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Smartsev S, Liberman A, Andriyash IA, Cavagna A, Flacco A, Giaccaglia C, Kaur J, Monzac J, Tata S, Vernier A, Malka V, Lopez-Martens R, Faure J. Simple few-shot method for spectrally resolving the wavefront of an ultrashort laser pulse. OPTICS LETTERS 2024; 49:1900-1903. [PMID: 38621034 DOI: 10.1364/ol.502000] [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: 03/12/2024] [Indexed: 04/17/2024]
Abstract
We present a novel, to the best of our knowledge, and straightforward approach for the spatio-spectral characterization of ultrashort pulses. This minimally intrusive method relies on placing a mask with specially arranged pinholes in the beam path before the focusing optic and retrieving the spectrally resolved laser wavefront from the speckle pattern produced at focus. We test the efficacy of this new method by accurately retrieving chromatic aberrations, such as pulse-front tilt (PFT), pulse-front curvature (PFC), and higher-order aberrations introduced by a spherical lens. The simplicity and scalability of this method, combined with its compatibility with single-shot operation, make it a strong complement to existing tools for high-intensity laser facilities.
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Shi B, Yu L, Liang X. Spatio-temporal characterization of tightly focused femtosecond laser fields formed by paraboloidal mirrors with different F-numbers. OPTICS EXPRESS 2023; 31:33299-33311. [PMID: 37859113 DOI: 10.1364/oe.501120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2023] [Accepted: 09/06/2023] [Indexed: 10/21/2023]
Abstract
The focusing spatiotemporal property of a femtosecond laser pulse is presented under tight focusing conditions by using the frequency-resolved incident electric field and vector diffraction formulas with the wavefront correction term. In the ideal case, the focused laser intensity reaches its maximum at the F-number of ∼0.35 due to the strong diffraction effect under extremely tight focusing conditions. In spatio-temporal coupling distortion cases, their spatiotemporal Strehl ratios show a trend of improvement as the F-number decreases and this phenomenon is mainly concentrated along the y-direction. Based on the numerical calculation method used in this work, the precise information of tightly focused ultra-intense femtosecond laser fields can be obtained, which is crucial for assessing a focused intensity and describing the motion of charged particles under an extremely strong electric field. Moreover, the evolution law of focal fields with spatiotemporal distortions found in this paper can offer some theoretical guidance for realizing ultrahigh laser intensity in the near future.
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Goldberger D, Barolak J, Schmidt D, Ivanic B, Schrama CAM, Car C, Larsen R, Durfee CG, Adams DE. Single-pulse, reference-free, spatiotemporal characterization of ultrafast laser pulse beams via broadband ptychography. OPTICS LETTERS 2023; 48:3455-3458. [PMID: 37390154 DOI: 10.1364/ol.493234] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2023] [Accepted: 05/24/2023] [Indexed: 07/02/2023]
Abstract
Ultrafast laser pulse beams are four-dimensional, space-time phenomena that can exhibit complicated, coupled spatial and temporal profiles. Tailoring the spatiotemporal profile of an ultrafast pulse beam is necessary to optimize the focused intensity and to engineer exotic spatiotemporally shaped pulse beams. Here we demonstrate a single-pulse, reference-free spatiotemporal characterization technique based on two colocated synchronized measurements: (1) broadband single-shot ptychography and (2) single-shot frequency resolved optical gating. We apply the technique to measure the nonlinear propagation of an ultrafast pulse beam through a fused silica window. Our spatiotemporal characterization method represents a major contribution to the growing field of spatiotemporally engineered ultrafast laser pulse beams.
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Li Z, Liu J, Xu Y, Leng Y, Li R. Simulating spatiotemporal dynamics of ultra-intense ultrashort lasers through imperfect grating compressors. OPTICS EXPRESS 2022; 30:41296-41312. [PMID: 36366611 DOI: 10.1364/oe.473439] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2022] [Accepted: 10/14/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
The upcoming 100 Petawatt (PW) laser is going to provide a possibility to experimentally study vacuum physics. Pulse compression and beam focusing, which can be affected by the spatiotemporal coupling, are two key processes of generating a 100 PW laser and then determine whether its physical objective can be achieved or not. We improved our previous model of the spatiotemporal coupling where only the grating wavefront error and the output optical field of a common compressor configuration were included, and in the improved model, the grating amplitude modulation, the spatio-spectral clipping, and the optical field inside the compressor were added. By using it, we theoretically investigated the spatiotemporal dynamics of an ultra-intense ultrashort laser passing through an imperfect grating compressor for different cases, especially the spatio-temporal/spectral coupling and the on-target intensity variation induced by the phase and amplitude modulation at different grating positions in two different compressor configurations. This study is of importance for both engineering development and physical application of the upcoming Exawatt-class laser.
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Xu Y, Yi Y, Zhu P, Pan X, Zhang Q, Pan L, Ding F, Zhang D, Liang X, Sun M, Guo A, Zhang X, Tao H, Guang Z, Liu C, Xie X, Zhu J, Trebino R. Simple single-shot complete spatiotemporal intensity and phase measurement of an arbitrary ultrashort pulse using coherent modulation imaging. OPTICS LETTERS 2022; 47:5664-5667. [PMID: 37219298 DOI: 10.1364/ol.469002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2022] [Accepted: 10/04/2022] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
We propose a simple single-shot spatiotemporal measurement technique called coherent modulation imaging for the spatio-spectrum (CMISS), which reconstructs the full three-dimensional high-resolution characteristics of ultrashort pulses based on frequency-space division and coherent modulation imaging. We demonstrated it experimentally by measuring the spatiotemporal amplitude and phase of a single pulse with a spatial resolution of 44 µm and a phase accuracy of 0.04 rad. CMISS has good potential for high-power ultrashort-pulse laser facilities and can measure even spatiotemporally complicated pulses with important applications.
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Tang H, Men T, Liu X, Hu Y, Su J, Zuo Y, Li P, Liang J, Downer MC, Li Z. Single-shot compressed optical field topography. LIGHT, SCIENCE & APPLICATIONS 2022; 11:244. [PMID: 35915072 PMCID: PMC9343635 DOI: 10.1038/s41377-022-00935-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2022] [Revised: 07/12/2022] [Accepted: 07/14/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Femtosecond lasers are powerful in studying matter's ultrafast dynamics within femtosecond to attosecond time scales. Drawing a three-dimensional (3D) topological map of the optical field of a femtosecond laser pulse including its spatiotemporal amplitude and phase distributions, allows one to predict and understand the underlying physics of light interaction with matter, whose spatially resolved transient dielectric function experiences ultrafast evolution. However, such a task is technically challenging for two reasons: first, one has to capture in single-shot and squeeze the 3D information of an optical field profile into a two-dimensional (2D) detector; second, typical detectors are only sensitive to intensity or amplitude information rather than phase. Here we have demonstrated compressed optical field topography (COFT) drawing a 3D map for an ultrafast optical field in single-shot, by combining the coded aperture snapshot spectral imaging (CASSI) technique with a global 3D phase retrieval procedure. COFT can, in single-shot, fully characterize the spatiotemporal coupling of a femtosecond laser pulse, and live stream the light-speed propagation of an air plasma ionization front, unveiling its potential applications in ultrafast sciences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haocheng Tang
- School of Optical and Electronic Information & Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China
| | - Ting Men
- School of Optical and Electronic Information & Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China
| | - Xianglei Liu
- Centre Énergie Matériaux Télécommunications, Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université du Québec, Varennes, Québec, Canada
| | - Yaodan Hu
- School of Optical and Electronic Information & Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China
| | - Jingqin Su
- Laser Fusion Research Center, Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics, Mianyang, Sichuan, China
| | - Yanlei Zuo
- Laser Fusion Research Center, Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics, Mianyang, Sichuan, China
| | - Ping Li
- Laser Fusion Research Center, Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics, Mianyang, Sichuan, China
| | - Jinyang Liang
- Centre Énergie Matériaux Télécommunications, Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université du Québec, Varennes, Québec, Canada
| | - Michael C Downer
- Department of Physics, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Zhengyan Li
- School of Optical and Electronic Information & Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
- Optics Valley Laboratory, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
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Jeandet A, Jolly SW, Borot A, Bussière B, Dumont P, Gautier J, Gobert O, Goddet JP, Gonsalves A, Irman A, Leemans WP, Lopez-Martens R, Mennerat G, Nakamura K, Ouillé M, Pariente G, Pittman M, Püschel T, Sanson F, Sylla F, Thaury C, Zeil K, Quéré F. Survey of spatio-temporal couplings throughout high-power ultrashort lasers. OPTICS EXPRESS 2022; 30:3262-3288. [PMID: 35209589 DOI: 10.1364/oe.444564] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2021] [Accepted: 12/15/2021] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
The investigation of spatio-temporal couplings (STCs) of broadband light beams is becoming a key topic for the optimization as well as applications of ultrashort laser systems. This calls for accurate measurements of STCs. Yet, it is only recently that such complete spatio-temporal or spatio-spectral characterization has become possible, and it has so far mostly been implemented at the output of the laser systems, where experiments take place. In this survey, we present for the first time STC measurements at different stages of a collection of high-power ultrashort laser systems, all based on the chirped-pulse amplification (CPA) technique, but with very different output characteristics. This measurement campaign reveals spatio-temporal effects with various sources, and motivates the expanded use of STC characterization throughout CPA laser chains, as well as in a wider range of types of ultrafast laser systems. In this way knowledge will be gained not only about potential defects, but also about the fundamental dynamics and operating regimes of advanced ultrashort laser systems.
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