaeinezhad, Reza; Hosseinzadeh Kassani, Sahar; Paulson, Bjorn; Jeong, Hwanseong; Gwak, Jiyoon; Rotermund, Fabian; Yeom, Dong-Il; Oh, Kyunghwan

2017-01-01

A new extraordinary application of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) thin-solid-film was experimentally explored in the field of ultrafast nonlinear photonics. Optical transmission was investigated in both linear and nonlinear regimes for two types of DNA thin-solid-films made from DNA in aqueous solution and DNA-cetyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTMA) in an organic solvent. Z-scan measurements revealed a high third-order nonlinearity with n2 exceeding 10−9 at a wavelength of 1570 nm, for a nonlinarity about five orders of magnitude larger than that of silica. We also demonstrated ultrafast saturable absorption (SA) with a modulation depth of 0.43%. DNA thin solid films were successfully deposited on a side-polished optical fiber, providing an efficient evanescent wave interaction. We built an organic-inorganic hybrid all-fiber ring laser using DNA film as an ultrafast SA and using Erbium-doped fiber as an efficient optical gain medium. Stable transform-limited femtosecond soliton pulses were generated with full width half maxima of 417 fs for DNA and 323 fs for DNA-CTMA thin-solid-film SAs. The average output power was 4.20 mW for DNA and 5.46 mW for DNA-CTMA. Detailed conditions for DNA solid film preparation, dispersion control in the laser cavity and subsequent characteristics of soliton pulses are discussed, to confirm unique nonlinear optical applications of DNA thin-solid-film. PMID:28128340

High-power graphene mode-locked Tm/Ho co-doped fiber laser with evanescent field interaction.

PubMed

Li, Xiaohui; Yu, Xuechao; Sun, Zhipei; Yan, Zhiyu; Sun, Biao; Cheng, Yuanbing; Yu, Xia; Zhang, Ying; Wang, Qi Jie

2015-11-16

Mid-infrared ultrafast fiber lasers are valuable for various applications, including chemical and biomedical sensing, material processing and military applications. Here, we report all-fiber high-power graphene mode-locked Tm/Ho co-doped fiber laser at long wavelength with evanescent field interaction. Ultrafast pulses up to 7.8 MHz are generated at a center wavelength of 1879.4 nm, with a pulse width of 4.7 ps. A graphene absorber integrated with a side-polished fiber can increase the damage threshold significantly. Harmonics mode-locking can be obtained till to the 21(th) harmonics at a pump power of above 500 mW. By using one stage amplifier in the anomalous dispersion regime, the laser can be amplified up to 450 mW and the narrowest pulse duration of 1.4 ps can be obtained simultaneously. Our work paves the way to graphene Tm/Ho co-doped mode-locked all-fiber master oscillator power amplifiers as potentially efficient and economic laser sources for high-power laser applications, such as special material processing and nonlinear optical studies.

Single-wall carbon nanotubes and graphene oxide-based saturable absorbers for low phase noise mode-locked fiber lasers

PubMed Central

Li, Xiaohui; Wu, Kan; Sun, Zhipei; Meng, Bo; Wang, Yonggang; Wang, Yishan; Yu, Xuechao; Yu, Xia; Zhang, Ying; Shum, Perry Ping; Wang, Qi Jie

2016-01-01

Low phase noise mode-locked fiber laser finds important applications in telecommunication, ultrafast sciences, material science, and biology, etc. In this paper, two types of carbon nano-materials, i.e. single-wall carbon nanotube (SWNT) and graphene oxide (GO), are investigated as efficient saturable absorbers (SAs) to achieve low phase noise mode-locked fiber lasers. Various properties of these wall-paper SAs, such as saturable intensity, optical absorption and degree of purity, are found to be key factors determining the performance of the ultrafast pulses. Reduced-noise femtosecond fiber lasers based on such carbon-based SAs are experimentally demonstrated, for which the phase noise has been reduced by more than 10 dB for SWNT SAs and 8 dB for GO SAs at 10 kHz. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first investigation on the relationship between different carbon material based SAs and the phase noise of mode-locked lasers. This work paves the way to generate high-quality low phase noise ultrashort pulses in passively mode-locked fiber lasers. PMID:27126900

Alignment of the writing beam with the diffractive structure rotation axis in synthesis of diffractive optical elements in a polar coordinate system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shimanskii, R. V.; Poleshchuk, A. G.; Korolkov, V. P.; Cherkashin, V. V.

2017-03-01

A method is developed to ensure precise alignment of the origin of a polar coordinate system in which the laser beam position is defined in writing diffractive optical elements with the optical workpiece rotation axis. This method is used to improve the accuracy of a circular laser writing system in writing large-scale diffractive optical elements in a polar coordinate system. Results of studying new algorithms of detection and correction of positioning errors of the circular laser writing system in the course of writing are reported.

Ultrafast laser control of backward superfluorescence towards standoff sensing

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ariunbold, Gombojav O.; National University of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar 210646; Baylor University, Waco, Texas 76798

2014-01-13

We study infrared backward cooperative emission in a rubidium vapor induced by ultrafast two-photon optical excitations. The laser coherent control of the backward emission is demonstrated by using a pair of 100 fs pulses with a variable time delay. The temporal variation (quantum beat) of the backward beam intensity due to interference of atomic transitions in the rubidium atomic level system 5S-5P-5D is produced and controlled. Based on the obtained experimental results, we discuss possible applications of the developed approach for creation of an effective “guide star” in the sodium atomic layer in the upper atmosphere (mesosphere)

Intrinsic subpicosecond magnetization reversal driven by femtosecond laser pulses in GdFeCo amorphous films

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Li, Shufa; Gao, Ruixin; Cheng, Chuyuan

2013-12-09

Ultrafast magnetization dynamics in GdFeCo films triggered by femtosecond laser pulses with and without an external field applied is studied experimentally for different excitation fluence. It is found that subpicosecond magnetization reversal occurs simultaneously in the ultrafast dynamics of both saturation and remnant magnetization states and almost identical within 13 ps, whereas relatively slow magnetization reversal across compensation point appears only in the dynamics of saturation magnetization state. It shows the subpicosecond magnetization reversal is external field independent, and originates from intrinsic magnetic evolution in ferrimagnetic system. The intrinsic subpicosecond reversal is qualitatively explained by linear reversal.

Atomic-level study of a thickness-dependent phase change in gold thin films heated by an ultrafast laser.

PubMed

Gan, Yong; Shi, Jixiang; Jiang, Shan

2012-08-20

An ultrafast laser-induced phase change in gold thin films with different thicknesses has been simulated by the method of coupling the two-temperature model and the molecular dynamics, including transient optical properties. Numerical results show that the decrease of film thickness leads to faster melting in the early nonequilibrium time and a larger melting depth. Moreover, earlier occurrence and a higher rate of resolidification are observed for the thicker film. Further analysis reveals that the mechanism for the thickness-dependent phase change in the films is the fast electron thermal conduction in the nonequilibrium state.

Ultrafast Dynamics of a Nucleobase Analogue Illuminated by a Short Intense X-ray Free Electron Laser Pulse

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nagaya, K.; Motomura, K.; Kukk, E.

Understanding x-ray radiation damage is a crucial issue for both medical applications of x rays and x-ray free-electron-laser (XFEL) science aimed at molecular imaging. Decrypting the charge and fragmentation dynamics of nucleobases, the smallest units of a macro-biomolecule, contributes to a bottom-up understanding of the damage via cascades of phenomena following x-ray exposure. We investigate experimentally and by numerical simulations the ultrafast radiation damage induced on a nucleobase analogue (5-iodouracil) by an ultrashort (10 fs) high-intensity radiation pulse generated by XFEL at SPring-8 Angstrom Compact free electron Laser (SACLA). The present study elucidates a plausible underlying radiosensitizing mechanism of 5-iodouracil.more » This mechanism is independent of the exact composition of 5-iodouracil and thus relevant to other such radiosensitizers. Furthermore, we found that despite a rapid increase of the net molecular charge in the presence of iodine, and of the ultrafast release of hydrogen, the other atoms are almost frozen within the 10-fs duration of the exposure. Finally, this validates single-shot molecular imaging as a consistent approach, provided the radiation pulse used is brief enough.« less

Ultrafast Dynamics of a Nucleobase Analogue Illuminated by a Short Intense X-ray Free Electron Laser Pulse

DOE PAGES

Nagaya, K.; Motomura, K.; Kukk, E.; ...

2016-06-16

Understanding x-ray radiation damage is a crucial issue for both medical applications of x rays and x-ray free-electron-laser (XFEL) science aimed at molecular imaging. Decrypting the charge and fragmentation dynamics of nucleobases, the smallest units of a macro-biomolecule, contributes to a bottom-up understanding of the damage via cascades of phenomena following x-ray exposure. We investigate experimentally and by numerical simulations the ultrafast radiation damage induced on a nucleobase analogue (5-iodouracil) by an ultrashort (10 fs) high-intensity radiation pulse generated by XFEL at SPring-8 Angstrom Compact free electron Laser (SACLA). The present study elucidates a plausible underlying radiosensitizing mechanism of 5-iodouracil.more » This mechanism is independent of the exact composition of 5-iodouracil and thus relevant to other such radiosensitizers. Furthermore, we found that despite a rapid increase of the net molecular charge in the presence of iodine, and of the ultrafast release of hydrogen, the other atoms are almost frozen within the 10-fs duration of the exposure. Finally, this validates single-shot molecular imaging as a consistent approach, provided the radiation pulse used is brief enough.« less

Direct Characterization of Ultrafast Energy-Time Entangled Photon Pairs.

PubMed

MacLean, Jean-Philippe W; Donohue, John M; Resch, Kevin J

2018-02-02

Energy-time entangled photons are critical in many quantum optical phenomena and have emerged as important elements in quantum information protocols. Entanglement in this degree of freedom often manifests itself on ultrafast time scales, making it very difficult to detect, whether one employs direct or interferometric techniques, as photon-counting detectors have insufficient time resolution. Here, we implement ultrafast photon counters based on nonlinear interactions and strong femtosecond laser pulses to probe energy-time entanglement in this important regime. Using this technique and single-photon spectrometers, we characterize all the spectral and temporal correlations of two entangled photons with femtosecond resolution. This enables the witnessing of energy-time entanglement using uncertainty relations and the direct observation of nonlocal dispersion cancellation on ultrafast time scales. These techniques are essential to understand and control the energy-time degree of freedom of light for ultrafast quantum optics.

Experiments with trapped ions and ultrafast laser pulses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnson, Kale Gifford

Since the dawn of quantum information science, laser-cooled trapped atomic ions have been one of the most compelling systems for the physical realization of a quantum computer. By applying qubit state dependent forces to the ions, their collective motional modes can be used as a bus to realize entangling quantum gates. Ultrafast state-dependent kicks [1] can provide a universal set of quantum logic operations, in conjunction with ultrafast single qubit rotations [2], which uses only ultrafast laser pulses. This may present a clearer route to scaling a trapped ion processor [3]. In addition to the role that spin-dependent kicks (SDKs) play in quantum computation, their utility in fundamental quantum mechanics research is also apparent. In this thesis, we present a set of experiments which demonstrate some of the principle properties of SDKs including ion motion independence (we demonstrate single ion thermometry from the ground state to near room temperature and the largest Schrodinger cat state ever created in an oscillator), high speed operations (compared with conventional atom-laser interactions), and multi-qubit entanglement operations with speed that is not fundamentally limited by the trap oscillation frequency. We also present a method to provide higher stability in the radial mode ion oscillation frequencies of a linear radiofrequency (rf) Paul trap-a crucial factor when performing operations on the rf-sensitive modes. Finally, we present the highest atomic position sensitivity measurement of an isolated atom to date of 0.5 nm Hz. (-1/2) with a minimum uncertaintyof 1.7 nm using a 0.6 numerical aperature (NA) lens system, along with a method to correct aberrations and a direct position measurement of ion micromotion (the inherent oscillations of an ion trapped in an oscillating rf field). This development could be used to directly image atom motion in the quantum regime, along with sensing forces at the yoctonewton [10. (-24) N)] scale forgravity sensing, and 3D imaging of atoms from static to higher frequency motion. These ultrafast atomic qubit manipulation tools demonstrate inherent advantages over conventional techniques, offering a fundamentally distinct regime of control and speed not previously achievable.

Self-phase modulation enabled, wavelength-tunable ultrafast fiber laser sources: an energy scalable approach.

PubMed

Liu, Wei; Li, Chen; Zhang, Zhigang; Kärtner, Franz X; Chang, Guoqing

2016-07-11

We propose and demonstrate a new approach to implement a wavelength-tunable ultrafast fiber laser source suitable for multiphoton microscopy. We employ fiber-optic nonlinearities to broaden a narrowband optical spectrum generated by an Yb-fiber laser system and then use optical bandpass filters to select the leftmost or rightmost spectral lobes from the broadened spectrum. Detailed numerical modeling shows that self-phase modulation dominates the spectral broadening, self-steepening tends to blue shift the broadened spectrum, and stimulated Raman scattering is minimal. We also find that optical wave breaking caused by fiber dispersion slows down the shift of the leftmost/rightmost spectral lobes and therefore limits the wavelength tuning range of the filtered spectra. We show both numerically and experimentally that shortening the fiber used for spectral broadening while increasing the input pulse energy can overcome this dispersion-induced limitation; as a result, the filtered spectral lobes have higher power, constituting a powerful and practical approach for energy scaling the resulting femtosecond sources. We use two commercially available photonic crystal fibers to verify the simulation results. More specific, use of 20-mm fiber NL-1050-ZERO-2 enables us to implement an Yb-fiber laser based ultrafast source, delivering femtosecond (70-120 fs) pulses tunable from 825 nm to 1210 nm with >1 nJ pulse energy.

Multi-phase functionalization of titanium for enhanced photon absorption in the vis-NIR region.

PubMed

Thakur, Pooja; Tan, Bo; Venkatakrishnan, Krishnan

2015-10-19

Inadequate absorption of Near Infrared (NIR) photons by conventional silicon solar cells has been a major stumbling block towards the attainment of a high efficiency "full spectrum" solar cell. An effective enhancement in the absorption of such photons is desired as they account for a considerable portion of the tappable solar energy. In this work, we report a remarkable gain observed in the absorption of photons in the near infrared and visible region (400 nm-1000 nm) by a novel multi-phased oxide of titanium. Synthesised via a single step ultra-fast laser pulse interaction with pure titanium, characterisation studies have identified this oxide of titanium to be multi-phased and composed of Ti3O, (TiO.716)3.76 and TiO2 (rutile). Computed to have an average band gap value of 2.39 eV, this ultrafast laser induced multi-phased titanium oxide has especially exhibited steady absorption capability in the NIR range of 750-1000 nm, which to the best of our knowledge, was never reported before. The unique NIR absorption properties of the laser functionalised titanium coupled with the simplicity and versatility of the ultrafast laser interaction process involved thereby provides tremendous potential towards the photon sensitization of titanium and thereafter for the inception of a "full spectrum" solar device.

Ultrafast high-repetition imaging of fuel sprays using picosecond fiber laser.

PubMed

Purwar, Harsh; Wang, Hongjie; Tang, Mincheng; Idlahcen, Saïd; Rozé, Claude; Blaisot, Jean-Bernard; Godin, Thomas; Hideur, Ammar

2015-12-28

Modern diesel injectors operate at very high injection pressures of about 2000 bar resulting in injection velocities as high as 700 m/s near the nozzle outlet. In order to better predict the behavior of the atomization process at such high pressures, high-resolution spray images at high repetition rates must be recorded. However, due to extremely high velocity in the near-nozzle region, high-speed cameras fail to avoid blurring of the structures in the spray images due to their exposure time. Ultrafast imaging featuring ultra-short laser pulses to freeze the motion of the spray appears as an well suited solution to overcome this limitation. However, most commercial high-energy ultrafast sources are limited to a few kHz repetition rates. In the present work, we report the development of a custom-designed picosecond fiber laser generating ∼ 20 ps pulses with an average power of 2.5 W at a repetition rate of 8.2 MHz, suitable for high-speed imaging of high-pressure fuel jets. This fiber source has been proof tested by obtaining backlight images of diesel sprays issued from a single-orifice injector at an injection pressure of 300 bar. We observed a consequent improvement in terms of image resolution compared to standard white-light illumination. In addition, the compactness and stability against perturbations of our fiber laser system makes it particularly suitable for harsh experimental conditions.

Characterization of fast photoelectron packets in weak and strong laser fields in ultrafast electron microscopy.

PubMed

Plemmons, Dayne A; Tae Park, Sang; Zewail, Ahmed H; Flannigan, David J

2014-11-01

The development of ultrafast electron microscopy (UEM) and variants thereof (e.g., photon-induced near-field electron microscopy, PINEM) has made it possible to image atomic-scale dynamics on the femtosecond timescale. Accessing the femtosecond regime with UEM currently relies on the generation of photoelectrons with an ultrafast laser pulse and operation in a stroboscopic pump-probe fashion. With this approach, temporal resolution is limited mainly by the durations of the pump laser pulse and probe electron packet. The ability to accurately determine the duration of the electron packets, and thus the instrument response function, is critically important for interpretation of dynamics occurring near the temporal resolution limit, in addition to quantifying the effects of the imaging mode. Here, we describe a technique for in situ characterization of ultrashort electron packets that makes use of coupling with photons in the evanescent near-field of the specimen. We show that within the weakly-interacting (i.e., low laser fluence) regime, the zero-loss peak temporal cross-section is precisely the convolution of electron packet and photon pulse profiles. Beyond this regime, we outline the effects of non-linear processes and show that temporal cross-sections of high-order peaks explicitly reveal the electron packet profile, while use of the zero-loss peak becomes increasingly unreliable. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Ultrafast Modulation of Semiconductor Lasers Through a Terahertz Field

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ning, Cun-Zheng; Hughes, Steven; Citrin, David

1998-01-01

We demonstrate, by means of numerical simulation, a new mechanism to modulate and switch semiconductor lasers at THz and sub-THz frequency rates. A sinusoidal terahertz field applied to a semiconductor laser heats the electron-hole plasma and consequently modifies the optical susceptibility. This allows an almost linear modulation of the output power of tile semiconductor laser and leads to a faithful reproduction of the terahertz-field waveform in the emitted laser intensity.

High sustained average power cw and ultrafast Yb:YAG near-diffraction-limited cryogenic solid-state laser.

PubMed

Brown, David C; Singley, Joseph M; Kowalewski, Katie; Guelzow, James; Vitali, Victoria

2010-11-22

We report what we believe to be record performance for a high average power Yb:YAG cryogenic laser system with sustained output power. In a CW oscillator-single-pass amplifier configuration, 963 W of output power was measured. In a second configuration, a two amplifier Yb:YAG cryogenic system was driven with a fiber laser picosecond ultrafast oscillator at a 50 MHz repetition rate, double-passed through the first amplifier and single-passed through the second, resulting in 758 W of average power output. Pulses exiting the system have a FWHM pulsewidth of 12.4 ps, an energy/pulse of 15.2 μJ, and a peak power of 1.23 MW. Both systems are force convection-cooled with liquid nitrogen and have been demonstrated to run reliably over long time periods.

Interferometer design and controls for pulse stacking in high power fiber lasers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wilcox, Russell; Yang, Yawei; Dahlen, Dar; Xu, Yilun; Huang, Gang; Qiang, Du; Doolittle, Lawrence; Byrd, John; Leemans, Wim; Ruppe, John; Zhou, Tong; Sheikhsofla, Morteza; Nees, John; Galvanauskas, Almantas; Dawson, Jay; Chen, Diana; Pax, Paul

2017-03-01

In order to develop a design for a laser-plasma accelerator (LPA) driver, we demonstrate key technologies that enable fiber lasers to produce high energy, ultrafast pulses. These technologies must be scalable, and operate in the presence of thermal drift, acoustic noise, and other perturbations typical of an operating system. We show that coherent pulse stacking (CPS), which requires optical interferometers, can be made robust by image-relaying, multipass optical cavities, and by optical phase control schemes that sense pulse train amplitudes from each cavity. A four-stage pulse stacking system using image-relaying cavities is controlled for 14 hours using a pulse-pattern sensing algorithm. For coherent addition of simultaneous ultrafast pulses, we introduce a new scheme using diffractive optics, and show experimentally that four pulses can be added while a preserving pulse width of 128 fs.

Towards ultrafast dynamics with split-pulse X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy at free electron laser sources

DOE PAGES

Roseker, W.; Hruszkewycz, S. O.; Lehmkuhler, F.; ...

2018-04-27

One of the important challenges in condensed matter science is to understand ultrafast, atomic-scale fluctuations that dictate dynamic processes in equilibrium and non-equilibrium materials. Here, we report an important step towards reaching that goal by using a state-of-the-art perfect crystal based split-and-delay system, capable of splitting individual X-ray pulses and introducing femtosecond to nanosecond time delays. We show the results of an ultrafast hard X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy experiment at LCLS where split X-ray pulses were used to measure the dynamics of gold nanoparticles suspended in hexane. We show how reliable speckle contrast values can be extracted even from verymore » low intensity free electron laser (FEL) speckle patterns by applying maximum likelihood fitting, thus demonstrating the potential of a split-and-delay approach for dynamics measurements at FEL sources. This will enable the characterization of equilibrium and, importantly also reversible non-equilibrium processes in atomically disordered materials.« less

Ultrafast acousto-optic mode conversion in optically birefringent ferroelectrics

PubMed Central

Lejman, Mariusz; Vaudel, Gwenaelle; Infante, Ingrid C.; Chaban, Ievgeniia; Pezeril, Thomas; Edely, Mathieu; Nataf, Guillaume F.; Guennou, Mael; Kreisel, Jens; Gusev, Vitalyi E.; Dkhil, Brahim; Ruello, Pascal

2016-01-01

The ability to generate efficient giga–terahertz coherent acoustic phonons with femtosecond laser makes acousto-optics a promising candidate for ultrafast light processing, which faces electronic device limits intrinsic to complementary metal oxide semiconductor technology. Modern acousto-optic devices, including optical mode conversion process between ordinary and extraordinary light waves (and vice versa), remain limited to the megahertz range. Here, using coherent acoustic waves generated at tens of gigahertz frequency by a femtosecond laser pulse, we reveal the mode conversion process and show its efficiency in ferroelectric materials such as BiFeO3 and LiNbO3. Further to the experimental evidence, we provide a complete theoretical support to this all-optical ultrafast mechanism mediated by acousto-optic interaction. By allowing the manipulation of light polarization with gigahertz coherent acoustic phonons, our results provide a novel route for the development of next-generation photonic-based devices and highlight new capabilities in using ferroelectrics in modern photonics. PMID:27492493

Single-electron pulses for ultrafast diffraction

PubMed Central

Aidelsburger, M.; Kirchner, F. O.; Krausz, F.; Baum, P.

2010-01-01

Visualization of atomic-scale structural motion by ultrafast electron diffraction and microscopy requires electron packets of shortest duration and highest coherence. We report on the generation and application of single-electron pulses for this purpose. Photoelectric emission from metal surfaces is studied with tunable ultraviolet pulses in the femtosecond regime. The bandwidth, efficiency, coherence, and electron pulse duration are investigated in dependence on excitation wavelength, intensity, and laser bandwidth. At photon energies close to the cathode’s work function, the electron pulse duration shortens significantly and approaches a threshold that is determined by interplay of the optical pulse width and the acceleration field. An optimized choice of laser wavelength and bandwidth results in sub-100-fs electron pulses. We demonstrate single-electron diffraction from polycrystalline diamond films and reveal the favorable influences of matched photon energies on the coherence volume of single-electron wave packets. We discuss the consequences of our findings for the physics of the photoelectric effect and for applications of single-electron pulses in ultrafast 4D imaging of structural dynamics. PMID:21041681

Towards ultrafast dynamics with split-pulse X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy at free electron laser sources

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Roseker, W.; Hruszkewycz, S. O.; Lehmkuhler, F.

One of the important challenges in condensed matter science is to understand ultrafast, atomic-scale fluctuations that dictate dynamic processes in equilibrium and non-equilibrium materials. Here, we report an important step towards reaching that goal by using a state-of-the-art perfect crystal based split-and-delay system, capable of splitting individual X-ray pulses and introducing femtosecond to nanosecond time delays. We show the results of an ultrafast hard X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy experiment at LCLS where split X-ray pulses were used to measure the dynamics of gold nanoparticles suspended in hexane. We show how reliable speckle contrast values can be extracted even from verymore » low intensity free electron laser (FEL) speckle patterns by applying maximum likelihood fitting, thus demonstrating the potential of a split-and-delay approach for dynamics measurements at FEL sources. This will enable the characterization of equilibrium and, importantly also reversible non-equilibrium processes in atomically disordered materials.« less

Super-diffusion of excited carriers in semiconductors

PubMed Central

Najafi, Ebrahim; Ivanov, Vsevolod; Zewail, Ahmed; Bernardi, Marco

2017-01-01

The ultrafast spatial and temporal dynamics of excited carriers are important to understanding the response of materials to laser pulses. Here we use scanning ultrafast electron microscopy to image the dynamics of electrons and holes in silicon after excitation with a short laser pulse. We find that the carriers exhibit a diffusive dynamics at times shorter than 200 ps, with a transient diffusivity up to 1,000 times higher than the room temperature value, D0≈30 cm2s−1. The diffusivity then decreases rapidly, reaching a value of D0 roughly 500 ps after the excitation pulse. We attribute the transient super-diffusive behaviour to the rapid expansion of the excited carrier gas, which equilibrates with the environment in 100−150 ps. Numerical solution of the diffusion equation, as well as ab initio calculations, support our interpretation. Our findings provide new insight into the ultrafast spatial dynamics of excited carriers in materials. PMID:28492283

Realizing Ultrafast Electron Pulse Self-Compression by Femtosecond Pulse Shaping Technique.

PubMed

Qi, Yingpeng; Pei, Minjie; Qi, Dalong; Yang, Yan; Jia, Tianqing; Zhang, Shian; Sun, Zhenrong

2015-10-01

Uncorrelated position and velocity distribution of the electron bunch at the photocathode from the residual energy greatly limit the transverse coherent length and the recompression ability. Here we first propose a femtosecond pulse-shaping method to realize the electron pulse self-compression in ultrafast electron diffraction system based on a point-to-point space-charge model. The positively chirped femtosecond laser pulse can correspondingly create the positively chirped electron bunch at the photocathode (such as metal-insulator heterojunction), and such a shaped electron pulse can realize the self-compression in the subsequent propagation process. The greatest advantage for our proposed scheme is that no additional components are introduced into the ultrafast electron diffraction system, which therefore does not affect the electron bunch shape. More importantly, this scheme can break the limitation that the electron pulse via postphotocathode static compression schemes is not shorter than the excitation laser pulse due to the uncorrelated position and velocity distribution of the initial electron bunch.

Ultrafast structural dynamics of boron nitride nanotubes studied using transmitted electrons.

PubMed

Li, Zhongwen; Sun, Shuaishuai; Li, Zi-An; Zhang, Ming; Cao, Gaolong; Tian, Huanfang; Yang, Huaixin; Li, Jianqi

2017-09-14

We investigate the ultrafast structural dynamics of multi-walled boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) upon femtosecond optical excitation using ultrafast electron diffraction in a transmission electron microscope. Analysis of the time-resolved (100) and (002) diffraction profiles reveals highly anisotropic lattice dynamics of BNNTs, which can be attributed to the distinct nature of the chemical bonds in the tubular structure. Moreover, the changes in (002) diffraction positions and intensities suggest that the lattice response of BNNTs to the femtosecond laser excitation involves a fast and a slow lattice dynamic process. The fast process with a time constant of about 8 picoseconds can be understood to be a result of electron-phonon coupling, while the slow process with a time constant of about 100 to 300 picoseconds depending on pump laser fluence is tentatively associated with an Auger recombination effect. In addition, we discuss the power-law relationship of a three-photon absorption process in the BNNT nanoscale system.

Ultrafast pulse lasers jump to macro applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Griebel, Martin; Lutze, Walter; Scheller, Torsten

2016-03-01

Ultrafast Lasers have been proven for several micro applications, e.g. stent cutting, for many years. Within its development of applications Jenoptik has started to use ultrafast lasers in macro applications in the automotive industry. The JenLas D2.fs-lasers with power output control via AOM is an ideal tool for closed loop controlled material processing. Jenoptik enhanced his well established sensor controlled laser weakening process for airbag covers to a new level. The patented process enables new materials using this kind of technology. One of the most sensitive cover materials is genuine leather. As a natural product it is extremely inhomogeneous and sensitive for any type of thermal load. The combination of femtosecond pulse ablation and closed loop control by multiple sensor array opens the door to a new quality level of defined weakening. Due to the fact, that the beam is directed by scanning equipment the process can be split in multiple cycles additionally reducing the local energy input. The development used the 5W model as well as the latest 10W release of JenLas D2.fs and achieved amazing processing speeds which directly fulfilled the requirements of the automotive industry. Having in mind that the average cycle time of automotive processes is about 60s, trials had been done of processing weakening lines in genuine leather of 1.2mm thickness. Parameters had been about 15 cycles with 300mm/s respectively resulting in an average speed of 20mm/s and a cycle time even below 60s. First samples had already given into functional and aging tests and passed successfully.

Nicolaas Bloembergen as a scientist and a mentor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Jia-Ming

2018-03-01

Nicolaas Bloembergen made rich contributions to nuclear magnetic resonance, masers and lasers, nonlinear optics and ultrafast laser-matter interactions. The Nobel laureate sadly passed away on 5 September 2017. Here are my memories of my Harvard mentor, a remarkable person and a wonderful scientist.

Dynamic x-ray imaging of laser-driven nanoplasmas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fennel, Thomas

2016-05-01

A major promise of current x-ray science at free electron lasers is the realization of unprecedented imaging capabilities for resolving the structure and ultrafast dynamics of matter with nanometer spatial and femtosecond temporal resolution or even below via single-shot x-ray diffraction. Laser-driven atomic clusters and nanoparticles provide an ideal platform for developing and demonstrating the required technology to extract the ultrafast transient spatiotemporal dynamics from the diffraction images. In this talk, the perspectives and challenges of dynamic x-ray imaging will be discussed using complete self-consistent microscopic electromagnetic simulations of IR pump x-ray probe imaging for the example of clusters. The results of the microscopic particle-in-cell simulations (MicPIC) enable the simulation-assisted reconstruction of corresponding experimental data. This capability is demonstrated by converting recently measured LCLS data into a ultrahigh resolution movie of laser-induced plasma expansion. Finally, routes towards reaching attosecond time resolution in the visualization of complex dynamical processes in matter by x-ray diffraction will be discussed.

Probing ultrafast dynamics of solid-density plasma generated by high-contrast intense laser pulses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jana, Kamalesh; Blackman, David R.; Shaikh, Moniruzzaman; Lad, Amit D.; Sarkar, Deep; Dey, Indranuj; Robinson, Alex P. L.; Pasley, John; Ravindra Kumar, G.

2018-01-01

We present ultrafast dynamics of solid-density plasma created by high-contrast (picosecond contrast ˜10-9), high-intensity (˜4 × 1018 W/cm2) laser pulses using time-resolved pump-probe Doppler spectrometry. Experiments show a rapid rise in blue-shift at early time delay (2-4.3 ps) followed by a rapid fall (4.3-8.3 ps) and then a slow rise in blue-shift at later time delays (>8.3 ps). Simulations show that the early-time observations, specifically the absence of any red-shifting of the reflected probe, can only be reproduced if the front surface is unperturbed by the laser pre-pulse at the moment that the high intensity pulse arrives. A flexible diagnostic which is capable of diagnosing the presence of low-levels of pre-plasma formation would be useful for potential applications in laser-produced proton and ion production, such as cancer therapy and security imaging.

Ultrafast laser-induced birefringence in various porosity silica glasses: from fused silica to aerogel.

PubMed

Cerkauskaite, Ausra; Drevinskas, Rokas; Rybaltovskii, Alexey O; Kazansky, Peter G

2017-04-03

We compare a femtosecond laser induced modification in silica matrices with three different degrees of porosity. In single pulse regime, the decrease of substrate density from fused silica to high-silica porous glass and to silica aerogel glass results in tenfold increase of laser affected region with the formation of a symmetric cavity surrounded by the compressed silica shell with pearl like structures. In multi-pulse regime, if the cavity produced by the first pulse is relatively large, the subsequent pulses do not cause further modifications. If not, the transition from void to the anisotropic structure with the optical axis oriented parallel to the incident polarization is observed. The maximum retardance value achieved in porous glass is twofold higher than in fused silica, and tenfold greater than in aerogel. The polarization sensitive structuring in porous glass by two pulses of ultrafast laser irradiation is demonstrated, as well as no observable stress is generated at any conditions.

Probing ultra-fast processes with high dynamic range at 4th-generation light sources: Arrival time and intensity binning at unprecedented repetition rates.

PubMed

Kovalev, S; Green, B; Golz, T; Maehrlein, S; Stojanovic, N; Fisher, A S; Kampfrath, T; Gensch, M

2017-03-01

Understanding dynamics on ultrafast timescales enables unique and new insights into important processes in the materials and life sciences. In this respect, the fundamental pump-probe approach based on ultra-short photon pulses aims at the creation of stroboscopic movies. Performing such experiments at one of the many recently established accelerator-based 4th-generation light sources such as free-electron lasers or superradiant THz sources allows an enormous widening of the accessible parameter space for the excitation and/or probing light pulses. Compared to table-top devices, critical issues of this type of experiment are fluctuations of the timing between the accelerator and external laser systems and intensity instabilities of the accelerator-based photon sources. Existing solutions have so far been only demonstrated at low repetition rates and/or achieved a limited dynamic range in comparison to table-top experiments, while the 4th generation of accelerator-based light sources is based on superconducting radio-frequency technology, which enables operation at MHz or even GHz repetition rates. In this article, we present the successful demonstration of ultra-fast accelerator-laser pump-probe experiments performed at an unprecedentedly high repetition rate in the few-hundred-kHz regime and with a currently achievable optimal time resolution of 13 fs (rms). Our scheme, based on the pulse-resolved detection of multiple beam parameters relevant for the experiment, allows us to achieve an excellent sensitivity in real-world ultra-fast experiments, as demonstrated for the example of THz-field-driven coherent spin precession.

High-power ultrafast Yb:fiber laser frequency combs using commercially available components and basic fiber tools

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Xinlong; Reber, Melanie A. R.; Corder, Christopher; Chen, Yuning; Zhao, Peng; Allison, Thomas K.

2016-09-01

We present a detailed description of the design, construction, and performance of high-power ultrafast Yb:fiber laser frequency combs in operation in our laboratory. We discuss two such laser systems: an 87 MHz, 9 W, 85 fs laser operating at 1060 nm and an 87 MHz, 80 W, 155 fs laser operating at 1035 nm. Both are constructed using low-cost, commercially available components, and can be assembled using only basic tools for cleaving and splicing single-mode fibers. We describe practical methods for achieving and characterizing low-noise single-pulse operation and long-term stability from Yb:fiber oscillators based on nonlinear polarization evolution. Stabilization of the combs using a variety of transducers, including a new method for tuning the carrier-envelope offset frequency, is discussed. High average power is achieved through chirped-pulse amplification in simple fiber amplifiers based on double-clad photonic crystal fibers. We describe the use of these combs in several applications, including ultrasensitive femtosecond time-resolved spectroscopy and cavity-enhanced high-order harmonic generation.

Ultrafast Laser Interaction Processes for Libs and Other Sensing Technologies

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-04-05

Wang. Propagation of ultrashort pulses through water, Optics Express, (02 2007): . doi: 12/02/2009 8.00 Z. Chen, S. Mao. Femtosecond laser -induced...Richardson, "Nd:YAG-CO2 double- pulse laser -induced breakdown spectroscopy for explosive residues detection" SPIE Defense, Security, Sensing; Orlando, FL... Ultrashort Pulse Laser Workshop, Directed Energy Professional Society; Newton, MA, USA; 06/29,2009. 63. Martin C. Richardson, Michael Sigman

Ultrafast Laser Interaction Processes for LIBS and Other Sensing Technologies

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-04-05

Propagation of ultrashort pulses through water, Optics Express, (02 2007): . doi: 12/02/2009 8.00 Z. Chen, S. Mao. Femtosecond laser -induced electronic...CO2 double- pulse laser -induced breakdown spectroscopy for explosive residues detection" SPIE Defense, Security, Sensing; Orlando, FL, USA; 04/07...Matthieu Baudelet, Michael Sigman, Paul J Dagdigian, Martin C. Richardson, "Nd:YAG-CO2 Double- Pulse Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy for Explosive

Ablation-cooled material removal with ultrafast bursts of pulses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kerse, Can; Kalaycıoğlu, Hamit; Elahi, Parviz; Çetin, Barbaros; Kesim, Denizhan K.; Akçaalan, Önder; Yavaş, Seydi; Aşık, Mehmet D.; Öktem, Bülent; Hoogland, Heinar; Holzwarth, Ronald; Ilday, Fatih Ömer

2016-09-01

The use of femtosecond laser pulses allows precise and thermal-damage-free removal of material (ablation) with wide-ranging scientific, medical and industrial applications. However, its potential is limited by the low speeds at which material can be removed and the complexity of the associated laser technology. The complexity of the laser design arises from the need to overcome the high pulse energy threshold for efficient ablation. However, the use of more powerful lasers to increase the ablation rate results in unwanted effects such as shielding, saturation and collateral damage from heat accumulation at higher laser powers. Here we circumvent this limitation by exploiting ablation cooling, in analogy to a technique routinely used in aerospace engineering. We apply ultrafast successions (bursts) of laser pulses to ablate the target material before the residual heat deposited by previous pulses diffuses away from the processing region. Proof-of-principle experiments on various substrates demonstrate that extremely high repetition rates, which make ablation cooling possible, reduce the laser pulse energies needed for ablation and increase the efficiency of the removal process by an order of magnitude over previously used laser parameters. We also demonstrate the removal of brain tissue at two cubic millimetres per minute and dentine at three cubic millimetres per minute without any thermal damage to the bulk.

Ablation-cooled material removal with ultrafast bursts of pulses.

PubMed

Kerse, Can; Kalaycıoğlu, Hamit; Elahi, Parviz; Çetin, Barbaros; Kesim, Denizhan K; Akçaalan, Önder; Yavaş, Seydi; Aşık, Mehmet D; Öktem, Bülent; Hoogland, Heinar; Holzwarth, Ronald; Ilday, Fatih Ömer

2016-09-01

The use of femtosecond laser pulses allows precise and thermal-damage-free removal of material (ablation) with wide-ranging scientific, medical and industrial applications. However, its potential is limited by the low speeds at which material can be removed and the complexity of the associated laser technology. The complexity of the laser design arises from the need to overcome the high pulse energy threshold for efficient ablation. However, the use of more powerful lasers to increase the ablation rate results in unwanted effects such as shielding, saturation and collateral damage from heat accumulation at higher laser powers. Here we circumvent this limitation by exploiting ablation cooling, in analogy to a technique routinely used in aerospace engineering. We apply ultrafast successions (bursts) of laser pulses to ablate the target material before the residual heat deposited by previous pulses diffuses away from the processing region. Proof-of-principle experiments on various substrates demonstrate that extremely high repetition rates, which make ablation cooling possible, reduce the laser pulse energies needed for ablation and increase the efficiency of the removal process by an order of magnitude over previously used laser parameters. We also demonstrate the removal of brain tissue at two cubic millimetres per minute and dentine at three cubic millimetres per minute without any thermal damage to the bulk.

Ultrafast electron microscopy: Instrument response from the single-electron to high bunch-charge regimes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Plemmons, Dayne A.; Flannigan, David J.

2017-09-01

We determine the instrument response of an ultrafast electron microscope equipped with a conventional thermionic electron gun and absent modifications beyond the optical ports. Using flat, graphite-encircled LaB6 cathodes, we image space-charge effects as a function of photoelectron-packet population and find that an applied Wehnelt bias has a negligible effect on the threshold levels (>103 electrons per pulse) but does appear to suppress blurring at the upper limits (∼105 electrons). Using plasma lensing, we determine the instrument-response time for 700-fs laser pulses and find that single-electron packets are laser limited (1 ps), while broadening occurs well below the space-charge limit.

Versatile gold based SERS substrates fabricated by ultrafast laser ablation for sensing picric acid and ammonium nitrate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Byram, Chandu; Moram, Sree Sathya Bharathi; Shaik, Abdul Kalam; Soma, Venugopal Rao

2017-10-01

We demonstrate the detection of picric acid (PA) and ammonium nitrate (AN) at μM concentrations by utilizing gold (Au) nanostructures (NSs) as surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates fabricated using the technique of ultrafast laser ablation in liquids. Au NPs and NSs were also utilized for detecting Rhodamine 6G (Rh6G) and methylene blue (MB). Detection of all the molecules using the same substrates (NPs and NSs) demonstrated their versatility. Detection limits of 10-5, 10-6, 10-7, 10-8 M were achieved for AN, PA, Rh6G and MB, respectively. Reproducibility of the SERS intensity using NSs and NPs as substrates demonstrate their efficacy.

Application of Advanced Laser Diagnostics to High-Impact Technologies: Science and Applications of Ultrafast, Ultraintense Lasers

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-11-01

ultrashort - pulse lasers because of the very large photon density. As the intensity increases, the electric field of the light can modify the Coulomb ...absorption studies of argon clusters in intense laser pulses ,” Physics of Plasmas 16(4), 043301-1 – 043301-5. Lu, W., Nicoul, M., Shymanovich, U... intensity of ultrashort - pulse lasers , possess unique and advantageous capabilities for use in a wide variety of applications and are

Rapid generation of three-dimensional microchannels for vascularization using a subtractive printing technique.

PubMed

Burtch, Stephanie R; Sameti, Mahyar; Olmstead, Richard T; Bashur, Chris A

2018-05-01

The development of tissue-engineered products has been limited by lack of a perfused microvasculature that delivers nutrients and maintains cell viability. Current strategies to promote vascularization such as additive three-dimensional printing techniques have limitations. This study validates the use of an ultra-fast laser subtractive printing technique to generate capillary-sized channels in hydrogels prepopulated with cells by demonstrating cell viability relative to the photodisrupted channels in the gel. The system can move the focal spot laterally in the gel at a rate of 2500 mm/s by using a galvanometric scanner to raster the in plane focal spot. A Galilean telescope allows z-axis movement. Blended hydrogels of polyethylene glycol and collagen with a range of optical clarities, mechanical properties and swelling behavior were tested to demonstrate that the subtractive printing process for writing vascular channels is compatible with all of the blended hydrogels tested. Channel width and patterns were controlled by adjusting the laser energy and focal spot positioning, respectively. After treatment, high cell viability was observed at distances greater than or equal to 18 μm from the fabricated channels. Overall, this study demonstrates a flexible technique that has the potential to rapidly generate channels in tissue-engineered constructs. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Ultrafast Photoinduced Multimode Antiferromagnetic Spin Dynamics in Exchange-Coupled Fe/RFeO3 (R = Er or Dy) Heterostructures.

PubMed

Tang, Jin; Ke, Yajiao; He, Wei; Zhang, Xiangqun; Zhang, Wei; Li, Na; Zhang, Yongsheng; Li, Yan; Cheng, Zhaohua

2018-05-25

Antiferromagnetic spin dynamics is important for both fundamental and applied antiferromagnetic spintronic devices; however, it is rarely explored by external fields because of the strong exchange interaction in antiferromagnetic materials. Here, the photoinduced excitation of ultrafast antiferromagnetic spin dynamics is achieved by capping antiferromagnetic RFeO 3 (R = Er or Dy) with an exchange-coupled ferromagnetic Fe film. Compared with antiferromagnetic spin dynamics of bare RFeO 3 orthoferrite single crystals, which can be triggered effectively by ultrafast laser heating just below the phase transition temperature, the ultrafast photoinduced multimode antiferromagnetic spin dynamic modes, for exchange-coupled Fe/RFeO 3 heterostructures, including quasiferromagnetic resonance, impurity, coherent phonon, and quasiantiferromagnetic modes, are observed in a temperature range of 10-300 K. These experimental results not only offer an effective means to trigger ultrafast antiferromagnetic spin dynamics of rare-earth orthoferrites, but also shed light on the ultrafast manipulation of antiferromagnetic magnetization in Fe/RFeO 3 heterostructures. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Generation of attosecond electron packets via conical surface plasmon electron acceleration

PubMed Central

Greig, S. R.; Elezzabi, A. Y.

2016-01-01

We present a method for the generation of high kinetic energy attosecond electron packets via magnetostatic and aperture filtering of conical surface plasmon (SP) accelerated electrons. The conical SP waves are excited by coupling an ultrafast radially polarized laser beam to a conical silica lens coated with an Ag film. Electromagnetic and particle tracking models are employed to characterize the ultrafast electron packets. PMID:26764129

Micro- and macroscopic photonic control of matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ryabtsev, Anton

This dissertation outlines the development of several methods and techniques that enable comprehensive control of laser-matter interactions and nonlinear optical processes using shaped femtosecond pulses. Manipulation of the spectral phases and amplitudes of femtosecond laser pulses provides an effective way to adjust laser parameters, both those intrinsic to pulse generation within a laser and those induced by laser-matter interactions. When coupled with a fundamental understanding of the interactions between a laser's electric field and the molecules in the propagation media, these methods make the behavior of laser pulses predictable and allow the experimental information they carry to be extracted accurately. The ultimate motivation is to enhance the accuracy and reproducibility of spectroscopic measurements and to control nonlinear processes during light-matter interaction using shaped femtosecond pulses. Ultrafast laser systems have become one of the most important scientific tools in femtochemistry, nanoscale material science, chemical detection and sensing, and many other applications where processes occur at femtosecond (fs, 10-15 of a second) timescales or when broad laser bandwidths are required. As with any measuring instrument, it is very important to know system's exact parameters in order to make meaningful, accurate and reproducible measurements. For ultrafast lasers, these parameters are the intensities of the spectral components, the spectral phase, the temporal profile, the pulse energy, and the spatial laser beam profile. Due to broadband nature of ultrafast laser sources, they are very sensitive to propagation media: gaseous, liquid or solid matter along the paths of laser pulses to the sample, including the material of the sample itself. Optical parameters describing the propagation media, such as linear and nonlinear dispersion, and birefringence, as well as physical parameters, such as temperature and pressure, all affect laser pulse parameters. In order for measurements not to be skewed, these interactions need to be taken into account and mitigated at the time of the experiment or handled later in data analysis and simulations. Experimental results are presented in four chapters. Chapter 2 describes two topics: (1) single-shot real-time monitoring and correction of spectral phase drifts, which commonly originate from temperature and pointing fluctuations inside the laser cavity when the pulses are generated; (2) an all-optical method for controlling the dispersion of femtosecond pulses using other pulses. Chapter 3 focuses on the effects of the propagation media--how intense laser pulses modify media and how, in turn, the media modifies them back--and how these effects can be counteracted. Self-action effects in fused silica are discussed, along with some interesting and unexpected results. A method is then proposed for mitigating self-action processes using binary modulation of the spectral phases of laser pulses. Chapter 4 outlines the design of two laser systems, which are specifically tailored for particular spectroscopic applications and incorporate the comprehensive pulse control described in previous chapters. Chapter 5 shows how control of spatial beam characteristics can be applied to measurements of the mechanical motion of microscale particles and how it can potentially be applied to molecular motion. It also describes an experiment on laser-induced flow in air in which attempts were made to control the macroscopic molecular rotation of gases. My research, with a pulse shaper as the enabling tool, provides important insights into ultrafast scientific studies by making femtosecond laser research more predictable, reliable and practical for measurement and control. In the long term, some of the research methods in this thesis may help the transition of femtosecond lasers from the laboratory environment into clinics, factories, airports, and other everyday settings.

Polarization and Thickness Dependent Absorption Properties of Black Phosphorus: New Saturable Absorber for Ultrafast Pulse Generation

PubMed Central

Li, Diao; Jussila, Henri; Karvonen, Lasse; Ye, Guojun; Lipsanen, Harri; Chen, Xianhui; Sun, Zhipei

2015-01-01

Black phosphorus (BP) has recently been rediscovered as a new and interesting two-dimensional material due to its unique electronic and optical properties. Here, we study the linear and nonlinear optical properties of BP flakes. We observe that both the linear and nonlinear optical properties are anisotropic and can be tuned by the film thickness in BP, completely different from other typical two-dimensional layered materials (e.g., graphene and the most studied transition metal dichalcogenides). We then use the nonlinear optical properties of BP for ultrafast (pulse duration down to ~786 fs in mode-locking) and large-energy (pulse energy up to >18 nJ in Q-switching) pulse generation in fiber lasers at the near-infrared telecommunication band ~1.5 μm. We observe that the output of our BP based pulsed lasers is linearly polarized (with a degree-of-polarization ~98% in mode-locking, >99% in Q-switching, respectively) due to the anisotropic optical property of BP. Our results underscore the relatively large optical nonlinearity of BP with unique polarization and thickness dependence, and its potential for polarized optical pulse generation, paving the way to BP based nonlinear and ultrafast photonic applications (e.g., ultrafast all-optical polarization switches/modulators, frequency converters etc.). PMID:26514090

Ultrafast Magnetization Manipulation Using Single Femtosecond Light and Hot-Electron Pulses.

PubMed

Xu, Yong; Deb, Marwan; Malinowski, Grégory; Hehn, Michel; Zhao, Weisheng; Mangin, Stéphane

2017-11-01

Current-induced magnetization manipulation is a key issue for spintronic applications. This manipulation must be fast, deterministic, and nondestructive in order to function in device applications. Therefore, single- electronic-pulse-driven deterministic switching of the magnetization on the picosecond timescale represents a major step toward future developments of ultrafast spintronic systems. Here, the ultrafast magnetization dynamics in engineered Gd x [FeCo] 1- x -based structures are studied to compare the effect of femtosecond laser and hot-electron pulses. It is demonstrated that a single femtosecond hot-electron pulse causes deterministic magnetization reversal in either Gd-rich and FeCo-rich alloys similarly to a femtosecond laser pulse. In addition, it is shown that the limiting factor of such manipulation for perpendicular magnetized films arises from the formation of a multidomain state due to dipolar interactions. By performing time-resolved measurements under various magnetic fields, it is demonstrated that the same magnetization dynamics are observed for both light and hot-electron excitation, and that the full magnetization reversal takes place within 40 ps. The efficiency of the ultrafast current-induced magnetization manipulation is enhanced due to the ballistic transport of hot electrons before reaching the GdFeCo magnetic layer. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Fabricating waveguide Bragg gratings (WBGs) in bulk materials using ultrashort laser pulses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ams, Martin; Dekker, Peter; Gross, Simon; Withford, Michael J.

2017-01-01

Optical waveguide Bragg gratings (WBGs) can be created in transparent materials using femtosecond laser pulses. The technique is conducted without the need for lithography, ion-beam fabrication methods, or clean room facilities. This paper reviews the field of ultrafast laser-inscribed WBGs since its inception, with a particular focus on fabrication techniques, WBG characteristics, WBG types, and WBG applications.

High-power graphene mode-locked Tm/Ho co-doped fiber laser with evanescent field interaction

PubMed Central

Li, Xiaohui; Yu, Xuechao; Sun, Zhipei; Yan, Zhiyu; Sun, Biao; Cheng, Yuanbing; Yu, Xia; Zhang, Ying; Wang, Qi Jie

2015-01-01

Mid-infrared ultrafast fiber lasers are valuable for various applications, including chemical and biomedical sensing, material processing and military applications. Here, we report all-fiber high-power graphene mode-locked Tm/Ho co-doped fiber laser at long wavelength with evanescent field interaction. Ultrafast pulses up to 7.8 MHz are generated at a center wavelength of 1879.4 nm, with a pulse width of 4.7 ps. A graphene absorber integrated with a side-polished fiber can increase the damage threshold significantly. Harmonics mode-locking can be obtained till to the 21th harmonics at a pump power of above 500 mW. By using one stage amplifier in the anomalous dispersion regime, the laser can be amplified up to 450 mW and the narrowest pulse duration of 1.4 ps can be obtained simultaneously. Our work paves the way to graphene Tm/Ho co-doped mode-locked all-fiber master oscillator power amplifiers as potentially efficient and economic laser sources for high-power laser applications, such as special material processing and nonlinear optical studies. PMID:26567536

Q-switched all-fiber laser with short pulse duration based on tungsten diselenide

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Wenyi; OuYang, Yuyi; Ma, Guoli; Liu, Mengli; Liu, Wenjun

2018-05-01

Fiber lasers are widely used in industrial processing, sensing, medical and communications applications due to their simple structure, good stability and low cost. With the rapid development of fiber lasers and the sustained improvement of industrial laser quality requirements, researchers in ultrafast optics focus on how to get laser pulses with high output power and narrow pulse duration. Q-switched technology is one of the most effective techniques to generate ultrashort pulses. In this paper, a tungsten diselenide saturable absorber with 16.82% modulation depth is prepared by chemical vapor deposition. Experimental results show that when the pump power changes from 115.7 mW to 630 mW, the all-fiber laser can achieve a stable Q-switched pulse output. The repetition rate of the output pulse varies from 80.32 kHz to 204.2 kHz, the pulse duration is 581 ns, the maximum output power is 17.1 mW and the maximum pulse energy is 83.7 nJ. Results in this paper show that tungsten diselenide can be applied to ultrafast optics, which is a kind of saturable absorption material with excellent properties.

LIAD-fs scheme for studies of ultrafast laser interactions with gas phase biomolecules.

PubMed

Calvert, C R; Belshaw, L; Duffy, M J; Kelly, O; King, R B; Smyth, A G; Kelly, T J; Costello, J T; Timson, D J; Bryan, W A; Kierspel, T; Rice, P; Turcu, I C E; Cacho, C M; Springate, E; Williams, I D; Greenwood, J B

2012-05-14

Laser induced acoustic desorption (LIAD) has been used for the first time to study the parent ion production and fragmentation mechanisms of a biological molecule in an intense femtosecond (fs) laser field. The photoacoustic shock wave generated in the analyte substrate (thin Ta foil) has been simulated using the hydrodynamic HYADES code, and the full LIAD process has been experimentally characterised as a function of the desorption UV-laser pulse parameters. Observed neutral plumes of densities >10(9) cm(-3) which are free from solvent or matrix contamination demonstrate the suitability and potential of the source for studying ultrafast dynamics in the gas phase using fs laser pulses. Results obtained with phenylalanine show that through manipulation of fundamental femtosecond laser parameters (such as pulse length, intensity and wavelength), energy deposition within the molecule can be controlled to allow enhancement of parent ion production or generation of characteristic fragmentation patterns. In particular by reducing the pulse length to a timescale equivalent to the fastest vibrational periods in the molecule, we demonstrate how fragmentation of the molecule can be minimised whilst maintaining a high ionisation efficiency. This journal is © the Owner Societies 2012

Laser acceleration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tajima, T.; Nakajima, K.; Mourou, G.

2017-02-01

The fundamental idea of Laser Wakefield Acceleration (LWFA) is reviewed. An ultrafast intense laser pulse drives coherent wakefield with a relativistic amplitude robustly supported by the plasma. While the large amplitude of wakefields involves collective resonant oscillations of the eigenmode of the entire plasma electrons, the wake phase velocity ˜ c and ultrafastness of the laser pulse introduce the wake stability and rigidity. A large number of worldwide experiments show a rapid progress of this concept realization toward both the high-energy accelerator prospect and broad applications. The strong interest in this has been spurring and stimulating novel laser technologies, including the Chirped Pulse Amplification, the Thin Film Compression, the Coherent Amplification Network, and the Relativistic Mirror Compression. These in turn have created a conglomerate of novel science and technology with LWFA to form a new genre of high field science with many parameters of merit in this field increasing exponentially lately. This science has triggered a number of worldwide research centers and initiatives. Associated physics of ion acceleration, X-ray generation, and astrophysical processes of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays are reviewed. Applications such as X-ray free electron laser, cancer therapy, and radioisotope production etc. are considered. A new avenue of LWFA using nanomaterials is also emerging.

Modeling of silicon in femtosecond laser-induced modification regimes: accounting for ambipolar diffusion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Derrien, Thibault J.-Y.; Bulgakova, Nadezhda M.

2017-05-01

During the last decades, femtosecond laser irradiation of materials has led to the emergence of various applications based on functionalization of surfaces at the nano- and microscale. Via inducing a periodic modification on material surfaces (band gap modification, nanostructure formation, crystallization or amorphization), optical and mechanical properties can be tailored, thus turning femtosecond laser to a key technology for development of nanophotonics, bionanoengineering, and nanomechanics. Although modification of semiconductor surfaces with femtosecond laser pulses has been studied for more than two decades, the dynamics of coupling of intense laser light with excited matter remains incompletely understood. In particular, swift formation of a transient overdense electron-hole plasma dynamically modifies optical properties in the material surface layer and induces large gradients of hot charge carriers, resulting in ultrafast charge-transport phenomena. In this work, the dynamics of ultrafast laser excitation of a semiconductor material is studied theoretically on the example of silicon. A special attention is paid to the electron-hole pair dynamics, taking into account ambipolar diffusion effects. The results are compared with previously developed simulation models, and a discussion of the role of charge-carrier dynamics in localization of material modification is provided.

Double-Wall Carbon Nanotubes for Wide-Band, Ultrafast Pulse Generation

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

We demonstrate wide-band ultrafast optical pulse generation at 1, 1.5, and 2 μm using a single-polymer composite saturable absorber based on double-wall carbon nanotubes (DWNTs). The freestanding optical quality polymer composite is prepared from nanotubes dispersed in water with poly(vinyl alcohol) as the host matrix. The composite is then integrated into ytterbium-, erbium-, and thulium-doped fiber laser cavities. Using this single DWNT–polymer composite, we achieve 4.85 ps, 532 fs, and 1.6 ps mode-locked pulses at 1066, 1559, and 1883 nm, respectively, highlighting the potential of DWNTs for wide-band ultrafast photonics. PMID:24735347

Demonstration of Two-Atom Entanglement with Ultrafast Optical Pulses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wong-Campos, J. D.; Moses, S. A.; Johnson, K. G.; Monroe, C.

2017-12-01

We demonstrate quantum entanglement of two trapped atomic ion qubits using a sequence of ultrafast laser pulses. Unlike previous demonstrations of entanglement mediated by the Coulomb interaction, this scheme does not require confinement to the Lamb-Dicke regime and can be less sensitive to ambient noise due to its speed. To elucidate the physics of an ultrafast phase gate, we generate a high entanglement rate using just ten pulses, each of ˜20 ps duration, and demonstrate an entangled Bell state with (76 ±1 )% fidelity. These results pave the way for entanglement operations within a large collection of qubits by exciting only local modes of motion.

Demonstration of Two-Atom Entanglement with Ultrafast Optical Pulses.

PubMed

Wong-Campos, J D; Moses, S A; Johnson, K G; Monroe, C

2017-12-08

We demonstrate quantum entanglement of two trapped atomic ion qubits using a sequence of ultrafast laser pulses. Unlike previous demonstrations of entanglement mediated by the Coulomb interaction, this scheme does not require confinement to the Lamb-Dicke regime and can be less sensitive to ambient noise due to its speed. To elucidate the physics of an ultrafast phase gate, we generate a high entanglement rate using just ten pulses, each of ∼20  ps duration, and demonstrate an entangled Bell state with (76±1)% fidelity. These results pave the way for entanglement operations within a large collection of qubits by exciting only local modes of motion.

Ultrafast X-Ray Coherent Control

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Reis, David

2009-05-01

This main purpose of this grant was to develop the nascent eld of ultrafast x-ray science using accelerator-based sources, and originally developed from an idea that a laser could modulate the di racting properties of a x-ray di racting crystal on a fast enough time scale to switch out in time a shorter slice from the already short x-ray pulses from a synchrotron. The research was carried out primarily at the Advanced Photon Source (APS) sector 7 at Argonne National Laboratory and the Sub-Picosecond Pulse Source (SPPS) at SLAC; in anticipation of the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) x-ray freemore » electron laser that became operational in 2009 at SLAC (all National User Facilities operated by BES). The research centered on the generation, control and measurement of atomic-scale dynamics in atomic, molecular optical and condensed matter systems with temporal and spatial resolution . It helped develop the ultrafast physics, techniques and scienti c case for using the unprecedented characteristics of the LCLS. The project has been very successful with results have been disseminated widely and in top journals, have been well cited in the eld, and have laid the foundation for many experiments being performed on the LCLS, the world's rst hard x-ray free electron laser.« less

Quantum Hooke's Law to classify pulse laser induced ultrafast melting

DOE PAGES

Hu, Hao; Ding, Hepeng; Liu, Feng

2015-02-03

Ultrafast crystal-to-liquid phase transition induced by femtosecond pulse laser excitation is an interesting material's behavior manifesting the complexity of light-matter interaction. There exist two types of such phase transitions: one occurs at a time scale shorter than a picosecond via a nonthermal process mediated by electron-hole plasma formation; the other at a longer time scale via a thermal melting process mediated by electron-phonon interaction. However, it remains unclear what material would undergo which process and why? Here, by exploiting the property of quantum electronic stress (QES) governed by quantum Hooke's law, we classify the transitions by two distinct classes ofmore » materials: the faster nonthermal process can only occur in materials like ice having an anomalous phase diagram characterized with dT m/dP < 0, where T m is the melting temperature and P is pressure, above a high threshold laser fluence; while the slower thermal process may occur in all materials. Especially, the nonthermal transition is shown to be induced by the QES, acting like a negative internal pressure, which drives the crystal into a “super pressing” state to spontaneously transform into a higher-density liquid phase. Our findings significantly advance fundamental understanding of ultrafast crystal-to-liquid phase transitions, enabling quantitative a priori predictions.« less

Quantum Hooke's Law to Classify Pulse Laser Induced Ultrafast Melting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hu, Hao; Ding, Hepeng; Liu, Feng

2015-02-01

Ultrafast crystal-to-liquid phase transition induced by femtosecond pulse laser excitation is an interesting material's behavior manifesting the complexity of light-matter interaction. There exist two types of such phase transitions: one occurs at a time scale shorter than a picosecond via a nonthermal process mediated by electron-hole plasma formation; the other at a longer time scale via a thermal melting process mediated by electron-phonon interaction. However, it remains unclear what material would undergo which process and why? Here, by exploiting the property of quantum electronic stress (QES) governed by quantum Hooke's law, we classify the transitions by two distinct classes of materials: the faster nonthermal process can only occur in materials like ice having an anomalous phase diagram characterized with dTm/dP < 0, where Tm is the melting temperature and P is pressure, above a high threshold laser fluence; while the slower thermal process may occur in all materials. Especially, the nonthermal transition is shown to be induced by the QES, acting like a negative internal pressure, which drives the crystal into a ``super pressing'' state to spontaneously transform into a higher-density liquid phase. Our findings significantly advance fundamental understanding of ultrafast crystal-to-liquid phase transitions, enabling quantitative a priori predictions.

Quantum Hooke's Law to Classify Pulse Laser Induced Ultrafast Melting

PubMed Central

Hu, Hao; Ding, Hepeng; Liu, Feng

2015-01-01

Ultrafast crystal-to-liquid phase transition induced by femtosecond pulse laser excitation is an interesting material's behavior manifesting the complexity of light-matter interaction. There exist two types of such phase transitions: one occurs at a time scale shorter than a picosecond via a nonthermal process mediated by electron-hole plasma formation; the other at a longer time scale via a thermal melting process mediated by electron-phonon interaction. However, it remains unclear what material would undergo which process and why? Here, by exploiting the property of quantum electronic stress (QES) governed by quantum Hooke's law, we classify the transitions by two distinct classes of materials: the faster nonthermal process can only occur in materials like ice having an anomalous phase diagram characterized with dTm/dP < 0, where Tm is the melting temperature and P is pressure, above a high threshold laser fluence; while the slower thermal process may occur in all materials. Especially, the nonthermal transition is shown to be induced by the QES, acting like a negative internal pressure, which drives the crystal into a “super pressing” state to spontaneously transform into a higher-density liquid phase. Our findings significantly advance fundamental understanding of ultrafast crystal-to-liquid phase transitions, enabling quantitative a priori predictions. PMID:25645258

Quantum Hooke's law to classify pulse laser induced ultrafast melting.

PubMed

Hu, Hao; Ding, Hepeng; Liu, Feng

2015-02-03

Ultrafast crystal-to-liquid phase transition induced by femtosecond pulse laser excitation is an interesting material's behavior manifesting the complexity of light-matter interaction. There exist two types of such phase transitions: one occurs at a time scale shorter than a picosecond via a nonthermal process mediated by electron-hole plasma formation; the other at a longer time scale via a thermal melting process mediated by electron-phonon interaction. However, it remains unclear what material would undergo which process and why? Here, by exploiting the property of quantum electronic stress (QES) governed by quantum Hooke's law, we classify the transitions by two distinct classes of materials: the faster nonthermal process can only occur in materials like ice having an anomalous phase diagram characterized with dTm/dP < 0, where Tm is the melting temperature and P is pressure, above a high threshold laser fluence; while the slower thermal process may occur in all materials. Especially, the nonthermal transition is shown to be induced by the QES, acting like a negative internal pressure, which drives the crystal into a "super pressing" state to spontaneously transform into a higher-density liquid phase. Our findings significantly advance fundamental understanding of ultrafast crystal-to-liquid phase transitions, enabling quantitative a priori predictions.

Direct growth of graphene on quartz substrate as saturable absorber for femtosecond solid-state laser

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, S. C.; Man, B. Y.; Jiang, S. Z.; Chen, C. S.; Liu, M.; Yang, C.; Gao, S. B.; Feng, D. J.; Hu, G. D.; Huang, Q. J.; Chen, X. F.; Zhang, C.

2014-08-01

We present a novel method for the direct metal-free growth of graphene on quartz substrate. The direct-grown graphene yields excellent nonlinear saturable absorption properties and is demonstrated to be suitable as a saturable absorber (SA) for an ultrafast solid-state laser. Nearly Fourier-limited 367 fs was obtained at a central wavelength of 1048 nm with a repetition rate of 105.7 MHz. At a pump power of 7.95 W, the average output power was 1.93 W and the highest pulse energy reached 18.3 nJ, with a peak power of 49.8 kW. Our work opens an easy route for making a reliable graphene SA with a mode-locking technique and also displays an exciting prospect in making low-cost and ultrafast lasers.

Direct emission of chirality controllable femtosecond LG01 vortex beam

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, S.; Zhang, S.; Yang, H.; Xie, J.; Jiang, S.; Feng, G.; Zhou, S.

2018-05-01

Direct emission of a chirality controllable ultrafast LG01 mode vortex optical beam from a conventional z-type cavity design SESAM (SEmiconductor Saturable Absorber Mirror) mode locked LD pumped Yb:Phosphate laser has been demonstrated. A clean 360 fs vortex beam of ˜45.7 mW output power has been achieved. A radial shear interferometer has been built to determine the phase singularity and the wavefront helicity of the ultrafast output laser. Theoretically, it is found that the LG01 vortex beam is obtained via the combination effect of diagonal HG10 mode generation by off-axis pumping and the controllable Gouy phase difference between HG10 and HG01 modes in the sagittal and tangential planes. The chirality of the LG01 mode can be manipulated by the pump position to the original point of the laser cavity optical axis.

New developments in ophthalmic applications of ultrafast lasers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Spooner, Greg J. R.; Juhasz, Tibor; Ratkay-Traub, Imola; Djotyan, Gagik P.; Horvath, Christopher; Sacks, Zachary S.; Marre, Gabrielle; Miller, Doug L.; Williams, A. R.; Kurtz, Ron M.

2000-05-01

The eye is potentially an ideal target for high precision surgical procedures utilizing ultrafast lasers. We present progress on corneal applications now being tested in humans and proof of concept ex vivo demonstrations of new applications in the sclera and lens. Two corneal refractive procedures were tested in partially sighted human eyes: creation of corneal flaps prior to excimer ablation (Femto- LASIK) and creation of corneal channels and entry cuts for placement of intracorneal ring segments (Femto-ICRS). For both procedures, results were comparable to standard treatments, with the potential for improved safety, accuracy and reproducibility. For scleral applications, we evaluated the potential of femtosecond laser glaucoma surgery by demonstrating resections in ex vivo human sclera using dehydrating agents to induce tissue transparency. For lens applications, we demonstrate in an ex vivo model the use of photodisruptively-nucleated ultrasonic cavitation for local and non-invasive tissue interaction.

Investigation of the efficacy of ultrafast laser in large bowel excision

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mohanan, Syam Mohan P. C.; Beck, Rainer J.; Góra, Wojciech S.; Perry, Sarah L.; Shires, Mike; Jayne, David; Hand, Duncan P.; Shephard, Jonathan D.

2017-02-01

Local resection of early stage tumors in the large bowel via colonoscopy has been a widely accepted surgical modality for colon neoplasm treatment. The conventional electrocautery techniques used for the resection of neoplasia in the mucosal or submucosal layer of colon tissue has been shown to create obvious thermal necrosis to adjacent healthy tissues and lacks accuracy in resection. Ultrafast picosecond (ps) laser ablation using a wavelength of 1030 or 515 nm is a promising surgical tool to overcome the limitations seen with conventional surgical techniques. The purpose of this initial study is to analyze the depth of ablation or the extent of coagulation deployed by the laser as a function of pulse energy and fluence in an ex-vivo porcine model. Precise control of the depth of tissue removal is of paramount importance for bowel surgery where bowel perforation can lead to morbidity or mortality. Thus we investigate the regimes that are optimal for tissue resection and coagulation through plasma mediated ablation of healthy colon tissue. The ablated tissue samples were analyzed by standard histologic methods and a three dimensional optical profilometer technique. We demonstrate that ultrafast laser resection of colonic tissue can minimize the region of collateral thermal damage (<50 μm) with a controlled ablation depth. This surgical modality allows potentially easier removal of early stage lesions and has the capability to provide more control to the surgeon in comparison with a mechanical or electrocautery device.

Femtosecond Optics: Advanced Devices and Ultrafast Phenomena

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-05-31

repetition rate from a soliton fiber laser [6]. Because the mode- locking mechanism is passive, no external oscillator is required, leading to a more...nonlinearity, 1.8 m of LNL-SMF is included in the laser. Mode- locked operation of the laser was obtained through nonlinear polarization evolution [6]. For pump...Generation in Photonic Crystal Fibers for Optical Coherence Tomography H. Frequency Swept Lasers and Fourier Domain Mode Locking (FDML) I. Physics of

Direct observation of ultrafast many-body electron dynamics in an ultracold Rydberg gas

PubMed Central

Takei, Nobuyuki; Sommer, Christian; Genes, Claudiu; Pupillo, Guido; Goto, Haruka; Koyasu, Kuniaki; Chiba, Hisashi; Weidemüller, Matthias; Ohmori, Kenji

2016-01-01

Many-body correlations govern a variety of important quantum phenomena such as the emergence of superconductivity and magnetism. Understanding quantum many-body systems is thus one of the central goals of modern sciences. Here we demonstrate an experimental approach towards this goal by utilizing an ultracold Rydberg gas generated with a broadband picosecond laser pulse. We follow the ultrafast evolution of its electronic coherence by time-domain Ramsey interferometry with attosecond precision. The observed electronic coherence shows an ultrafast oscillation with a period of 1 femtosecond, whose phase shift on the attosecond timescale is consistent with many-body correlations among Rydberg atoms beyond mean-field approximations. This coherent and ultrafast many-body dynamics is actively controlled by tuning the orbital size and population of the Rydberg state, as well as the mean atomic distance. Our approach will offer a versatile platform to observe and manipulate non-equilibrium dynamics of quantum many-body systems on the ultrafast timescale. PMID:27849054

4D multiple-cathode ultrafast electron microscopy

PubMed Central

Baskin, John Spencer; Liu, Haihua; Zewail, Ahmed H.

2014-01-01

Four-dimensional multiple-cathode ultrafast electron microscopy is developed to enable the capture of multiple images at ultrashort time intervals for a single microscopic dynamic process. The dynamic process is initiated in the specimen by one femtosecond light pulse and probed by multiple packets of electrons generated by one UV laser pulse impinging on multiple, spatially distinct, cathode surfaces. Each packet is distinctly recorded, with timing and detector location controlled by the cathode configuration. In the first demonstration, two packets of electrons on each image frame (of the CCD) probe different times, separated by 19 picoseconds, in the evolution of the diffraction of a gold film following femtosecond heating. Future elaborations of this concept to extend its capabilities and expand the range of applications of 4D ultrafast electron microscopy are discussed. The proof-of-principle demonstration reported here provides a path toward the imaging of irreversible ultrafast phenomena of materials, and opens the door to studies involving the single-frame capture of ultrafast dynamics using single-pump/multiple-probe, embedded stroboscopic imaging. PMID:25006261

4D multiple-cathode ultrafast electron microscopy.

PubMed

Baskin, John Spencer; Liu, Haihua; Zewail, Ahmed H

2014-07-22

Four-dimensional multiple-cathode ultrafast electron microscopy is developed to enable the capture of multiple images at ultrashort time intervals for a single microscopic dynamic process. The dynamic process is initiated in the specimen by one femtosecond light pulse and probed by multiple packets of electrons generated by one UV laser pulse impinging on multiple, spatially distinct, cathode surfaces. Each packet is distinctly recorded, with timing and detector location controlled by the cathode configuration. In the first demonstration, two packets of electrons on each image frame (of the CCD) probe different times, separated by 19 picoseconds, in the evolution of the diffraction of a gold film following femtosecond heating. Future elaborations of this concept to extend its capabilities and expand the range of applications of 4D ultrafast electron microscopy are discussed. The proof-of-principle demonstration reported here provides a path toward the imaging of irreversible ultrafast phenomena of materials, and opens the door to studies involving the single-frame capture of ultrafast dynamics using single-pump/multiple-probe, embedded stroboscopic imaging.

Recent advances in ultrafast-laser-based spectroscopy and imaging for reacting plasmas and flames

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Patnaik, Anil K.; Adamovich, Igor; Gord, James R.; Roy, Sukesh

2017-10-01

Reacting flows and plasmas are prevalent in a wide array of systems involving defense, commercial, space, energy, medical, and consumer products. Understanding the complex physical and chemical processes involving reacting flows and plasmas requires measurements of key parameters, such as temperature, pressure, electric field, velocity, and number densities of chemical species. Time-resolved measurements of key chemical species and temperature are required to determine kinetics related to the chemical reactions and transient phenomena. Laser-based, noninvasive linear and nonlinear spectroscopic approaches have proved to be very valuable in providing key insights into the physico-chemical processes governing reacting flows and plasmas as well as validating numerical models. The advent of kilohertz rate amplified femtosecond lasers has expanded the multidimensional imaging of key atomic species such as H, O, and N in a significant way, providing unprecedented insight into preferential diffusion and production of these species under chemical reactions or electric-field driven processes. These lasers not only provide 2D imaging of chemical species but have the ability to perform measurements free of various interferences. Moreover, these lasers allow 1D and 2D temperature-field measurements, which were quite unimaginable only a few years ago. The rapid growth of the ultrafast-laser-based spectroscopic measurements has been fueled by the need to achieve the following when measurements are performed in reacting flows and plasmas. They are: (1) interference-free measurements (collision broadening, photolytic dissociation, Stark broadening, etc), (2) time-resolved single-shot measurements at a rate of 1-10 kHz, (3) spatially-resolved measurements, (4) higher dimensionality (line, planar, or volumetric), and (5) simultaneous detection of multiple species. The overarching goal of this article is to review the current state-of-the-art ultrafast-laser-based spectroscopic techniques and their remarkable development in the past two decades in meeting one or all of the above five goals for the spectroscopic measurement of temperature, number density of the atomic and molecular species, and electric field.

Direct diode-pumped Kerr Lens 13 fs Ti:sapphire ultrafast oscillator using a single blue laser diode

DOE PAGES

Backus, Sterling; Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO; Kirchner, Matt; ...

2017-05-18

We demonstrate a direct diode-pumped Kerr Lens Modelocked Ti:sapphire laser producing 13 fs pulses with 1.85 nJ energy at 78 MHz (145 mW) using a single laser diode pump. We also present a similar laser using three spectrally combined diodes, generating >300 mW output power with >50 nm bandwidth. We discuss the use of far-from TEM 00 pump laser sources, and their effect on the Kerr lens modelocking process.

Direct diode-pumped Kerr Lens 13 fs Ti:sapphire ultrafast oscillator using a single blue laser diode

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Backus, Sterling; Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO; Kirchner, Matt

We demonstrate a direct diode-pumped Kerr Lens Modelocked Ti:sapphire laser producing 13 fs pulses with 1.85 nJ energy at 78 MHz (145 mW) using a single laser diode pump. We also present a similar laser using three spectrally combined diodes, generating >300 mW output power with >50 nm bandwidth. We discuss the use of far-from TEM 00 pump laser sources, and their effect on the Kerr lens modelocking process.

Laser-induced damage threshold tests of ultrafast multilayer dielectric coatings in various environmental conditions relevant for operation of ELI beamlines laser systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ďurák, Michal; Velpula, Praveen Kumar; Kramer, Daniel; Cupal, Josef; Medřík, Tomáš; Hřebíček, Jan; Golasowski, Jiří; Peceli, Davorin; Kozlová, Michaela; Rus, Bedřich

2017-01-01

Increasing the laser-induced damage resistance of optical components is one of the major challenges in the development of Peta-watt (PW) class laser systems. The extreme light infrastructure (ELI) beamlines project will provide ultrafast laser systems with peak powers up to 10 PW available every minute and PW class beams at 10 Hz complemented by a 5-TW, 1-kHz beamline. Sustainable performance of PW class laser systems relies on the durability of the employed optical components. As part of an effort to evaluate the damage resistance of components utilized in ELI beamlines systems, damage thresholds of several optical multilayer dielectric coatings were measured with different laser parameters and in different environments. Three coatings were tested with 10 Hz and 1 kHz pulse repetition rates, and the effect of a cleaning treatment on their damage resistance was examined. To explore the damage threshold behavior at different vacuum levels, one coating was subject to tests at various residual gas pressures. No change of damage threshold in a high vacuum with respect to ambient pressure was recorded. The effect of the cleaning treatment was found to be inconsistent, suggesting that development of the optimal cleaning treatment for a given coating requires consideration of its specific properties.

Femtosecond laser polishing of optical materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taylor, Lauren L.; Qiao, Jun; Qiao, Jie

2015-10-01

Technologies including magnetorheological finishing and CNC polishing are commonly used to finish optical elements, but these methods are often expensive, generate waste through the use of fluids or abrasives, and may not be suited for specific freeform substrates due to the size and shape of finishing tools. Pulsed laser polishing has been demonstrated as a technique capable of achieving nanoscale roughness while offering waste-free fabrication, material-specific processing through direct tuning of laser radiation, and access to freeform shapes using refined beam delivery and focusing techniques. Nanosecond and microsecond pulse duration radiation has been used to perform successful melting-based polishing of a variety of different materials, but this approach leads to extensive heat accumulation resulting in subsurface damage. We have experimentally investigated the ability of femtosecond laser radiation to ablate silicon carbide and silicon. By substituting ultrafast laser radiation, polishing can be performed by direct evaporation of unwanted surface asperities with minimal heating and melting, potentially offering damage-free finishing of materials. Under unoptimized laser processing conditions, thermal effects can occur leading to material oxidation. To investigate these thermal effects, simulation of the heat accumulation mechanism in ultrafast laser ablation was performed. Simulations have been extended to investigate the optimum scanning speed and pulse energy required for processing various substrates. Modeling methodologies and simulation results will be presented.

Imaging ultrafast dynamics of molecules with laser-induced electron diffraction.

PubMed

Lin, C D; Xu, Junliang

2012-10-14

We introduce a laser-induced electron diffraction method (LIED) for imaging ultrafast dynamics of small molecules with femtosecond mid-infrared lasers. When molecules are placed in an intense laser field, both low- and high-energy photoelectrons are generated. According to quantitative rescattering (QRS) theory, high-energy electrons are produced by a rescattering process where electrons born at the early phase of the laser pulse are driven back to rescatter with the parent ion. From the high-energy electron momentum spectra, field-free elastic electron-ion scattering differential cross sections (DCS), or diffraction images, can be extracted. With mid-infrared lasers as the driving pulses, it is further shown that the DCS can be used to extract atomic positions in a molecule with sub-angstrom spatial resolution, in close analogy to the standard electron diffraction method. Since infrared lasers with pulse duration of a few to several tens of femtoseconds are already available, LIED can be used for imaging dynamics of molecules with sub-angstrom spatial and a few-femtosecond temporal resolution. The first experiment with LIED has shown that the bond length of oxygen molecules shortens by 0.1 Å in five femtoseconds after single ionization. The principle behind LIED and its future outlook as a tool for dynamic imaging of molecules are presented.

Intravital multiphoton fluorescence imaging and optical manipulation of spinal cord in mice, using a compact fiber laser system.

PubMed

Oshima, Yusuke; Horiuch, Hideki; Honkura, Naoki; Hikita, Atsuhiko; Ogata, Tadanori; Miura, Hiromasa; Imamura, Takeshi

2014-09-01

Near-infrared ultrafast lasers are widely used for multiphoton excited fluorescence microscopy in living animals. Ti:Sapphire lasers are typically used for multiphoton excitation, but their emission wavelength is restricted below 1,000 nm. The aim of this study is to evaluate the performance of a compact Ytterbium-(Yb-) fiber laser at 1,045 nm for multiphoton excited fluorescence microscopy in spinal cord injury. In this study, we employed a custom-designed microscopy system with a compact Yb-fiber laser and evaluated the performance of this system in in vivo imaging of brain cortex and spinal cord in YFP-H transgenic mice. For in vivo imaging of brain cortex, sharp images of basal dendrites, and pyramidal cells expressing EYFP were successfully captured using the Yb-fiber laser in our microscopy system. We also performed in vivo imaging of axon fibers of spinal cord in the transgenic mice. The obtained images were almost as sharp as those obtained using a conventional ultrafast laser system. In addition, laser ablation and multi-color imaging could be performed simultaneously using the Yb-fiber laser. The high-peak pulse Yb-fiber laser is potentially useful for multimodal bioimaging methods based on a multiphoton excited fluorescence microscopy system that incorporates laser ablation techniques. Our results suggest that microscopy systems of this type could be utilized in studies of neuroscience and clinical use in diagnostics and therapeutic tool for spinal cord injury in the future. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

H2: the benchmark molecule for ultrafast science and technologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ibrahim, Heide; Lefebvre, Catherine; Bandrauk, André D.; Staudte, André; Légaré, François

2018-02-01

This review article focuses on imaging and controlling ultrafast dynamics of the hydrogen molecule and its cation, initiated by ultrashort laser pulses. We discuss the mechanisms underlying these dynamics and theoretical methods to describe them. A broad variety of defining and influencing theoretical and experimental results is presented. We put special emphasis on the required experimental techniques, many of which have been developed in view of imaging the fastest of all nuclear dynamics.

Structural dynamics of lipid bilayers using ultrafast electron crystallography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Songye; Seidel, Marco; Zewail, Ahmed

2007-03-01

The structures and dynamics of bilayers of crystalline fatty acids and phospholipids were studied using ultrafast electron crystallography (UEC). The systems investigated are arachidic (eicosanoic) acid and dimyristoyl phosphatidic acid (DMPA), deposited on a substrate by the Langmuir-Blodgett technique. The atomic structures under different preparation conditions were determined. The structural dynamics following a temperature jump induced by femtosecond laser on the substrates were obtained and compared to the equilibrium temperature dependence.

A 5-mm piezo-scanning fiber device for high speed ultrafast laser microsurgery

PubMed Central

Ferhanoglu, Onur; Yildirim, Murat; Subramanian, Kaushik; Ben-Yakar, Adela

2014-01-01

Towards developing precise microsurgery tools for the clinic, we previously developed image-guided miniaturized devices using low repetition rate amplified ultrafast lasers for surgery. To improve the speed of tissue removal while reducing device diameter, here we present a new 5-mm diameter device that delivers high-repetition rate laser pulses for high speed ultrafast laser microsurgery. The device consists of an air-core photonic bandgap fiber (PBF) for the delivery of high energy pulses, a piezoelectric tube actuator for fiber scanning, and two aspheric lenses for focusing the light. Its inline optical architecture provides easy alignment and substantial size reduction to 5 mm diameter as compared to our previous MEMS-scanning devices while realizing improved intensity squared (two-photon) lateral and axial resolutions of 1.16 μm and 11.46 μm, respectively. Our study also sheds light on the maximum pulse energies that can be delivered through the air-core PBF and identifies cladding damage at the input facet of the fiber as the limiting factor. We have achieved a maximum energy delivery larger than 700 nJ at 92% coupling efficiency. An in depth analysis reveals how this value is greatly affected by possible slight misalignments of the beam during coupling and the measured small beam pointing fluctuations. In the absence of these imperfections, self-phase modulation becomes the limiting factor for the maximum energy delivery, setting the theoretical upper bound to near 2 μJ for a 1-m long, 7-μm, air-core PBF. Finally, the use of a 300 kHz repetition rate fiber laser enabled rapid ablation of 150 µm x 150 µm area within only 50 ms. Such ablation speeds can now allow the surgeons to translate the surgery device as fast as ~4 mm/s to continuously remove a thin layer of a 150 µm wide tissue. Thanks to a high optical transmission efficiency of the in-line optical architecture of the device and improved resolution, we could successfully perform ablation of scarred cheek pouch tissue, drilling through a thin slice. With further development, this device can serve as a precise and high speed ultrafast laser scalpel in the clinic. PMID:25071946

Smart optical writing head design for laser-based manufacturing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amin, M. Junaid; Riza, Nabeel A.

2014-03-01

Proposed is a smart optical writing head design suitable for high precision industrial laser based machining and manufacturing applications. The design uses an Electronically Controlled Variable Focus Lens (ECVFL) which enables the highest achievable spatial resolution of writing head spot sizes for axial target distances reaching 8 meters. A proof-of-concept experiment is conducted using a visible wavelength laser with a collimated beam that is coupled to beam conditioning optics which includes an electromagnetically actuated deformable membrane liquid ECVFL cascaded with a bias convex lens of fixed focal length. Electronic tuning and control of the ECVFL keeps the laser writing head far-field spot beam radii under 1 mm that is demonstrated over a target range of 20 cm to 800 cm. Applications for the proposed writing head design, which can accommodate both continuous wave and pulsed wave sources, include laser machining, high precision industrial molding of components, as well as materials processing requiring material sensitive optical power density control.

Ultrafast electron microscopy in materials science, biology, and chemistry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

King, Wayne E.; Campbell, Geoffrey H.; Frank, Alan; Reed, Bryan; Schmerge, John F.; Siwick, Bradley J.; Stuart, Brent C.; Weber, Peter M.

2005-06-01

The use of pump-probe experiments to study complex transient events has been an area of significant interest in materials science, biology, and chemistry. While the emphasis has been on laser pump with laser probe and laser pump with x-ray probe experiments, there is a significant and growing interest in using electrons as probes. Early experiments used electrons for gas-phase diffraction of photostimulated chemical reactions. More recently, scientists are beginning to explore phenomena in the solid state such as phase transformations, twinning, solid-state chemical reactions, radiation damage, and shock propagation. This review focuses on the emerging area of ultrafast electron microscopy (UEM), which comprises ultrafast electron diffraction (UED) and dynamic transmission electron microscopy (DTEM). The topics that are treated include the following: (1) The physics of electrons as an ultrafast probe. This encompasses the propagation dynamics of the electrons (space-charge effect, Child's law, Boersch effect) and extends to relativistic effects. (2) The anatomy of UED and DTEM instruments. This includes discussions of the photoactivated electron gun (also known as photogun or photoelectron gun) at conventional energies (60-200 keV) and extends to MeV beams generated by rf guns. Another critical aspect of the systems is the electron detector. Charge-coupled device cameras and microchannel-plate-based cameras are compared and contrasted. The effect of various physical phenomena on detective quantum efficiency is discussed. (3) Practical aspects of operation. This includes determination of time zero, measurement of pulse-length, and strategies for pulse compression. (4) Current and potential applications in materials science, biology, and chemistry. UEM has the potential to make a significant impact in future science and technology. Understanding of reaction pathways of complex transient phenomena in materials science, biology, and chemistry will provide fundamental knowledge for discovery-class science.

Probing ultra-fast processes with high dynamic range at 4th-generation light sources: Arrival time and intensity binning at unprecedented repetition rates

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kovalev, S.; Green, B.; Golz, T.

Here, understanding dynamics on ultrafast timescales enables unique and new insights into important processes in the materials and life sciences. In this respect, the fundamental pump-probe approach based on ultra-short photon pulses aims at the creation of stroboscopic movies. Performing such experiments at one of the many recently established accelerator-based 4th-generation light sources such as free-electron lasers or superradiant THz sources allows an enormous widening of the accessible parameter space for the excitation and/or probing light pulses. Compared to table-top devices, critical issues of this type of experiment are fluctuations of the timing between the accelerator and external laser systemsmore » and intensity instabilities of the accelerator-based photon sources. Existing solutions have so far been only demonstrated at low repetition rates and/or achieved a limited dynamic range in comparison to table-top experiments, while the 4th generation of accelerator-based light sources is based on superconducting radio-frequency technology, which enables operation at MHz or even GHz repetition rates. In this article, we present the successful demonstration of ultra-fast accelerator-laser pump-probe experiments performed at an unprecedentedly high repetition rate in the few-hundred-kHz regime and with a currently achievable optimal time resolution of 13 fs (rms). Our scheme, based on the pulse-resolved detection of multiple beam parameters relevant for the experiment, allows us to achieve an excellent sensitivity in real-world ultra-fast experiments, as demonstrated for the example of THz-field-driven coherent spin precession.« less

Probing ultra-fast processes with high dynamic range at 4th-generation light sources: Arrival time and intensity binning at unprecedented repetition rates

DOE PAGES

Kovalev, S.; Green, B.; Golz, T.; ...

2017-03-06

Here, understanding dynamics on ultrafast timescales enables unique and new insights into important processes in the materials and life sciences. In this respect, the fundamental pump-probe approach based on ultra-short photon pulses aims at the creation of stroboscopic movies. Performing such experiments at one of the many recently established accelerator-based 4th-generation light sources such as free-electron lasers or superradiant THz sources allows an enormous widening of the accessible parameter space for the excitation and/or probing light pulses. Compared to table-top devices, critical issues of this type of experiment are fluctuations of the timing between the accelerator and external laser systemsmore » and intensity instabilities of the accelerator-based photon sources. Existing solutions have so far been only demonstrated at low repetition rates and/or achieved a limited dynamic range in comparison to table-top experiments, while the 4th generation of accelerator-based light sources is based on superconducting radio-frequency technology, which enables operation at MHz or even GHz repetition rates. In this article, we present the successful demonstration of ultra-fast accelerator-laser pump-probe experiments performed at an unprecedentedly high repetition rate in the few-hundred-kHz regime and with a currently achievable optimal time resolution of 13 fs (rms). Our scheme, based on the pulse-resolved detection of multiple beam parameters relevant for the experiment, allows us to achieve an excellent sensitivity in real-world ultra-fast experiments, as demonstrated for the example of THz-field-driven coherent spin precession.« less

Laser-based direct-write techniques for cell printing

PubMed Central

Schiele, Nathan R; Corr, David T; Huang, Yong; Raof, Nurazhani Abdul; Xie, Yubing; Chrisey, Douglas B

2016-01-01

Fabrication of cellular constructs with spatial control of cell location (±5 μm) is essential to the advancement of a wide range of applications including tissue engineering, stem cell and cancer research. Precise cell placement, especially of multiple cell types in co- or multi-cultures and in three dimensions, can enable research possibilities otherwise impossible, such as the cell-by-cell assembly of complex cellular constructs. Laser-based direct writing, a printing technique first utilized in electronics applications, has been adapted to transfer living cells and other biological materials (e.g., enzymes, proteins and bioceramics). Many different cell types have been printed using laser-based direct writing, and this technique offers significant improvements when compared to conventional cell patterning techniques. The predominance of work to date has not been in application of the technique, but rather focused on demonstrating the ability of direct writing to pattern living cells, in a spatially precise manner, while maintaining cellular viability. This paper reviews laser-based additive direct-write techniques for cell printing, and the various cell types successfully laser direct-written that have applications in tissue engineering, stem cell and cancer research are highlighted. A particular focus is paid to process dynamics modeling and process-induced cell injury during laser-based cell direct writing. PMID:20814088

Ultrafast creation of large Schrödinger cat states of an atom.

PubMed

Johnson, K G; Wong-Campos, J D; Neyenhuis, B; Mizrahi, J; Monroe, C

2017-09-26

Mesoscopic quantum superpositions, or Schrödinger cat states, are widely studied for fundamental investigations of quantum measurement and decoherence as well as applications in sensing and quantum information science. The generation and maintenance of such states relies upon a balance between efficient external coherent control of the system and sufficient isolation from the environment. Here we create a variety of cat states of a single trapped atom's motion in a harmonic oscillator using ultrafast laser pulses. These pulses produce high fidelity impulsive forces that separate the atom into widely separated positions, without restrictions that typically limit the speed of the interaction or the size and complexity of the resulting motional superposition. This allows us to quickly generate and measure cat states larger than previously achieved in a harmonic oscillator, and create complex multi-component superposition states in atoms.Generation of mesoscopic quantum superpositions requires both reliable coherent control and isolation from the environment. Here, the authors succeed in creating a variety of cat states of a single trapped atom, mapping spin superpositions into spatial superpositions using ultrafast laser pulses.

Effects of rare-earth doping on femtosecond laser waveguide writing in zinc polyphosphate glass

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fletcher, Luke B.; Witcher, Jon J.; Troy, Neil

We have investigated waveguide writing in Er-Yb doped zinc polyphosphate glass using a femtosecond laser with a repetition rate of 1 KHz. We find that fabrication of good waveguides requires a glass composition with an O/P ratio of 3.25. The dependence on laser writing parameters including laser fluence, focusing conditions, and scan speed is reported. Waveguide properties together with absorption and emission data indicate that these glasses can be used for the fabrication of compact, high gain amplifying devices.

Engineering fluidic delays in paper-based devices using laser direct-writing.

PubMed

He, P J W; Katis, I N; Eason, R W; Sones, C L

2015-10-21

We report the use of a new laser-based direct-write technique that allows programmable and timed fluid delivery in channels within a paper substrate which enables implementation of multi-step analytical assays. The technique is based on laser-induced photo-polymerisation, and through adjustment of the laser writing parameters such as the laser power and scan speed we can control the depth and/or the porosity of hydrophobic barriers which, when fabricated in the fluid path, produce controllable fluid delay. We have patterned these flow delaying barriers at pre-defined locations in the fluidic channels using either a continuous wave laser at 405 nm, or a pulsed laser operating at 266 nm. Using this delay patterning protocol we generated flow delays spanning from a few minutes to over half an hour. Since the channels and flow delay barriers can be written via a common laser-writing process, this is a distinct improvement over other methods that require specialist operating environments, or custom-designed equipment. This technique can therefore be used for rapid fabrication of paper-based microfluidic devices that can perform single or multistep analytical assays.

Bunch evolution study in optimization of MeV ultrafast electron diffraction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lu, Xian-Hai; Du, Ying-Chao; Huang, Wen-Hui; Tang, Chuan-Xiang

2014-12-01

Megaelectronvolt ultrafast electron diffraction (UED) is a promising detection tool for ultrafast processes. The quality of diffraction image is determined by the transverse evolution of the probe bunch. In this paper, we study the contributing terms of the emittance and space charge effects to the bunch evolution in the MeV UED scheme, employing a mean-field model with an ellipsoidal distribution as well as particle tracking simulation. The small transverse dimension of the drive laser is found to be critical to improve the reciprocal resolution, exploiting both smaller emittance and larger transverse bunch size before the solenoid. The degradation of the reciprocal spatial resolution caused by the space charge effects should be carefully controlled.

Photon-assisted electron energy loss spectroscopy and ultrafast imaging.

PubMed

Howie, Archie

2009-08-01

A variety of ways is described in which photons can be used not only for ultrafast electron microscopy but also to enormously widen the energy range of spatially-resolved electron spectroscopy. Periodic chains of femtosecond laser pulses are a particularly important and accurately timed source for single-shot imaging and diffraction as well as for several forms of pump-probe microscopy at even higher spatial resolution and sub-picosecond timing. Many exciting new fields are opened up for study by these developments. Ultrafast, single shot diffraction with intense pulses of X-rays supplemented by phase retrieval techniques may eventually offer a challenging alternative and purely photon-based route to dynamic imaging at high spatial resolution.

Direct writing of 150 nm gratings and squares on ZnO crystal in water by using 800 nm femtosecond laser.

PubMed

Liu, Jukun; Jia, Tianqing; Zhou, Kan; Feng, Donghai; Zhang, Shian; Zhang, Hongxin; Jia, Xin; Sun, Zhenrong; Qiu, Jianrong

2014-12-29

We present a controllable fabrication of nanogratings and nanosquares on the surface of ZnO crystal in water based on femtosecond laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS). The formation of nanogrooves depends on both laser fluence and writing speed. A single groove with width less than 40 nm and double grooves with distance of 150 nm have been produced by manipulating 800 nm femtosecond laser fluence. Nanogratings with period of 150 nm, 300 nm and 1000 nm, and nanosquares with dimensions of 150 × 150 nm² were fabricated by using this direct femtosecond laser writing technique.

Investigations of morphological features of picosecond dual-wavelength laser ablation of stainless steel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Wanqin; Wang, Wenjun; Mei, Xuesong; Jiang, Gedong; Liu, Bin

2014-06-01

Investigations on the morphological features of holes and grooves ablated on the surface of stainless steel using the picosecond dual-wavelength laser system with different powers combinations are presented based on the scarce researches on morphology of dual-wavelength laser ablation. The experimental results show the profiles of holes ablated by the visible beam appear V-shaped while those for the near-infrared have large openings and display U-shaped, which are independent of the ablation mechanism of ultrafast laser. For the dual-wavelength beam (a combination of visible beam and near-infrared), the holes resemble sunflower-like structures and have smoother ring patterns on the bottom. In general, the holes ablated by the dual-wavelength beam appear to have much flatter bottoms, linearly sloped side-walls and spinodal structures between the bottoms of the holes and the side-walls. Furthermore, through judiciously combining the powers of the dual-wavelength beam, high-quality grooves could be obtained with a flat worm-like structure at the bottom surface and less resolidified melt ejection edges. This study provides insight into optimizing ultrafast laser micromachining in order to obtain desired morphology.

Measurements of ultrafast spin-profiles and spin-diffusion properties in the domain wall area at a metal/ferromagnetic film interface.

PubMed

Sant, T; Ksenzov, D; Capotondi, F; Pedersoli, E; Manfredda, M; Kiskinova, M; Zabel, H; Kläui, M; Lüning, J; Pietsch, U; Gutt, C

2017-11-08

Exciting a ferromagnetic material with an ultrashort IR laser pulse is known to induce spin dynamics by heating the spin system and by ultrafast spin diffusion processes. Here, we report on measurements of spin-profiles and spin diffusion properties in the vicinity of domain walls in the interface region between a metallic Al layer and a ferromagnetic Co/Pd thin film upon IR excitation. We followed the ultrafast temporal evolution by means of an ultrafast resonant magnetic scattering experiment in surface scattering geometry, which enables us to exploit the evolution of the domain network within a 1/e distance of 3 nm to 5 nm from the Al/FM film interface. We observe a magnetization-reversal close to the domain wall boundaries that becomes more pronounced closer to the Al/FM film interface. This magnetization-reversal is driven by the different transport properties of majority and minority carriers through a magnetically disordered domain network. Its finite lateral extension has allowed us to measure the ultrafast spin-diffusion coefficients and ultrafast spin velocities for majority and minority carriers upon IR excitation.

Ultrafast fluorescence spectroscopy via upconversion applications to biophysics.

PubMed

Xu, Jianhua; Knutson, Jay R

2008-01-01

This chapter reviews basic concepts of nonlinear fluorescence upconversion, a technique whose temporal resolution is essentially limited only by the pulse width of the ultrafast laser. Design aspects for upconversion spectrophotofluorometers are discussed, and a recently developed system is described. We discuss applications in biophysics, particularly the measurement of time-resolved fluorescence spectra of proteins (with subpicosecond time resolution). Application of this technique to biophysical problems such as dynamics of tryptophan, peptides, proteins, and nucleic acids is reviewed.

Picosecond Laser Pulse Interactions with Metallic and Semiconducting Surfaces

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-01-31

Few Picoseconds," Nonlinear Opics and Ultrafast Phenomena, eds. R.R. Alfano and L.J. Rothberg, (Nova Publishers, NY 1990). J.K. Wang, P. Saeta, M...Etching," Materials Science and Engineering 97:325-328 (1988). Nonlinear Opics & Ultrafast Phenomena Eds. R.R. Alfano and L.J. Rothberg Publ. Nova, NY...Progress in Materials Science, ed. by J.W. Christian , P. Haasen and T.B. Massalski, Chalmers Anniversay Volume, 269, Pergamon (1981). 13. F. Spaepen

Ultrafast electronic relaxation in superheated bismuth

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gamaly, E. G.; Rode, A. V.

2013-01-01

Interaction of moving electrons with vibrating ions in the lattice forms the basis for many physical properties from electrical resistivity and electronic heat capacity to superconductivity. In ultrafast laser interaction with matter the electrons are heated much faster than the electron-ion energy equilibration, leading to a two-temperature state with electron temperature far above that of the lattice. The rate of temperature equilibration is governed by the strength of electron-phonon energy coupling, which is conventionally described by a coupling constant, neglecting the dependence on the electron and lattice temperature. The application of this constant to the observations of fast relaxation rate led to a controversial notion of ‘ultra-fast non-thermal melting’ under extreme electronic excitation. Here we provide theoretical grounds for a strong dependence of the electron-phonon relaxation time on the lattice temperature. We show, by taking proper account of temperature dependence, that the heating and restructuring of the lattice occurs much faster than were predicted on the assumption of a constant, temperature independent energy coupling. We applied the temperature-dependent momentum and energy transfer time to experiments on fs-laser excited bismuth to demonstrate that all the observed ultra-fast transformations of the transient state of bismuth are purely thermal in nature. The developed theory, when applied to ultrafast experiments on bismuth, provides interpretation of the whole variety of transient phase relaxation without the non-thermal melting conjecture.

Angular-split/temporal-delay approach to ultrafast protein dynamics at XFELs.

PubMed

Ren, Zhong; Yang, Xiaojing

2016-07-01

X-ray crystallography promises direct insights into electron-density changes that lead to and arise from structural changes such as electron and proton transfer and the formation, rupture and isomerization of chemical bonds. The ultrashort pulses of hard X-rays produced by free-electron lasers present an exciting opportunity for capturing ultrafast structural events in biological macromolecules within femtoseconds after photoexcitation. However, shot-to-shot fluctuations, which are inherent to the very process of self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE) that generates the ultrashort X-ray pulses, are a major source of noise that may conceal signals from structural changes. Here, a new approach is proposed to angularly split a single SASE pulse and to produce a temporal delay of picoseconds between the split pulses. These split pulses will allow the probing of two distinct states before and after photoexcitation triggered by a laser pulse between the split X-ray pulses. The split pulses originate from a single SASE pulse and share many common properties; thus, noise arising from shot-to-shot fluctuations is self-canceling. The unambiguous interpretation of ultrafast structural changes would require diffraction data at atomic resolution, as these changes may or may not involve any atomic displacement. This approach, in combination with the strategy of serial crystallography, offers a solution to study ultrafast dynamics of light-initiated biochemical reactions or biological processes at atomic resolution.

Three-Dimensional Self-Organization in Nanocomposite Layered Systems by Ultrafast Laser Pulses.

PubMed

Liu, Zeming; Siegel, Jan; Garcia-Lechuga, Mario; Epicier, Thierry; Lefkir, Yaya; Reynaud, Stéphanie; Bugnet, Matthieu; Vocanson, Francis; Solis, Javier; Vitrant, Guy; Destouches, Nathalie

2017-05-23

Controlling plasmonic systems with nanometer resolution in transparent films and their colors over large nonplanar areas is a key issue for spreading their use in various industrial fields. Using light to direct self-organization mechanisms provides high-speed and flexible processes to meet this challenge. Here, we describe a route for the laser-induced self-organization of metallic nanostructures in 3D. Going beyond the production of planar nanopatterns, we demonstrate that ultrafast laser-induced excitation combined with nonlinear feedback mechanisms in a nanocomposite thin film can lead to 3D self-organized nanostructured films. The process, which can be extended to complex layered composite systems, produces highly uniform large-area nanopatterns. We show that 3D self-organization originates from the simultaneous excitation of independent optical modes at different depths in the film and is activated by the plasmon-induced charge separation and thermally induced NP growth mechanisms. This laser color marking technique enables multiplexed optical image encoding and the generated nanostructured Ag NPs:TiO 2 films offer great promise for applications in solar energy harvesting, photocatalysis, or photochromic devices.

kW picosecond thin-disk regenerative amplifier

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Michel, Knut; Wandt, Christoph; Klingebiel, Sandro; Schultze, Marcel; Prinz, Stephan; Teisset, Catherine Y.; Stark, Sebastian; Grebing, Christian; Bessing, Robert; Herzig, Tobias; Häfner, Matthias; Budnicki, Aleksander; Sutter, Dirk; Metzger, Thomas

2018-02-01

TRUMPF Scientific Lasers provides ultrafast laser sources for the scientific community with high pulse energies and high average power. All systems are based on the industrialized TRUMPF thin-disk technology. Regenerative amplifiers systems with multi-millijoule pulses, kilohertz repetition rates and picosecond pulse durations are available. Record values of 220mJ at 1kHz could be demonstrated originally developed for pumping optical parametric amplifiers. The ultimate goal is to combine high energies, <100mJ per pulse, with average powers of several hundred watts to a kilowatt. Based on a regenerative amplifier containing two Ytterbium doped thin-disks operated at ambient temperature pulses with picosecond duration and more than 100mJ could be generated at a repetition rate of 10kHz reaching 1kW of average output power. This system is designed to operate at different repetition rates from 100kHz down to 5kHz so that even higher pulse energies can be reached. This type of ultrafast sources uncover new application fields in science. Laser based lightning rods, X-ray lasers and Compton backscatter sources are among them.

Measurement of high-dynamic range x-ray Thomson scattering spectra for the characterization of nano-plasmas at LCLS

DOE PAGES

MacDonald, M. J.; Gorkhover, T.; Bachmann, B.; ...

2016-08-08

Atomic clusters can serve as ideal model systems for exploring ultrafast (~100 fs) laser-driven ionization dynamics of dense matter on the nanometer scale. Resonant absorption of optical laser pulses enables heating to temperatures on the order of 1 keV at near solid density conditions. To date, direct probing of transient states of such nano plasmas was limited to coherent x-ray imaging. Here we present the first measurement of spectrally-resolved incoherent x-ray scattering from clusters, enabling measurements of transient temperature, densities and ionization. Single shot x-ray Thomson scatterings signals were recorded at 120 Hz using a crystal spectrometer in combination withmore » a single-photon counting and energy-dispersive pnCCD. A precise pump laser collimation scheme enabled recording near background-free scattering spectra from Ar clusters with an unprecedented dynamic range of more than 3 orders of magnitude. As a result, such measurements are important for understanding collective effects in laser-matter interactions on femtosecond timescales, opening new routes for the development of schemes for their ultrafast control.« less

Measurement of high-dynamic range x-ray Thomson scattering spectra for the characterization of nano-plasmas at LCLS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

MacDonald, M. J., E-mail: macdonm@umich.edu; SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025; Gorkhover, T.

2016-11-15

Atomic clusters can serve as ideal model systems for exploring ultrafast (∼100 fs) laser-driven ionization dynamics of dense matter on the nanometer scale. Resonant absorption of optical laser pulses enables heating to temperatures on the order of 1 keV at near solid density conditions. To date, direct probing of transient states of such nano-plasmas was limited to coherent x-ray imaging. Here we present the first measurement of spectrally resolved incoherent x-ray scattering from clusters, enabling measurements of transient temperature, densities, and ionization. Single shot x-ray Thomson scattering signals were recorded at 120 Hz using a crystal spectrometer in combination withmore » a single-photon counting and energy-dispersive pnCCD. A precise pump laser collimation scheme enabled recording near background-free scattering spectra from Ar clusters with an unprecedented dynamic range of more than 3 orders of magnitude. Such measurements are important for understanding collective effects in laser-matter interactions on femtosecond time scales, opening new routes for the development of schemes for their ultrafast control.« less

Adapting High Brightness Relativistic Electron Beams for Ultrafast Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scoby, Cheyne Matthew

This thesis explores the use of ultrashort bunches generated by a radiofrequency electron photoinjector driven by a femtosecond laser. Rf photoinjector technology has been developed to generate ultra high brightness beams for advanced accelerators and to drive advanced light source applications. The extremely good quality of the beams generated by this source has played a key role in the development of 4th generation light sources such as the Linac Coherent Light Source, thus opening the way to studies of materials science and biological systems with high temporal and spatial resolution. At the Pegasus Photoinjector Lab, we have developed the application of a BNL/SLAC/UCLA 1.6-cell rf photoinjector as a tool for ultrafast science in its own right. It is the aim of this work to explore the generation of ultrashort electron bunches, give descriptions of the novel ultrafast diagnostics developed to be able to characterize the electron bunch and synchronize it with a pump laser, and share some of the scientific results that were obtained with this technology at the UCLA Pegasus laboratory. This dissertation explains the requirements of the drive laser source and describes the principles of rf photoinjector design and operation necessary to produce electron bunches with an rms longitudinal length < 100 femtoseconds containing 107 - 108 electrons per bunch. In this condition, when the laser intensity is sufficiently high, multiphoton photoemission is demonstrated to be more efficient in terms of charge yield than single photon photoemission. When a short laser pulse hits the cathode the resulting beam dynamics are dominated by a strong space charge driven longitudinal expansion which leads to the creation of a nearly ideal uniformly filled ellipsoidal distribution. These beam distributions are characterized by linear space charge forces and hence by high peak brightness and small transverse emittances. This regime of operation of the RF photoinjector is also termed the “blow-out regime.” When the beam charge is maintained low, ultrashort electron bunches can be obtained enabling novel applications such as single shot Femtosecond Relativistic Electron Diffraction (FRED). High precision temporal diagnostic and synchronization techniques are integral to the use of femtosecond electron bunches for ultrafast science. An x-band rf streak camera provides measurements of the longitudinal profiles of sub-ps electron bunches. Spatial encoded electro-optic timestamping is developed to overcome the inherent rf-laser synchronization errors in rf photoinjectors. The ultrafast electron beams generated with the RF photoenjector are employed in pump-probe experiments wherein a target is illuminated with an intense pump laser to induce a transient behavior in the sample. FRED is used to study the melting of gold after heating with an intense femtosecond laser pulse. In a first experiment we study the process by taking different single-shot diffraction patterns at varying delays between the pump an probe beams. In a second experiment a variation of the technique is employed using the rf streak camera to time-stretch the beam after it has diffraction from the sample in order to capture the full melting dynamics in a single shot. Finally, relativistic ultrashort electron bunches are used as a probe of plasma dynamics in electron radiography/shadowgraphy experiments. This technique is used to study photoemission with intense laser pulses and the evolution of electromagnetic fields in a photoinduced dense plasma. This experiment is also performed in two different modes: one where different pictures are acquired at different time delays, and the other where a single streak image is used to obtain visualization of the propagation electromagnetic fields with an unprecedented 35 femtosecond resolution.

Maskless selective laser patterning of PEDOT:PSS on barrier/foil for organic electronics applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karnakis, Dimitris; Stephens, Tim; Chabrol, Gregoire

2013-03-01

Rapid developments in organic electronics promise low cost devices for applications such as OLED, organic transistors and organic photovoltaics on large-area glass or flexible substrates in the near future. The technology is very attractive as most device layers can be solution printed. But when directly patterned deposition is impossible, a post-patterning step is required and laser processing is gradually emerging as a key-enabling tool. DPSS lasers offer several advantages including maskless, non-contact, dry patterning, but also scalable large area processing, well suited to roll-to-roll manufacturing at μm resolutions. However, very few reports discuss in detail the merits of DPSS laser patterning technology, especially on flexible substrates. This paper describes the potential of ultrafast DPSS laser technology for OLED fabrication on foil and, specifically, picosecond laser ablation of PEDOT:PSS on multilayered barrier/foil or metal grids aimed as a synthetic alternative to inorganic transparent conductive electrodes. Key requirements include: (a) the complete removal of PEDOT layers without residue, (b) the complete absence of surface contamination from redeposited laser debris to avoid short circuiting and (c) no loss in performance of from laser exposure. We will demonstrate that with careful optimisation and appropriate choice of ultrafast laser, the above criteria can be fulfilled. A suitable process window exists resulting in clean laser structuring without damage to the underlying heat sensitive barrier layers whilst also containing laser debris. A low temperature ablation most likely proceeds via a stress-assisted (film fracture and ejection) process as opposed to vaporisation or other phase change commonly encountered with longer pulse lasers.

Mid-Infrared Photonic Devices Fabricated by Ultrafast Laser Inscription

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-07-01

active and passive photonic devices in single crystal, ceramic and glass substrates. This range of devices span applications such as: astrophysics [16...waveguide has been published this year in Applied Physics Letters. Reference: Macdonald, J.R., et al., Compact mid-infrared Cr:ZnSe channel...waveguide laser. Applied Physics Letters, 2013. 102(16): p. 161110. High efficiency circular cladding WG laser The initial demonstration of square double

High-throughput machining using high average power ultrashort pulse lasers and ultrafast polygon scanner

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schille, Joerg; Schneider, Lutz; Streek, André; Kloetzer, Sascha; Loeschner, Udo

2016-03-01

In this paper, high-throughput ultrashort pulse laser machining is investigated on various industrial grade metals (Aluminium, Copper, Stainless steel) and Al2O3 ceramic at unprecedented processing speeds. This is achieved by using a high pulse repetition frequency picosecond laser with maximum average output power of 270 W in conjunction with a unique, in-house developed two-axis polygon scanner. Initially, different concepts of polygon scanners are engineered and tested to find out the optimal architecture for ultrafast and precision laser beam scanning. Remarkable 1,000 m/s scan speed is achieved on the substrate, and thanks to the resulting low pulse overlap, thermal accumulation and plasma absorption effects are avoided at up to 20 MHz pulse repetition frequencies. In order to identify optimum processing conditions for efficient high-average power laser machining, the depths of cavities produced under varied parameter settings are analyzed and, from the results obtained, the characteristic removal values are specified. The maximum removal rate is achieved as high as 27.8 mm3/min for Aluminium, 21.4 mm3/min for Copper, 15.3 mm3/min for Stainless steel and 129.1 mm3/min for Al2O3 when full available laser power is irradiated at optimum pulse repetition frequency.

Femtosecond laser rapid fabrication of large-area rose-like micropatterns on freestanding flexible graphene films

PubMed Central

Shi, Xuesong; Li, Xin; Jiang, Lan; Qu, Liangti; Zhao, Yang; Ran, Peng; Wang, Qingsong; Cao, Qiang; Ma, Tianbao; Lu, Yongfeng

2015-01-01

We developed a simple, scalable and high-throughput method for fabrication of large-area three-dimensional rose-like microflowers with controlled size, shape and density on graphene films by femtosecond laser micromachining. The novel biomimetic microflower that composed of numerous turnup graphene nanoflakes can be fabricated by only a single femtosecond laser pulse, which is efficient enough for large-area patterning. The graphene films were composed of layer-by-layer graphene nanosheets separated by nanogaps (~10–50 nm), and graphene monolayers with an interlayer spacing of ~0.37 nm constituted each of the graphene nanosheets. This unique hierarchical layering structure of graphene films provides great possibilities for generation of tensile stress during femtosecond laser ablation to roll up the nanoflakes, which contributes to the formation of microflowers. By a simple scanning technique, patterned surfaces with controllable densities of flower patterns were obtained, which can exhibit adhesive superhydrophobicity. More importantly, this technique enables fabrication of the large-area patterned surfaces at centimeter scales in a simple and efficient way. This study not only presents new insights of ultrafast laser processing of novel graphene-based materials but also shows great promise of designing new materials combined with ultrafast laser surface patterning for future applications in functional coatings, sensors, actuators and microfluidics. PMID:26615800

Frequency and amplitude modulation of ultra-compact terahertz quantum cascade lasers using an integrated avalanche diode oscillator.

PubMed

Castellano, Fabrizio; Li, Lianhe; Linfield, Edmund H; Davies, A Giles; Vitiello, Miriam S

2016-03-15

Mode-locked comb sources operating at optical frequencies underpin applications ranging from spectroscopy and ultrafast physics, through to absolute frequency measurements and atomic clocks. Extending their operation into the terahertz frequency range would greatly benefit from the availability of compact semiconductor-based sources. However, the development of any compact mode-locked THz laser, which itself is inherently a frequency comb, has yet to be achieved without the use of an external stimulus. High-power, electrically pumped quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) have recently emerged as a promising solution, owing to their octave spanning bandwidths, the ability to achieve group-velocity dispersion compensation and the possibility of obtaining active mode-locking. Here, we propose an unprecedented compact architecture to induce both frequency and amplitude self-modulation in a THz QCL. By engineering a microwave avalanche oscillator into the laser cavity, which provides a 10 GHz self-modulation of the bias current and output power, we demonstrate multimode laser emission centered around 3 THz, with distinct multiple sidebands. The resulting microwave amplitude and frequency self-modulation of THz QCLs opens up intriguing perspectives, for engineering integrated self-mode-locked THz lasers, with impact in fields such as nano- and ultrafast photonics and optical metrology.

Frequency and amplitude modulation of ultra-compact terahertz quantum cascade lasers using an integrated avalanche diode oscillator

PubMed Central

Castellano, Fabrizio; Li, Lianhe; Linfield, Edmund H.; Davies, A. Giles; Vitiello, Miriam S.

2016-01-01

Mode-locked comb sources operating at optical frequencies underpin applications ranging from spectroscopy and ultrafast physics, through to absolute frequency measurements and atomic clocks. Extending their operation into the terahertz frequency range would greatly benefit from the availability of compact semiconductor-based sources. However, the development of any compact mode-locked THz laser, which itself is inherently a frequency comb, has yet to be achieved without the use of an external stimulus. High-power, electrically pumped quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) have recently emerged as a promising solution, owing to their octave spanning bandwidths, the ability to achieve group-velocity dispersion compensation and the possibility of obtaining active mode-locking. Here, we propose an unprecedented compact architecture to induce both frequency and amplitude self-modulation in a THz QCL. By engineering a microwave avalanche oscillator into the laser cavity, which provides a 10 GHz self-modulation of the bias current and output power, we demonstrate multimode laser emission centered around 3 THz, with distinct multiple sidebands. The resulting microwave amplitude and frequency self-modulation of THz QCLs opens up intriguing perspectives, for engineering integrated self-mode-locked THz lasers, with impact in fields such as nano- and ultrafast photonics and optical metrology. PMID:26976199

Elucidating the Structure of Sugars: MW Spectroscopy Combined with Ultrafast UV Laser Vaporization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cocinero, Emilio J.; Ecija, Patricia; Basterretxea, Francisco J.; Fernandez, Jose A.; Castano, Fernando; Lesarri, Alberto; Grabow, Jens-Uwe; Cimas, Alvaro

2013-06-01

Carbohydrates are one of the most versatile biochemicalbuilding blocks, widely acting in energetic, structural or recognition processes. Even the small monosaccharides display unique structural and conformational freedom and may coexist in many open-chain or cyclic forms. We recently initiated the investigation of a series of monosaccharides using a combination of ultrafast laser vaporization and microwave spectroscopy in supersonic jet expansions. We present several structural studies on carbohydrates of aldoses and ketoses of five and six carbon sugars vaporized by UV ultrafast laser vaporization and stabilized in a jet expansion. The experimental evidence confirms that sugars exhibits a α-/β-pyranose conformation (6-membered ring), sharply contrasting with the furanose form (5-membered ring) found in the nature (as component of RNA, sucrose). In addition, thanks to the use of enriched samples, we have experimentally determined the substitution and effective structures. Finally, the structure of several monosaccharides was compared and common structural patterns of their conformational landscape will be showed. E. J. Cocinero, A. Lesarri, P. écija, F. J. Basterretxea, J. U. Grabow, J. A. Fernández and F. Castaño Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 51, 3119-3124, 2012. E. J. Cocinero, A. Lesarri, P. écija, Á. Cimas, B. G. Davis, F. J. Basterretxea, J. A. Fernández and F. Castaño J. Am. Chem. Soc. 135, 2845-2852, 2013.

Fabrication of optical waveguides using laser direct writing method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cho, Sung H.; Kim, Jung Min; Kim, Jae G.; Chang, Won S.; Lee, Eung S.

2004-09-01

Laser direct writing (LDW) process is developed using 3-rd harmonic Diode Pumped Solid State Laser (DPSSL) with the near UV wavelength of 355 nm. Photo-sensitive curable polymer is irradiated by UV laser and developed using polymer solvent to obtain quasi-3D patterns. We performed basic experiments for the various process conditions such as laser power, writing speed, laser focus, and optical polymer property to get the optimal conditions. This process could be applied to fabricate a single-mode waveguide without expensive mask projection method. Experimentally, the patterns of trapezoidal shape were manufactured into dimension of 8.4μm width and 7.5μm height. Propagation loss of planar waveguide was 1.42 dB/cm at wavelength of 1,550 nm.

High-Average-Power Diffraction Pulse-Compression Gratings Enabling Next-Generation Ultrafast Laser Systems

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Alessi, D.

Pulse compressors for ultrafast lasers have been identified as a technology gap in the push towards high peak power systems with high average powers for industrial and scientific applications. Gratings for ultrashort (sub-150fs) pulse compressors are metallic and can absorb a significant percentage of laser energy resulting in up to 40% loss as well as thermal issues which degrade on-target performance. We have developed a next generation gold grating technology which we have scaled to the petawatt-size. This resulted in improvements in efficiency, uniformity and processing as compared to previous substrate etched gratings for high average power. This new designmore » has a deposited dielectric material for the grating ridge rather than etching directly into the glass substrate. It has been observed that average powers as low as 1W in a compressor can cause distortions in the on-target beam. We have developed and tested a method of actively cooling diffraction gratings which, in the case of gold gratings, can support a petawatt peak power laser with up to 600W average power. We demonstrated thermo-mechanical modeling of a grating in its use environment and benchmarked with experimental measurement. Multilayer dielectric (MLD) gratings are not yet used for these high peak power, ultrashort pulse durations due to their design challenges. We have designed and fabricated broad bandwidth, low dispersion MLD gratings suitable for delivering 30 fs pulses at high average power. This new grating design requires the use of a novel Out Of Plane (OOP) compressor, which we have modeled, designed, built and tested. This prototype compressor yielded a transmission of 90% for a pulse with 45 nm bandwidth, and free of spatial and angular chirp. In order to evaluate gratings and compressors built in this project we have commissioned a joule-class ultrafast Ti:Sapphire laser system. Combining the grating cooling and MLD technologies developed here could enable petawatt laser systems to operate at 50kW average power.« less

Joining of thin glass with semiconductors by ultra-fast high-repetition laser welding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Horn, Alexander; Mingaeev, Ilja; Werth, Alexander; Kachel, Martin

2008-02-01

Lighting applications like OLED or on silicon for electro-optical applications need a reproducible sealing process. The joining has to be strong, the permeability for gasses and humidity very low and the process itself has to be very localized not affecting any organic or electronic parts inside the sealed region. The actual sealing process using glue does not fulfil these industrial needs. A new joining process using ultra-fast laser radiation offers a very precise joining with geometry dimensions smaller than 50 μm. Ultra-fast laser radiation is absorbed by multi-photon absorption in the glass. Due to the very definite threshold for melting and ablation the process of localized heating can be controlled without cracking. Repeating the irradiation at times smaller than the heat diffusion time the temperature in the focus is increased by heat accumulation reaching melting of the glass. Mowing the substrate relatively to the laser beam generates a seal of re-solidified glass. Joining of glass is achieved by positioning the laser focus at the interface. A similar approach is used for glass-silicon joining. The investigations presented will demonstrate the joining geometry by microscopy of cross-sections achieved by welding two glass plates (Schott D263 and AF45) with focused IR femtosecond laser radiation (wavelength λ = 1045nm, repetition rate f = 1 MHz, pulse duration t p = 500 fs, focus diameter w 0 = 4 μm, feeding velocity v= 1-10 mm/s). The strength of the welding seam is measured by tensile stress measurements and the gas and humidity is detected. A new diagnostic method for the on-line detection of the welding seam properties will be presented. Using a non-interferometric technique by quantitative phase microscopy the refractive index is measured during welding of glass in the time regime 0-2 μs. By calibration of the measured refractive index with a relation between refractive index and temperature a online-temperature detection can be achieved.

Understanding of the Formation of Micro/Nanoscale Structures on Metal Surfaces by Ultrafast Pulse Laser Processing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peng, Edwin

In the recent decades, there has been much interest in functionalized surfaces produced by ultrafast laser processing. Using pulse lasers with nanosecond to femtosecond time scale, a wide range of micro/nanoscale structures can be produced on virtually all metal surfaces. These surface structures create special optoelectronic, wetting, and tribological properties with a diverse range of potential applications. The formation mechanisms of these surface structures, especially microscale, mound-like structures, are not fully understood. There has been wide study of ultrafast laser processing of metals. Yet, the proposed formation models present in current literature often lack sufficient experimental verification. Specifically, many studies are limited to surface characterization, e.g. scanning electron microscopy of the surfaces of these micro/nanoscale structures. Valuable insight into the physical processes responsible for formation can be obtained if standard material science characterization methods are performed across the entire mound. In our study, we examined mound-like structures formed on three metal alloys. Using cross section and 3D slice and view operations by a dual beam scanning electron microscope-focused ion beam, the interior microstructures of these mounds are revealed. Taking advantage of amorphous phase formation during laser processing of Ni60Nb40, we verified the fluence-dependent formation model: mounds formed at low fluence are primarily the result of ablation while mounds formed at high fluence are formed by both ablation and rapid resolidification by hydrodynamical fluid flow. For the first time, we revealed the cross section of a wide variety of mound-like structures on titanium surfaces. The increased contribution to mound formation by fluid flow with increasing fluence was observed. Finally, a 3D scanning electron microscopy technique was applied for mounds produced on silver surface by delayed-pulse laser processing. The interior microstructure demonstrated that most of the volume comprised of resolidified silver grains with 1% porosity.

Revolutions in Science and Technology: Future Threats to US National Security

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-04-01

34Ultrafast ytterbium-doped bulk lasers and laser amplifiers, " Applied Physics B. Vol. 69, 1999. pp. 3-17. 47 See Martin Richardson et al. page 15...breakout and surprise 53 Martin Richardson, Timothy McComb, and Vikas Sudesh, "High Power Fiber Lasers and Applications to Manufacturing," Conference...Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 49, 2010. ss1n 2008, Martin Richardson, et al. stated that the "high power fiber laser market, currently estimated to

Ultrafast Passive Shields for Laser and Ballistic Protection

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-07-15

chemically polymerized P(DPA)) as a binder, and these were tested for ablation (i.e. laser damage threshold ) limits. Table IV below summarizes these results...50, 100, 250 and 500 AJ/pulse o 1.G, 2.5, 5.0 mJ/pulse. The following energies were used for the preliminary laser damage threshold tests: o 2.5, 5.0...these were tested for ablation (i.e. laser damage threshold ) limits. Table VI summarizes these results which are all for tests in the absence of an iris

Ultrafast, Broad-Band, Passive Laser Shields Based on Novel Semiconductor/Conducting Polymer Interface Technology - SBIR 89.I (A89-083). Phase 1

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-02-14

of the present results to be in the tens of uJ/cm’. f) Comparatively high laser damage thresholds , due to the innate properties of the polymers used. g...number of interface systems switched in this mode as well. Intrinsic laser - induced polymer switching and nonlinear optical effects in these polymers...Effective Laser Shields Essential functional attributes of functional laser filters are ns or sub-ns risetimes, broad-band action (across the visible, near-IR

Direct-laser metal writing of surface acoustic wave transducers for integrated-optic spatial light modulators in lithium niobate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Datta, Bianca C.; Savidis, Nickolaos; Moebius, Michael; Jolly, Sundeep; Mazur, Eric; Bove, V. Michael

2017-02-01

Recently, the fabrication of high-resolution silver nanostructures using a femtosecond laser-based direct write process in a gelatin matrix was reported. The application of direct metal writing towards feature development has also been explored with direct metal fusion, in which metal is fused onto the surface of the substrate via a femtosecond laser process. In this paper, we present a comparative study of gelatin matrix and metal fusion approaches for directly laser-written fabrication of surface acoustic wave transducers on a lithium niobate substrate for application in integrated optic spatial light modulators.

Numerical simulations of self-focusing of ultrafast laser pulses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fibich, Gadi; Ren, Weiqing; Wang, Xiao-Ping

2003-05-01

Simulation of nonlinear propagation of intense ultrafast laser pulses is a hard problem, because of the steep spatial gradients and the temporal shocks that form during the propagation. In this study we adapt the iterative grid distribution method of Ren and Wang [J. Comput. Phys. 159, 246 (2000)] to solve the two-dimensional nonlinear Schrödinger equation with normal time dispersion, space-time focusing, and self-steepening. Our simulations show that, after the asymmetric temporal pulse splitting, the rear peak self-focuses faster than the front one. As a result, the collapse of the rear peak is arrested before that of the front peak. Unlike what has sometimes been conjectured, however, collapse of the two peaks is not arrested through multiple splittings, but rather through temporal dispersion.

Primary photochemical processes for Pt(iv) diazido complexes prospective in photodynamic therapy of tumors.

PubMed

Shushakov, Anton A; Pozdnyakov, Ivan P; Grivin, Vjacheslav P; Plyusnin, Victor F; Vasilchenko, Danila B; Zadesenets, Andrei V; Melnikov, Alexei A; Chekalin, Sergey V; Glebov, Evgeni M

2017-07-25

Diazide diamino complexes of Pt(iv) are considered as prospective prodrugs in oxygen-free photodynamic therapy (PDT). Primary photophysical and photochemical processes for cis,trans,cis-[Pt(N 3 ) 2 (OH) 2 (NH 3 ) 2 ] and trans,trans,trans-[Pt(N 3 ) 2 (OH) 2 (NH 3 ) 2 ] complexes were studied by means of stationary photolysis, nanosecond laser flash photolysis and ultrafast kinetic spectroscopy. The process of photolysis is multistage. The first stage is the photosubstitution of an azide ligand to a water molecule. This process was shown to be a chain reaction involving redox stages. Pt(iv) and Pt(iii) intermediates responsible for the chain propagation were recorded using ultrafast kinetic spectroscopy and nanosecond laser flash photolysis. The mechanism of photosubstitution is proposed.

Femtosecond measurements of near-infrared pulse induced mid-infrared transmission modulation of quantum cascade lasers

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cai, Hong; Liu, Sheng; Center for Advanced Studied in Photonics Research

2014-05-26

We temporally resolved the ultrafast mid-infrared transmission modulation of quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) using a near-infrared pump/mid-infrared probe technique at room temperature. Two different femtosecond wavelength pumps were used with photon energy above and below the quantum well (QW) bandgap. The shorter wavelength pump modulates the mid-infrared probe transmission through interband transition assisted mechanisms, resulting in a high transmission modulation depth and several nanoseconds recovery lifetime. In contrast, pumping with a photon energy below the QW bandgap induces a smaller transmission modulation depth but much faster (several picoseconds) recovery lifetime, attributed to intersubband transition assisted mechanisms. The latter ultrafast modulationmore » (>60 GHz) could provide a potential way to realize fast QCL based free space optical communication.« less

Ultrafast nonthermal heating of water initiated by an X-ray Free-Electron Laser.

PubMed

Beyerlein, Kenneth R; Jönsson, H Olof; Alonso-Mori, Roberto; Aquila, Andrew; Bajt, Saša; Barty, Anton; Bean, Richard; Koglin, Jason E; Messerschmidt, Marc; Ragazzon, Davide; Sokaras, Dimosthenis; Williams, Garth J; Hau-Riege, Stefan; Boutet, Sébastien; Chapman, Henry N; Tîmneanu, Nicuşor; Caleman, Carl

2018-05-29

The bright ultrafast pulses of X-ray Free-Electron Lasers allow investigation into the structure of matter under extreme conditions. We have used single pulses to ionize and probe water as it undergoes a phase transition from liquid to plasma. We report changes in the structure of liquid water on a femtosecond time scale when irradiated by single 6.86 keV X-ray pulses of more than 10 6 J/cm 2 These observations are supported by simulations based on molecular dynamics and plasma dynamics of a water system that is rapidly ionized and driven out of equilibrium. This exotic ionic and disordered state with the density of a liquid is suggested to be structurally different from a neutral thermally disordered state.

Direct longitudinal laser acceleration of electrons in free space

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carbajo, Sergio; Nanni, Emilio A.; Wong, Liang Jie; Moriena, Gustavo; Keathley, Phillip D.; Laurent, Guillaume; Miller, R. J. Dwayne; Kärtner, Franz X.

2016-02-01

Compact laser-driven accelerators are pursued heavily worldwide because they make novel methods and tools invented at national laboratories widely accessible in science, health, security, and technology [V. Malka et al., Principles and applications of compact laser-plasma accelerators, Nat. Phys. 4, 447 (2008)]. Current leading laser-based accelerator technologies [S. P. D. Mangles et al., Monoenergetic beams of relativistic electrons from intense laser-plasma interactions, Nature (London) 431, 535 (2004); T. Toncian et al., Ultrafast laser-driven microlens to focus and energy-select mega-electron volt protons, Science 312, 410 (2006); S. Tokita et al. Single-shot ultrafast electron diffraction with a laser-accelerated sub-MeV electron pulse, Appl. Phys. Lett. 95, 111911 (2009)] rely on a medium to assist the light to particle energy transfer. The medium imposes material limitations or may introduce inhomogeneous fields [J. R. Dwyer et al., Femtosecond electron diffraction: "Making the molecular movie,", Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 364, 741 (2006)]. The advent of few cycle ultraintense radially polarized lasers [S. Carbajo et al., Efficient generation of ultraintense few-cycle radially polarized laser pulses, Opt. Lett. 39, 2487 (2014)] has ushered in a novel accelerator concept [L. J. Wong and F. X. Kärtner, Direct acceleration of an electron in infinite vacuum by a pulsed radially polarized laser beam, Opt. Express 18, 25035 (2010); F. Pierre-Louis et al. Direct-field electron acceleration with ultrafast radially polarized laser beams: Scaling laws and optimization, J. Phys. B 43, 025401 (2010); Y. I. Salamin, Electron acceleration from rest in vacuum by an axicon Gaussian laser beam, Phys. Rev. A 73, 043402 (2006); C. Varin and M. Piché, Relativistic attosecond electron pulses from a free-space laser-acceleration scheme, Phys. Rev. E 74, 045602 (2006); A. Sell and F. X. Kärtner, Attosecond electron bunches accelerated and compressed by radially polarized laser pulses and soft-x-ray pulses from optical undulators, J. Phys. B 47, 015601 (2014)] avoiding the need of a medium or guiding structure entirely to achieve strong longitudinal energy transfer. Here we present the first observation of direct longitudinal laser acceleration of nonrelativistic electrons that undergo highly directional multi-GeV /m accelerating gradients. This demonstration opens a new frontier for direct laser-driven particle acceleration capable of creating well collimated and relativistic attosecond electron bunches [C. Varin and M. Piché, Relativistic attosecond electron pulses from a free-space laser-acceleration scheme, Phys. Rev. E 74, 045602 (2006)] and x-ray pulses [A. Sell and F. X. Kärtner, Attosecond electron bunches accelerated and compressed by radially polarized laser pulses and soft-x-ray pulses from optical undulators, J. Phys. B 47, 015601 (2014)].

Volume gratings and welding of glass/plastic by femtosecond laser direct writing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Watanabe, Wataru

2018-01-01

Femtosecond laser direct writing is used to fabricate diffractive optical elements in three dimensions and to weld glass and/or plastic. In this paper, we review volume gratings in plastics and welding of glass/plastic by femtosecond laser direct writing. Volume gratings were embedded inside polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) by femtosecond laser pulses. The diffraction efficiency of the gratings increased after fabrication and reached the maximum. After an initial slow decrease within first several days after the fabrication, the efficiency increased again. This phenomena was called regeneration of the grating. We also demonstrate welding of PMMA by dendrite pattern using femtosecond laser pulses. Laser pulses are focused at the interface of two PMMA substrates with an air gap and melted materials in laser-irradiated region spread within a gap of the substrates and dendrite morphology of melted PMMA was observed outside the laser irradiated area. Finally, we show welding of glass/plastic and metal.

Ultrafast Fluorescence Spectroscopy via Upconversion: Applications to Biophysics

PubMed Central

Xu, Jianhua; Knutson, Jay R.

2012-01-01

This chapter reviews basic concepts of nonlinear fluorescence upconversion, a technique whose temporal resolution is essentially limited only by the pulse width of the ultrafast laser. Design aspects for upconversion spectrophotofluorometers are discussed, and a recently developed system is described. We discuss applications in biophysics, particularly the measurement of time-resolved fluorescence spectra of proteins (with subpicosecond time resolution). Application of this technique to biophysical problems such as dynamics of tryptophan, peptides, proteins, and nucleic acids is reviewed. PMID:19152860

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

LaRue, Jerry; Krejci, Ondrej; Yu, Liang

Here, the direct elucidation of the reaction pathways in heterogeneous catalysis has been challenging due the short-lived nature of reaction intermediates. Here, we directly measured on ultrafast timescales the initial hydrogenation steps of adsorbed CO on a Ru catalyst surface, which is known as the bottleneck reaction in syngas and CO 2 reforming processes. We initiated the hydrogenation of CO with an ultrafast laser temperature jump and probed transient changes in the electronic structure using real-time x-ray spectroscopy. In combination with theoretical simulations, we verified the formation of CHO during CO hydrogenation.

Ultrafast monoenergetic electron source by optical waveform control of surface plasmons.

PubMed

Dombi, Péter; Rácz, Péter

2008-03-03

We propose coherent control of photoelectron acceleration at metal surfaces mediated by surface plasmon polaritons. A high degree of spectral and spatial control of the emission process can be exercised by amplitude and phase controlling the optical waveform (including the carrier-envelope phase) of the plasmon generating few-cycle laser pulse. Numerical results show that the emitted electron beam is highly directional and monoenergetic suggesting applications in contemporary ultrafast methods where ultrashort, well-behaved electron pulses are required.

Tunable Broadband Radiation Generated Via Ultrafast Laser Illumination of an Inductively Charged Superconducting Ring

PubMed Central

Bulmer, John; Bullard, Thomas; Dolasinski, Brian; Murphy, John; Sparkes, Martin; Pangovski, Krste; O’Neill, William; Powers, Peter; Haugan, Timothy

2015-01-01

An electromagnetic transmitter typically consists of individual components such as a waveguide, antenna, power supply, and an oscillator. In this communication we circumvent complications associated with connecting these individual components and instead combine them into a non-traditional, photonic enabled, compact transmitter device for tunable, ultrawide band (UWB) radiation. This device is a centimeter scale, continuous, thin film superconducting ring supporting a persistent super-current. An ultrafast laser pulse (required) illuminates the ring (either at a point or uniformly around the ring) and perturbs the super-current by the de-pairing and recombination of Cooper pairs. This generates a microwave pulse where both ring and laser pulse geometry dictates the radiated spectrum’s shape. The transmitting device is self contained and completely isolated from conductive components that are observed to interfere with the generated signal. A rich spectrum is observed that extends beyond 30 GHz (equipment limited) and illustrates the complex super-current dynamics bridging optical, THz, and microwave wavelengths. PMID:26659022

Supercontinuum generation in quadratic nonlinear waveguides without quasi-phase matching.

PubMed

Guo, Hairun; Zhou, Binbin; Steinert, Michael; Setzpfandt, Frank; Pertsch, Thomas; Chung, Hung-ping; Chen, Yen-Hung; Bache, Morten

2015-02-15

Supercontinuum generation (SCG) is most efficient when the solitons can be excited directly at the pump laser wavelength. Quadratic nonlinear waveguides may induce an effective negative Kerr nonlinearity, so temporal solitons can be directly generated in the normal (positive) dispersion regime overlapping with common ultrafast laser wavelengths. There is no need for waveguide dispersion engineering. Here, we experimentally demonstrate SCG in standard lithium niobate (LN) waveguides without quasi-phase matching (QPM), pumped with femtosecond pulses in the normal dispersion regime. The observed large bandwidths (even octave spanning), together with other experimental data, indicate that negative nonlinearity solitons are indeed excited, which is backed up by numerical simulations. The QPM-free design reduces production complexity, extends the maximum waveguide length, and limits undesired spectral resonances. Finally, nonlinear crystals can be used where QPM is inefficient or impossible, which is important for mid-IR SCG. QPM-free waveguides in mid-IR nonlinear crystals can support negative nonlinearity solitons, as these waveguides have a normal dispersion at the emission wavelengths of mid-IR ultrafast lasers.

Chromatic effect in a novel THz generation scheme

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Bin; Zhang, Wenyan; Liu, Xiaoqing; Deng, Haixiao; Lan, Taihe; Liu, Bo; Liu, Jia; Wang, Xingtao; Zeng, Zhinan; Zhang, Lijian

2017-11-01

Deriving single or few cycle terahertz (THz) pulse by an intense femtosecond laser through cascaded optical rectification is a crucial technique in cutting-edge time-resolved spectroscopy to characterize micro-scale structures and ultrafast dynamics. Due to the broadband nature of the ultrafast driving laser, the chromatic effect limits the THz conversion efficiency in optical rectification crystals, especially for those implementing the pulse-front tilt scheme, e.g. lithium niobate (LN) crystal, has been prevalently used in the past decade. In this research we developed a brand new type of LN crystal utilizing Brewster coupling, and conducted systematically experimental and simulative investigation for the chromatic effect and multi-dimensionally entangled parameters in THz generation, predicting that an extreme conversion efficiency of ˜10% would be potentially achievable at the THz absorption coefficient of ˜0.5 cm-1. Moreover, we first discovered that the chirp of the driving laser plays a decisive role in the pulse-front tilt scheme, and the THz generation efficiency could be enhanced tremendously by applying an appropriate chirp.

Selective ultrafast probing of transient hot chemisorbed and precursor states of CO on Ru(0001).

PubMed

Beye, M; Anniyev, T; Coffee, R; Dell'Angela, M; Föhlisch, A; Gladh, J; Katayama, T; Kaya, S; Krupin, O; Møgelhøj, A; Nilsson, A; Nordlund, D; Nørskov, J K; Öberg, H; Ogasawara, H; Pettersson, L G M; Schlotter, W F; Sellberg, J A; Sorgenfrei, F; Turner, J J; Wolf, M; Wurth, W; Oström, H

2013-05-03

We have studied the femtosecond dynamics following optical laser excitation of CO adsorbed on a Ru surface by monitoring changes in the occupied and unoccupied electronic structure using ultrafast soft x-ray absorption and emission. We recently reported [M. Dell'Angela et al. Science 339, 1302 (2013)] a phonon-mediated transition into a weakly adsorbed precursor state occurring on a time scale of >2 ps prior to desorption. Here we focus on processes within the first picosecond after laser excitation and show that the metal-adsorbate coordination is initially increased due to hot-electron-driven vibrational excitations. This process is faster than, but occurs in parallel with, the transition into the precursor state. With resonant x-ray emission spectroscopy, we probe each of these states selectively and determine the respective transient populations depending on optical laser fluence. Ab initio molecular dynamics simulations of CO adsorbed on Ru(0001) were performed at 1500 and 3000 K providing insight into the desorption process.

MeV electron acceleration at 1 kHz with <10 mJ laser pulses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salehi, Fatholah; Goers, Andy; Hine, George; Feder, Linus; Kuk, Donghoon; Miao, Bo; Woodbury, Daniel; Kim, Ki-Yong; Milchberg, Howard

2017-01-01

We demonstrate laser driven acceleration of electrons to MeV-scale energies at 1 kHz repetition rate using <10 mJ pulses focused on near-critical density He and H2 gas jets. Using the H2 gas jet, electron acceleration to 0.5 MeV in 10 fC bunches was observed with laser pulse energy as low as 1.3 mJ. Increasing the pulse energy to 10 mJ, we measure 1pC charge bunches with >1 MeV energy for both He and H gas jets. Such a high repetition rate, high flux ultrafast source has immediate application to time resolved probing of matter for scientific, medical, or security applications, either using the electrons directly or using a high-Z foil converter to generate ultrafast γ-rays. This work is supported by the US Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

Ultrafast Absorption Spectroscopy of Aluminum Plasmas Created by LCLS using Betatron X-Ray Radiation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Albert, Felicie

2016-10-12

This document summarizes the goals and accomplishments of a six month-long LDRD project, awarded through the LLNL director Early and Mid Career Recognition (EMCR) program. This project allowed us to support beamtime awarded at the Matter under Extreme Conditions (MEC) end station of the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS). The goal of the experiment was to heat metallic samples with the bright x-rays from the LCLS free electron laser. Then, we studied how they relaxed back to equilibrium by probing them with ultrafast x-ray absorption spectroscopy using laser-based betatron radiation. Our work enabled large collaborations between LLNL, SLAC, LBNL, andmore » institutions in France and in the UK, while providing training to undergraduate and graduate students during the experiment. Following this LDRD project, the PI was awarded a 5-year DOE early career research grant to further develop applications of laser-driven x-ray sources for high energy density science experiments and warm dense matter states.« less

Efficient generation of ultra-intense few-cycle radially polarized laser pulses.

PubMed

Carbajo, Sergio; Granados, Eduardo; Schimpf, Damian; Sell, Alexander; Hong, Kyung-Han; Moses, Jeffrey; Kärtner, Franz X

2014-04-15

We report on efficient generation of millijoule-level, kilohertz-repetition-rate few-cycle laser pulses with radial polarization by combining a gas-filled hollow-waveguide compression technique with a suitable polarization mode converter. Peak power levels >85  GW are routinely achieved, capable of reaching relativistic intensities >10(19)  W/cm2 with carrier-envelope-phase control, by employing readily accessible ultrafast high-energy laser technology.

Ultrafast Imaging of Electronic Motion in Atoms and Molecules

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-01-12

pulses were measured with a home-made faraday cup and laser-triggered streak camera, respectively. Both are retractable and can measure the beam in...100 fs. The charge and duration of the electron pulses were measured with a home-made faraday cup and laser-triggered streak camera, respectively... faraday cup and laser-triggered streak camera, respectively. Both are retractable and can measure the beam in-situ. The gun was shown to generate pulses

L-band ultrafast fiber laser mode locked by carbon nanotubes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Z.; Rozhin, A. G.; Wang, F.; Scardaci, V.; Milne, W. I.; White, I. H.; Hennrich, F.; Ferrari, A. C.

2008-08-01

We fabricate a nanotube-polyvinyl alcohol saturable absorber with a broad absorption at 1.6 μm. We demonstrate a pulsed fiber laser working in the telecommunication L band by using this composite as a mode locker. This gives ˜498±16 fs pulses at 1601 nm with a 26.7 MHz repetition rate.

Laser Scanner Tests For Single-Event Upsets

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kim, Quiesup; Soli, George A.; Schwartz, Harvey R.

1992-01-01

Microelectronic advanced laser scanner (MEALS) is opto/electro/mechanical apparatus for nondestructive testing of integrated memory circuits, logic circuits, and other microelectronic devices. Multipurpose diagnostic system used to determine ultrafast time response, leakage, latchup, and electrical overstress. Used to simulate some of effects of heavy ions accelerated to high energies to determine susceptibility of digital device to single-event upsets.

Ultrafast Laser Techniques

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-06-05

2 Prism Dye Amplifiers .................................................................................. 2 Axicon...carried out under this project. PRISM DYE AMPLIFIERS A first effort was devoted to setting up an amplifier system for the output of a short pulse dye laser...For amplification up to pulse energies of approximately 500 p.J/pulse we chose three stages of prism amplifier cells, with diameters of 1 m, 3 mm

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

None

In an advance that could dramatically shrink particle accelerators for science and medicine, researchers at DOE's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory used a laser to accelerate electrons at a rate 10 times higher than conventional technology in a nanostructured glass chip smaller than a grain of rice. This technique uses ultrafast lasers to drive the accelerator. (This achievement was reported in Nature, 27 Sept 2013)

Fourier ptychographic microscopy at telecommunication wavelengths using a femtosecond laser

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahmed, Ishtiaque; Alotaibi, Maged; Skinner-Ramos, Sueli; Dominguez, Daniel; Bernussi, Ayrton A.; de Peralta, Luis Grave

2017-12-01

We report the implementation of the Fourier Ptychographic Microscopy (FPM) technique, a phase retrieval technique, at telecommunication wavelengths using a low-coherence ultrafast pulsed laser source. High quality images, near speckle-free, were obtained with the proposed approach. We demonstrate that FPM can also be used to image periodic features through a silicon wafer.

Ultra-short wavelength x-ray system

DOEpatents

Umstadter, Donald [Ann Arbor, MI; He, Fei [Ann Arbor, MI; Lau, Yue-Ying [Potomac, MD

2008-01-22

A method and apparatus to generate a beam of coherent light including x-rays or XUV by colliding a high-intensity laser pulse with an electron beam that is accelerated by a synchronized laser pulse. Applications include x-ray and EUV lithography, protein structural analysis, plasma diagnostics, x-ray diffraction, crack analysis, non-destructive testing, surface science and ultrafast science.

Ultrafast electron transport across nano gaps in nanowire circuits

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Potma, Eric O.

In this Program we aim for a closer look at electron transfer through single molecules. To achieve this, we use ultrafast laser pulses to time stamp an electron tunneling event in a molecule that is connected between two metallic electrodes, while reading out the electron current. A key aspect of this project is the use of metallic substrates with plasmonic activity to efficiently manipulate the tunneling probability. The first Phase of this program is concerned with developing highly sensitive tools for the ultrafast optical manipulation of tethered molecules through the evanescent surface field of plasmonic substrates. The second Phase ofmore » the program aims to use these tools for exercising control over the electron tunneling probability.« less

Heterogeneous to homogeneous melting transition visualized with ultrafast electron diffraction

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

None

The ultrafast laser excitation of matters leads to non-equilibrium states with complex solid-liquid phase transition dynamics. We used electron diffraction at mega-electronvolt energies to visualize the ultrafast melting of gold on the atomic scale length. For energy densities approaching the irreversible melting regime, we first observed heterogeneous melting on time scales of 100 ps to 1000 ps, transitioning to homogeneous melting that occurs catastrophically within 10-20 ps at higher energy densities. We showed evidence for the heterogeneous coexistence of solid and liquid. We determined the ion and electron temperature evolution and found superheated conditions. Our results constrain the electron-ion couplingmore » rate, determine the Debye temperature and reveal the melting sensitivity to nucleation seeds.« less

Precision resection of lung cancer in a sheep model using ultrashort laser pulses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beck, Rainer J.; Mohanan, Syam Mohan P. C.; Góra, Wojciech S.; Cousens, Chris; Finlayson, Jeanie; Dagleish, Mark P.; Griffiths, David J.; Shephard, Jonathan D.

2017-02-01

Recent developments and progress in the delivery of high average power ultrafast laser pulses enable a range of novel minimally invasive surgical procedures. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide and here the resection of lung tumours by means of picosecond laser pulses is presented. This represents a potential alternative to mitigate limitations of existing surgical treatments in terms of precision and collateral thermal damage to the healthy tissue. Robust process parameters for the laser resection are demonstrated using ovine pulmonary adenocarcinoma (OPA). OPA is a naturally occurring lung cancer of sheep caused by retrovirus infection that has several features in common with some forms of human pulmonary adenocarcinoma, including a similar histological appearance, which makes it ideally suited for this study. The picosecond laser was operated at a wavelength of 515 nm to resect square cavities from fresh ex-vivo OPA samples using a range of scanning strategies. Process parameters are presented for efficient ablation of the tumour with clear margins and only minimal collateral damage to the surrounding tissue. The resection depth can be controlled precisely by means of the pulse energy. By adjusting the overlap between successive laser pulses, deliberate heat transfer to the tissue and thermal damage can be achieved. This can be beneficial for on demand haemostasis and laser coagulation. Overall, the application of ultrafast lasers for the resection of lung tumours has potential to enable significantly improved precision and reduced thermal damage to the surrounding tissue compared to conventional techniques.

Generation of nanoclusters by ultrafast laser ablation of Al: Molecular dynamics study

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Miloshevsky, Alexander; Phillips, Mark C.; Harilal, Sivanandan S.

The laser ablation of materials induced by an ultrashort femtosecond pulse is a complex phenomenon, which depends on both the material properties and the properties of the laser pulse. The unique capability of a combination of molecular dynamics (MD) and Momentum Scaling Model (MSM) methods is developed and applied to a large atomic system for studying the process of ultrafast laser-material interactions, behavior of matter in a highly non-equilibrium state, material disintegration, and formation of nanoparticles (NPs). Laser pulses with several fluences in the range from 500 J/m2 to 5000 J/m2 interacting with a large system of aluminum atoms aremore » simulated. The response of Al material to the laser energy deposition is investigated within the finite-size laser spot. It is found that the shape of the plasma plume is dynamically changing during an expansion process. At several tens of picoseconds it can be characterized as a long hollow ellipsoid surrounded by atomized and nano-clustered particles. The time evolution of NP clusters in the plume is investigated. The collisions between the single Al atoms and generated NPs and fragmentation of large NPs determine the fractions of different-size NP clusters in the plume. The MD-MSM simulations show that laser fluence greatly affects the size distribution of NPs, their polar angles, magnitude and direction vectors of NP velocities. These results and predictions are supported by the experimental data and previous MD simulations.« less

Laser plasma x-ray source for ultrafast time-resolved x-ray absorption spectroscopy

DOE PAGES

Miaja-Avila, L.; O'Neil, G. C.; Uhlig, J.; ...

2015-03-02

We describe a laser-driven x-ray plasma source designed for ultrafast x-ray absorption spectroscopy. The source is comprised of a 1 kHz, 20 W, femtosecond pulsed infrared laser and a water target. We present the x-ray spectra as a function of laser energy and pulse duration. Additionally, we investigate the plasma temperature and photon flux as we vary the laser energy. We obtain a 75 μm FWHM x-ray spot size, containing ~10 6 photons/s, by focusing the produced x-rays with a polycapillary optic. Since the acquisition of x-ray absorption spectra requires the averaging of measurements from >10 7 laser pulses, wemore » also present data on the source stability, including single pulse measurements of the x-ray yield and the x-ray spectral shape. In single pulse measurements, the x-ray flux has a measured standard deviation of 8%, where the laser pointing is the main cause of variability. Further, we show that the variability in x-ray spectral shape from single pulses is low, thus justifying the combining of x-rays obtained from different laser pulses into a single spectrum. Finally, we show a static x-ray absorption spectrum of a ferrioxalate solution as detected by a microcalorimeter array. Altogether, our results demonstrate that this water-jet based plasma source is a suitable candidate for laboratory-based time-resolved x-ray absorption spectroscopy experiments.« less

Earle K. Plyler Prize Lecture: The Three Pillars of Ultrafast Molecular Science - Time, Phase, Intensity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stolow, Albert

We discuss the probing and control of molecular wavepacket dynamics in the context of three main `pillars' of light-matter interaction: time, phase, intensity. Time: Using short, coherent laser pulses and perturbative matter-field interactions, we study molecular wavepackets with a focus on the ultrafast non-Born-Oppenheimer dynamics, that is, the coupling of electronic and nuclear motions. Time-Resolved Photoelectron Spectroscopy (TRPES) is a powerful ultrafast probe of these processes in polyatomic molecules because it is sensitive both electronic and vibrational dynamics. Ideally, one would like to observe these ultrafast processes from the molecule's point of view - the Molecular Frame - thereby avoiding loss of information due to orientational averaging. This can be achieved by Time-Resolved Coincidence Imaging Spectroscopy (TRCIS) which images 3D recoil vectors of both photofragments and photoelectrons, in coincidence and as a function of time, permitting direct Molecular Frame imaging of valence electronic dynamics during a molecular dynamics. Phase: Using intermediate strength non-perturbative interactions, we apply the second order (polarizability) Non-Resonant Dynamic Stark Effect (NRDSE) to control molecular dynamics without any net absorption of light. NRDSE is also the interaction underlying molecular alignment and applies to field-free 1D of linear molecules and field-free 3D alignment of general (asymmetric) molecules. Using laser alignment, we can transiently fix a molecule in space, yielding a more general approach to direct Molecular Frame imaging of valence electronic dynamics during a chemical reaction. Intensity: In strong (ionizing) laser fields, a new laser-matter physics emerges for polyatomic systems wherein both the single active electron picture and the adiabatic electron response, both implicit in the standard 3-step models, can fail dramatically. This has important consequences for all attosecond strong field spectroscopies of polyatomic molecules, including high harmonic generation (HHG). We discuss an experimental method, Channel-Resolved Above Threshold Ionization (CRATI), which directly unveils the electronic channels participating in the attosecond molecular strong field ionization response [10]. This work was supported by the National Research Council of Canada and the Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council.

Ultrafast-laser dicing of thin silicon wafers: strategies to improve front- and backside breaking strength

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Domke, Matthias; Egle, Bernadette; Stroj, Sandra; Bodea, Marius; Schwarz, Elisabeth; Fasching, Gernot

2017-12-01

Thin 50-µm silicon wafers are used to improve heat dissipation of chips with high power densities. However, mechanical dicing methods cause chipping at the edges of the separated dies that reduce the mechanical stability. Thermal load changes may then lead to sudden chip failure. Recent investigations showed that the mechanical stability of the cut chips could be increased using ultrashort-pulsed lasers, but only at the laser entrance (front) side and not at the exit (back) side. The goal of this study was to find strategies to improve both front- and backside breaking strength of chips that were cut out of an 8″ wafer with power metallization using an ultrafast laser. In a first experiment, chips were cut by scanning the laser beam in single lines across the wafer using varying fluencies and scan speeds. Three-point bending tests of the cut chips were performed to measure front and backside breaking strengths. The results showed that the breaking strength of both sides increased with decreasing accumulated fluence per scan. Maximum breaking strengths of about 1100 MPa were achieved at the front side, but only below 600 MPa were measured for the backside. A second experiment was carried out to optimize the backside breaking strength. Here, parallel line scans to increase the distance between separated dies and step cuts to minimize the effect of decreasing fluence during scribing were performed. Bending tests revealed that breaking strengths of about 1100 MPa could be achieved also on the backside using the step cut. A reason for the superior performance could be found by calculating the fluence absorbed by the sidewalls. The calculations suggested that an optimal fluence level to minimize thermal side effects and periodic surface structures was achieved due to the step cut. Remarkably, the best breaking strengths values achieved in this study were even higher than the values obtained on state of the art ns-laser and mechanical dicing machines. This is the first study to the knowledge of the authors, which demonstrates that ultrafast-laser dicing improves the mechanical stability of thin silicon chips.

Direct writing of continuous and discontinuous sub-wavelength periodic surface structures on single-crystalline silicon using femtosecond laser

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kuladeep, Rajamudili; Sahoo, Chakradhar; Narayana Rao, Desai, E-mail: dnrsp@uohyd.ernet.in, E-mail: dnr-laserlab@yahoo.com

Laser-induced ripples or uniform arrays of continuous near sub-wavelength or discontinuous deep sub-wavelength structures are formed on single-crystalline silicon (Si) by femtosecond (fs) laser direct writing technique. Laser irradiation was performed on Si wafers at normal incidence in air and by immersing them in dimethyl sulfoxide using linearly polarized Ti:sapphire fs laser pulses of ∼110 fs pulse duration and ∼800 nm wavelength. Morphology studies of laser written surfaces reveal that sub-wavelength features are oriented perpendicular to laser polarization, while their morphology and spatial periodicity depend on the surrounding dielectric medium. The formation mechanism of the sub-wavelength features is explained by interferencemore » of incident laser with surface plasmon polaritons. This work proves the feasibility of fs laser direct writing technique for the fabrication of sub-wavelength features, which could help in fabrication of advanced electro-optic devices.« less

Using Laser-Induced Thermal Voxels to Pattern Diverse Materials at the Solid-Liquid Interface.

PubMed

Zarzar, Lauren D; Swartzentruber, B S; Donovan, Brian F; Hopkins, Patrick E; Kaehr, Bryan

2016-08-24

We describe a high-resolution patterning approach that combines the spatial control inherent to laser direct writing with the versatility of benchtop chemical synthesis. By taking advantage of the steep thermal gradient that occurs while laser heating a metal edge in contact with solution, diverse materials comprising transition metals are patterned with feature size resolution nearing 1 μm. We demonstrate fabrication of reduced metallic nickel in one step and examine electrical properties and air stability through direct-write integration onto a device platform. This strategy expands the chemistries and materials that can be used in combination with laser direct writing.

Using laser-induced thermal voxels to pattern diverse materials at the solid–liquid interface

DOE PAGES

Zarzar, Lauren D.; Swartzentruber, B. S.; Donovan, Brian F.; ...

2016-08-05

We describe a high-resolution patterning approach that combines the spatial control inherent to laser direct writing with the versatility of benchtop chemical synthesis. By taking advantage of the steep thermal gradient that occurs while laser heating a metal edge in contact with solution, diverse materials comprising transition metals are patterned with feature size resolution nearing 1 μm. We demonstrate fabrication of reduced metallic nickel in one step and examine electrical properties and air stability through direct-write integration onto a device platform. In conclusion, this strategy expands the chemistries and materials that can be used in combination with laser direct writing.

Formation of Si and Ge films and micropatterns by wet process using laser direct writing method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Watanabe, Akira

2011-03-01

The studies toward the formation of Si and Ge films and micropatterns by wet process using laser direct writing method are reported. First is the the formation of Si film by laser scanning irradiation to Si nano- or micro-particle dispersed films. By using organogermanium nanocluster (OrGe) as a dispersion medium of Si particles, a homogeneous Si film was formed by laser scanning irradiation on a Si particle/OrGe composite film. The micro-Raman spectra showed the formation of the polycrystalline Ge and SiGe alloy during the fusion of the Si particles by laser irradiation. The second is the formation of the Si and Ge micropatterns by LLDW (liquid phase laser direct writing) method. Micro-Raman spectra showed the formation of polycrystalline Si and Ge micropatterns by laser irradiation on the interfaces of SiCl4/substrate and GeCl4/substrate, respectively.

Origin of the Ultrafast Response of the Lateral Photovoltaic Effect in Amorphous MoS2/Si Junctions.

PubMed

Hu, Chang; Wang, Xianjie; Miao, Peng; Zhang, Lingli; Song, Bingqian; Liu, Weilong; Lv, Zhe; Zhang, Yu; Sui, Yu; Tang, Jinke; Yang, Yanqiang; Song, Bo; Xu, Ping

2017-05-31

The lateral photovoltaic (LPV) effect has attracted much attention for a long time because of its application in position-sensitive detectors (PSD). Here, we report the ultrafast response of the LPV in amorphous MoS 2 /Si (a-MoS 2 /Si) junctions prepared by the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique. Different orientations of the built-in field and the breakover voltages are observed for a-MoS 2 films deposited on p- and n-type Si wafers, resulting in the induction of positive and negative voltages in the a-MoS 2 /n-Si and a-MoS 2 /p-Si junctions upon laser illumination, respectively. The dependence of the LPV on the position of the illumination shows very high sensitivity (183 mV mm -1 ) and good linearity. The optical relaxation time of LPV with a positive voltage was about 5.8 μs in a-MoS 2 /n-Si junction, whereas the optical relaxation time of LPV with a negative voltage was about 2.1 μs in a-MoS 2 /p-Si junction. Our results clearly suggested that the inversion layer at the a-MoS 2 /Si interface made a good contribution to the ultrafast response of the LPV in a-MoS 2 /Si junctions. The large positional sensitivity and ultrafast relaxation of LPV may promise the a-MoS 2 /Si junction's applications in fast position-sensitive detectors.

Laser direct-write for fabrication of three-dimensional paper-based devices.

PubMed

He, P J W; Katis, I N; Eason, R W; Sones, C L

2016-08-16

We report the use of a laser-based direct-write (LDW) technique that allows the design and fabrication of three-dimensional (3D) structures within a paper substrate that enables implementation of multi-step analytical assays via a 3D protocol. The technique is based on laser-induced photo-polymerisation, and through adjustment of the laser writing parameters such as the laser power and scan speed we can control the depths of hydrophobic barriers that are formed within a substrate which, when carefully designed and integrated, produce 3D flow paths. So far, we have successfully used this depth-variable patterning protocol for stacking and sealing of multi-layer substrates, for assembly of backing layers for two-dimensional (2D) lateral flow devices and finally for fabrication of 3D devices. Since the 3D flow paths can also be formed via a single laser-writing process by controlling the patterning parameters, this is a distinct improvement over other methods that require multiple complicated and repetitive assembly procedures. This technique is therefore suitable for cheap, rapid and large-scale fabrication of 3D paper-based microfluidic devices.

Electron theory of fast and ultrafast dissipative magnetization dynamics.

PubMed

Fähnle, M; Illg, C

2011-12-14

For metallic magnets we review the experimental and electron-theoretical investigations of fast magnetization dynamics (on a timescale of ns to 100 ps) and of laser-pulse-induced ultrafast dynamics (few hundred fs). It is argued that for both situations the dominant contributions to the dissipative part of the dynamics arise from the excitation of electron-hole pairs and from the subsequent relaxation of these pairs by spin-dependent scattering processes, which transfer angular momentum to the lattice. By effective field theories (generalized breathing and bubbling Fermi-surface models) it is shown that the Gilbert equation of motion, which is often used to describe the fast dissipative magnetization dynamics, must be extended in several aspects. The basic assumptions of the Elliott-Yafet theory, which is often used to describe the ultrafast spin relaxation after laser-pulse irradiation, are discussed very critically. However, it is shown that for Ni this theory probably yields a value for the spin-relaxation time T(1) in good agreement with the experimental value. A relation between the quantity α characterizing the damping of the fast dynamics in simple situations and the time T(1) is derived. © 2011 IOP Publishing Ltd

Quantum Hooke's Law to Classify Pulse Laser Induced Ultrafast Melting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hu, Hao; Ding, Hepeng; Liu, Feng

2014-03-01

We investigate the ultrafast crystal-to-amorphous phase transition induced by femtosecond pulse laser excitation by exploiting the property of quantum electronic stress (QES) induced by the electron-hole plasma, which follows quantum Hooke's law. We demonstrates that two types of crystal-to-amorphous transitions occur in two distinct material classes: the faster nonthermal process, having a time scale shorter than one picosecond (ps), must occur in materials like ice having an anomalous phase diagram characterized with dTm/dP <0, where Tm is the melting temperature and P is pressure; while the slower thermal process, having a time scale of several ps, occurs preferably in other materials. The nonthermal process is driven by the QES acting like a negative internal pressure, which is generated predominantly by the holes in the electron-hole plasma that increases linearly with hole density. These findings significantly advance our fundamental understanding of physics underlying the ultrafast crystal-to-amorphous phase transitions, enabling quantitative a priori prediction. The work was supported by DOE-BES (Grant # DE-FG02-04ER46148), NSF MRSEC (Grant No. DMR-1121252) and DOE EFRC (Grant Number DE-SC0001061).

Nanomedical science and laser-driven particle acceleration: promising approaches in the prethermal regime

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gauduel, Y. A.

2017-05-01

A major challenge of spatio-temporal radiation biomedicine concerns the understanding of biophysical events triggered by an initial energy deposition inside confined ionization tracks. This contribution deals with an interdisciplinary approach that concerns cutting-edge advances in real-time radiation events, considering the potentialities of innovating strategies based on ultrafast laser science, from femtosecond photon sources to advanced techniques of ultrafast TW laser-plasma accelerator. Recent advances of powerful TW laser sources ( 1019 W cm-2) and laser-plasma interactions providing ultra-short relativistic particle beams in the energy domain 5-200 MeV open promising opportunities for the development of high energy radiation femtochemistry (HERF) in the prethermal regime of secondary low-energy electrons and for the real-time imaging of radiation-induced biomolecular alterations at the nanoscopic scale. New developments would permit to correlate early radiation events triggered by ultrashort radiation sources with a molecular approach of Relative Biological Effectiveness (RBE). These emerging research developments are crucial to understand simultaneously, at the sub-picosecond and nanometric scales, the early consequences of ultra-short-pulsed radiation on biomolecular environments or integrated biological entities. This innovating approach would be applied to biomedical relevant concepts such as the emerging domain of real-time nanodosimetry for targeted pro-drug activation and pulsed radio-chimiotherapy of cancers.

Modeling ultrafast laser-induced nanocavitation around plasmonic nanoparticles (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meunier, Michel; Dagallier, Adrien; Lachaine, Rémi; Boutopoulos, Christos; Boulais, Étienne

2017-03-01

Vapor nanobubbles generated around plasmonic nanoparticles (NPs) by ultrafast laser irradiation are efficient for inducing localized damage to living cells. Killing targeted cancer cells or gene delivery can therefore be envisioned using this new technology [1,2]. The extent of the damage and its non-lethal character are linked to the size of the nanobubble. Precise understanding of the mechanisms leading to bubble formation around plasmonic nanostructures is necessary to optimize the technique. In this presentation, we present a complete model that successfully describes all interactions occurring during the irradiation of plasmonics nanostructures by an ultrafast laser of various pulse widths and fluences. Nanoavitation is caused by the interplay between heat conduction at the NP-medium interface and non-linear plasmon-enhanced photoionization of a nanoplasma in the near-field [3-5], the former being dominant for in-resonance and the latter for off-resonance irradiation. Modeling of the whole laser-nanoparticle interaction, together with the help of the shadowgraphic imaging and scattering techniques [3-5], give valuable insight on the mechanisms of cavitation at the nanoscale, leading to possible optimization of the nanostructure for bubble-based nanomedicine applications. 1- E. Boulais, R. Lachaine, A. Hatef, and M. Meunier, Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology C: Photochemistry Reviews 17, 26-49 (2013). 2- E. Bergeron, S. Patskovsky, D. Rioux, and M. Meunier, Nanoscale 7,17836-17847 (2015). 3- E. Boulais, R. Lachaine, and M. Meunier, Nano Letters 12, 4763-4769 (2012). 4- R. Lachaine, E. Boulais, and M. Meunier, ACS Photonics 1, 331-336 (2014). 5- C. Boutopoulos, A. Hatef, M. Fortin-Deschênes, and M. Meunier Nanoscale 7,11758-11765 (2015).

Optically Controlled Devices and Ultrafast Laser Sources for Signal Processing.

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-06-30

A2 are input/output cavity coupling elements. C1 and C2 are coaxial cables. The resistance (R) and inductance L) provide isolation between the DC power ...the same power . 3. The continuously operating phosphate Nd:glass laser has been modelocked for the first time ever to generate 7 ps pulses. We have...media in a modelocked laser to understand the fundamental pulse generation mechanism. 2. Develop compact, high- power sources of short pulses using

Direct femtosecond laser writing of buried infrared waveguides in chalcogenide glasses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Le Coq, D.; Bychkov, E.; Masselin, P.

2016-02-01

Direct laser writing technique is now widely used in particular in glass, to produce both passive and active photonic devices. This technique offers a real scientific opportunity to generate three-dimensional optical components and since chalcogenide glasses possess transparency properties from the visible up to mid-infrared range, they are of great interest. Moreover, they also have high optical non-linearity and high photo-sensitivity that make easy the inscription of refractive index modification. The understanding of the fundamental and physical processes induced by the laser pulses is the key to well-control the laser writing and consequently to realize integrated photonic devices. In this paper, we will focus on two different ways allowing infrared buried waveguide to be obtained. The first part will be devoted to a very original writing process based on a helical translation of the sample through the laser beam. In the second part, we will report on another original method based on both a filamentation phenomenon and a point by point technique. Finally, we will demonstrate that these two writing techniques are suitable for the design of single mode waveguide for wavelength ranging from the visible up to the infrared but also to fabricate optical components.

Towards endoscopic ultrafast laser microsurgery of vocal folds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hoy, Christopher L.; Everett, W. Neil; Yildirim, Murat; Kobler, James; Zeitels, Steven M.; Ben-Yakar, Adela

2012-03-01

Vocal fold scarring is a predominant cause of voice disorders yet lacks a reliable treatment method. The injection of soft biomaterials to improve mechanical compliance of the vocal folds has emerged as a promising treatment. Here, we study the use of precise femtosecond laser microsurgery to ablate subsurface voids, with a goal of eventually creating a plane in dense subepithelial scar tissue into which biomaterials can be injected for their improved localization. Specifically, we demonstrate the ablation of small subepithelial voids in porcine vocal fold tissue up to 120 µm below the surface such that larger voids in the active area of vocal fold mucosa (~3×10 mm2) can eventually be ablated in about 3 min. We use sub-µJ, 776-nm pulses from a compact femtosecond fiber laser system operating at a 500-kHz repetition rate. The use of relatively high repetition rates, with a small number of overlapping pulses, is critical to achieving ablation in a very short time while still avoiding significant heat deposition. Additionally, we use the same laser for nonlinear optical imaging to provide visual feedback of tissue structure and to confirm successful ablation. The ablation parameters, including pulse duration, pulse energy, spot size, and scanning speed, are comparable to the specifications in our recently developed miniaturized femtosecond laser surgery probes, illustrating the feasibility of developing an ultrafast laser surgical instrument.

Terahertz emission from ultrafast ionizing air in symmetry-broken laser fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Ki-Yong; Glownia, James H.; Taylor, Antoinette J.; Rodriguez, George

2007-04-01

A transient photocurrent model is developed to explain coherent terahertz emission from air irradiated by a symmetry-broken laser field composed of the fundamental and its second harmonic laser pulses. When the total laser field is asymmetric across individual optical cycles, a nonvanishing electron current surge can arise during optical field ionization of air, emitting a terahertz electromagnetic pulse. Terahertz power scalability is also investigated, and with optical pump energy of tens of millijoules per pulse, peak terahertz field strengths in excess of 150 kV/cm are routinely produced.

Terahertz emission from ultrafast ionizing air in symmetry-broken laser fields.

PubMed

Kim, Ki-Yong; Glownia, James H; Taylor, Antoinette J; Rodriguez, George

2007-04-16

A transient photocurrent model is developed to explain coherent terahertz emission from air irradiated by a symmetry-broken laser field composed of the fundamental and its second harmonic laser pulses. When the total laser field is asymmetric across individual optical cycles, a nonvanishing electron current surge can arise during optical field ionization of air, emitting a terahertz electromagnetic pulse. Terahertz power scalability is also investigated, and with optical pump energy of tens of millijoules per pulse, peak terahertz field strengths in excess of 150 kV/cm are routinely produced.

Physical chemistry: Molecular motion watched

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Siwick, Bradley; Collet, Eric

2013-04-01

A laser pulse can switch certain crystals from an insulating phase to a highly conducting phase. The ultrafast molecular motions that drive the transition have been directly observed using electron diffraction. See Letter p.343

Stimulated Raman scattering: old physics, new applications.

PubMed

Yakovlev, Vladislav V; Petrov, Georgi I; Zhang, Hao F; Noojin, Gary D; Denton, Michael L; Thomas, Robert J; Scully, Marlan O

2009-10-01

Stimulated Raman scattering as a promising way of expanding the tunability of ultrafast lasers and as an exciting new biomedical imaging modality capable of selective excitation and chemically-specific diagnostics of molecular species.

Mechanisms of ultrafast laser-induced deep-subwavelength gratings on graphite and diamond

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Min; Zhao, Fuli; Cheng, Ya; Xu, Ningsheg; Xu, Zhizhan

2009-03-01

Deep-subwavelength gratings with periodicities of 170, 120, and 70 nm can be observed on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite irradiated by a femtosecond (fs) laser at 800 nm. Under picosecond laser irradiation, such gratings likewise can be produced. Interestingly, the 170-nm grating is also observed on single-crystal diamond irradiated by the 800-nm fs laser. In our opinion, the optical properties of the high-excited state of material surface play a key role for the formation of the deep-subwavelength gratings. The numerical simulations of the graphite deep-subwavelength grating at normal and high-excited states confirm that in the groove the light intensity can be extraordinarily enhanced via cavity-mode excitation in the condition of transverse-magnetic wave irradiation with near-ablation-threshold fluences. This field enhancement of polarization sensitiveness in deep-subwavelength apertures acts as an important feedback mechanism for the growth and polarization dependence of the deep-subwavelength gratings. In addition, we suggest that surface plasmons are responsible for the formation of seed deep-subwavelength apertures with a particular periodicity and the initial polarization dependence. Finally, we propose that the nanoscale Coulomb explosion occurring in the groove is responsible for the ultrafast nonthermal ablation mechanism.

Compact ultrafast semiconductor disk laser: targeting GFP based nonlinear applications in living organisms

PubMed Central

Aviles-Espinosa, Rodrigo; Filippidis, George; Hamilton, Craig; Malcolm, Graeme; Weingarten, Kurt J.; Südmeyer, Thomas; Barbarin, Yohan; Keller, Ursula; Santos, Susana I.C.O; Artigas, David; Loza-Alvarez, Pablo

2011-01-01

We present a portable ultrafast Semiconductor Disk Laser (SDL) (or vertical extended cavity surface emitting laser—VECSELs), to be used for nonlinear microscopy. The SDL is modelocked using a quantum-dot semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM), delivering an average output power of 287 mW, with 1.5 ps pulses at 500 MHz and a central wavelength of 965 nm. Specifically, despite the fact of having long pulses and high repetition rates, we demonstrate the potential of this laser for Two-Photon Excited Fluorescence (TPEF) imaging of in vivo Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) expressing Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) in a set of neuronal processes and cell bodies. Efficient TPEF imaging is achieved due to the fact that this wavelength matches the peak of the two-photon action cross section of this widely used fluorescent marker. The SDL extended versatility is shown by presenting Second Harmonic Generation images of pharynx, uterus, body wall muscles and its potential to be used to excite other different commercial dyes. Importantly this non-expensive, turn-key, compact laser system could be used as a platform to develop portable nonlinear bio-imaging devices. PMID:21483599

Laser-assisted heating of a plasmonic nanofluid in a microchannel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walsh, Timothy

The work presented in this study analyses the theoretical modeling and experimentation of laser-assisted heating of plasmonic nanofluids (PNFs) in a microchannel for accurate, efficient, and ultra-fast heating of a microdroplet. Suspended plasmonic nanoparticles exhibit strong light absorption and scattering upon the excitation of localized surface plasmons (LSPs), resulting in intense and rapid photothermal heating. Several multi-stepped computational models were utilized to theoretically characterize and verify the laser-assisted heating behavior of gold nanoshells (GNS) and gold nanorod (GNR) plasmonic nanofluid droplets in a microchannel. From the experimental investigation, a full range of controllable steady-state temperatures, room temperature to 100°C, are confirmed to be achievable for the 780-nm-tuned plasmonic nanofluid. Droplet fluid heating is verified to occur as a result of LSP excitation, in time scales of milliseconds, and to be repeatable over many cycles. Additionally, the significance and effects of parameters in the process, such as nanoparticle structure, volumetric concentration, microchannel depth, and laser power density are established. The obtained results in this research may be integrated into other existing microfluidic technologies and biological techniques, such as the polymerase chain reaction, where accurate and ultra-fast heating of microdroplets in a microchannel can greatly improve efficiency.

The effect of excitation intensity variation and silver nanoparticle codoping on nonlinear optical properties of mixed tellurite and zinc oxide glass doped with Nd2O3 studied through ultrafast z-scan spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moreira, L.; Falci, R. F.; Darabian, H.; Anjos, V.; Bell, M. J. V.; Kassab, L. R. P.; Bordon, C. D. S.; Doualan, J. L.; Camy, P.; Moncorgé, R.

2018-05-01

The research on Nd3+ doped new solid-state laser hosts with specific thermo-mechanical and optical properties is very active. Nd3+ doped tellurite glasses are suitable for these applications. They have high linear and nonlinear refraction index, wide transmittance range. The TeO2-ZnO (TZO) glass considered in the present work combines all those features and the nonlinear optical properties can be used for the development of Kerr-lens mode-locked sub picosecond lasers. Recently the laser performance of Nd3+ doped TZO glass and was reported and laser slope efficiency of 21% was observed. We investigate how the intensity variation and the silver nanoparticles codoping affects the nonlinear optical properties of Nd3+ doped TZO glasses. Intensity dependent nonlinear refraction indices coefficients at 750, 800 and 850 nm were observed. The nonlinear optical features were obtained through ultrafast single beam z-scan technique with excitations at 750, 800 and 850 nm and are up to two orders of magnitude higher than those reported in the literature.

Modeling of Optoelectronic Devices

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Li, Jian-Zhong; Woo, Alex C. (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

Ultrafast modulation of semiconductor quantum well (QW) laser is of technological importance for information technology. Improvement by order(s) of magnitude in data transfer rate is possible as terahertz (THz) radiation is available for heating the laser at picosecond time scale. Optical gain modulation in the QW is achieved via temperature modulation of electron-hole plasma (EHP). Applications include free-space THz communication, optical switching, and pulse generation. The EHP in the semiconductor QW is described with a two-band model. Semiconductor Bloch equations with many-body effects are used to derive a hydrodynamical model for the active QW region. Because of ultrafast carrier-carrier scatterings in the order of 50 fs, EHP follows quasiequilibrium Fermi-Dirac distributions and THz field interacts incoherently with it. Carrier-longitudinal optical (LO) phonon scatterings and coherent laser-EHP interaction are treated microscopically in our physical model. A set of hydrodynamical equations for plasma density, temperature, and laser envelop amplitude are derived and Runge-Kutta method is adopted for numerical simulation. A typical 8 nm GaAs/Al(0.3)Ga(0.7) As single QW at 300 K is used. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

Mode-locked thin-disk lasers and their potential application for high-power terahertz generation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saraceno, Clara J.

2018-04-01

The progress achieved in the last few decades in the performance of ultrafast laser systems with high average power has been tremendous, and continues to provide momentum to new exciting applications, both in scientific research and technology. Among the various technological advances that have shaped this progress, mode-locked thin-disk oscillators have attracted significant attention as a unique technology capable of providing ultrashort pulses with high energy (tens to hundreds of microjoules) and at very high repetition rates (in the megahertz regime) from a single table-top oscillator. This technology opens the door to compact high repetition rate ultrafast sources spanning the entire electromagnetic spectrum from the XUV to the terahertz regime, opening various new application fields. In this article, we focus on their unexplored potential as compact driving sources for high average power terahertz generation.

Retinal isomerization in bacteriorhodopsin captured by a femtosecond x-ray laser.

PubMed

Nogly, Przemyslaw; Weinert, Tobias; James, Daniel; Carbajo, Sergio; Ozerov, Dmitry; Furrer, Antonia; Gashi, Dardan; Borin, Veniamin; Skopintsev, Petr; Jaeger, Kathrin; Nass, Karol; Båth, Petra; Bosman, Robert; Koglin, Jason; Seaberg, Matthew; Lane, Thomas; Kekilli, Demet; Brünle, Steffen; Tanaka, Tomoyuki; Wu, Wenting; Milne, Christopher; White, Thomas; Barty, Anton; Weierstall, Uwe; Panneels, Valerie; Nango, Eriko; Iwata, So; Hunter, Mark; Schapiro, Igor; Schertler, Gebhard; Neutze, Richard; Standfuss, Jörg

2018-06-14

Ultrafast isomerization of retinal is the primary step in photoresponsive biological functions including vision in humans and ion-transport across bacterial membranes. We studied the sub-picosecond structural dynamics of retinal isomerization in the light-driven proton pump bacteriorhodopsin using an x-ray laser. A series of structural snapshots with near-atomic spatial and temporal resolution in the femtosecond regime show how the excited all- trans retinal samples conformational states within the protein binding pocket prior to passing through a twisted geometry and emerging in the 13 -cis conformation. Our findings suggest ultrafast collective motions of aspartic acid residues and functional water molecules in the proximity of the retinal Schiff base as a key ingredient for this stereo-selective and efficient photochemical reaction. Copyright © 2018, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Ultrafast myoglobin structural dynamics observed with an X-ray free-electron laser

DOE PAGES

Levantino, Matteo; Schirò, Giorgio; Lemke, Henrik Till; ...

2015-04-02

Light absorption can trigger biologically relevant protein conformational changes. The light induced structural rearrangement at the level of a photoexcited chromophore is known to occur in the femtosecond timescale and is expected to propagate through the protein as a quake-like intramolecular motion. Here we report direct experimental evidence of such ‘proteinquake’ observed in myoglobin through femtosecond X-ray solution scattering measurements performed at the Linac Coherent Light Source X-ray free-electron laser. An ultrafast increase of myoglobin radius of gyration occurs within 1 picosecond and is followed by a delayed protein expansion. As the system approaches equilibrium it undergoes damped oscillations withmore » a ~3.6-picosecond time period. Our results unambiguously show how initially localized chemical changes can propagate at the level of the global protein conformation in the picosecond timescale.« less

Effect of damping on the laser induced ultrafast switching in rare earth-transition metal alloys

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Oniciuc, Eugen; Stoleriu, Laurentiu; Cimpoesu, Dorin

2014-06-02

In this paper, we present simulations of thermally induced magnetic switching in ferrimagnetic systems performed with a Landau-Lifshitz-Bloch (LLB) equation for damping constant in a wide range of values. We have systematically studied the GdFeCo ferrimagnet with various concentrations of Gd and compared for some values of parameters the LLB results with atomistic simulations. The agreement is remarkably good, which shows that the dynamics described by the ferrimagnetic LLB is a reasonable approximation of this complex physical phenomenon. As an important element, we show that the LLB is able to also describe the intermediate formation of a ferromagnetic state whichmore » seems to be essential to understand laser induced ultrafast switching. The study reveals the fundamental role of damping during the switching process.« less

Ultrafast time-resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy of ferrioxalate photolysis with a laser plasma X-ray source and microcalorimeter array

DOE PAGES

O’Neil, Galen C.; Miaja-Avila, Luis; Joe, Young Il; ...

2017-02-17

The detailed pathways of photoactivity on ultrafast time scales are a topic of contemporary interest. Using a tabletop apparatus based on a laser plasma X-ray source and an array of cryogenic microcalorimeter X-ray detectors, we measured a transient X-ray absorption spectrum during the ferrioxalate photoreduction reaction. With these high-efficiency detectors, we observe the Fe K edge move to lower energies and the amplitude of the extended X-ray absorption fine structure reduce, consistent with a photoreduction mechanism in which electron transfer precedes disassociation. We provide quantitative limits on the Fe–O bond length change. Lastly, we review potential improvements to our measurementmore » technique, highlighting the future potential of tabletop X-ray science using microcalorimeter sensors.« less

Ultrafast time-resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy of ferrioxalate photolysis with a laser plasma X-ray source and microcalorimeter array

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

O’Neil, Galen C.; Miaja-Avila, Luis; Joe, Young Il

The detailed pathways of photoactivity on ultrafast time scales are a topic of contemporary interest. Using a tabletop apparatus based on a laser plasma X-ray source and an array of cryogenic microcalorimeter X-ray detectors, we measured a transient X-ray absorption spectrum during the ferrioxalate photoreduction reaction. With these high-efficiency detectors, we observe the Fe K edge move to lower energies and the amplitude of the extended X-ray absorption fine structure reduce, consistent with a photoreduction mechanism in which electron transfer precedes disassociation. We provide quantitative limits on the Fe–O bond length change. Lastly, we review potential improvements to our measurementmore » technique, highlighting the future potential of tabletop X-ray science using microcalorimeter sensors.« less

Ultrafast magnetization reversal by picosecond electrical pulses

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yang, Yang; Wilson, Richard B.; Gorchon, Jon

The field of spintronics involves the study of both spin and charge transport in solid-state devices. Ultrafast magnetism involves the use of femtosecond laser pulses to manipulate magnetic order on subpicosecond time scales. Here, we unite these phenomena by using picosecond charge current pulses to rapidly excite conduction electrons in magnetic metals. We observe deterministic, repeatable ultrafast reversal of the magnetization of a GdFeCo thin film with a single sub–10-ps electrical pulse. The magnetization reverses in ~10 ps, which is more than one order of magnitude faster than any other electrically controlled magnetic switching, and demonstrates a fundamentally new electricalmore » switching mechanism that does not require spin-polarized currents or spin-transfer/orbit torques. The energy density required for switching is low, projecting to only 4 fJ needed to switch a (20 nm) 3 cell. This discovery introduces a new field of research into ultrafast charge current–driven spintronic phenomena and devices.« less

Attosecond electron pulse trains and quantum state reconstruction in ultrafast transmission electron microscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Priebe, Katharina E.; Rathje, Christopher; Yalunin, Sergey V.; Hohage, Thorsten; Feist, Armin; Schäfer, Sascha; Ropers, Claus

2017-12-01

Ultrafast electron and X-ray imaging and spectroscopy are the basis for an ongoing revolution in the understanding of dynamical atomic-scale processes in matter. The underlying technology relies heavily on laser science for the generation and characterization of ever shorter pulses. Recent findings suggest that ultrafast electron microscopy with attosecond-structured wavefunctions may be feasible. However, such future technologies call for means to both prepare and fully analyse the corresponding free-electron quantum states. Here, we introduce a framework for the preparation, coherent manipulation and characterization of free-electron quantum states, experimentally demonstrating attosecond electron pulse trains. Phase-locked optical fields coherently control the electron wavefunction along the beam direction. We establish a new variant of quantum state tomography—`SQUIRRELS'—for free-electron ensembles. The ability to tailor and quantitatively map electron quantum states will promote the nanoscale study of electron-matter entanglement and new forms of ultrafast electron microscopy down to the attosecond regime.

Large lateral photovoltaic effect with ultrafast relaxation time in SnSe/Si junction

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wang, Xianjie; Zhao, Xiaofeng; Hu, Chang

In this paper, we report a large lateral photovoltaic effect (LPE) with ultrafast relaxation time in SnSe/p-Si junctions. The LPE shows a linear dependence on the position of the laser spot, and the position sensitivity is as high as 250 mV mm{sup −1}. The optical response time and the relaxation time of the LPE are about 100 ns and 2 μs, respectively. The current-voltage curve on the surface of the SnSe film indicates the formation of an inversion layer at the SnSe/p-Si interface. Our results clearly suggest that most of the excited-electrons diffuse laterally in the inversion layer at the SnSe/p-Si interface, whichmore » results in a large LPE with ultrafast relaxation time. The high positional sensitivity and ultrafast relaxation time of the LPE make the SnSe/p-Si junction a promising candidate for a wide range of optoelectronic applications.« less

Ultrafast magnetization reversal by picosecond electrical pulses

DOE PAGES

Yang, Yang; Wilson, Richard B.; Gorchon, Jon; ...

2017-11-03

The field of spintronics involves the study of both spin and charge transport in solid-state devices. Ultrafast magnetism involves the use of femtosecond laser pulses to manipulate magnetic order on subpicosecond time scales. Here, we unite these phenomena by using picosecond charge current pulses to rapidly excite conduction electrons in magnetic metals. We observe deterministic, repeatable ultrafast reversal of the magnetization of a GdFeCo thin film with a single sub–10-ps electrical pulse. The magnetization reverses in ~10 ps, which is more than one order of magnitude faster than any other electrically controlled magnetic switching, and demonstrates a fundamentally new electricalmore » switching mechanism that does not require spin-polarized currents or spin-transfer/orbit torques. The energy density required for switching is low, projecting to only 4 fJ needed to switch a (20 nm) 3 cell. This discovery introduces a new field of research into ultrafast charge current–driven spintronic phenomena and devices.« less

Continuous wave channel waveguide lasers in Nd:LuVO4 fabricated by direct femtosecond laser writing.

PubMed

Ren, Yingying; Dong, Ningning; Macdonald, John; Chen, Feng; Zhang, Huaijin; Kar, Ajoy K

2012-01-30

Buried channel waveguides in Nd:LuVO<4 were fabricated by femtosecond laser writing with the double-line technique. The photoluminescence properties of the bulk materials were found to be well preserved within the waveguide core region. Continuous-wave laser oscillation at 1066.4 nm was observed from the waveguide under ~809 nm optical excitation, with the absorbed pump power at threshold and laser slope efficiency of 98 mW and 14%, respectively.

Compact ultrafast semiconductor disk laser for nonlinear imaging in living organisms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aviles-Espinosa, Rodrigo; Filippidis, G.; Hamilton, Craig; Malcolm, Graeme; Weingarten, Kurt J.; Südmeyer, Thomas; Barbarin, Yohan; Keller, Ursula; Artigas, David; Loza-Alvarez, Pablo

2011-03-01

Ultrashort pulsed laser systems (such as Ti:sapphire) have been used in nonlinear microscopy during the last years. However, its implementation is not straight forward as they are maintenance-intensive, bulky and expensive. These limitations have prevented their wide-spread use for nonlinear imaging, especially in "real-life" biomedical applications. In this work we present the suitability of a compact ultrafast semiconductor disk laser source, with a footprint of 140x240x70 mm, to be used for nonlinear microscopy. The modelocking mechanism of the laser is based on a quantumdot semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM). The laser delivers an average output power of 287 mW with 1.5 ps pulses at 500 MHz, corresponding to a peak power of 0.4 kW. Its center wavelength is 965 nm which is ideally suited for two-photon excitation of the widely used Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) marker as it virtually matches its twophoton action cross section. We reveal that it is possible to obtain two photon excited fluorescence images of GFP labeled neurons and secondharmonic generation images of pharynx and body wall muscles in living C. elegans nematodes. Our results demonstrate that this compact laser is well suited for long-term time-lapse imaging of living samples as very low powers provide a bright signal. Importantly this non expensive, turn-key, compact laser system could be used as a platform to develop portable nonlinear bio-imaging devices, facilitating its wide-spread adoption in "real-life" applications.

Laser-plasma accelerator and femtosecond photon sources-based ultrafast radiation chemistry and biophysics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gauduel, Y. A.

2017-02-01

The initial distribution of energy deposition triggered by the interaction of ionizing radiations (far UV and X rays, electron, proton and accelerated ions) with molecular targets or integrated biological systems is often decisive for the spatio-temporal behavior of radiation effects that take place on several orders of magnitude. This contribution deals with an interdisciplinary approach that concerns cutting-edge advances on primary radiation events, considering the potentialities of innovating strategies based on ultrafast laser science, from femtosecond photon sources to laser-driven relativistic particles acceleration. Recent advances of powerful TW laser sources (~ 1019 Wcm-2) and laser-plasma interactions providing ultrashort relativistic particle beams in the energy domain 2.5-150 MeV open exciting opportunities for the development of high-energy radiation femtochemistry (HERF). Early radiation damages being dependent on the survival probability of secondary electrons and radial distribution of short-lived radicals inside ionization clusters, a thorough knowledge of these processes involves the real-time probing of primary events in the temporal range 10-14-10-11 s. In the framework of a closed synergy between low-energy radiation femtochemistry (LERF) and the emerging domain of HERF, the paper focuses on early phenomena that occur in the prethermal regime of low-energy secondary electrons, considering very short-lived quantum effects in aqueous environments. A high dose-rate delivered by femtosecond electron beam (~ 1011-1013 Gy s-1) can be used to investigate early radiation processes in native ionization tracks, down to 10-12 s and 10-9 m. We explain how this breakthrough favours the innovating development of real-time nanodosimetry in biologically relevant environments and open new perspectives for spatio-temporal radiation biophysics. The emerging domain of HERF would provide guidance for understanding the specific bioeffects of ultrashort particle bunches. This domain represents also a prerequisite for the control of in vitro and in vivo irradiation at ultrahigh dose-rates or the investigation of ultrafast dose-fractionating phenomena.

Laser writing of coherent colour centres in diamond

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Yu-Chen; Salter, Patrick S.; Knauer, Sebastian; Weng, Laiyi; Frangeskou, Angelo C.; Stephen, Colin J.; Ishmael, Shazeaa N.; Dolan, Philip R.; Johnson, Sam; Green, Ben L.; Morley, Gavin W.; Newton, Mark E.; Rarity, John G.; Booth, Martin J.; Smith, Jason M.

2017-02-01

Optically active point defects in crystals have gained widespread attention as photonic systems that could be applied in quantum information technologies. However, challenges remain in the placing of individual defects at desired locations, an essential element of device fabrication. Here we report the controlled generation of single negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy (NV-) centres in diamond using laser writing. Aberration correction in the writing optics allows precise positioning of the vacancies within the diamond crystal, and subsequent annealing produces single NV- centres with a probability of success of up to 45 ± 15%, located within about 200 nm of the desired position in the transverse plane. Selected NV- centres display stable, coherent optical transitions at cryogenic temperatures, a prerequisite for the creation of distributed quantum networks of solid-state qubits. The results illustrate the potential of laser writing as a new tool for defect engineering in quantum technologies, and extend laser processing to the single-defect domain.

Ultrafast FADC multiplexer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mirzoyan, R.; Cortina, J.; Lorenz, E.; Martinez, M.; Ostankov, A.; Paneque, D.

2002-10-01

Ultrafast Flash amplitude-to-digital converters (FADCs) are still very expensive. Here we propose a multiplexing scheme allowing one in common trigger mode to read out multiple signal sources by using a single FADC channel. Usual coaxial cables can be used in the multiplexer as analog signal delay elements. The limited bandwidth of the coaxial cable, depending on its type and length will set an upper limit to the number of multiplexed channels. Better bandwidth and the correspondingly higher number of multiplexed channels one can obtain when using the technique of transmission of analog signals via optical fibers. Low-cost vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) diodes can be used as converters of fast electrical signals into near infrared light. Multiplexing can be an economically priced solution when one needs ultrafast digitization of hundreds of fast signal channels.

rf streak camera based ultrafast relativistic electron diffraction.

PubMed

Musumeci, P; Moody, J T; Scoby, C M; Gutierrez, M S; Tran, T

2009-01-01

We theoretically and experimentally investigate the possibility of using a rf streak camera to time resolve in a single shot structural changes at the sub-100 fs time scale via relativistic electron diffraction. We experimentally tested this novel concept at the UCLA Pegasus rf photoinjector. Time-resolved diffraction patterns from thin Al foil are recorded. Averaging over 50 shots is required in order to get statistics sufficient to uncover a variation in time of the diffraction patterns. In the absence of an external pump laser, this is explained as due to the energy chirp on the beam out of the electron gun. With further improvements to the electron source, rf streak camera based ultrafast electron diffraction has the potential to yield truly single shot measurements of ultrafast processes.

Three-dimensional direct cell patterning in collagen hydrogels with near-infrared femtosecond laser

PubMed Central

Hribar, Kolin C.; Meggs, Kyle; Liu, Justin; Zhu, Wei; Qu, Xin; Chen, Shaochen

2015-01-01

We report a methodology for three-dimensional (3D) cell patterning in a hydrogel in situ. Gold nanorods within a cell-encapsulating collagen hydrogel absorb a focused near-infrared femtosecond laser beam, locally denaturing the collagen and forming channels, into which cells migrate, proliferate, and align in 3D. Importantly, pattern resolution is tunable based on writing speed and laser power, and high cell viability (>90%) is achieved using higher writing speeds and lower laser intensities. Overall, this patterning technique presents a flexible direct-write method that is applicable in tissue engineering systems where 3D alignment is critical (such as vascular, neural, cardiac, and muscle tissue). PMID:26603915

THz-circuits driven by photo-thermoelectric, gate-tunable graphene-junctions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brenneis, Andreas; Schade, Felix; Drieschner, Simon; Heimbach, Florian; Karl, Helmut; Garrido, Jose A.; Holleitner, Alexander W.

2016-10-01

For future on-chip communication schemes, it is essential to integrate nanoscale materials with an ultrafast optoelectronic functionality into high-frequency circuits. The atomically thin graphene has been widely demonstrated to be suitable for photovoltaic and optoelectronic devices because of its broadband optical absorption and its high electron mobility. Moreover, the ultrafast relaxation of photogenerated charge carriers has been verified in graphene. Here, we show that dual-gated graphene junctions can be functional parts of THz-circuits. As the underlying optoelectronic process, we exploit ultrafast photo-thermoelectric currents. We describe an immediate photo-thermoelectric current of the unbiased device following a femtosecond laser excitation. For a picosecond time-scale after the optical excitation, an additional photo-thermoelectric contribution shows up, which exhibits the fingerprint of a spatially inverted temperature profile. The latter can be understood by the different time-constants and thermal coupling mechanisms of the electron and phonon baths within graphene to the substrate and the metal contacts. The interplay of the processes gives rise to ultrafast electromagnetic transients in high-frequency circuits, and it is equally important for a fundamental understanding of graphene-based ultrafast photodetectors and switches.

THz-circuits driven by photo-thermoelectric, gate-tunable graphene-junctions

PubMed Central

Brenneis, Andreas; Schade, Felix; Drieschner, Simon; Heimbach, Florian; Karl, Helmut; Garrido, Jose A.; Holleitner, Alexander W.

2016-01-01

For future on-chip communication schemes, it is essential to integrate nanoscale materials with an ultrafast optoelectronic functionality into high-frequency circuits. The atomically thin graphene has been widely demonstrated to be suitable for photovoltaic and optoelectronic devices because of its broadband optical absorption and its high electron mobility. Moreover, the ultrafast relaxation of photogenerated charge carriers has been verified in graphene. Here, we show that dual-gated graphene junctions can be functional parts of THz-circuits. As the underlying optoelectronic process, we exploit ultrafast photo-thermoelectric currents. We describe an immediate photo-thermoelectric current of the unbiased device following a femtosecond laser excitation. For a picosecond time-scale after the optical excitation, an additional photo-thermoelectric contribution shows up, which exhibits the fingerprint of a spatially inverted temperature profile. The latter can be understood by the different time-constants and thermal coupling mechanisms of the electron and phonon baths within graphene to the substrate and the metal contacts. The interplay of the processes gives rise to ultrafast electromagnetic transients in high-frequency circuits, and it is equally important for a fundamental understanding of graphene-based ultrafast photodetectors and switches. PMID:27762291

THz-circuits driven by photo-thermoelectric, gate-tunable graphene-junctions.

PubMed

Brenneis, Andreas; Schade, Felix; Drieschner, Simon; Heimbach, Florian; Karl, Helmut; Garrido, Jose A; Holleitner, Alexander W

2016-10-20

For future on-chip communication schemes, it is essential to integrate nanoscale materials with an ultrafast optoelectronic functionality into high-frequency circuits. The atomically thin graphene has been widely demonstrated to be suitable for photovoltaic and optoelectronic devices because of its broadband optical absorption and its high electron mobility. Moreover, the ultrafast relaxation of photogenerated charge carriers has been verified in graphene. Here, we show that dual-gated graphene junctions can be functional parts of THz-circuits. As the underlying optoelectronic process, we exploit ultrafast photo-thermoelectric currents. We describe an immediate photo-thermoelectric current of the unbiased device following a femtosecond laser excitation. For a picosecond time-scale after the optical excitation, an additional photo-thermoelectric contribution shows up, which exhibits the fingerprint of a spatially inverted temperature profile. The latter can be understood by the different time-constants and thermal coupling mechanisms of the electron and phonon baths within graphene to the substrate and the metal contacts. The interplay of the processes gives rise to ultrafast electromagnetic transients in high-frequency circuits, and it is equally important for a fundamental understanding of graphene-based ultrafast photodetectors and switches.

Ultrafast Independent N-H and N-C Bond Deformation Investigated with Resonant Inelastic X-Ray Scattering

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Eckert, Sebastian; Norell, Jesper; Miedema, Piter S.

Here, the femtosecond excited-state dynamics following resonant photoexcitation enable the selective deformation of N-H and N-C chemical bonds in 2-thiopyridone in aqueous solution with optical or X-ray pulses. In combination with multiconfigurational quantum-chemical calculations, the orbital-specific electronic structure and its ultrafast dynamics accessed with resonant inelastic X-ray scattering at the N 1s level using synchrotron radiation and the soft X-ray free-electron laser LCLS provide direct evidence for this controlled photoinduced molecular deformation and its ultrashort timescale.

Ultrafast demagnetization by hot electrons: Diffusion or super-diffusion?

PubMed

Salvatella, G; Gort, R; Bühlmann, K; Däster, S; Vaterlaus, A; Acremann, Y

2016-09-01

Ultrafast demagnetization of ferromagnetic metals can be achieved by a heat pulse propagating in the electron gas of a non-magnetic metal layer, which absorbs a pump laser pulse. Demagnetization by electronic heating is investigated on samples with different thicknesses of the absorber layer on nickel. This allows us to separate the contribution of thermalized hot electrons compared to non-thermal electrons. An analytical model describes the demagnetization amplitude as a function of the absorber thickness. The observed change of demagnetization time can be reproduced by diffusive heat transport through the absorber layer.

Ultrafast Independent N-H and N-C Bond Deformation Investigated with Resonant Inelastic X-Ray Scattering

DOE PAGES

Eckert, Sebastian; Norell, Jesper; Miedema, Piter S.; ...

2017-04-04

Here, the femtosecond excited-state dynamics following resonant photoexcitation enable the selective deformation of N-H and N-C chemical bonds in 2-thiopyridone in aqueous solution with optical or X-ray pulses. In combination with multiconfigurational quantum-chemical calculations, the orbital-specific electronic structure and its ultrafast dynamics accessed with resonant inelastic X-ray scattering at the N 1s level using synchrotron radiation and the soft X-ray free-electron laser LCLS provide direct evidence for this controlled photoinduced molecular deformation and its ultrashort timescale.

Fiber laser platform for highest flexibility and reliability in industrial femtosecond micromachining: TruMicro Series 2000

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jansen, Florian; Kanal, Florian; Kahmann, Max; Tan, Chuong; Diekamp, Holger; Scelle, Raphael; Budnicki, Aleksander; Sutter, Dirk

2018-02-01

In this work we present an ultrafast laser system distinguished by its industry-ready reliability and its outstanding flexibility that allows for real-time process-inherent parameter. The robust system design and linear amplifier architecture make the all-fiber series TruMicro 2000 ideally suited for passive coupling to hollow-core delivery fibers. In addition to details on the laser system itself, various application examples are shown, including welding of different glasses and ablation of silicon carbide and silicon.

Laser Cooling With Ultrafast Pulse Trains

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-09-30

MHz] FIG. 5: Transmission spectrum of the FPI for (a) correct FPI length with p = 1, q = 2; ( b ) FPI length mismatched by - 700 ym. The transmission...signal for (a) is a factor of - 50 higher and narrower than for ( b ), and the signal-to-noise ratio is increased by a factor of - 2500. lasers. An...the positions of the laser beams with respect to the ion cloud, ( b ) adjusted the mode-locked beam waist radius to optimize total two-photon transition

Ultrafast photoelectron spectroscopy of small molecule organic films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Read, Kendall Laine

As research in the field of ultrafast optics has produced shorter and shorter pulses, at an ever-widening range of frequencies, ultrafast spectroscopy has grown correspondingly. In particular, ultrafast photoelectron spectroscopy allows direct observation of electrons in transient or excited states, regardless of the eventual relaxation mechanisms. High-harmonic conversion of 800nm, femtosecond, Ti:sapphire laser pulses allows excite/probe spectroscopy down into atomic core level states. To this end, an ultrafast, X-UV photoelectron spectroscopic system is described, including design considerations for the high-harmonic generation line, the time of flight detector, and the subsequent data collection electronics. Using a similar experimental setup, I have performed several ultrafast, photoelectron excited state decay studies at the IBM, T. J. Watson Research Center. All of the observed materials were electroluminescent thin film organics, which have applications as the emitter layer in organic light emitting devices. The specific materials discussed are: Alq, BAlq, DPVBi, and Alq doped with DCM or DMQA. Alq:DCM is also known to lase at low photoexcitation thresholds. A detailed understanding of the involved relaxation mechanisms is beneficial to both applications. Using 3.14 eV excite, and 26.7 eV probe, 90 fs laser pulses, we have observed the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) decay rate over the first 200 picoseconds. During this time, diffusion is insignificant, and all dynamics occur in the absence of electron transport. With excitation intensities in the range of 100μJ/cm2, we have modeled the Alq, BAlq, and DPVBi decays via bimolecular singlet-singlet annihilation. At similar excitations, we have modeled the Alq:DCM decay via Förster transfer, stimulated emission, and excimeric formation. Furthermore, the Alq:DCM occupied to unoccupied molecular orbital energy gap was seen to shrink as a function of excite-to-probe delay, in accordance with the expected relaxation within the excited states. Stable, shorter pulses allow finer temporal resolution and more efficient high-harmonic generation. This work therefore concludes by discussing a method for further shortening 25 femtosecond pulses via self-phase modulation, using filamentation in air and subsequent fiber channeling.

JPRS report: Science and technology. Central Eurasia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

1995-02-01

Translated articles cover the following topics: laser-controlled rotary microwave waveguide junction; optical pulse-phase modulation of semiconductor laser; amplitude-phase distortions of light beam obliquely propagating through ground layer of troposphere; antenna arrays with ultrafast beam scanning; materials for a walk on moon; textile-wood-coal briquette path to capitalism; and development of automated system for scientific research and design of heat and mass transfer processes.

Recording of interference fringe structure by femtosecond laser pulses in samples of silver-containing porous glass and thick slabs of dichromated gelatin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Andreeva, Olga V.; Dement'ev, Dmitry A.; Chekalin, Sergey V.; Kompanets, V. O.; Matveets, Yu. A.; Serov, Oleg B.; Smolovich, Anatoly M.

2002-05-01

The recording geometry and recording media for the method of achromatic wavefront reconstruction are discussed. The femtosecond recording on the thick slabs of dichromated gelatin and the samples of silver-containing porous glass was obtained. The applications of the method to ultrafast laser spectroscopy and to phase conjugation were suggested.

Self-Sustained Ultrafast Pulsation in Coupled VCSELs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ning, Cun-Zheng

2001-01-01

High frequency, narrow-band self-pulsating operation is demonstrated in two coupled vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs). The coupled VCSELs provide an ideal source for high-repetition rate (over 40 GHz), sinusoidal-like modulated laser source with Gaussian-like near- and far-field profiles. We also show that the frequency of the modulation can be tuned by the inter-VCSEL separation or by DC-bias level.

All-fiber wavelength-tunable picosecond nonlinear reflectivity measurement setup for characterization of semiconductor saturable absorber mirrors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Viskontas, K.; Rusteika, N.

2016-09-01

Semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) is the key component for many passively mode-locked ultrafast laser sources. Particular set of nonlinear parameters is required to achieve self-starting mode-locking or avoid undesirable q-switch mode-locking for the ultra-short pulse laser. In this paper, we introduce a novel all-fiber wavelength-tunable picosecond pulse duration setup for the measurement of nonlinear properties of saturable absorber mirrors at around 1 μm center wavelength. The main advantage of an all-fiber configuration is the simplicity of measuring the fiber-integrated or fiber-pigtailed saturable absorbers. A tunable picosecond fiber laser enables to investigate the nonlinear parameters at different wavelengths in ultrafast regime. To verify the capability of the setup, nonlinear parameters for different SESAMs with low and high modulation depth were measured. In the operating wavelength range 1020-1074 nm, <1% absolute nonlinear reflectivity accuracy was demonstrated. Achieved fluence range was from 100 nJ/cm2 to 2 mJ/cm2 with corresponding intensity from 10 kW/cm2 to 300 MW/cm2.

Digital micromirror device-based ultrafast pulse shaping for femtosecond laser.

PubMed

Gu, Chenglin; Zhang, Dapeng; Chang, Yina; Chen, Shih-Chi

2015-06-15

In this Letter, we present a new digital micromirror device (DMD)-based ultrafast pulse shaper, i.e., DUPS. To the best of our knowledge, the DUPS is the first binary pulse shaper that can modulate high repetition rate laser sources at up to a 32 kHz rate (limited by the DMD pattern rate). Since pulse modulation occurs in the frequency domain through reflective two-dimensional micromirror arrays, i.e., DMD, the DUPS is not only compact and low in cost, but also possesses a high damage threshold that is critical for high pulse energy laser applications. In this work, a grating pair was introduced in the DUPS to compensate the DMD induced dispersion. Double pulses were generated to validate the effectiveness of the DUPS and calibrate the system. Subsequently, we demonstrated arbitrary phase shaping capability by continuous tuning of group velocity dispersion (GVD) and modulation of half-spectrum shifted by π. The overall efficiency was measured to be 1.7%, while an efficiency of up to 5% can be expected when high efficiency gratings and properly coated DMDs are used.

Fugitive methane leak detection using mid-infrared hollow-core photonic crystal fiber containing ultrafast laser drilled side-holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karp, Jason; Challener, William; Kasten, Matthias; Choudhury, Niloy; Palit, Sabarni; Pickrell, Gary; Homa, Daniel; Floyd, Adam; Cheng, Yujie; Yu, Fei; Knight, Jonathan

2016-05-01

The increase in domestic natural gas production has brought attention to the environmental impacts of persistent gas leakages. The desire to identify fugitive gas emission, specifically for methane, presents new sensing challenges within the production and distribution supply chain. A spectroscopic gas sensing solution would ideally combine a long optical path length for high sensitivity and distributed detection over large areas. Specialty micro-structured fiber with a hollow core can exhibit a relatively low attenuation at mid-infrared wavelengths where methane has strong absorption lines. Methane diffusion into the hollow core is enabled by machining side-holes along the fiber length through ultrafast laser drilling methods. The complete system provides hundreds of meters of optical path for routing along well pads and pipelines while being interrogated by a single laser and detector. This work will present transmission and methane detection capabilities of mid-infrared photonic crystal fibers. Side-hole drilling techniques for methane diffusion will be highlighted as a means to convert hollow-core fibers into applicable gas sensors.

Ultrafast dynamics of non-equilibrium electrons and strain generation under femtosecond laser irradiation of Nickel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsibidis, George D.

2018-04-01

We present a theoretical study of the ultrafast electron dynamics in transition metals of large electron-phonon coupling constant using ultrashort pulsed laser beams. The significant influence of the dynamics of produced nonthermal electrons to electron thermalisation and electron-phonon interaction is thoroughly investigated for various values of the pulse duration (i.e., from 10 fs to 2.3 ps). The model correlates the role of nonthermal electrons, relaxation processes and induced stress-strain fields. Simulations are presented by choosing Nickel (Ni) as a test material to compute electron-phonon relaxation time due to its large electron-phonon coupling constant. We demonstrate that the consideration of the aforementioned factors leads to significant changes compared to the results the traditional two-temperature model provides. The proposed model predicts a substantially ( 33%) smaller damage threshold and a large increase of the stress ( 20%, at early times) which first underlines the role of the nonthermal electron interactions and second enhances its importance with respect to the precise determination of laser specifications in material micromachining techniques.

Self-organized micro-holes on titania based sol-gel films under continuous direct writing with a continuous wave ultraviolet laser

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bakhti, S.; Destouches, N.; Gamet, E.

The microstructuring of titania based sol-gel films is investigated by direct writing with a continuous wave ultraviolet laser beam emitting at 244 nm. Depending on the exposure conditions, the films exhibit a volume expansion, a volume shrinkage, a self-shaped delamination, or are damaged. This paper is mainly focused on the regime where spontaneous local delamination occurs, which corresponds to a narrow range of laser irradiances and writing speeds. In this regime, self-organized round-shape micro-holes opened on the substrate are generated.

SERODS optical data storage with parallel signal transfer

DOEpatents

Vo-Dinh, Tuan

2003-09-02

Surface-enhanced Raman optical data storage (SERODS) systems having increased reading and writing speeds, that is, increased data transfer rates, are disclosed. In the various SERODS read and write systems, the surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) data is written and read using a two-dimensional process called parallel signal transfer (PST). The various embodiments utilize laser light beam excitation of the SERODS medium, optical filtering, beam imaging, and two-dimensional light detection. Two- and three-dimensional SERODS media are utilized. The SERODS write systems employ either a different laser or a different level of laser power.

SERODS optical data storage with parallel signal transfer

DOEpatents

Vo-Dinh, Tuan

2003-06-24

Surface-enhanced Raman optical data storage (SERODS) systems having increased reading and writing speeds, that is, increased data transfer rates, are disclosed. In the various SERODS read and write systems, the surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) data is written and read using a two-dimensional process called parallel signal transfer (PST). The various embodiments utilize laser light beam excitation of the SERODS medium, optical filtering, beam imaging, and two-dimensional light detection. Two- and three-dimensional SERODS media are utilized. The SERODS write systems employ either a different laser or a different level of laser power.

Laser-induced selective copper plating of polypropylene surface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ratautas, K.; Gedvilas, M.; Stankevičiene, I.; JagminienÄ--, A.; Norkus, E.; Li Pira, N.; Sinopoli, S.; Emanuele, U.; Račiukaitis, G.

2016-03-01

Laser writing for selective plating of electro-conductive lines for electronics has several significant advantages, compared to conventional printed circuit board technology. Firstly, this method is faster and cheaper at the prototyping stage. Secondly, material consumption is reduced, because it works selectively. However, the biggest merit of this method is potentiality to produce moulded interconnect device, enabling to create electronics on complex 3D surfaces, thus saving space, materials and cost of production. There are two basic techniques of laser writing for selective plating on plastics: the laser-induced selective activation (LISA) and laser direct structuring (LDS). In the LISA method, pure plastics without any dopant (filler) can be used. In the LDS method, special fillers are mixed in the polymer matrix. These fillers are activated during laser writing process, and, in the next processing step, the laser modified area can be selectively plated with metals. In this work, both methods of the laser writing for the selective plating of polymers were investigated and compared. For LDS approach, new material: polypropylene with carbon-based additives was tested using picosecond and nanosecond laser pulses. Different laser processing parameters (laser pulse energy, scanning speed, the number of scans, pulse durations, wavelength and overlapping of scanned lines) were applied in order to find out the optimal regime of activation. Areal selectivity tests showed a high plating resolution. The narrowest width of a copper-plated line was less than 23 μm. Finally, our material was applied to the prototype of the electronic circuit board on a 2D surface.

Three-dimensional integration of microoptical components buried inside photosensitive glass by femtosecond laser direct writing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Zhongke; Sugioka, Koji; Midorikawa, Katsumi

2007-12-01

We report the three-dimensional (3D) integration of microoptical components such as microlenses, micromirrors and optical waveguides in a single glass chip by femtosecond (fs) laser direct writing. First, two types of microoptical lenses were fabricated inside photosensitive Foturan glass by forming hollow microstructures using fs laser direct writing followed by thermal treatment, successive wet etching and additional annealing. One type of lens is the cylindrical microlens with a curvature radius R of 1.0 mm, and the other is the plano-convex microlens with radius R of 0.75 mm. Subsequently, by the continuous procedure of hollow microstructure fabrication, a micromirror was integrated with the plano-convex microlens in the single glass chip. Further integration of waveguides was performed by internal refractive index modification using fs laser direct writing after the hollow structure fabrication of the microlens and the micromirror. A demonstration of the laser beam transmission in the integrated optical microdevice shows that the 3D integration of waveguides with a micromirror and a microoptical lens in a single glass chip is highly effective for light beam guiding and focusing.

The Investigation of New Magnetic Materials and Their Phenomena Using Ultrafast Fresnel Transmission Electron Microscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schliep, Karl B.

State-of-the-art technology drives scientific progress, pushing the boundaries of our current understanding of fundamental processes and mechanisms. Our continual scientific advancement is hindered only by what we can observe and experimentally verify; thus, it is reasonable to assert that instrument development and improvement is the cornerstone for technological and intellectual growth. For example, the invention of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) allowed us to observe nanoscale phenomena for the first time in the 1930s and even now it is invaluable in the development of smaller, faster electronics. As we uncover more about the fundamentals of nanoscale phenomena, we have realized that images alone reveal only a snapshot of the story; to continue progressing we need a way to observe the entire scene unfold (e.g. how defects affect the flow of current across a transistor or how thermal energy propagates in nanoscale systems like graphene). Recently, by combining the spatial resolution of a TEM with the temporal resolution of ultrafast lasers, ultrafast electron microscopy ? or microscope ? (UEM) has allowed us to simultaneously observe transient nanoscale phenomena at ultrafast timescales. Ultrafast characterization techniques allow for the investigation of a new realm of previously unseen phenomenon inherent to the transient electronic, magnetic, and structural properties of materials. However, despite the progress made in ultrafast techniques, capturing the nanoscale spatial sub-ns temporal mechanisms and phenomenon at play in magnetic materials (especially during the operation of magnetic devices) has only recently become possible using UEM. With only a handful of instruments available, magnetic characterization using UEM is far from commonplace and any advances made are sparsely reported, and further, specific to the individual instrument. In this dissertation, I outline the development of novel magnetic materials and the establishment of a UEM lab at the University of Minnesota and how I explored the application of it toward the investigation of magnetic materials. In my discussion of UEM, I have made a concerted effort to highlight the unique challenges faced when getting a UEM lab running so that new researchers may circumvent these challenges. Of note in my graduate studies, I assisted in the development of three different magnetic material systems, strained Fe nanoparticles for permanent magnetic applications, FePd for applications in spintronic devices, and a rare-earth transition-metal (RE-TM) alloy that exhibits new magneto-optic phenomena. In studying the morphological and magnetic effects of lasers on these RE-TM alloys using the in situ laser irradiation capabilities of UEM along with standard TEM techniques and computational modeling, I uncovered a possible limitation in their utility for memory applications. Furthermore, with the aid of particle tracing software, I was able to optimize our UEM system for magnetic imaging and demonstrate the resolution of ultrafast demagnetization using UEM.

X-ray phase contrast imaging of biological specimens with femtosecond pulses of betatron radiation from a compact laser plasma wakefield accelerator

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kneip, S.; Center for Ultrafast Optical Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 48109; McGuffey, C.

2011-08-29

We show that x-rays from a recently demonstrated table top source of bright, ultrafast, coherent synchrotron radiation [Kneip et al., Nat. Phys. 6, 980 (2010)] can be applied to phase contrast imaging of biological specimens. Our scheme is based on focusing a high power short pulse laser in a tenuous gas jet, setting up a plasma wakefield accelerator that accelerates and wiggles electrons analogously to a conventional synchrotron, but on the centimeter rather than tens of meter scale. We use the scheme to record absorption and phase contrast images of a tetra fish, damselfly and yellow jacket, in particular highlightingmore » the contrast enhancement achievable with the simple propagation technique of phase contrast imaging. Coherence and ultrafast pulse duration will allow for the study of various aspects of biomechanics.« less

Metalloprotein entatic control of ligand-metal bonds quantified by ultrafast x-ray spectroscopy

DOE PAGES

Mara, Michael W.; Hadt, Ryan G.; Reinhard, Marco Eli; ...

2017-06-23

The multifunctional protein cytochrome c (cyt c) plays key roles in electron transport and apoptosis, switching function by modulating bonding between a heme iron and the sulfur in a methionine residue. This Fe–S(Met) bond is too weak to persist in the absence of protein constraints. We ruptured the bond in ferrous cyt c using an optical laser pulse and monitored the bond reformation within the protein active site using ultrafast x-ray pulses from an x-ray free-electron laser, determining that the Fe–S(Met) bond enthalpy is ~4 kcal/mol stronger than in the absence of protein constraints. As a result, the 4 kcal/molmore » is comparable with calculations of stabilization effects in other systems, demonstrating how biological systems use an entatic state for modest yet accessible energetics to modulate chemical function.« less

Strategies to improve phase-stability of ultrafast swept source optical coherence tomography for single shot imaging of transient mechanical waves at 16 kHz frame rate

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Song, Shaozhen; Wei, Wei; Hsieh, Bao-Yu

We present single-shot phase-sensitive imaging of propagating mechanical waves within tissue, enabled by an ultrafast optical coherence tomography (OCT) system powered by a 1.628 MHz Fourier domain mode-locked (FDML) swept laser source. We propose a practical strategy for phase-sensitive measurement by comparing the phases between adjacent OCT B-scans, where the B-scan contains a number of A-scans equaling an integer number of FDML buffers. With this approach, we show that micro-strain fields can be mapped with ∼3.0 nm sensitivity at ∼16 000 fps. The system's capabilities are demonstrated on porcine cornea by imaging mechanical wave propagation launched by a pulsed UV laser beam, promisingmore » non-contact, real-time, and high-resolution optical coherence elastography.« less

Tuning the nonlinear response of (6,5)-enriched single-wall carbon nanotubes dispersions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aréstegui, O. S.; Silva, E. C. O.; Baggio, A. L.; Gontijo, R. N.; Hickmann, J. M.; Fantini, C.; Alencar, M. A. R. C.; Fonseca, E. J. S.

2017-04-01

Ultrafast nonlinear optical properties of (6,5)-enriched single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) dispersions are investigated using the thermally managed Z-scan technique. As the (6,5) SWCNTs presented a strong resonance in the range of 895-1048 nm, the nonlinear refractive index (n2) and the absorption coefficients (β) measurements were performed tuning the laser exactly around absorption peak of the (6,5) SWCNTs. It is observed that the nonlinear response is very sensitive to the wavelength and the spectral behavior of n2 is strongly correlated to the tubes one-photon absorption band, presenting also a peak when the laser photon energy is near the tube resonance energy. This result suggests that a suitable selection of nanotubes types may provide optimized nonlinear optical responses in distinct regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Analysis of the figures of merit indicated that this material is promising for ultrafast nonlinear optical applications under near infrared excitation.

Ultrafast generation of skyrmionic defects with vortex beams: Printing laser profiles on magnets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fujita, Hiroyuki; Sato, Masahiro

2017-02-01

Controlling electric and magnetic properties of matter by laser beams is actively explored in the broad region of condensed matter physics, including spintronics and magneto-optics. Here we theoretically propose an application of optical and electron vortex beams carrying intrinsic orbital angular momentum to chiral ferro- and antiferromagnets. We analyze the time evolution of spins in chiral magnets under irradiation of vortex beams by using the stochastic Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation. We show that beam-driven nonuniform temperature leads to a class of ring-shaped magnetic defects, what we call skyrmion multiplex, as well as conventional skyrmions. We discuss the proper beam parameters and the optimal way of applying the beams for the creation of these topological defects. Our findings provide an ultrafast scheme of generating topological magnetic defects in a way applicable to both metallic and insulating chiral (anti-) ferromagnets.

Surface Plasmon-Mediated Nanoscale Localization of Laser-Driven sub-Terahertz Spin Dynamics in Magnetic Dielectrics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chekhov, Alexander L.; Stognij, Alexander I.; Satoh, Takuya; Murzina, Tatiana V.; Razdolski, Ilya; Stupakiewicz, Andrzej

2018-05-01

Ultrafast all-optical control of spins with femtosecond laser pulses is one of the hot topics at the crossroads of photonics and magnetism with a direct impact on future magnetic recording. Unveiling light-assisted recording mechanisms for an increase of the bit density beyond the diffraction limit without excessive heating of the recording medium is an open challenge. Here we show that surface plasmon-polaritons in hybrid metal-dielectric structures can provide spatial confinement of the inverse Faraday effect, mediating the excitation of localized coherent spin precession with 0.41 THz frequency. We demonstrate a two orders of magnitude enhancement of the excitation efficiency at the surface plasmon resonance within the 100 nm layer in dielectric garnet. Our findings broaden the horizons of ultrafast spin-plasmonics and open pathways towards non-thermal opto-magnetic recording at the nano-scale.

Ultra-fast switching of light by absorption saturation in vacuum ultra-violet region.

PubMed

Yoneda, Hitoki; Inubushi, Yuichi; Tanaka, Toshihiro; Yamaguchi, Yuta; Sato, Fumiya; Morimoto, Shunsuke; Kumagai, Taisuke; Nagasono, Mitsuru; Higashiya, Atsushi; Yabashi, Makina; Ishikawa, Tetsuya; Ohashi, Haruhiko; Kimura, Hiroaki; Kitamura, Hikaru; Kodama, Ryosuke

2009-12-21

Advances in free electron lasers producing high energy photons [Nat. Photonics 2(9), 555-559 (2008)] are expected to open up a new science of nonlinear optics of high energy photons. Specifically, lasers of photon energy higher than the plasma frequency of a metal can show new interaction features because they can penetrate deeply into metals without strong reflection. Here we show the observation of ultra-fast switching of vacuum ultra-violet (VUV) light caused by saturable absorption of a solid metal target. A strong gating is observed at energy fluences above 6J/cm2 at wavelength of 51 nm with tin metal thin layers. The ratio of the transmission at high intensity to low intensity is typically greater than 100:1. This means we can design new nonlinear photonic devices such as auto-correlator and pulse slicer for the VUV region.

2010 MULTIPHOTON PROCESSES GORDON RESEARCH CONFERENCE, JUNE 6-11, 2010, TILTON, NH

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mette Gaarde

2010-06-11

The Gordon Research Conference on Multiphoton Processes will be held for the 15th time in 2010. The meeting continues to evolve as it embraces both the rapid technological and intellectual growth in the field as well as the multi-disciplinary expertise of the participants. This time the sessions will focus on: (1) Ultrafast coherent control; (2) Free-electron laser experiments and theory; (3) Generation of harmonics and attosecond pulses; (4) Ultrafast imaging; (5) Applications of very high intensity laser fields; (6) Strong-field processes in molecules and solids; (7) Attosecond science; and (8) Controlling light. The scientific program will blur traditional disciplinary boundariesmore » as the presenters and discussion leaders involve chemists, physicists, and optical engineers, representing both experiment and theory. The broad range of expertise and different perspectives of attendees should provide a stimulating and unique environment for solving problems and developing new ideas in this rapidly evolving field.« less

Creating stable Floquet-Weyl semimetals by laser-driving of 3D Dirac materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hübener, Hannes; Sentef, Michael A.; de Giovannini, Umberto; Kemper, Alexander F.; Rubio, Angel

2017-01-01

Tuning and stabilizing topological states, such as Weyl semimetals, Dirac semimetals or topological insulators, is emerging as one of the major topics in materials science. Periodic driving of many-body systems offers a platform to design Floquet states of matter with tunable electronic properties on ultrafast timescales. Here we show by first principles calculations how femtosecond laser pulses with circularly polarized light can be used to switch between Weyl semimetal, Dirac semimetal and topological insulator states in a prototypical three-dimensional (3D) Dirac material, Na3Bi. Our findings are general and apply to any 3D Dirac semimetal. We discuss the concept of time-dependent bands and steering of Floquet-Weyl points and demonstrate how light can enhance topological protection against lattice perturbations. This work has potential practical implications for the ultrafast switching of materials properties, such as optical band gaps or anomalous magnetoresistance.

Creating stable Floquet-Weyl semimetals by laser-driving of 3D Dirac materials.

PubMed

Hübener, Hannes; Sentef, Michael A; De Giovannini, Umberto; Kemper, Alexander F; Rubio, Angel

2017-01-17

Tuning and stabilizing topological states, such as Weyl semimetals, Dirac semimetals or topological insulators, is emerging as one of the major topics in materials science. Periodic driving of many-body systems offers a platform to design Floquet states of matter with tunable electronic properties on ultrafast timescales. Here we show by first principles calculations how femtosecond laser pulses with circularly polarized light can be used to switch between Weyl semimetal, Dirac semimetal and topological insulator states in a prototypical three-dimensional (3D) Dirac material, Na 3 Bi. Our findings are general and apply to any 3D Dirac semimetal. We discuss the concept of time-dependent bands and steering of Floquet-Weyl points and demonstrate how light can enhance topological protection against lattice perturbations. This work has potential practical implications for the ultrafast switching of materials properties, such as optical band gaps or anomalous magnetoresistance.

Creating stable Floquet–Weyl semimetals by laser-driving of 3D Dirac materials

PubMed Central

Hübener, Hannes; Sentef, Michael A.; De Giovannini, Umberto; Kemper, Alexander F.; Rubio, Angel

2017-01-01

Tuning and stabilizing topological states, such as Weyl semimetals, Dirac semimetals or topological insulators, is emerging as one of the major topics in materials science. Periodic driving of many-body systems offers a platform to design Floquet states of matter with tunable electronic properties on ultrafast timescales. Here we show by first principles calculations how femtosecond laser pulses with circularly polarized light can be used to switch between Weyl semimetal, Dirac semimetal and topological insulator states in a prototypical three-dimensional (3D) Dirac material, Na3Bi. Our findings are general and apply to any 3D Dirac semimetal. We discuss the concept of time-dependent bands and steering of Floquet–Weyl points and demonstrate how light can enhance topological protection against lattice perturbations. This work has potential practical implications for the ultrafast switching of materials properties, such as optical band gaps or anomalous magnetoresistance. PMID:28094286

Metalloprotein entatic control of ligand-metal bonds quantified by ultrafast x-ray spectroscopy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mara, Michael W.; Hadt, Ryan G.; Reinhard, Marco Eli

The multifunctional protein cytochrome c (cyt c) plays key roles in electron transport and apoptosis, switching function by modulating bonding between a heme iron and the sulfur in a methionine residue. This Fe–S(Met) bond is too weak to persist in the absence of protein constraints. We ruptured the bond in ferrous cyt c using an optical laser pulse and monitored the bond reformation within the protein active site using ultrafast x-ray pulses from an x-ray free-electron laser, determining that the Fe–S(Met) bond enthalpy is ~4 kcal/mol stronger than in the absence of protein constraints. As a result, the 4 kcal/molmore » is comparable with calculations of stabilization effects in other systems, demonstrating how biological systems use an entatic state for modest yet accessible energetics to modulate chemical function.« less

All-Optical Switching and Unidirectional Plasmon Launching with Nonlinear Dielectric Nanoantennas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krasnok, Alex; Li, Sergey; Lepeshov, Sergey; Savelev, Roman; Baranov, Denis G.; Alú, Andrea

2018-01-01

High-index dielectric nanoparticles have become a powerful platform for nonlinear nanophotonics due to special types of optical nonlinearity, e.g. caused by electron-hole plasma (EHP) photoexcitation. We propose a highly tunable dielectric nanoantenna consisting of a chain of silicon particles excited by a dipole emitter. The nanoantenna exhibits slow group-velocity guided modes, corresponding to the Van Hove singularity in an infinite structure, which enable a large Purcell factor up to several hundred and are very sensitive to the nanoparticle permittivity. This sensitivity enables the nanoantenna tuning via EHP excitation with an ultrafast laser pumping. Dramatic variations in the nanoantenna radiation patterns and Purcell factor caused by ultrafast laser pumping of several boundary nanoparticles with relatively low intensities of about 25 GW /cm2 are shown. Unidirectional surface-plasmon polaritons launching with EHP excitation in the nanoantenna on a Ag substrate is demonstrated.

Isochoric Heating of Solid-Density Matter with an Ultrafast Proton Beam

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Key, M H; Mackinnon, A J; Patel, P K

A new technique is described for the isochoric heating (i.e., heating at constant volume) of matter to high energy-density plasma states (>10{sup 5} J/g) on a picosecond timescale (10{sup -12} sec). An intense, collimated, ultrashort-pulse beam of protons--generated by a high-intensity laser pulse--is used to isochorically heat a solid density material to a temperature of several eV. The duration of heating is shorter than the timescale for significant hydrodynamic expansion to occur, hence the material is heated to a solid density warm dense plasma state. Using spherically-shaped laser targets a focused proton beam is produced and used to heat amore » smaller volume to over 20 eV. The technique described of ultrafast proton heating provides a unique method for creating isochorically heated high-energy density plasma states.« less

An instrumentation project for measuring weak and broadband ultrafast laser signals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ellis, Armin T.

From our everyday experiences, we know that as light travels through a medium it attenuates due to absorption and scattering. Absorption is the cause of color in tea or grape juice, and it is described by Beer's law. Scattering is the reason why scuba divers have a limited range of vision and why mountain peaks become harder to see the further away they are. Precursors, although not fully understood, are transient light transmission effects and have been shown to exhibit lower attenuation through media than that predicted by Beer's law for steady-state light. In this thesis we present an instrumentation based approach for studying precursors by measuring spectral evolution and pure attenuation over distance. We will also introduce a new instrument concept, RotaryFROG, capable of simultaneous measurement of intensity, phase, and polarization versus frequency of low-intensity broadband pulses for use with ultrafast lasers.

Flexible metal patterning in glass microfluidic structures using femtosecond laser direct-write ablation followed by electroless plating

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Jian; Midorikawa, Katsumi; Sugioka, Koji

2014-03-01

A simple and flexible technique for integrating metal micropatterns into glass microfluidic structures based on threedimensional femtosecond laser microfabrication is presented. Femtosecond laser direct writing followed by thermal treatment and successive chemical etching allows us to fabricate three-dimensional microfluidic structures such as microchannels and microreservoirs inside photosensitive glass. Then, the femtosecond laser direct-write ablation followed by electroless metal plating enables space-selective deposition of patterned metal films on desired locations of internal walls of the fabricated microfluidic structures. The developed technique is applied to integrate a metal microheater into a glass microchannel to control the temperature of liquid samples in the channel, which can be used as a microreactor for enhancement of chemical reactions.

Diffraction contrast as a sensitive indicator of femtosecond sub-nanoscale motion in ultrafast transmission electron microscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cremons, Daniel R.; Schliep, Karl B.; Flannigan, David J.

2013-09-01

With ultrafast transmission electron microscopy (UTEM), access can be gained to the spatiotemporal scales required to directly visualize rapid, non-equilibrium structural dynamics of materials. This is achieved by operating a transmission electron microscope (TEM) in a stroboscopic pump-probe fashion by photoelectrically generating coherent, well-timed electron packets in the gun region of the TEM. These probe photoelectrons are accelerated down the TEM column where they travel through the specimen before reaching a standard, commercially-available CCD detector. A second laser pulse is used to excite (pump) the specimen in situ. Structural changes are visualized by varying the arrival time of the pump laser pulse relative to the probe electron packet at the specimen. Here, we discuss how ultrafast nanoscale motions of crystalline materials can be visualized and precisely quantified using diffraction contrast in UTEM. Because diffraction contrast sensitively depends upon both crystal lattice orientation as well as incoming electron wavevector, minor spatial/directional variations in either will produce dynamic and often complex patterns in real-space images. This is because sections of the crystalline material that satisfy the Laue conditions may be heterogeneously distributed such that electron scattering vectors vary over nanoscale regions. Thus, minor changes in either crystal grain orientation, as occurs during specimen tilting, warping, or anisotropic expansion, or in the electron wavevector result in dramatic changes in the observed diffraction contrast. In this way, dynamic contrast patterns observed in UTEM images can be used as sensitive indicators of ultrafast specimen motion. Further, these motions can be spatiotemporally mapped such that direction and amplitude can be determined.

Characterization of FBG sensor interrogation based on a FDML wavelength swept laser

PubMed Central

Jung, Eun Joo; Kim, Chang-Seok; Jeong, Myung Yung; Kim, Moon Ki; Jeon, Min Yong; Jung, Woonggyu; Chen, Zhongping

2012-01-01

In this study, we develop an ultra-fast fiber Bragg grating sensor system that is based on the Fourier domain mode-locked (FDML) swept laser. A FDML wavelength swept laser has many advantages compared to the conventional wavelength swept laser source, such as high-speed interrogation, narrow spectral sensitivity, and high phase stability. The newly developed FDML wavelength swept laser shows a superior performance of a high scan rate of 31.3 kHz and a broad scan range of over 70 nm simultaneously. The performance of the grating sensor interrogating system using a FDML wavelength swept laser is characterized in both static and dynamic strain responses. PMID:18852764

A single-shot spatial chirp method for measuring initial AC conductivity evolution of femtosecond laser pulse excited warm dense matter

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chen, Z.; Hering, P.; Brown, S. B.

To study the rapid evolution of AC conductivity from ultrafast laser excited warm dense matter (WDM), a spatial chirp single-shot method is developed utilizing a crossing angle pump-probe configuration. The pump beam is shaped individually in two spatial dimensions so that it can provide both sufficient laser intensity to excite the material to warm dense matter state and a uniform time window of up to 1 ps with sub-100 fs FWHM temporal resolution. Here, temporal evolution of AC conductivity in laser excited warm dense gold was also measured.

A single-shot spatial chirp method for measuring initial AC conductivity evolution of femtosecond laser pulse excited warm dense matter

DOE PAGES

Chen, Z.; Hering, P.; Brown, S. B.; ...

2016-09-19

To study the rapid evolution of AC conductivity from ultrafast laser excited warm dense matter (WDM), a spatial chirp single-shot method is developed utilizing a crossing angle pump-probe configuration. The pump beam is shaped individually in two spatial dimensions so that it can provide both sufficient laser intensity to excite the material to warm dense matter state and a uniform time window of up to 1 ps with sub-100 fs FWHM temporal resolution. Here, temporal evolution of AC conductivity in laser excited warm dense gold was also measured.

Ultrafast electron radiography of magnetic fields in high-intensity laser-solid interactions.

PubMed

Schumaker, W; Nakanii, N; McGuffey, C; Zulick, C; Chyvkov, V; Dollar, F; Habara, H; Kalintchenko, G; Maksimchuk, A; Tanaka, K A; Thomas, A G R; Yanovsky, V; Krushelnick, K

2013-01-04

Using electron bunches generated by laser wakefield acceleration as a probe, the temporal evolution of magnetic fields generated by a 4 × 10(19) W/cm(2) ultrashort (30 fs) laser pulse focused on solid density targets is studied experimentally. Magnetic field strengths of order B(0) ~ 10(4) T are observed expanding at close to the speed of light from the interaction point of a high-contrast laser pulse with a 10-μm-thick aluminum foil to a maximum diameter of ~1 mm. The field dynamics are shown to agree with particle-in-cell simulations.

Femtosecond Laser--Pumped Source of Entangled Photons for Quantum Cryptography Applications

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pan, D.; Donaldson, W.; Sobolewski, R.

2007-07-31

We present an experimental setup for generation of entangled-photon pairs via spontaneous parametric down-conversion, based on the femtosecond-pulsed laser. Our entangled-photon source utilizes a 76-MHz-repetition-rate, 100-fs-pulse-width, mode-locked, ultrafast femtosecond laser, which can produce, on average, more photon pairs than a cw laser of an equal pump power. The resulting entangled pairs are counted by a pair of high-quantum-efficiency, single-photon, silicon avalanche photodiodes. Our apparatus is intended as an efficient source/receiver system for the quantum communications and quantum cryptography applications.

The Evolution of Surface Symmetry in Femtosecond Laser-Induced Transient States of Matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garnett, Joy Carleen

Gallium arsenide and other III-V materials are well known for their excellent optical and electronic properties and have led to the development of high-performance photovoltaic cells1,2, photoelectrochemical water splitting3,4, and light emitting diodes (LEDs)5. Several combinations of III-V semiconductors are now being considered as potentially attractive alternatives to silicon for these applications. However, further development requires fundamental understanding of processes that govern light-matter interactions. Specifically, surface strain and ultrafast dynamics are of great interest to the optoelectronic industry. Strained semiconductor surfaces dominate the design of optoelectronics and III-V semiconductor-based LEDs. Currently, the structures of strained surfaces are well characterized with x-ray diffraction (XRD)6 and electron crystallography7-9. However, optically-induced electronic behavior at these interfaces are not fully understood. This has the been one of the stimulants for the research in this dissertation. To further explore opticallyinduced electronic behavior at strained interfaces, I have asked the following questions: 1. How does static optoelectronic behavior change as a function of strain? 2. How does surface symmetry and electronic motion change with respect to strain? 3. How do atomic bonds change as a function of strain? Another main research goal of this work is to understand ultrafast subpicosecond processes after pulsed laser excitation. The knowledge of ultrafast processes dominates the design of devices in industries that require high temporal and spectral resolution. Ultrafast atomic motion has been the major focus of subpicosecond structural dynamics. Currently, these dynamics upon photoexcitation are well characterized with experimental methods such as ultrafast x-ray diffraction (U-XRD), ultrafast electron diffraction (UED), and ultrafast electron crystallography (UEC). However, ultrafast atomic motion does not occur alone. The bonds connecting these moving atoms are also affected during this process. The correlation between structural and electronic dynamics is not well understood. To further explore correlated structural and electronic behavior upon ultrafast laser excitation, I have asked the following questions: 1. How does subpicosecond optoelectronic behavior change as a function of time after femtosecond pulse photoexcitation? 2. How does subpicosecond surface symmetry and electronic motion change with respect to time after femtosecond pulse photoexcitation? 3. How do atomic bonds change as a function of time after femtosecond pulse photoexcitation? To address these questions, I used experimental methods sensitive to both atomic motions and electronic responses: polarization-resolved second harmonic generation (PRSHG) and timeresolved, polarization-resolved second harmonic generation (TRPRSHG). The dissertation covers application of these techniques to III-V semiconductors: gallium arsenide (GaAs), gallium antimonide (GaSb), and aluminum gallium arsenide (AlGaAs). This dissertation is organized as follows. Chapter 2 presents the background of electronic band structures, ultrafast relaxation processes, and the origin of nonlinear optics from the perspectives of classical and quantum mechanics. It thus provides a framework for the static and transient nonlinear optical processes observed in III-V semiconductors under ultrafast pulse excitation. Next, Chapter 3 motivates the use of the experimental and analytical methods as applied to the experimental and theoretical studies outlined in Chapters 4 and 5. Chapter 4 is devoted to the understanding of polarization-resolved second-order nonlinear optical responses of various strained III-V semiconductor heterostructures resulting from defect-conducive growth conditions. Simplified phenomenological expressions for the polarization-resolved second harmonic generation (PRSHG) are first derived using tensor analysis. Afterwards, these expressions are used to fit experimental data. The developed formalism is tested under different conditions to gauge the fit robustness and sensitivity to mechanical and electronic changes in strained IIIV semiconductors. Along that same vein, Chapter 5 extends this analytical fit to describe ultrafast PRSHG responses of GaAs (100) as a function of transient changes in the interatomic potential within the first picosecond after photoexcitation. Finally, the dissertation concludes with Chapter 6 addressing possible directions for future work. The chapter begins with a description of studies to further test the sensitivity and robustness of the PRSHG phenomenological fit and how it can be used to characterize more classes of materials.

Fabrication of multi-scale periodic surface structures on Ti-6Al-4V by direct laser writing and direct laser interference patterning for modified wettability applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huerta-Murillo, D.; Aguilar-Morales, A. I.; Alamri, S.; Cardoso, J. T.; Jagdheesh, R.; Lasagni, A. F.; Ocaña, J. L.

2017-11-01

In this work, hierarchical surface patterns fabricated on Ti-6Al-4V alloy combining two laser micro-machining techniques are presented. The used technologies are based on nanosecond Direct Laser Writing and picosecond Direct Laser Interference Patterning. Squared shape micro-cells with different hatch distances were produced by Direct Laser Writing with depths values in the micro-scale, forming a well-defined closed packet. Subsequently, cross-like periodic patterns were fabricated by means of Direct Laser Interference Patterning using a two-beam configuration, generating a dual-scale periodic surface structure in both micro- and nano-scale due to the formation of Laser-Induced Periodic Surface Structure after the picosecond process. As a result a triple hierarchical periodic surface structure was generated. The surface morphology of the irradiated area was characterized with scanning electron microscopy and confocal microscopy. Additionally, static contact angle measurements were made to analyze the wettability behavior of the structures, showing a hydrophobic behavior for the hierarchical structures.

Surface separation investigation of ultrafast pulsed laser welding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Jianyong; Carter, Richard M.; Thomson, Robert R.; Hand, Duncan P.

2016-03-01

Techniques for joining materials, especially optical materials such as glass to structural materials such as metals, or to other optical materials, while maintaining their surface and optical properties are essential for a wide range of industrial applications. Adhesive bonding is commonly used but leads to many issues including optical surface contamination and outgassing. It is possible to generate welds using an ultra-short pulsed laser process, whereby two flat material surfaces are brought into close contact and the laser is focused through the optical material onto the interface. Highly localised melting and rapid resolidification form a strong bond between the two surfaces whilst avoiding significant heating of the surrounding material, which is important for joining materials with different thermal expansion coefficients. Previous reports on ultrafast laser welding have identified a requirement for the surface separation gap to be less than 500nm in order to avoid cracking or ablation at the interface. We have investigated techniques for increasing this gap (to reduce weld fit-up problems), and tested by bonding two surfaces with a weld-controlled gap. These gaps were generated either by a series of etched grooves on the surface of one of the substrates, or by using a cylindrical lens as a substrate. By careful optimisation of parameters such as laser power, process speed and focal position, we were able to demonstrate successful welding with a gap of up to 3μm.

Kagome fiber based ultrafast laser microsurgery probe delivering micro-Joule pulse energies.

PubMed

Subramanian, Kaushik; Gabay, Ilan; Ferhanoğlu, Onur; Shadfan, Adam; Pawlowski, Michal; Wang, Ye; Tkaczyk, Tomasz; Ben-Yakar, Adela

2016-11-01

We present the development of a 5 mm, piezo-actuated, ultrafast laser scalpel for fast tissue microsurgery. Delivery of micro-Joules level energies to the tissue was made possible by a large, 31 μm, air-cored inhibited-coupling Kagome fiber. We overcome the fiber's low NA by using lenses made of high refractive index ZnS, which produced an optimal focusing condition with 0.23 NA objective. The optical design achieved a focused laser spot size of 4.5 μm diameter covering a 75 × 75 μm 2 scan area in a miniaturized setting. The probe could deliver the maximum available laser power, achieving an average fluence of 7.8 J/cm 2 on the tissue surface at 62% transmission efficiency. Such fluences could produce uninterrupted, 40 μm deep cuts at translational speeds of up to 5 mm/s along the tissue. We predicted that the best combination of speed and coverage exists at 8 mm/s for our conditions. The onset of nonlinear absorption in ZnS, however, limited the probe's energy delivery capabilities to 1.4 μJ for linear operation at 1.5 picosecond pulse-widths of our fiber laser. Alternatives like broadband CaF 2 crystals should mitigate such nonlinear limiting behavior. Improved opto-mechanical design and appropriate material selection should allow substantially higher fluence delivery and propel such Kagome fiber-based scalpels towards clinical translation.

Temperature measurements in metalized propellant combustion using hybrid fs/ps coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering.

PubMed

Kearney, Sean P; Guildenbecher, Daniel R

2016-06-20

We apply ultrafast pure-rotational coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) for temperature and relative oxygen concentration measurements in the plume emanating from a burning, aluminized ammonium-perchlorate propellant strand. Combustion of these metal-based propellants is a particularly hostile environment for laser-based diagnostics, with intense background luminosity and scattering from hot metal particles as large as several hundred micrometers in diameter. CARS spectra that were previously obtained using nanosecond pulsed lasers in an aluminum-particle-seeded flame are examined and are determined to be severely impacted by nonresonant background, presumably as a result of the plasma formed by particulate-enhanced laser-induced breakdown. Introduction of femtosecond/picosecond (fs/ps) laser pulses improves CARS detection by providing time-gated elimination of strong nonresonant background interference. Single-laser-shot fs/ps CARS spectra were acquired from the burning propellant plume, with picosecond probe-pulse delays of 0 and 16 ps from the femtosecond pump and Stokes pulses. At zero delay, nonresonant background overwhelms the Raman-resonant spectroscopic features. Time-delayed probing results in the acquisition of background-free spectra that were successfully fit for temperature and relative oxygen content. Temperature probability densities and temperature/oxygen correlations were constructed from ensembles of several thousand single-laser-shot measurements with the CARS measurement volume positioned within 3 mm or less of the burning propellant surface. The results show that ultrafast CARS is a potentially enabling technology for probing harsh, particle-laden flame environments.

Electrochemical and kinetic studies of ultrafast laser structured LiFePO4 electrodes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mangang, M.; Gotcu-Freis, P.; Seifert, H. J.; Pfleging, W.

2015-03-01

Due to a growing demand of cost-efficient lithium-ion batteries with an increased energy and power density as well as an increased life-time, the focus is set on intercalation cathode materials like LiFePO4. It has a high practical capacity, is environmentally friendly and has low material costs. However, its low electrical conductivity and low ionic diffusivity are major drawbacks for its use in electrochemical storage devices or electric vehicles. By adding conductive agents, the electrical conductivity can be enhanced. By increasing the surface of the cathode material which is in direct contact with the liquid electrolyte the lithium-ion diffusion kinetics can be improved. A new approach to increase the surface of the active material without changing the active particle packing density or the weight proportion of carbon black is the laser-assisted generation of 3D surface structures in electrode materials. In this work, ultrafast laser radiation was used to create a defined surface structure in LiFePO4 electrodes. It was shown that by using ultrashort laser pulses instead of nanosecond laser pulses, the ablation efficiency could be significantly increased. Furthermore, melting and debris formation were reduced. To investigate the diffusion kinetics, electrochemical methods such as cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic intermittent titration technique were applied. It could be shown that due to a laser generated 3D structure, the lithium-ion diffusion kinetic, the capacity retention and cell life-time can be significantly improved.

Temperature measurements in metalized propellant combustion using hybrid fs/ps coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering

DOE PAGES

Kearney, Sean P.; Guildenbecher, Daniel R.

2016-06-20

We apply ultrafast pure-rotational coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) for temperature and relative oxygen concentration measurements in the plume emanating from a burning, aluminized ammonium-perchlorate propellant strand. Combustion of these metal-based propellants is a particularly hostile environment for laser-based diagnostics, with intense background luminosity and scattering from hot metal particles as large as several hundred micrometers in diameter. CARS spectra that were previously obtained using nanosecond pulsed lasers in an aluminum-particle-seeded flame are examined and are determined to be severely impacted by nonresonant background, presumably as a result of the plasma formed by particulate-enhanced laser-induced breakdown. Introduction of femtosecond/picosecond (fs/ps)more » laser pulses improves CARS detection by providing time-gated elimination of strong nonresonant background interference. Single-laser-shot fs/ps CARS spectra were acquired from the burning propellant plume, with picosecond probe-pulse delays of 0 and 16 ps from the femtosecond pump and Stokes pulses. At zero delay, nonresonant background overwhelms the Raman-resonant spectroscopic features. Time-delayed probing results in the acquisition of background-free spectra that were successfully fit for temperature and relative oxygen content. Temperature probability densities and temperature/oxygen correlations were constructed from ensembles of several thousand single-laser-shot measurements with the CARS measurement volume positioned within 3 mm or less of the burning propellant surface. Lastly, the results show that ultrafast CARS is a potentially enabling technology for probing harsh, particle-laden flame environments.« less

Temperature measurements in metalized propellant combustion using hybrid fs/ps coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kearney, Sean P.; Guildenbecher, Daniel R.

We apply ultrafast pure-rotational coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) for temperature and relative oxygen concentration measurements in the plume emanating from a burning, aluminized ammonium-perchlorate propellant strand. Combustion of these metal-based propellants is a particularly hostile environment for laser-based diagnostics, with intense background luminosity and scattering from hot metal particles as large as several hundred micrometers in diameter. CARS spectra that were previously obtained using nanosecond pulsed lasers in an aluminum-particle-seeded flame are examined and are determined to be severely impacted by nonresonant background, presumably as a result of the plasma formed by particulate-enhanced laser-induced breakdown. Introduction of femtosecond/picosecond (fs/ps)more » laser pulses improves CARS detection by providing time-gated elimination of strong nonresonant background interference. Single-laser-shot fs/ps CARS spectra were acquired from the burning propellant plume, with picosecond probe-pulse delays of 0 and 16 ps from the femtosecond pump and Stokes pulses. At zero delay, nonresonant background overwhelms the Raman-resonant spectroscopic features. Time-delayed probing results in the acquisition of background-free spectra that were successfully fit for temperature and relative oxygen content. Temperature probability densities and temperature/oxygen correlations were constructed from ensembles of several thousand single-laser-shot measurements with the CARS measurement volume positioned within 3 mm or less of the burning propellant surface. Lastly, the results show that ultrafast CARS is a potentially enabling technology for probing harsh, particle-laden flame environments.« less

University of Rochester, Laboratory for Laser Energetics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

1987-01-01

In FY86 the Laboratory has produced a list of accomplishments in which it takes pride. LLE has met every laser-fusion program milestone to date in a program of research for direct-drive ultraviolet laser fusion originally formulated in 1981. LLE scientists authored or co-authored 135 scientific papers during 1985 to 1986. The collaborative experiments with NRL, LANL, and LLNL have led to a number of important ICF results. The cryogenic target system developed by KMS Fusion for LLE will be used in future high-density experiments on OMEGA to demonstrate the compression of thermonuclear fuel to 100 to 200 times that of solid (20 to 40 g/cm) in a test of the direct-drive concept, as noted in the National Academy of Sciences' report. The excellence of the advanced technology efforts at LLE is illustrated by the establishment of the Ultrafast Science Center by the Department of Defense through the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. Research in the Center will concentrate on bridging the gap between high-speed electronics and ultrafast optics by providing education, research, and development in areas critical to future communications and high-speed computer systems. The Laboratory for Laser Energetics continues its pioneering work on the interaction of intense radiation with matter. This includes inertial-fusion and advanced optical and optical electronics research; training people in the technology and applications of high-power, short-pulse lasers; and interacting with the scientific community, business, industry, and government to promote the growth of laser technology.

Nonlinear pulse compression stage delivering 43-W few-cycle pulses with GW peak-power at 2-μm wavelength

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gebhardt, Martin; Gaida, Christian; Heuermann, T.; Stutzki, F.; Jauregui, C.; Antonio-Lopez, J.; Schüuzgen, A.; Amezcua-Correa, R.; Tünnermann, A.; Limpert, J.

2018-02-01

In this contribution we demonstrate the nonlinear pulse compression of an ultrafast thulium-doped fiber laser down to 14 fs FWHM duration (sub-3 optical cycles) at a record average power of 43 W and 34.5 μJ pulse energy. To the best of our knowledge, we present the highest average power few-cycle laser source at 2 μm wavelength. This performance level in combination with GW-class peak power makes our laser source extremely interesting for driving high-harmonic generation or for generating mid-infrared frequency combs via intra-pulse frequency down-conversion at an unprecedented average power. The experiments were enabled by an ultrafast thulium-doped fiber laser delivering 110 fs pulses at high repetition rates, and an argon gas-filled antiresonant hollow-core fiber (ARHCF) with excellent transmission and weak anomalous dispersion, leading to the self-compression of the pulses. We have shown that ARHCFs are well-suited for nonlinear pulse compression around 2 μm wavelength and that this concept features excellent power handling capabilities. Based on this result, we discuss the next steps for energy and average power scaling including upscaling the fiber dimensions in order to fully exploit the capabilities of our laser system, which can deliver several GW of peak power. This way, a 100 W-class laser source with mJ-level few-cycle pulses at 2 μm wavelength is feasible in the near future.

Ultrafast laser machining of porcine sclera

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Góra, W. S.; Carter, R. M.; Dhillon, B.; Hand, D. P.; Shephard, J. D.

2015-07-01

The use of ultrafast lasers (pulsed lasers with pulse lengths of a few picoseconds or less) offers the possibility for minimally invasive removal of soft ophthalmic tissue. The potential for using pico- and femtosecond pulses for modification of scleral tissue has been reported elsewhere [1-6] and has resulted in the introduction of new, minimally invasive, procedures into clinical practice [3, 5-10]. Our research is focused on finding optimal parameters for picosecond laser machining of scleral tissue without introducing any unwanted collateral damage to the tissue. Experiments were carried out on hydrated porcine sclera in vitro, which has similar collagen organization, histology and water content (~70%) to human tissue. In this paper we present a 2D finite element ablation model which employs a one-step heating process. It is assumed that the incident laser radiation that is not reflected is absorbed in the tissue according to the Beer-Lambert law and transformed into heat energy. The experimental setup uses an industrial picosecond laser (TRUMPF TruMicro 5x50) with 5.9 ps pulses at 1030 nm, with pulse energies up to 125 μJ and a focused spot diameter of 35 μm. The use of a scan head allows flexibility in designing various scanning patterns. We show that picosecond pulses are capable of modifying scleral tissue without introducing collateral damage. This offers a possible route for minimally invasive sclerostomy. Many scanning patterns including single line ablation, square and circular cavity removal were tested.

Indirect excitation of ultrafast demagnetization

PubMed Central

Vodungbo, Boris; Tudu, Bahrati; Perron, Jonathan; Delaunay, Renaud; Müller, Leonard; Berntsen, Magnus H.; Grübel, Gerhard; Malinowski, Grégory; Weier, Christian; Gautier, Julien; Lambert, Guillaume; Zeitoun, Philippe; Gutt, Christian; Jal, Emmanuelle; Reid, Alexander H.; Granitzka, Patrick W.; Jaouen, Nicolas; Dakovski, Georgi L.; Moeller, Stefan; Minitti, Michael P.; Mitra, Ankush; Carron, Sebastian; Pfau, Bastian; von Korff Schmising, Clemens; Schneider, Michael; Eisebitt, Stefan; Lüning, Jan

2016-01-01

Does the excitation of ultrafast magnetization require direct interaction between the photons of the optical pump pulse and the magnetic layer? Here, we demonstrate unambiguously that this is not the case. For this we have studied the magnetization dynamics of a ferromagnetic cobalt/palladium multilayer capped by an IR-opaque aluminum layer. Upon excitation with an intense femtosecond-short IR laser pulse, the film exhibits the classical ultrafast demagnetization phenomenon although only a negligible number of IR photons penetrate the aluminum layer. In comparison with an uncapped cobalt/palladium reference film, the initial demagnetization of the capped film occurs with a delayed onset and at a slower rate. Both observations are qualitatively in line with energy transport from the aluminum layer into the underlying magnetic film by the excited, hot electrons of the aluminum film. Our data thus confirm recent theoretical predictions. PMID:26733106

Modeling of coherent ultrafast magneto-optical experiments: Light-induced molecular mean-field model

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hinschberger, Y.; Hervieux, P.-A.

2015-12-28

We present calculations which aim to describe coherent ultrafast magneto-optical effects observed in time-resolved pump-probe experiments. Our approach is based on a nonlinear semi-classical Drude-Voigt model and is used to interpret experiments performed on nickel ferromagnetic thin film. Within this framework, a phenomenological light-induced coherent molecular mean-field depending on the polarizations of the pump and probe pulses is proposed whose microscopic origin is related to a spin-orbit coupling involving the electron spins of the material sample and the electric field of the laser pulses. Theoretical predictions are compared to available experimental data. The model successfully reproduces the observed experimental trendsmore » and gives meaningful insight into the understanding of magneto-optical rotation behavior in the ultrafast regime. Theoretical predictions for further experimental studies are also proposed.« less

CITIUS: An infrared-extreme ultraviolet light source for fundamental and applied ultrafast science

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Grazioli, C.; Gauthier, D.; Ivanov, R.

2014-02-15

We present the main features of CITIUS, a new light source for ultrafast science, generating tunable, intense, femtosecond pulses in the spectral range from infrared to extreme ultraviolet (XUV). The XUV pulses (about 10{sup 5}-10{sup 8} photons/pulse in the range 14-80 eV) are produced by laser-induced high-order harmonic generation in gas. This radiation is monochromatized by a time-preserving monochromator, also allowing one to work with high-resolution bandwidth selection. The tunable IR-UV pulses (10{sup 12}-10{sup 15} photons/pulse in the range 0.4-5.6 eV) are generated by an optical parametric amplifier, which is driven by a fraction of the same laser pulse thatmore » generates high order harmonics. The IR-UV and XUV pulses follow different optical paths and are eventually recombined on the sample for pump-probe experiments. We also present the results of two pump-probe experiments: with the first one, we fully characterized the temporal duration of harmonic pulses in the time-preserving configuration; with the second one, we demonstrated the possibility of using CITIUS for selective investigation of the ultra-fast dynamics of different elements in a magnetic compound.« less

Emerging Low-Dimensional Materials for Nonlinear Optics and Ultrafast Photonics.

PubMed

Liu, Xiaofeng; Guo, Qiangbing; Qiu, Jianrong

2017-04-01

Low-dimensional (LD) materials demonstrate intriguing optical properties, which lead to applications in diverse fields, such as photonics, biomedicine and energy. Due to modulation of electronic structure by the reduced structural dimensionality, LD versions of metal, semiconductor and topological insulators (TIs) at the same time bear distinct nonlinear optical (NLO) properties as compared with their bulk counterparts. Their interaction with short pulse laser excitation exhibits a strong nonlinear character manifested by NLO absorption, giving rise to optical limiting or saturated absorption associated with excited state absorption and Pauli blocking in different materials. In particular, the saturable absorption of these emerging LD materials including two-dimensional semiconductors as well as colloidal TI nanoparticles has recently been utilized for Q-switching and mode-locking ultra-short pulse generation across the visible, near infrared and middle infrared wavelength regions. Beside the large operation bandwidth, these ultrafast photonics applications are especially benefit from the high recovery rate as well as the facile processibility of these LD materials. The prominent NLO response of these LD materials have also provided new avenues for the development of novel NLO and photonics devices for all-optical control as well as optical circuits beyond ultrafast lasers. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Laser direct writing of carbon/Au composite electrodes for high-performance micro-supercapacitors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cai, Jinguang; Watanabe, Akira; Lv, Chao

2017-02-01

Micro-supercapacitors with small size, light weight, flexibility while maintaining high energy and power output are required for portable miniaturized electronics. The fabrication methods and materials should be cost-effective, scalable, and easily integrated to current electronic industry. Carbon materials have required properties for high-performance flexible supercapacitors, including high specific surface areas, electrochemical stability, and high electrical conductivity, as well as the high mechanical tolerance. Laser direct writing method is a non-contact, efficient, single-step fabrication technique without requirements of masks, post-processing, and complex clean room, which is a useful patterning technique, and can be easily integrated with current electronic product lines for commercial use. Previously we have reported micro-supercapacitors fabricated by laser direct writing on polyimide films in air or Ar, which showed highcapacitive performance. However, the conductivity of the carbon materials is still low for fast charge-discharge use. Here, we demonstrated the fabrication of flexible carbon/Au composite high-performance MSCs by first laser direct writing on commercial polyimide films followed by spin-coating Au nanoparticles ink and second in-situ laser direct writing using the low-cost semiconductor laser. As-prepared micro-supercapacitors show an improved conductivity and capacitance of 1.17 mF/cm2 at a high scanning rate of 10,000 mV/s, which is comparable to the reported capacitance of carbon-based micro-supercapacitors. In addition, the micro-supercapacitors have high bend tolerance and long-cycle stability.

Transverse writing of three-dimensional tubular optical waveguides in glass with a slit-shaped femtosecond laser beam

PubMed Central

Liao, Yang; Qi, Jia; Wang, Peng; Chu, Wei; Wang, Zhaohui; Qiao, Lingling; Cheng, Ya

2016-01-01

We report on fabrication of tubular optical waveguides buried in ZBLAN glass based on transverse femtosecond laser direct writing. Irradiation in ZBLAN with focused femtosecond laser pulses leads to decrease of refractive index in the modified region. Tubular optical waveguides of variable mode areas are fabricated by forming the four sides of the cladding with slit-shaped femtosecond laser pulses, ensuring single mode waveguiding with a mode field dimension as small as ~4 μm. PMID:27346285

Blue laser inorganic write-once media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Bing-Mau; Yeh, Ru-Lin

2004-09-01

With the advantages of low cost, portability and compliance with ROM disc, write once disk has become the most popular storage media for computer and audio/video application. In addition, write once media, like CD-R and DVD-/+ R, are used to store permanent or nonalterable information, such as financial data transitions, legal documentation, and medical data. Several write once recording materials, such as TeO[1], TeOPd[2] and Si/Cu [3] have been proposed to realize inorganic write once media. Moreover, we propose AlSi alloy [4] to be used for recording layer of write once media. It had good recording properties in DVD system although the reflectivity is too low to be used for DVD-R disk. In this paper, we report the further results in blue laser system, such as the static and dynamic characteristics of write once media.

Ultra-short pulse delivery at high average power with low-loss hollow core fibers coupled to TRUMPF's TruMicro laser platforms for industrial applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baumbach, S.; Pricking, S.; Overbuschmann, J.; Nutsch, S.; Kleinbauer, J.; Gebs, R.; Tan, C.; Scelle, R.; Kahmann, M.; Budnicki, A.; Sutter, D. H.; Killi, A.

2017-02-01

Multi-megawatt ultrafast laser systems at micrometer wavelength are commonly used for material processing applications, including ablation, cutting and drilling of various materials or cleaving of display glass with excellent quality. There is a need for flexible and efficient beam guidance, avoiding free space propagation of light between the laser head and the processing unit. Solid core step index fibers are only feasible for delivering laser pulses with peak powers in the kW-regime due to the optical damage threshold in bulk silica. In contrast, hollow core fibers are capable of guiding ultra-short laser pulses with orders of magnitude higher peak powers. This is possible since a micro-structured cladding confines the light within the hollow core and therefore minimizes the spatial overlap between silica and the electro-magnetic field. We report on recent results of single-mode ultra-short pulse delivery over several meters in a lowloss hollow core fiber packaged with industrial connectors. TRUMPF's ultrafast TruMicro laser platforms equipped with advanced temperature control and precisely engineered opto-mechanical components provide excellent position and pointing stability. They are thus perfectly suited for passive coupling of ultra-short laser pulses into hollow core fibers. Neither active beam launching components nor beam trackers are necessary for a reliable beam delivery in a space and cost saving packaging. Long term tests with weeks of stable operation, excellent beam quality and an overall transmission efficiency of above 85 percent even at high average power confirm the reliability for industrial applications.

The Effect of Varying Ultrafast Pulse Laser Energies on the Electrical Properties of Reduced Graphene Oxide Sheets in Solution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ibrahim, Khaled H.; Irannejad, Mehrdad; Wales, Benjamin; Sanderson, Joseph; Musselman, Kevin P.; Yavuz, Mustafa

2018-02-01

Laser treatment of graphene oxide solution among other techniques is a well-established technique for producing reduced graphene sheets. However, production of high-quality ultra-low sheet resistance reduced graphene oxide (rGO) sheets in solution has been a challenge due to their high degree of randomness, defect-rich medium, and lack of controlability. Recent studies lack an in-depth analytic comparison of laser treatment parameters that yield the highest quality rGO sheets with a low defect ratio. Hence, in this study, we implement a comprehensive comparison of laser treatment parameters and their effect on the yielded rGO sheets from an electronic and physical standpoint. Ultra-low sheet resistance graphene oxide sheets were fabricated using ultrafast laser irradiation with different laser pulse energies in the range of 0.25-2 mJ. Laser treatment for 10 min using a pulse energy of 1 mJ resulted in an increase in the defect spacing, accompanied by a large red shift in the optical absorption of the C=C bond, indicating significant restoration of the s p 2 carbon bonds. These enhancements resulted in a significant reduction in the electrical resistance of the rGO flakes (up to 2 orders of magnitude), raising the electron mobility of the films produced using the irradiated graphene oxide a step closer to that of pristine graphene films. From this study, we can also deduce which exposure regimes result in the fabrication of quantum dots and continuous defect-free films.

Helicity-dependent all-optical switching in hybrid metal-ferromagnet structures for ultrafast magnetic data storage

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheng, Feng

The emerging Big Data era demands the rapidly increasing need for speed and capacity of storing and processing information. Standalone magnetic recording devices, such as hard disk drives (HDDs), have always been playing a central role in modern data storage and continuously advancing. Recognizing the growing capacity gap between the demand and production, industry has pushed the bit areal density in HDDs to 900 Giga-bit/square-inch, a remarkable 450-million-fold increase since the invention of the first hard disk drive in 1956. However, the further development of HDD capacity is facing a pressing challenge, the so-called superparamagnetic effect, that leads to the loss of information when a single bit becomes too small to preserve the magnetization. This requires new magnetic recording technologies that can write more stable magnetic bits into hard magnetic materials. Recent research has shown that it is possible to use ultrafast laser pulses to switch the magnetization in certain types of magnetic thin films. Surprisingly, such a process does not require an externally applied magnetic field that always exists in conventional HDDs. Furthermore, the optically induced magnetization switching is extremely fast, up to sub-picosecond (10 -12 s) level, while with traditional recording method the deterministic switching does not take place shorter than 20 ps. It's worth noting that the direction of magnetization is related to the helicity of the incident laser pulses. Namely, the right-handed polarized laser pulses will generate magnetization pointing in one direction while left-handed polarized laser pulses generate magnetization pointing in the other direction. This so-called helicity-dependent all-optical switching (HD-AOS) phenomenon can be potentially used in the next-generation of magnetic storage systems. In this thesis, I explore the HD-AOS phenomenon in hybrid metal-ferromagnet structures, which consist of gold and Co/Pt multilayers. The experiment results show that such CoPtAu hybrid structures have stable HD-AOS phenomenon over a wild range of repetition rates and peak powers. A macroscopic three-temperature model is developed to explain the experiment results. In order to reduce the magnetic bit size and power consumption to transform future magnetic data storage techniques, I further propose plasmonic-enhanced all-optical switching (PE-AOS) by utilizing the unique properties of the tight field confinement and strong local field enhancement that arise from the excitation of surface plasmons supported by judiciously designed metallic nanostructures. The preliminary results on PE-AOS are presented. Finally, I provide a discussion on the future work to explore the underline mechanism of the HD-AOS phenomenon in hybrid metal-ferromagnetic thin films. Different materials and plasmonic nanostructures are also proposed as further work.

Reducing the stochasticity of crystal nucleation to enable subnanosecond memory writing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rao, Feng; Ding, Keyuan; Zhou, Yuxing; Zheng, Yonghui; Xia, Mengjiao; Lv, Shilong; Song, Zhitang; Feng, Songlin; Ronneberger, Ider; Mazzarello, Riccardo; Zhang, Wei; Ma, Evan

2017-12-01

Operation speed is a key challenge in phase-change random-access memory (PCRAM) technology, especially for achieving subnanosecond high-speed cache memory. Commercialized PCRAM products are limited by the tens of nanoseconds writing speed, originating from the stochastic crystal nucleation during the crystallization of amorphous germanium antimony telluride (Ge2Sb2Te5). Here, we demonstrate an alloying strategy to speed up the crystallization kinetics. The scandium antimony telluride (Sc0.2Sb2Te3) compound that we designed allows a writing speed of only 700 picoseconds without preprogramming in a large conventional PCRAM device. This ultrafast crystallization stems from the reduced stochasticity of nucleation through geometrically matched and robust scandium telluride (ScTe) chemical bonds that stabilize crystal precursors in the amorphous state. Controlling nucleation through alloy design paves the way for the development of cache-type PCRAM technology to boost the working efficiency of computing systems.

Bound-Electron Nonlinearity Beyond the Ionization Threshold.

PubMed

Wahlstrand, J K; Zahedpour, S; Bahl, A; Kolesik, M; Milchberg, H M

2018-05-04

We present absolute space- and time-resolved measurements of the ultrafast laser-driven nonlinear polarizability in argon, krypton, xenon, nitrogen, and oxygen up to ionization fractions of a few percent. These measurements enable determination of the strongly nonperturbative bound-electron nonlinear polarizability well beyond the ionization threshold, where it is found to remain approximately quadratic in the laser field, a result normally expected at much lower intensities where perturbation theory applies.

Bound-Electron Nonlinearity Beyond the Ionization Threshold

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wahlstrand, J. K.; Zahedpour, S.; Bahl, A.; Kolesik, M.; Milchberg, H. M.

2018-05-01

We present absolute space- and time-resolved measurements of the ultrafast laser-driven nonlinear polarizability in argon, krypton, xenon, nitrogen, and oxygen up to ionization fractions of a few percent. These measurements enable determination of the strongly nonperturbative bound-electron nonlinear polarizability well beyond the ionization threshold, where it is found to remain approximately quadratic in the laser field, a result normally expected at much lower intensities where perturbation theory applies.

Design and optimization of a modular setup for measurements of three-dimensional spin polarization with ultrafast pulsed sources.

PubMed

Pincelli, T; Petrov, V N; Brajnik, G; Ciprian, R; Lollobrigida, V; Torelli, P; Krizmancic, D; Salvador, F; De Luisa, A; Sergo, R; Gubertini, A; Cautero, G; Carrato, S; Rossi, G; Panaccione, G

2016-03-01

ULTRASPIN is an apparatus devoted to the measurement of the spin polarization (SP) of electrons ejected from solid surfaces in a UHV environment. It is designed to exploit ultrafast light sources (free electron laser or laser high harmonic generation) and to perform (photo)electron spin analysis by an arrangement of Mott scattering polarimeters that measure the full SP vector. The system consists of two interconnected UHV vessels: one for surface science sample cleaning treatments, e-beam deposition of ultrathin films, and low energy electron diffraction/AES characterization. The sample environment in the polarimeter allows for cryogenic cooling and in-operando application of electric and magnetic fields. The photoelectrons are collected by an electrostatic accelerator and transport lens that form a periaxial beam that is subsequently directed by a Y-shaped electrostatic deflector to either one of the two orthogonal Mott polarimeters. The apparatus has been designed to operate in the extreme conditions of ultraintense single-X-ray pulses as originated by free electron lasers (up to 1 kHz), but it allows also for the single electron counting mode suitable when using statistical sources such as synchrotron radiation, cw-laser, or e-gun beams (up to 150 kcps).

Design and optimization of a modular setup for measurements of three-dimensional spin polarization with ultrafast pulsed sources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pincelli, T.; Petrov, V. N.; Brajnik, G.; Ciprian, R.; Lollobrigida, V.; Torelli, P.; Krizmancic, D.; Salvador, F.; De Luisa, A.; Sergo, R.; Gubertini, A.; Cautero, G.; Carrato, S.; Rossi, G.; Panaccione, G.

2016-03-01

ULTRASPIN is an apparatus devoted to the measurement of the spin polarization (SP) of electrons ejected from solid surfaces in a UHV environment. It is designed to exploit ultrafast light sources (free electron laser or laser high harmonic generation) and to perform (photo)electron spin analysis by an arrangement of Mott scattering polarimeters that measure the full SP vector. The system consists of two interconnected UHV vessels: one for surface science sample cleaning treatments, e-beam deposition of ultrathin films, and low energy electron diffraction/AES characterization. The sample environment in the polarimeter allows for cryogenic cooling and in-operando application of electric and magnetic fields. The photoelectrons are collected by an electrostatic accelerator and transport lens that form a periaxial beam that is subsequently directed by a Y-shaped electrostatic deflector to either one of the two orthogonal Mott polarimeters. The apparatus has been designed to operate in the extreme conditions of ultraintense single-X-ray pulses as originated by free electron lasers (up to 1 kHz), but it allows also for the single electron counting mode suitable when using statistical sources such as synchrotron radiation, cw-laser, or e-gun beams (up to 150 kcps).

Optical and Nonlinear Optical Response of Light Sensor Thin Films

PubMed Central

Liu, Huimin; Rua, Armando; Vasquez, Omar; Vikhnin, Valentin S.; Fernandez, Felix E.; Fonseca, Luis F.; Resto, Oscar; Weisz, Svi Z.

2005-01-01

For potential ultrafast optical sensor application, both VO2 thin films and nanocomposite crystal-Si enriched SiO2 thin films grown on fused quartz substrates were successfully prepared using pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and RF co-sputtering techniques. In photoluminescence (PL) measurement c-Si/SiO2 film contains nanoparticles of crystal Si exhibits strong red emission with the band maximum ranging from 580 to 750 nm. With ultrashort pulsed laser excitation all films show extremely intense and ultrafast nonlinear optical (NLO) response. The recorded holography from all these thin films in a degenerate-four-wave-mixing configuration shows extremely large third-order response. For VO2 thin films, an optically induced semiconductor-to-metal phase transition (PT) immediately occurred upon laser excitation. it accompanied. It turns out that the fast excited state dynamics was responsible to the induced PT. For c-Si/SiO2 film, its NLO response comes from the contribution of charge carriers created by laser excitation in conduction band of the c-Si nanoparticles. It was verified by introducing Eu3+ which is often used as a probe sensing the environment variations. It turns out that the entire excited state dynamical process associated with the creation, movement and trapping of the charge carriers has a characteristic 500 ps duration.

Design and optimization of a modular setup for measurements of three-dimensional spin polarization with ultrafast pulsed sources

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pincelli, T., E-mail: pincelli@iom.cnr.it; Rossi, G.; Laboratorio TASC, IOM-CNR, S.S. 14 km 163.5, Basovizza, 34149 Trieste

2016-03-15

ULTRASPIN is an apparatus devoted to the measurement of the spin polarization (SP) of electrons ejected from solid surfaces in a UHV environment. It is designed to exploit ultrafast light sources (free electron laser or laser high harmonic generation) and to perform (photo)electron spin analysis by an arrangement of Mott scattering polarimeters that measure the full SP vector. The system consists of two interconnected UHV vessels: one for surface science sample cleaning treatments, e-beam deposition of ultrathin films, and low energy electron diffraction/AES characterization. The sample environment in the polarimeter allows for cryogenic cooling and in-operando application of electric andmore » magnetic fields. The photoelectrons are collected by an electrostatic accelerator and transport lens that form a periaxial beam that is subsequently directed by a Y-shaped electrostatic deflector to either one of the two orthogonal Mott polarimeters. The apparatus has been designed to operate in the extreme conditions of ultraintense single-X-ray pulses as originated by free electron lasers (up to 1 kHz), but it allows also for the single electron counting mode suitable when using statistical sources such as synchrotron radiation, cw-laser, or e-gun beams (up to 150 kcps).« less

High-frequency polarization dynamics in spin-lasers: pushing the limits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gerhardt, Nils C.; Lindemann, Markus; Pusch, Tobias; Michalzik, Rainer; Hofmann, Martin R.

2017-09-01

While the high-frequency performance of conventional lasers is limited by the coupled carrier-photon dynamics, spin-polarized lasers have a high potential to overcome this limitation and to push the direct modulation bandwidth beyond 100 GHz. The key is to utilize the ultrafast polarization dynamics in spin-polarized vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers (spin-VCSELs) which is decoupled from the intensity dynamics and its fundamental limitations. The polarization dynamics in such devices, characterized by the polarization oscillation resonance frequency, is mainly determined by the amount of birefringence in the cavity. Using an approach for manipulating the birefringence via mechanical strain we were able to increase the polarization dynamics to resonance frequencies of more than 40 GHz. Up to now these values are only limited by the setup to induce birefringence and do not reflect any fundamental limitations. Taking our record results for the birefringence-induced mode splitting of more than 250 GHz into account, the concept has the potential to provide polarization modulation in spin-VCSELs with modulation frequencies far beyond 100 GHz. This makes them ideal devices for next-generation fast optical interconnects. In this paper we present experimental results for ultrafast polarization dynamics up to 50 GHz and compare them to numerical simulations.

Effects of heat transfer and energy absorption in the ablation of biological tissues by pulsetrain-burst (>100 MHz) ultrafast laser processing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Forrester, Paul; Bol, Kieran; Lilge, Lothar; Marjoribanks, Robin

2006-09-01

Energy absorption and heat transfer are important factors for regulating the effects of ablation of biological tissues. Heat transfer to surrounding material may be desirable when ablating hard tissue, such as teeth or bone, since melting can produce helpful material modifications. However, when ablating soft tissue it is important to minimize heat transfer to avoid damage to healthy tissue - for example, in eye refractive surgery (e.g., Lasik), nanosecond pulses produce gross absorption and heating in tissue, leading to shockwaves, which kill and thin the non-replicating epithelial cells on the inside of the cornea; ultrafast pulses are recognized to reduce this effect. Using a laser system that delivers 1ps pulses in 10μs pulsetrains at 133MHz we have studied a range of heat- and energy-transfer effects on hard and soft tissue. We describe the ablation of tooth dentin and enamel under various conditions to determine the ablation rate and chemical changes that occur. Furthermore, we characterize the impact of pulsetrain-burst treatment of collagen-based tissue to determine more efficient methods of energy transfer to soft tissues. By studying the optical science of laser tissue interaction we hope to be able to make qualitative improvements to medical treatments using lasers.

Black phosphorus quantum dots for femtosecond laser photonics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Meng; Jiang, Xiao-Fang; Yan, Yu-Rong; Wang, Xu-De; Luo, Ai-Ping; Xu, Wen-Cheng; Luo, Zhi-Chao

2018-01-01

As a rising two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterial, layered black phosphorus (BP) nanosheets have shown promising applications in electronics and photonics. Besides the 2D layered structure, recently black phosphorus quantum dots (BPQDs) exhibiting unique optoelectronic properties had been successfully fabricated. However, the nonlinear optical properties of BPQDs at the telecommunication band have not been investigated. Herein, we synthesized the BPQDs by using a liquid exfoliation method that combined probe sonication and bath sonication. It was found that the evident saturable absorption ability of BPQDs at 1.55 μm waveband could be clearly observed. As for the applications of ultrafast photonics, we fabricated the BPQDs saturable absorber (BPQDs-SA) and applied it to an ultrafast laser. By virtue of the excellent nonlinear optical properties of BPQDs, the fiber laser delivers the stable pulse train with duration as short as 291 fs, whose performance could, to the best of our knowledge, compete with nowadays' commercial optical saturable absorber devices. In addition, due to the highly nonlinear optical effect generated by the fabricated BPQDs-SA, the multi-soliton nonlinear dynamics in the fiber laser were also investigated. The obtained results suggest that the BPQDs could be an attractive nonlinear optical material for applications in the field of nonlinear optics.

Quantum interference in laser-induced nonsequential double ionization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Quan, Wei; Hao, XiaoLei; Wang, YanLan; Chen, YongJu; Yu, ShaoGang; Xu, SongPo; Xiao, ZhiLei; Sun, RenPing; Lai, XuanYang; Hu, ShiLin; Liu, MingQing; Shu, Zheng; Wang, XiaoDong; Li, WeiDong; Becker, Wilhelm; Liu, XiaoJun; Chen, Jing

2017-09-01

Quantum interference plays an important role in various intense-laser-driven atomic phenomena, e.g., above-threshold ionization and high-order-harmonic generation, and provides a useful tool in ultrafast imaging of atomic and molecular structure and dynamics. However, it has eluded observation in nonsequential double ionization (NSDI), which serves as an ideal prototype to study electron-electron correlation. Thus far, NSDI usually could be well understood from a semiclassical perspective, where all quantum aspects have been ignored after the first electron has tunneled. Here we perform coincidence measurements for NSDI of xenon subject to laser pulses at 2400 nm. It is found that the intensity dependence of the asymmetry parameter between the yields in the second and fourth quadrants and those in the first and third quadrants of the electron-momentum-correlation distributions exhibits a peculiar fast oscillatory structure, which is beyond the scope of the semiclassical picture. Our theoretical analysis indicates that this oscillation can be attributed to interference between the contributions of different excited states in the recollision-excitation-with-subsequent-ionization channel. Our work demonstrates the significant role of quantum interference in NSDI and may create an additional pathway towards manipulation and imaging of the ultrafast atomic and molecular dynamics in intense laser fields.

Laser deposition and direct-writing of thermoelectric misfit cobaltite thin films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Jikun; Palla-Papavlu, Alexandra; Li, Yulong; Chen, Lidong; Shi, Xun; Döbeli, Max; Stender, Dieter; Populoh, Sascha; Xie, Wenjie; Weidenkaff, Anke; Schneider, Christof W.; Wokaun, Alexander; Lippert, Thomas

2014-06-01

A two-step process combining pulsed laser deposition of calcium cobaltite thin films and a subsequent laser induced forward transfer as micro-pixel is demonstrated as a direct writing approach of micro-scale thin film structures for potential applications in thermoelectric micro-devices. To achieve the desired thermo-electric properties of the cobaltite thin film, the laser induced plasma properties have been characterized utilizing plasma mass spectrometry establishing a direct correlation to the corresponding film composition and structure. The introduction of a platinum sacrificial layer when growing the oxide thin film enables a damage-free laser transfer of calcium cobaltite thereby preserving the film composition and crystallinity as well as the shape integrity of the as-transferred pixels. The demonstrated direct writing approach simplifies the fabrication of micro-devices and provides a large degree of flexibility in designing and fabricating fully functional thermoelectric micro-devices.

Grayscale photomask fabricated by laser direct writing in metallic nano-films.

PubMed

Guo, Chuan Fei; Cao, Sihai; Jiang, Peng; Fang, Ying; Zhang, Jianming; Fan, Yongtao; Wang, Yongsheng; Xu, Wendong; Zhao, Zhensheng; Liu, Qian

2009-10-26

The grayscale photomask plays a key role in grayscale lithography for creating 3D microstructures like micro-optical elements and MEMS structures, but how to fabricate grayscale masks in a cost-effective way is still a big challenge. Here we present novel low cost grayscale masks created in a two-step method by laser direct writing on Sn nano-films, which demonstrate continuous-tone gray levels depended on writing powers. The mechanism of the gray levels is due to the coexistence of the metal and the oxides formed in a laser-induced thermal process. The photomasks reveal good technical properties in fabricating 3D microstructures for practical applications.

An innovative Yb-based ultrafast deep ultraviolet source for time-resolved photoemission experiments

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Boschini, F.; Hedayat, H.; Dallera, C.

2014-12-15

Time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy is a powerful technique to study ultrafast electronic dynamics in solids. Here, an innovative optical setup based on a 100-kHz Yb laser source is presented. Exploiting non-collinear optical parametric amplification and sum-frequency generation, ultrashort pump (hν = 1.82 eV) and ultraviolet probe (hν = 6.05 eV) pulses are generated. Overall temporal and instrumental energy resolutions of, respectively, 85 fs and 50 meV are obtained. Time- and angle-resolved measurements on BiTeI semiconductor are presented to show the capabilities of the setup.

Measurements of ionic structure in shock compressed lithium hydride from ultrafast x-ray Thomson scattering.

PubMed

Kritcher, A L; Neumayer, P; Brown, C R D; Davis, P; Döppner, T; Falcone, R W; Gericke, D O; Gregori, G; Holst, B; Landen, O L; Lee, H J; Morse, E C; Pelka, A; Redmer, R; Roth, M; Vorberger, J; Wünsch, K; Glenzer, S H

2009-12-11

We present the first ultrafast temporally, spectrally, and angularly resolved x-ray scattering measurements from shock-compressed matter. The experimental spectra yield the absolute elastic and inelastic scattering intensities from the measured density of free electrons. Laser-compressed lithium-hydride samples are well characterized by inelastic Compton and plasmon scattering of a K-alpha x-ray probe providing independent measurements of temperature and density. The data show excellent agreement with the total intensity and structure when using the two-species form factor and accounting for the screening of ion-ion interactions.