No Arabic abstract
Tuneable ultrafast laser pulses are a powerful tool for measuring difficult-to-access degrees of freedom in materials science. In general these experiments require the ability to address resonances and excitations both above and below the bandgap of materials, and to probe their response at the timescale of the fastest non-trivial internal dynamics. This drives the need for ultrafast sources capable of delivering 10-15 fs duration pulses tuneable across the entire visible (VIS) and near infrared (NIR) range, 500 nm - 3000 nm, as well as the characterization of these sources. Here we present a single frequency-resolved optical gating (FROG) system capable of self-referenced characterization of pulses with 10 fs duration across the entire VIS-NIR spectral range. Our system does not require auxiliary beams and only minor reconfiguration for different wavelengths. We demonstrate the system with measurements of pulses across the entire tuning range.
We present an analysis of the visible through near infrared spectrum of Eta Carinae and its ejecta obtained during the Eta Carinae Campaign with the UVES at the ESO VLT. This is a part of larger effort to present a complete Eta Carinae spectrum, and extends the previously presented analyses with the HST/STIS in the UV (1240-3159 A) to 10,430 A. The spectrum in the mid and near UV is characterized by the ejecta absorption. At longer wavelengths, stellar wind features from the central source and narrow emission lines from the Weigelt condensations dominate the spectrum. However, narrow absorption lines from the circumstellar shells are present. This paper provides a description of the spectrum between 3060 and 10,430 A, including line identifications of the ejecta absorption spectrum, the emission spectrum from the Weigelt condensations and the P-Cygni stellar wind features. The high spectral resolving power of VLT/UVES enables equivalent width measurements of atomic and molecular absorption lines for elements with no transitions at the shorter wavelengths. However, the ground based seeing and contributions of nebular scattered radiation prevent direct comparison of measured equivalent widths in the VLT/UVES and HST/STIS spectra. Fortunately, HST/STIS and VLT/UVES have a small overlap in wavelength coverage which allows us to compare and adjust for the difference in scattered radiation entering the instruments apertures. This paper provides a complete online VLT/UVES spectrum with line identifications and a spectral comparison between HST/STIS and VLT/UVES between 3060 and 3160 A.
We demonstrate a method that enables accurate timing jitter spectral density characterization of free-running mode-locked laser oscillators over more than 10-decade of Fourier frequency from mHz to tens MHz range. The method is based on analyzing both the input voltage noise to the slave laser and the output voltage noise from the balanced optical cross- correlator (BOC), when two mode-locked lasers are synchronized in repetition rate by the BOC. As a demonstration experiment, timing jitter spectrum of a free-running mode-locked Er-fiber laser with a dynamic range of >340 dB is measured over Fourier frequency ranging from 1 mHz to 38.5 MHz (Nyquist frequency). The demonstrated method can resolve different noise mechanisms that cause specific jitter characteristics in free-running mode-locked laser oscillators for a vast range of time scales from <100-ns to >1000-s.
Optical spectroscopy is a fundamental tool in numerous areas of science and technology. Much effort has focused on miniaturizing spectrometers, but thus far at the cost of high spectral resolution and broad operating range. Here, we describe a compact spectrometer without this trade-off. The device relies on imaging multi-mode interference from leaky modes along a highly multimode tapered optical fiber, resulting in spectrally distinguishable images that form a basis for reconstructing an incident light spectrum. This tapered fiber multimode interference spectrometer enables the acquisition of broadband spectra in a single camera exposure with a measured resolution of 40 pm in the visible spectrum and 10 pm in the infrared spectrum, which are comparable to the performance of grating spectrometers. Spectroscopy from 500 nm to 1600 nm is demonstrated, though operation across the entire transparency window of silica fibers is possible. Multimode interference spectroscopy of leaky modes is suitable in a variety of device geometries, including planar waveguides in a broad range of transparent materials. We anticipate that this technique will greatly expand the availability of high-performance spectroscopy in a wide range of applications.
Although the first lasers invented operated in the visible, the first on-chip devices were optimized for near-infrared (IR) performance driven by demand in telecommunications. However, as the applications of integrated photonics has broadened, the wavelength demand has as well, and we are now returning to the visible (Vis) and pushing into the ultraviolet (UV). This shift has required innovations in device design and in materials as well as leveraging nonlinear behavior to reach these wavelengths. This review discusses the key nonlinear phenomena that can be used as well as presents several emerging material systems and devices that have reached the UV-Vis wavelength range.
Graphene is a very attractive material for broadband photodetection in hyperspectral imaging and sensing systems. However, its potential use has been hindered by tradeoffs between the responsivity, bandwidth, and operation speed of existing graphene photodetectors. Here, we present engineered photoconductive nanostructures based on gold-patched graphene nanoribbons, which enable simultaneous broadband and ultrafast photodetection with high responsivity. These nanostructures merge the advantages of broadband optical absorption, ultrafast photocarrier transport, and carrier multiplication in graphene nanoribbons with the ultrafast transport of photocarriers to the gold patches before recombination. Through this approach, high-responsivity operation is achieved without the use of bandwidth- and speed-limiting quantum dots, defect states, or tunneling barriers. We demonstrate high-responsivity photodetection from the visible to the infrared regime (0.6 A/W at 0.8 {mu}m and 11.5 A/W at 20 {mu}m) with operation speeds exceeding 50 GHz. Our results demonstrate an improvement of the response times by more than seven orders of magnitude and an increase in bandwidths of one order of magnitude compared to those of higher-responsivity graphene photodetectors based on quantum dots and tunneling barriers.