No Arabic abstract
Frequency to time mapping is a powerful technique for observing ultrafast phenomena and non-repetitive events in optics. However, many optical sources operate in wavelength regions, or at power levels, that are not compatible with standard frequency to time mapping implementations. The recently developed free-space angular chirp enhanced delay (FACED) removes many of these limitations, and offers a linear frequency to time mapping in any wavelength region where high-reflectivity mirrors and diffractive optics are available. In this work, we present a detailed formulation of the optical transfer function of a FACED device. Experimentally, we verify the properties of this transfer function, and then present simple guidelines to guarantee the correct operation of a FACED frequency to time measurement. We also experimentally demonstrate the real-time spectral analysis of femtosecond and picosecond pulses using this system.
An optical buffer having a large delay-bandwidth-product -- a critical component for future all-optical communications networks -- remains elusive. Central to its realization is a controllable inline optical delay line, previously accomplished via engineered dispersion in optical materials or photonic structures constrained by a low delay-bandwidth product. Here we show that space-time wave packets whose group velocity in free space is continuously tunable provide a versatile platform for constructing inline optical delay lines. By spatio-temporal spectral-phase-modulation, wave packets in the same or in different spectral windows that initially overlap in space and time subsequently separate by multiple pulse widths upon free propagation by virtue of their different group velocities. Delay-bandwidth products of ~100 for pulses of width ~1 ps are observed, with no fundamental limit on the system bandwidth.
Active ring laser gyroscopes (RLG) operating on the principle of the optical Sagnac effect are preferred instruments for a range of applications, such as inertial guidance systems, seismology, and geodesy, that require both high bias stability and high angular velocity resolutions. Operating at such accuracy levels demands special precautions like dithering or multi-mode operation to eliminate frequency lock-in or similar effects introduced due to synchronisation of counter-propagating channels. Recently proposed bidirectional ultrafast fibre lasers can circumvent the limitations of continuous wave RLGs. However, their performance is limited due to the nature of the highly-averaged interrogation of the Sagnac effect. In general, the performance of current optical gyroscopes relies on the available measurement methods used for extracting the signal. Here, by changing the paradigm of traditional measurement and applying spatio-temporal intensity processing, we demonstrate that the bidirectional ultrafast laser can be transformed to an ultrafast gyroscope with acquisition rates of the order of the laser repetition rate, making them at least two orders of magnitude faster than commercially deploy
The group velocity of space-time wave packets $-$ propagation-invariant pulsed beams endowed with tight spatio-temporal spectral correlations $-$ can take on arbitrary values in free space. Here we investigate theoretically and experimentally the maximum achievable group delay that realistic finite-energy space-time wave packets can achieve with respect to a reference pulse traveling at the speed of light. We find that this delay is determined solely by the spectral uncertainty in the association between the spatial frequencies and wavelengths underlying the wave packet spatio-temporal spectrum $-$ and not by the beam size, bandwidth, or pulse width. We show experimentally that the propagation of space-time wave packets is delimited by a spectral-uncertainty-induced `pilot envelope that travels at a group velocity equal to the speed of light in vacuum. Temporal walk-off between the space-time wave packet and the pilot envelope limits the maximum achievable differential group delay to the width of the pilot envelope. Within this pilot envelope, the space-time wave packet can locally travel at an arbitrary group velocity and yet not violate relativistic causality because the leading or trailing edge of superluminal and subluminal space-time wave packets, respectively, are suppressed once they reach the envelope edge. Using pulses of width $sim$4ps and a spectral uncertainty of $sim$ 20 pm, we measure maximum differential group delays of approximately $pm$ 150 ps, which exceed previously reported measurements by at least three orders of magnitude.
An analytic solution for Bragg grating with linear chirp in the form of confluent hypergeometric functions is analyzed in the asymptotic limit of long grating. Simple formulas for reflection coefficient and group delay are derived. The simplification makes it possible to analyze irregularities of the curves and suggest the ways of their suppression. It is shown that the increase in chirp at fixed other parameters decreases the oscillations in the group delay, but gains the oscillations in the reflection spectrum. The conclusions are in agreement with numerical calculations.
We introduce a new method for performing ultrafast imaging and tracking of surface plasmon wave packets that propagate on metal films. We demonstrate the efficiency of leakage radiation microscopy implemented in the time domain for measuring both group and phase velocities of near-field pulses with a high level of precision. The versatility of our far-field imaging method is particularly appealing in the context of ultrafast near-field optics.