No Arabic abstract
Vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) light at 118 nm has been shown to be a powerful tool to ionize molecules for various gas-phase chemical studies. A convenient table top source of 118 nm light can be produced by frequency tripling 355 nm light from a Nd:YAG laser in xenon gas. This process has a low efficiency, typically producing only nJ/pulse of VUV light. Simple models of the tripling process predict the power of 118 nm light produced should increase quadratically with increasing xenon pressure. However, experimental 118 nm production has been observed to reach a maximum and then decrease to zero with increasing xenon pressure. Here, we describe the basic theory and experimental setup for producing 118 nm light and a new proposed model for the mechanism limiting the production based on pressure broadened absorption.
We report generation of spectrally bright vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) and deep UV (DUV) coherent radiations driven by quantum coherence in tunnel-ionized carbon monoxide (CO) molecules. Our technique allows us to switch between multiple wavelengths provided by the abundant energy levels of molecular ions. The DUV/VUV sources can have arbitrary polarization states by manipulating the pump laser polarization. The superior temporal and spectral properties of the developed source give rise to a broadband Raman comb in the DUV/VUV region.
A compact high repetition rate attosecond light source based on a standard laser oscillator combined with plasmonic enhancement is presented. At repetition rates of tens of MHz, we predict focusable pulses with durations of ~< 300 attoseconds, and collimation angles ~< 5 degrees. Attosecond pulse parameters are robust with respect variations of driver pulse focus and duration.
We presented a new way to examine the principle of relativity of Special Relativity. According to the principle of relativity, the light dragging by moving media and the light propagation in stationary media with moving source and receiver should be two totally equivalent phenomena. We select a vacuum tube with two glass rods at two ends as the optical media. The length of the middle vacuum cell is L and the thicknesses of the glass rods with refractive index n are D1 and D2. The light drag effect of the moving vacuum tube with speed v is a first-order effect, delta t = 2(n-1)(D1+D2)v/c^2, which is independent of L because vacuum does not perform a drag effect. Predicted by the principle of relativity, the change of the light propagation time interval with stationary vacuum tube and moving source and receiver must be the same, i.e., delta tao = delta t = 2(n-1)(D1+D2)v/c^2. However all analyses have shown that the change of the propagation time interval delta tao is caused by the motion of the receiver during the light propagation in the vacuum tube. Thus, the contribution of the glass rods in delta tao is 2n(D1+D2)v/c^2, not 2(n-1)(D1+D2)v/c^2 in delta t. Importantly, the contribution of the vacuum cell in delta tao is 2Lv/c^2, not zero in delta t. Our analyses are solid in optics. The genuine tests of the prediction of the principle of relativity can be conducted by the experiments with two atomic clocks, or the experiments with fiber Sagnac interferometers.
We present an all-solid-state laser source emitting up to 2.1 W of single-frequency light at 671 nm developed for laser cooling of lithium atoms. It is based on a diode-pumped, neodymium-doped orthovanadate (Nd:YVO$_4$) ring laser operating at 1342 nm. Optimization of the thermal management in the gain medium results in a maximum multi-frequency output power of 2.5 W at the fundamental wavelength. We develop a simple theory for the efficient implementation of intracavity second harmonic generation, and its application to our system allows us to obtain nonlinear conversion efficiencies of up to 88%. Single-mode operation and tuning is established by adding an etalon to the resonator. The second-harmonic wavelength can be tuned over 0.5 nm, and mode-hop-free scanning over more than 6 GHz is demonstrated, corresponding to around ten times the laser cavity free spectral range. The output frequency can be locked with respect to the lithium $D$-line transitions for atomic physics applications. Furthermore, we observe parametric Kerr-lens mode-locking when detuning the phase-matching temperature sufficiently far from the optimum value.
Quantum light sources are characterized by their distinctive statistical distribution of photons. For example, single photons and correlated photon pairs exhibit antibunching and reduced variance in the number distribution that is impossible with classical light. Most common realizations of quantum light sources have relied on spontaneous parametric processes such as down-conversion (SPDC) and four-wave mixing (SFWM). These processes are mediated by vacuum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field. Therefore, by manipulating the electromagnetic mode structure, for example, using nanophotonic systems, one can engineer the spectrum of generated photons. However, such manipulations are susceptible to fabrication disorders which are ubiquitous in nanophotonic systems and lead to device-to-device variations in the spectrum of generated photons. Here, we demonstrate topologically robust mode engineering of the electromagnetic vacuum fluctuations and implement a nanophotonic quantum light source where the spectrum of generated photons is robust against fabrication disorders. Specifically, we use the topological edge states to achieve an enhanced and robust generation of correlated photon pairs using SFWM and show that they outperform their topologically-trivial counterparts. We demonstrate the non-classical nature of our source using conditional antibunching of photons which confirms that we have realized a robust source of heralded single photons. Such topological effects, which are unique to bosonic systems, could pave the way for the development of robust quantum photonic devices.