No Arabic abstract
We demonstrate a fiber source with the best performance from an ultrafast fiber oscillator to date. The ring-cavity Mamyshev oscillator produces 50-nJ and 40-fs pulses. The peak power is an order of magnitude higher than that of previous lasers with similar fiber mode area. This performance is achieved by designing the oscillator to support parabolic pulse formation which enables the management of unprecedented nonlinear phase shifts. Experimental results are limited by available pump power. Numerical simulations reveal key aspects of the pulse evolution, and realistically suggest that (after external compression) peak powers that approach 10 MW are possible from ordinary single-mode fiber. The combination of practical features such as environmental stability, established previously, with the performance described here make the Mamyshev oscillator extremely attractive for applications.
We present the first design and analysis of a solid-state Mamyshev oscillator. We utilize the phase-mismatched cascaded quadratic nonlinear process in periodically poled lithium niobite waveguide to generate substantial spectral broadening for Mamyshev modelocking. The extensive spectral broadening bridges the two narrowband gain media in the two arms of the same cavity, leading to a broadband mode-locking not attainable with either gain medium alone. Two pulses are coupled out of the cavity and each of the output pulses carries a pulse energy of 25.3 nJ at a repetition rate of 100 MHz. The 10-dB bandwidth of 2.1 THz supports a transform limited pulse duration of 322 fs, more than 5 times shorter than what can be achieved with either gain medium alone. Finally, effects of group velocity mismatch, group velocity dispersion, and nonlinear saturation on the performance of Mamyshev mode-locking are numerically discussed in detail.
While the performance of mode-locked fiber lasers has been improved significantly, the limited gain bandwidth restricts them to generate ultrashort pulses approaching a few cycles or even shorter. Here we present a novel method to achieve few cycle pulses (~5 cycles) with ultra-broad spectrum (~400 nm). To our best knowledge, this is the shortest pulse width and broadest spectrum directly generated from fiber lasers. It is noteworthy that a dramatic ultrashort pulse evolution can be stabilized in a laser oscillator by the unique nonlinear processes of a self-similar evolution as a nonlinear attractor in the gain fiber and a perfect saturable absorber action of the Mamyshev oscillator.
Mode-locked fiber lasers provide a versatile playground to study dissipative soliton (DS) dynamics. The corresponding studies not only give insights into soliton dynamics in dissipative systems, but also contribute to femtosecond fiber laser design. Recently, Mamyshev oscillators (MOs), which rely upon a pair of narrow filters with offset passing frequencies, have emerged as a promising candidate for high power, ultrabroad bandwidth pulse generation. To date, only stable mode-locking states in MOs have been reported. Here, we present a comprehensive experimental and numerical investigation of pulsating DSs in an ytterbium MO. By reducing the filter separation down to 4 nm, we observe pulsation in a single pulse state as well as a soliton molecule state. In the single pulse state, the output pulse energy can vary as large as 40 times in our MO. Single-shot spectra measured by the dispersive Fourier transform (DFT) method reveal the spectral bandwidth breathing during pulsation and enables the observation of soliton explosion in a pulsation state. In addition, pulsation with a period lasting 9 round trips and even a chaotic pulsation state are also observed. Numerical simulations based on a lumped model qualitatively agree with our observation. Our results enrich DS dynamics in MOs and show the impact of filter separation on the stability of MOs.
The quantum mechanical motion of electrons in molecules and solids occurs on the sub-femtosecond timescale. Consequently, the study of ultrafast electronic phenomena requires the generation of laser pulses shorter than 1 fs and of sufficient intensity to interact with their target with high probability. Probing these dynamics with atomic-site specificity requires the extension of sub-femtosecond pulses to the soft X-ray spectral region. Here we report the generation of isolated GW-scale soft X-ray attosecond pulses with an X-ray free-electron laser. Our source has a pulse energy that is six orders of magnitude larger than any other source of isolated attosecond pulses in the soft X-ray spectral region, with a peak power in the tens of gigawatts. This unique combination of high intensity, high photon energy and short pulse duration enables the investigation of electron dynamics with X-ray non-linear spectroscopy and single-particle imaging.
We describe a tunable broadband mid-infrared laser source based on difference-frequency mixing of a 100 MHz femtosecond Yb:fiber laser oscillator and a Raman-shifted soliton generated with the same laser. The resulting light is tunable over 3.0 um to 4.4 um, with a FWHM bandwidth of 170 nm and maximum average output power up to 125 mW. The noise and coherence properties of this source are also investigated and described.