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Chen YH, Wise F. Unified and vector theory of Raman scattering in gas-filled hollow-core fiber across temporal regimes. APL PHOTONICS 2024; 9:030902. [PMID: 38533268 PMCID: PMC10961736 DOI: 10.1063/5.0189749] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2023] [Accepted: 02/06/2024] [Indexed: 03/28/2024]
Abstract
Raman scattering has found renewed interest owing to the development of gas-filled hollow-core fibers, which constitute a unique platform for exploration of novel ultrafast nonlinear phenomena beyond conventional solid-core-fiber and free-space systems. Much progress has been made through models for particular interaction regimes, which are delineated by the relation of the excitation pulse duration to the time scales of the Raman response. However, current experimental settings are not limited to one regime, prompting the need for tools spanning multiple regimes. Here, we present a theoretical framework that accomplishes this goal. The theory allows us to review recent progress with a fresh perspective, makes new connections between distinct temporal regimes of Raman scattering, and reveals new degrees of freedom for controlling Raman physics. Specific topics that are addressed include transient Raman gain, the interplay of electronic and Raman nonlinearities in short-pulse propagation, and interactions of short pulses mediated by phonon waves. The theoretical model also accommodates vector effects, which have been largely neglected in prior works on Raman scattering in gases. The polarization dependence of transient Raman gain and vector effects on pulse interactions via phonon waves is investigated with the model. Throughout this Perspective, theoretical results are compared to the results of realistic numerical simulations. The numerical code that implements the new theory is freely available. We hope that the unified theoretical framework and numerical tool described here will accelerate the exploration of new Raman-scattering phenomena and enable new applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi-Hao Chen
- School of Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA
| | - Frank Wise
- School of Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA
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2
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Xue J, Zhang Z, Wang Y, Shang B, Guo J, Tao S, Zhang N, Guo L, Qi P, Lin L, Liu W. Coupled air lasing gain and Mie scattering loss: an aerosol effect in filament-induced plasma spectroscopy. OPTICS LETTERS 2024; 49:550-553. [PMID: 38300056 DOI: 10.1364/ol.506003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2023] [Accepted: 11/21/2023] [Indexed: 02/02/2024]
Abstract
Femtosecond laser filament-induced plasma spectroscopy (FIPS) demonstrates great potential in remote sensing for identifying atmospheric pollutant molecules. Due to the widespread aerosols in the atmosphere, remote detection based on FIPS would be affected by both the excitation and the propagation of fingerprint fluorescence, which still remain elusive. Here the physical model of filament-induced aerosol fluorescence is established to reveal the combined effect of Mie scattering and amplification spontaneous emission, which is subsequently proven by experimental results, the dependence of the backward fluorescence on the interaction length between filaments and aerosols. These findings provide an insight into the complicated aerosol effect in the overall physical process of FIPS including propagation, excitation, and emission, paving the way to its practical application in atmospheric remote sensing.
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3
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Xie X, Cavalieri AL, Johnson SL. Self-compression of femtosecond laser pulses in ambient air through conical radiation. OPTICS LETTERS 2023; 48:5101-5104. [PMID: 37773395 DOI: 10.1364/ol.501319] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2023] [Accepted: 09/05/2023] [Indexed: 10/01/2023]
Abstract
We demonstrate self-compression of 98 fs near-infrared laser pulses down to 8.8 fs in ambient air, utilizing self-phase modulation in air and negative dispersion in the properties of a laser-induced plasma. The blueshifted pulses achieve self-compression through conical radiation, eliminating the need for additional dispersion compensation. The results highlight a simple and compact approach to generate sub-10 fs laser pulses without additional measures for time-resolved applications in ultrafast diagnostics and spectroscopy.
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4
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Pfaff Y, Barbiero G, Rampp M, Klingebiel S, Brons J, Teisset CY, Wang H, Jung R, Jaksic J, Woldegeorgis AH, Trunk M, Maier AR, Saraceno CJ, Metzger T. Nonlinear pulse compression of a 200 mJ and 1 kW ultrafast thin-disk amplifier. OPTICS EXPRESS 2023; 31:22740-22756. [PMID: 37475378 DOI: 10.1364/oe.494359] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2023] [Accepted: 06/06/2023] [Indexed: 07/22/2023]
Abstract
We present a high-energy laser source consisting of an ultrafast thin-disk amplifier followed by a nonlinear compression stage. At a repetition rate of 5 kHz, the drive laser provides a pulse energy of up to 200 mJ with a pulse duration below 500 fs. Nonlinear broadening is implemented inside a Herriott-type multipass cell purged with noble gas, allowing us to operate under different seeding conditions. Firstly, the nonlinear broadening of 64 mJ pulses is demonstrated in an argon-filled cell, showing a compressibility down to 32 fs. Finally, we employ helium as a nonlinear medium to increase the energy up to 200 mJ while maintaining compressibility below 50 fs. Such high-energy pulses with sub-50 fs duration hold great promise as drivers of secondary sources.
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Wang S, Qin W, Zhang S, Lou Y, Liu C, Wu T, He Q, Tian C, Zhou L, Wu Y, Tao Z. Nanoengineered Spintronic-Metasurface Terahertz Emitters Enable Beam Steering and Full Polarization Control. NANO LETTERS 2022; 22:10111-10119. [PMID: 36512804 DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.2c03906] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
The demand for emerging applications at the terahertz frequencies motivates the development of novel and multifunctional devices for the generation and manipulation of terahertz waves. In this work, we report the realization of multifunctional spintronic-metasurface emitters, which allow simultaneous beam-steering and full polarization control over a broadband terahertz beam. This is achieved through engineering individual meta-atoms with nanoscale magnetic heterostructures and, thus, implementing microscopical control over the laser-induced spin and charge dynamics. By arranging the spintronic meta-atoms in the metagrating geometry, the generated terahertz beam can be flexibly steered in space between different orders of diffraction. Furthermore, we demonstrate a simultaneous control over the terahertz polarization states at different emission angles and show that the two control capabilities are mutually independent of each other. The nanoengineered multifunctional terahertz emitter demonstrated in this work can provide a solution to the challenge associated with a growing variety of applications of terahertz technology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shunjia Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics and Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai200433, China
- Key Laboratory of Micro and Nano Photonic Structures (MOE), Fudan University, Shanghai200433, China
| | - Wentao Qin
- State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics and Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai200433, China
- Shanghai Research Center for Quantum Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai200433, China
| | - Sheng Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics and Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai200433, China
- Key Laboratory of Micro and Nano Photonic Structures (MOE), Fudan University, Shanghai200433, China
| | - Yuchen Lou
- State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics and Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai200433, China
- Key Laboratory of Micro and Nano Photonic Structures (MOE), Fudan University, Shanghai200433, China
| | - Changqin Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics and Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai200433, China
- Shanghai Research Center for Quantum Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai200433, China
| | - Tong Wu
- State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics and Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai200433, China
- Shanghai Research Center for Quantum Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai200433, China
| | - Qiong He
- State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics and Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai200433, China
- Key Laboratory of Micro and Nano Photonic Structures (MOE), Fudan University, Shanghai200433, China
| | - Chuanshan Tian
- State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics and Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai200433, China
- Key Laboratory of Micro and Nano Photonic Structures (MOE), Fudan University, Shanghai200433, China
| | - Lei Zhou
- State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics and Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai200433, China
- Key Laboratory of Micro and Nano Photonic Structures (MOE), Fudan University, Shanghai200433, China
| | - Yizheng Wu
- State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics and Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai200433, China
- Shanghai Research Center for Quantum Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai200433, China
| | - Zhensheng Tao
- State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics and Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai200433, China
- Key Laboratory of Micro and Nano Photonic Structures (MOE), Fudan University, Shanghai200433, China
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Fu Z, Chen Y, Peng S, Zhu B, Li B, Martín-Hernández R, Fan G, Wang Y, Hernández-García C, Jin C, Murnane M, Kapteyn H, Tao Z. Extension of the bright high-harmonic photon energy range via nonadiabatic critical phase matching. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2022; 8:eadd7482. [PMID: 36563146 PMCID: PMC9788764 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.add7482] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2022] [Accepted: 11/17/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
The concept of critical ionization fraction has been essential for high-harmonic generation, because it dictates the maximum driving laser intensity while preserving the phase matching of harmonics. In this work, we reveal a second, nonadiabatic critical ionization fraction, which substantially extends the phase-matched harmonic energy, arising because of the strong reshaping of the intense laser field in a gas plasma. We validate this understanding through a systematic comparison between experiment and theory for a wide range of laser conditions. In particular, the properties of the high-harmonic spectrum versus the laser intensity undergoes three distinctive scenarios: (i) coincidence with the single-atom cutoff, (ii) strong spectral extension, and (iii) spectral energy saturation. We present an analytical model that predicts the spectral extension and reveals the increasing importance of the nonadiabatic effects for mid-infrared lasers. These findings are important for the development of high-brightness soft x-ray sources for applications in spectroscopy and imaging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zongyuan Fu
- State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Key Laboratory of Micro and Nano Photonic Structures (MOE), and Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
| | - Yudong Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Key Laboratory of Micro and Nano Photonic Structures (MOE), and Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
| | - Sainan Peng
- State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Key Laboratory of Micro and Nano Photonic Structures (MOE), and Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
| | - Bingbing Zhu
- State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Key Laboratory of Micro and Nano Photonic Structures (MOE), and Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
| | - Baochang Li
- Department of Applied Physics, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210094, China
| | - Rodrigo Martín-Hernández
- Grupo de Investigación en Aplicaciones del Láser y Fotónica, Departamento de Física Aplicada, Universidad de Salamanca, E- 37008 Salamanca, Spain
| | - Guangyu Fan
- Shanghai Key Lab of Modern Optical System, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China
- The Hamburg Centre for Ultrafast Imaging CUI, Universität Hamburg, 149 Luruper Chaussee, 22761 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Yihua Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Key Laboratory of Micro and Nano Photonic Structures (MOE), and Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
- Shanghai Research Center for Quantum Sciences, Shanghai 201315, China
| | - Carlos Hernández-García
- Grupo de Investigación en Aplicaciones del Láser y Fotónica, Departamento de Física Aplicada, Universidad de Salamanca, E- 37008 Salamanca, Spain
| | - Cheng Jin
- Department of Applied Physics, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210094, China
- MIIT Key Laboratory of Semiconductor Microstructure and Quantum Sensing, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210094, China
| | - Margaret Murnane
- Department of Physics and JILA, University of Colorado and NIST, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
| | - Henry Kapteyn
- Department of Physics and JILA, University of Colorado and NIST, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
| | - Zhensheng Tao
- State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Key Laboratory of Micro and Nano Photonic Structures (MOE), and Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
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Qi P, Qian W, Guo L, Xue J, Zhang N, Wang Y, Zhang Z, Zhang Z, Lin L, Sun C, Zhu L, Liu W. Sensing with Femtosecond Laser Filamentation. SENSORS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2022; 22:s22187076. [PMID: 36146424 PMCID: PMC9504994 DOI: 10.3390/s22187076] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2022] [Revised: 08/08/2022] [Accepted: 08/09/2022] [Indexed: 05/25/2023]
Abstract
Femtosecond laser filamentation is a unique nonlinear optical phenomenon when high-power ultrafast laser propagation in all transparent optical media. During filamentation in the atmosphere, the ultrastrong field of 1013-1014 W/cm2 with a large distance ranging from meter to kilometers can effectively ionize, break, and excite the molecules and fragments, resulting in characteristic fingerprint emissions, which provide a great opportunity for investigating strong-field molecules interaction in complicated environments, especially remote sensing. Additionally, the ultrastrong intensity inside the filament can damage almost all the detectors and ignite various intricate higher order nonlinear optical effects. These extreme physical conditions and complicated phenomena make the sensing and controlling of filamentation challenging. This paper mainly focuses on recent research advances in sensing with femtosecond laser filamentation, including fundamental physics, sensing and manipulating methods, typical filament-based sensing techniques and application scenarios, opportunities, and challenges toward the filament-based remote sensing under different complicated conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pengfei Qi
- Institute of Modern Optics, Eye Institute, Nankai University, Tianjin 300350, China
- Tianjin Key Laboratory of Micro-Scale Optical Information Science and Technology, Tianjin 300350, China
| | - Wenqi Qian
- Institute of Modern Optics, Eye Institute, Nankai University, Tianjin 300350, China
- Tianjin Key Laboratory of Micro-Scale Optical Information Science and Technology, Tianjin 300350, China
| | - Lanjun Guo
- Institute of Modern Optics, Eye Institute, Nankai University, Tianjin 300350, China
- Tianjin Key Laboratory of Micro-Scale Optical Information Science and Technology, Tianjin 300350, China
| | - Jiayun Xue
- Institute of Modern Optics, Eye Institute, Nankai University, Tianjin 300350, China
- Tianjin Key Laboratory of Micro-Scale Optical Information Science and Technology, Tianjin 300350, China
| | - Nan Zhang
- Institute of Modern Optics, Eye Institute, Nankai University, Tianjin 300350, China
- Tianjin Key Laboratory of Micro-Scale Optical Information Science and Technology, Tianjin 300350, China
| | - Yuezheng Wang
- Institute of Modern Optics, Eye Institute, Nankai University, Tianjin 300350, China
- Tianjin Key Laboratory of Micro-Scale Optical Information Science and Technology, Tianjin 300350, China
| | - Zhi Zhang
- Institute of Modern Optics, Eye Institute, Nankai University, Tianjin 300350, China
- Tianjin Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Sensor and Sensing Network Technology, Tianjin 300350, China
| | - Zeliang Zhang
- Institute of Modern Optics, Eye Institute, Nankai University, Tianjin 300350, China
- Tianjin Key Laboratory of Micro-Scale Optical Information Science and Technology, Tianjin 300350, China
| | - Lie Lin
- Institute of Modern Optics, Eye Institute, Nankai University, Tianjin 300350, China
- Tianjin Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Sensor and Sensing Network Technology, Tianjin 300350, China
| | - Changlin Sun
- Institute of Modern Optics, Eye Institute, Nankai University, Tianjin 300350, China
- Tianjin Key Laboratory of Micro-Scale Optical Information Science and Technology, Tianjin 300350, China
- National Key Laboratory of Shock Wave and Detonation Physics, Institute of Fluid Physics, China Academy of Engineering Physics, Mianyang 621900, China
| | - Liguo Zhu
- National Key Laboratory of Shock Wave and Detonation Physics, Institute of Fluid Physics, China Academy of Engineering Physics, Mianyang 621900, China
| | - Weiwei Liu
- Institute of Modern Optics, Eye Institute, Nankai University, Tianjin 300350, China
- Tianjin Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Sensor and Sensing Network Technology, Tianjin 300350, China
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Liu R, Ma Y, Ji L, Qiu L, Ji M, Tao Z, Wu S. Composite acousto-optical modulation. OPTICS EXPRESS 2022; 30:27780-27793. [PMID: 36236941 DOI: 10.1364/oe.445719] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2021] [Accepted: 03/06/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
We propose a composite acousto-optical modulation (AOM) scheme for wide-band, efficient modulation of CW and pulsed lasers. We show that by adjusting the amplitudes and phases of weakly-driven daughter AOMs, diffraction beyond the Bragg condition can be achieved with exceptional efficiencies. Furthermore, by imaging pairs of AOMs with opposite directions of sound-wave propagation, high contrast switching of output orders can be achieved at the driving radio frequency (rf) limit, thereby enabling efficient bidirectional routing of a synchronized mode-locked laser. Here we demonstrate a simplest example of such scheme with a double-AOM setup for efficient diffraction across an octave of rf bandwidth, and for routing a mode-locked pulse train with up to frep = 400 MHz repetition rate. We discuss extension of the composite scheme toward multi-path routing and time-domain multiplexing, so as to individually shape each pulses of ultrafast lasers for novel quantum control applications.
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Wang W, Pu T, Wu H, Li Y, Wang R, Sun B, Liang H. High-power Yb:CALGO regenerative amplifier and 30 fs output via multi-plate compression. OPTICS EXPRESS 2022; 30:22153-22160. [PMID: 36224921 DOI: 10.1364/oe.460004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2022] [Accepted: 05/25/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
The pulse energy and average power are two long-sought parameters of femtosecond lasers. In the fields of nonlinear-optics and strong-field physics, they respectively play the role to unlock the various nonlinear processes and provide enough photon fluxes. In this paper, a high-energy and high-power Yb:CALGO regenerative amplifier with 120 fs pulse width is reported. This high-performance regenerative amplifier can work with high stability in a large tuning range of repetition rates. Varying the repetition rate from 3 to 180 kHz, the maximum output power of 36 W and the pulse energy up to 4.3 mJ, corresponding to a peak power of more than 20 GW are demonstrated. The output beam is near diffraction limited with M2 = 1.09 and 1.14 on the horizontal and vertical directions, respectively. In addition, multi-plate compression is employed to achieve 30 fs output with 23 W average power which is attractive for applications such as high-harmonic generation.
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Pfaff Y, Forster C, Barbiero G, Rampp M, Klingebiel S, Brons J, Teisset CY, Wang H, Jung R, Jaksic J, Woldegeorgis AH, Saraceno CJ, Metzger T. Nonlinear pulse compression of a thin-disk amplifier and contrast enhancement via nonlinear ellipse rotation. OPTICS EXPRESS 2022; 30:10981-10990. [PMID: 35473051 DOI: 10.1364/oe.455393] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2022] [Accepted: 03/09/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
We demonstrate pulse compressibility from 840 fs to 38 fs of 10 mJ pulses from a thin-disk amplifier at a repetition rate of 3 kHz after nonlinear broadening in a multipass cell. In addition, the temporal-intensity contrast is enhanced via nonlinear ellipse rotation of more than a factor 50 with an optical efficiency of 56%. We believe this is the first published experimental combination of multipass cell-based nonlinear compression and nonlinear ellipse rotation-based contrast enhancement preserving both pulse compressibility and beam quality.
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Zhu B, Fu Z, Chen Y, Peng S, Jin C, Fan G, Zhang S, Wang S, Ru H, Tian C, Wang Y, Kapteyn H, Murnane M, Tao Z. Spatially homogeneous few-cycle compression of Yb lasers via all-solid-state free-space soliton management. OPTICS EXPRESS 2022; 30:2918-2932. [PMID: 35209423 DOI: 10.1364/oe.443942] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2021] [Accepted: 12/21/2021] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
The high power and variable repetition-rate of Yb femtosecond lasers makes them very attractive for ultrafast science. However, for capturing sub-200 fs dynamics, efficient, high-fidelity and high-stability pulse compression techniques are essential. Spectral broadening using an all-solid-state free-space geometry is particularly attractive, as it is simple, robust and low-cost. However, spatial and temporal losses caused by spatio-spectral inhomogeneities have been a major challenge to date, due to coupled space-time dynamics associated with unguided nonlinear propagation. In this work, we use all-solid-state free-space compressors to demonstrate compression of 170 fs pulses at a wavelength of 1030nm from a Yb:KGW laser to ∼9.2 fs, with a highly spatially homogeneous mode. This is achieved by ensuring that the nonlinear beam propagation in periodic layered Kerr media occurs in spatial soliton modes, and by confining the nonlinear phase through each material layer to less than 1.0 rad. A remarkable spatio-spectral homogeneity of ∼0.87 can be realized, which yields a high efficiency of >50% for few-cycle compression. The universality of the method is demonstrated by implementing high-quality pulse compression under a wide range of laser conditions. The high spatiotemporal quality and the exceptional stability of the compressed pulses are further verified by high-harmonic generation. Our predictive method offers a compact and cost-effective solution for high-quality few-cycle-pulse generation from Yb femtosecond lasers, and will enable broad applications in ultrafast science and extreme nonlinear optics.
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