No Arabic abstract
Nanoscale amplification of non-linear processes in solid-state devices opens novel applications in nano-electronics, nano-medicine or high energy conversion for example. Coupling few nano-joules laser energy at a nanometer scale for strong field physics is demonstrated. We report enhancement of high harmonic generation in nano-structured semiconductors using nanoscale amplification of a mid-infrared laser in the sample rather than using large laser amplifier systems. Field amplification is achieved through light confinement in nano-structured semiconductor 3D waveguides. The high harmonic nano-converter consists of an array of zinc-oxide nanocones. They exhibit a large amplification volume, 6 orders of magnitude larger than previously reported and avoid melting observed in metallic plasmonic structures. The amplification of high harmonics is observed by coupling only 5-10 nano-joules of a 3.2 {mu}m high repetition-rate OPCPA laser at the entrance of each nanocone. Harmonic amplification (factor 30) depends on the laser energy input, wavelength and nanocone geometry.
Light beams carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) have led to stunning applications in various fields from quantum information to microscopy. In this letter, we examine OAM from the recently discovered high-harmonic generation (HHG) in semiconductor crystals. HHG from solids could be a valuable approach for integrated high-flux short-wavelength coherent light sources. The solid state nature of the generation medium allows the possibility to tailor directly the radiation at the source of the emission and offers a substantial degree of freedom for spatial beam shaping. First, we verify the fundamental principle of the transfer and conservation of the OAM from the generation laser to the harmonics. Second, we create OAM beams by etching a spiral zone structure directly at the surface of a zinc oxide crystal. Such diffractive optics act on the generated harmonics and produces focused optical vortices with nanometer scale sizes that may have potential applications in nanoscale optical trapping and quantum manipulation.
Proposed all optical amplification scenario is based on the properties of light propagation in two coupled subwavelength metallic slab waveguides where for particular choice of waveguide parameters two propagating (symmetric) and non-propagating (antisymmetric) eigenmodes coexist. For such a setup incident beams realize boundary conditions for forming a stationary state as a superposition of mentioned eigenmodes. It is shown both analytically and numerically that amplification rate in this completely linear mechanism diverges for small signal values.
We introduce a weakly coupled photonic crystal waveguide as a promising and realistic model for all-optical amplification. A symmetric pillar type coupled photonic crystal waveguide consisting of dielectric rods periodically distributed in a free space is proposed as all-optical amplifier. Using the unique features of the photonic crystals to control and guide the light, we have properly chosen the frequency at which only one mode (odd mode) becomes the propagating mode in the coupled photonic crystal waveguide, whereas another mode (even mode) is completely reflected from the guiding structure. Under this condition, the all-optical amplification is fully realized. The amplification coefficient for the continuous signal and the Gaussian pulse is calculated.
Strong amplification in integrated photonics is one of the most desired optical functionalities for computing, communications, sensing, and quantum information processing. Semiconductor gain and cubic nonlinearities, such as four-wave mixing and stimulated Raman and Brillouin scattering, have been among the most studied amplification mechanisms on chip. Alternatively, material platforms with strong quadratic nonlinearities promise numerous advantages with respect to gain and bandwidth, among which nanophotonic lithium niobate is one of the most promising candidates. Here, we combine quasi-phase matching with dispersion engineering in nanophotonic lithium niobate waveguides and achieve intense optical parametric amplification. We measure a broadband phase-sensitive amplification larger than 45 dB/cm in a 2.5-mm-long waveguide. We further confirm high gain operation in the degenerate and non-degenerate regimes by amplifying vacuum fluctuations to macroscopic levels in a 6-mm-long waveguide, with gains exceeding 100 dB/cm over 600 nm of bandwidth around 2 $mu$m. Our results unlock new possibilities for on-chip few-cycle nonlinear optics, mid-infrared photonics, and quantum photonics.
We generate high-order harmonics of a mid-infrared laser from a silicon single crystal and find their origin in the recollision of coherently accelerated electrons with their holes, analogously to the atomic and molecular case, and to ZnO [Vampa et al., Nature 522, 462-464 (2015)], a direct bandgap material. Therefore indirect bandgap materials are shown to sustain the recollision process as well as direct bandgap materials. Furthermore, we find that the generation is perturbed with electric fields as low as 30 V/$mu$m, equal to the DC damage threshold. Our results extend high-harmonic spectroscopy to the most technologically relevant material, and open the possibility to integrate high harmonics with conventional electronics.