Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
4.5
2.7
Journals
Applied Sciences
Special Issues
Multi-Color Laser Emission for the Generation of Ultrashort Optical Pulse
share announcement

Multi-Color Laser Emission for the Generation of Ultrashort Optical Pulse

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Optics and Lasers".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2016) | Viewed by 80300

Printed Edition Available!
A printed edition of this Special Issue is available here.

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Totaro Imasaka

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Professor Emeritus, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan
Interests: analytical chemistry; analytical instrumentation; analytical science; trace analysis; lasers; non-linear optics; spectrometry
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

 

The pulse width of an electromagnetic wave is determined by the frequency band width of the wave used. Therefore, one femtosecond is the ultimate in pulse width for an “optical” wave. For this reason, several methods have been proposed for the generation of an ultrashort optical pulse. For example, resonance/non-resonance four-wave mixing would be one of the candidates for generating multi-color laser emission in an extremely wide spectral region, thus breaking the 1-fs barrier.

To date, numerous emission lines have been generated from the deep-ultraviolet to the near-infrared region (<45,000 cm−1). Such generations use a variety of techniques, such as four-wave Raman mixing in molecular hydrogen. This type of technique is promising for the generation of 1-fs optical pulses via phase locking and the Fourier synthesis of the emission lines. For verification, it would be necessary to develop a new method for measuring the pulse width, since the spectral band width approaches or is beyond one octave.

Ultrashort optical pulses can be utilized in a variety of applications in science and technology. For example, an ultrashort optical pulse can be used in the studies of ultrafast phenomena. More practically, a laser pulse shorter than 100 fs is reported to be useful in mass spectrometry for observing a molecular ion of triacetone triperoxide, an explosive used in terrorist attacks. A train of ultrashort optical pulses in the terahertz region, which has been generated in the optical cavity to enhance the nonlinear optical effect, would be employed as a clock pulse in optical computation/communication in future advanced industries. Therefore, it would be important to investigate a new frontier in the generation of multi-color laser emission for Fourier synthesis to generate ultrashort optical pulses and to publish a new issue of invited papers to clarify new trends in the state-of-the-art.

Prof. Dr. Totaro Imasaka
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.


Keywords

  • multi-color laser
  • Fourier synthesis
  • ultrashort optical pulse
  • four-wave mixing
  • high-order sideband generation
  • ultrafast phenomena
  • data communication

Published Papers (11 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Editorial

Jump to: Research, Review

168 KiB  
Editorial
Rainbow Stars—Multi-Color Laser Emission for Science and Art
by Totaro Imasaka
Appl. Sci. 2017, 7(2), 127; https://doi.org/10.3390/app7020127 - 04 Feb 2017
Viewed by 3191
Abstract
December 28, 1987:[...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multi-Color Laser Emission for the Generation of Ultrashort Optical Pulse)

Research

Jump to: Editorial, Review

1083 KiB  
Article
A Simple Method for the Evaluation of the Pulse Width of an Ultraviolet Femtosecond Laser Used in Two-Photon Ionization Mass Spectrometry
by Tomoko Imasaka, Akifumi Hamachi, Tomoya Okuno and Totaro Imasaka
Appl. Sci. 2016, 6(5), 136; https://doi.org/10.3390/app6050136 - 06 May 2016
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 4290
Abstract
A simple method was proposed for on-site evaluation of the pulse width of an ultraviolet femtosecond laser coupled with a mass spectrometer. This technique was based on measurement of a two-photon ionization signal in mass spectrometry by translation of the prism in the [...] Read more.
A simple method was proposed for on-site evaluation of the pulse width of an ultraviolet femtosecond laser coupled with a mass spectrometer. This technique was based on measurement of a two-photon ionization signal in mass spectrometry by translation of the prism in the pulse compressor of the femtosecond laser. The method was applied to optical pulses that were emitted at wavelengths of 267, 241, and 219 nm; the latter two pulses were generated by four-wave Raman mixing using the third harmonic emission of a Ti:sapphire laser (267 nm) in hydrogen gas. The measurement results show that this approach is useful for evaluation of the pulse width of the ultraviolet femtosecond laser used in mass spectrometry for trace analysis of organic compounds. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multi-Color Laser Emission for the Generation of Ultrashort Optical Pulse)
►▼ Show Figures

Graphical abstract

1010 KiB  
Article
Multicolored Femtosecond Pulse Synthesis Using Coherent Raman Sidebands in a Reflection Scheme
by Kai Wang, Alexandra A. Zhdanova, Miaochan Zhi, Xia Hua and Alexei V. Sokolov
Appl. Sci. 2015, 5(2), 145-156; https://doi.org/10.3390/app5020145 - 11 Jun 2015
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 6072
Abstract
Broadband coherent Raman generation emerges as a successful method to produce multicolored femtosecond pulses and time-shaped laser fields. In our study, coherent Raman sidebands are generated in a Raman-active crystal, driven by two-color femtosecond laser pulses. An interferogram of the sidebands based on [...] Read more.
Broadband coherent Raman generation emerges as a successful method to produce multicolored femtosecond pulses and time-shaped laser fields. In our study, coherent Raman sidebands are generated in a Raman-active crystal, driven by two-color femtosecond laser pulses. An interferogram of the sidebands based on coherent Raman scattering is produced in a novel reflection scheme. The relative spectral phases of the sidebands are obtained from the interferogram using a numerical simulation. This enables us to retrieve the ultrafast waveform using coherent Raman sidebands. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multi-Color Laser Emission for the Generation of Ultrashort Optical Pulse)
►▼ Show Figures

Graphical abstract

3352 KiB  
Article
Autocorrelation and Frequency-Resolved Optical Gating Measurements Based on the Third Harmonic Generation in a Gaseous Medium
by Yoshinari Takao, Tomoko Imasaka, Yuichiro Kida and Totaro Imasaka
Appl. Sci. 2015, 5(2), 136-144; https://doi.org/10.3390/app5020136 - 09 Jun 2015
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 6274
Abstract
A gas was utilized in producing the third harmonic emission as a nonlinear optical medium for autocorrelation and frequency-resolved optical gating measurements to evaluate the pulse width and chirp of a Ti:sapphire laser. Due to a wide frequency domain available for a gas, [...] Read more.
A gas was utilized in producing the third harmonic emission as a nonlinear optical medium for autocorrelation and frequency-resolved optical gating measurements to evaluate the pulse width and chirp of a Ti:sapphire laser. Due to a wide frequency domain available for a gas, this approach has potential for use in measuring the pulse width in the optical (ultraviolet/visible) region beyond one octave and thus for measuring an optical pulse width less than 1 fs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multi-Color Laser Emission for the Generation of Ultrashort Optical Pulse)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

3368 KiB  
Article
Sum-Frequency-Generation-Based Laser Sidebands for Tunable Femtosecond Raman Spectroscopy in the Ultraviolet
by Liangdong Zhu, Weimin Liu, Yanli Wang and Chong Fang
Appl. Sci. 2015, 5(2), 48-61; https://doi.org/10.3390/app5020048 - 16 Apr 2015
Cited by 19 | Viewed by 8885
Abstract
Femtosecond stimulated Raman spectroscopy (FSRS) is an emerging molecular structural dynamics technique for functional materials characterization typically in the visible to near-IR range. To expand its applications we have developed a versatile FSRS setup in the ultraviolet region. We use the combination of [...] Read more.
Femtosecond stimulated Raman spectroscopy (FSRS) is an emerging molecular structural dynamics technique for functional materials characterization typically in the visible to near-IR range. To expand its applications we have developed a versatile FSRS setup in the ultraviolet region. We use the combination of a narrowband, ~400 nm Raman pump from a home-built second harmonic bandwidth compressor and a tunable broadband probe pulse from sum-frequency-generation-based cascaded four-wave mixing (SFG-CFWM) laser sidebands in a thin BBO crystal. The ground state Raman spectrum of a laser dye Quinolon 390 in methanol that strongly absorbs at ~355 nm is systematically studied as a standard sample to provide previously unavailable spectroscopic characterization in the vibrational domain. Both the Stokes and anti-Stokes Raman spectra can be collected by selecting different orders of SFG-CFWM sidebands as the probe pulse. The stimulated Raman gain with the 402 nm Raman pump is >21 times larger than that with the 550 nm Raman pump when measured at the 1317 cm−1 peak for the aromatic ring deformation and ring-H rocking mode of the dye molecule, demonstrating that pre-resonance enhancement is effectively achieved in the unique UV-FSRS setup. This added tunability in the versatile and compact optical setup enables FSRS to better capture transient conformational snapshots of photosensitive molecules that absorb in the UV range. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multi-Color Laser Emission for the Generation of Ultrashort Optical Pulse)
►▼ Show Figures

Graphical abstract

1926 KiB  
Article
Broadband Continuous-Wave Multi-Harmonic Optical Comb Based on a Frequency Division-by-Three Optical Parametric Oscillator
by Yen-Yin Lin, Po-Shu Wu, Hsiu-Ru Yang, Jow-Tsong Shy and A. H. Kung
Appl. Sci. 2014, 4(4), 515-524; https://doi.org/10.3390/app4040515 - 26 Nov 2014
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 7706
Abstract
We report a multi-watt broadband continuous-wave multi-harmonic optical comb based on a frequency division-by-three singly-resonant optical parametric oscillator. This cw optical comb is frequency-stabilized with the help of a beat signal derived from the signal and frequency-doubled idler waves. The measured frequency fluctuation [...] Read more.
We report a multi-watt broadband continuous-wave multi-harmonic optical comb based on a frequency division-by-three singly-resonant optical parametric oscillator. This cw optical comb is frequency-stabilized with the help of a beat signal derived from the signal and frequency-doubled idler waves. The measured frequency fluctuation in one standard deviation is ~437 kHz. This is comparable to the linewidth of the pump laser which is a master-oscillator seeded Yb:doped fiber amplifier at ~1064 nm. The measured powers of the fundamental wave and the harmonic waves up to the 6th harmonic wave are 1.64 W, 0.77 W, 3.9 W, 0.78 W, 0.17 W, and 0.11 W, respectively. The total spectral width covered by this multi-harmonic comb is ~470 THz. When properly phased, this multi-harmonic optical comb can be expected to produce by Fourier synthesis a light source consisting of periodic optical field waveforms that have an envelope full-width at half-maximum of 1.59 fs in each period. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multi-Color Laser Emission for the Generation of Ultrashort Optical Pulse)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

2660 KiB  
Article
Continuous-Wave Molecular Modulation Using a High-Finesse Cavity
by David C. Gold, Joshua J. Weber and Deniz D. Yavuz
Appl. Sci. 2014, 4(4), 498-514; https://doi.org/10.3390/app4040498 - 18 Nov 2014
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 5906
Abstract
We demonstrate an optical modulator at a frequency of 90 THz that has the capability to modulate any laser beam in the optical region of the spectrum. The modulator is constructed by placing deuterium molecules inside a high-finesse cavity and driving a vibrational [...] Read more.
We demonstrate an optical modulator at a frequency of 90 THz that has the capability to modulate any laser beam in the optical region of the spectrum. The modulator is constructed by placing deuterium molecules inside a high-finesse cavity and driving a vibrational transition with two continuous-wave laser beams. The two beams, the pump and the Stokes, are resonant with the cavity. The high intra-cavity intensities that build up drive the molecules to a coherent state. This molecular coherence can then be used to modulate an independent laser beam, to produce frequency up-shifted and down-shifted sidebands. The beam to be modulated is not resonant with the cavity and thus the sidebands are produced in a single pass. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multi-Color Laser Emission for the Generation of Ultrashort Optical Pulse)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

5516 KiB  
Article
Effect of Two-Photon Stark Shift on the Multi-Frequency Raman Spectra
by Hao Yan and Donna Strickland
Appl. Sci. 2014, 4(3), 390-401; https://doi.org/10.3390/app4030390 - 05 Sep 2014
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 17007
Abstract
High order Raman generation has received considerable attention as a possible method for generating ultrashort pulses. A large number of Raman orders can be generated when the Raman-active medium is pumped by two laser pulses that have a frequency separation equal to the [...] Read more.
High order Raman generation has received considerable attention as a possible method for generating ultrashort pulses. A large number of Raman orders can be generated when the Raman-active medium is pumped by two laser pulses that have a frequency separation equal to the Raman transition frequency. High order Raman generation has been studied in the different temporal regimes, namely: adiabatic, where the pump pulses are much longer than the coherence time of the transition; transient, where the pulse duration is comparable to the coherence time; and impulsive, where the bandwidth of the ultrashort pulse is wider than the transition frequency. To date, almost all of the work has been concerned with generating as broad a spectrum as possible, but we are interested in studying the spectra of the individual orders when pumped in the transient regime. We concentrate on looking at extra peaks that are generated when the Raman medium is pumped with linearly chirped pulses. The extra peaks are generated on the low frequency side of the Raman orders. We discuss how linear Raman scattering from two-photon dressed states can lead to the generation of these extra peaks. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multi-Color Laser Emission for the Generation of Ultrashort Optical Pulse)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

526 KiB  
Article
High-Energy, Multicolor Femtosecond Pulses from the Deep Ultraviolet to the Near Infrared Generated in a Hydrogen-Filled Gas Cell and Hollow Fiber
by Kazuya Motoyoshi, Yuichiro Kida and Totaro Imasaka
Appl. Sci. 2014, 4(3), 318-330; https://doi.org/10.3390/app4030318 - 01 Jul 2014
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 6450
Abstract
We investigate four-wave mixing in hydrogen gas using a gas cell and a hollow fiber for the generation of high-energy, multicolor femtosecond (fs) optical pulses. Both a hydrogen-filled gas cell and hollow fiber lead to the generation of multicolor fs pulses in a [...] Read more.
We investigate four-wave mixing in hydrogen gas using a gas cell and a hollow fiber for the generation of high-energy, multicolor femtosecond (fs) optical pulses. Both a hydrogen-filled gas cell and hollow fiber lead to the generation of multicolor fs pulses in a broad spectral range from the deep ultraviolet to the near infrared. However, there is a difference in the energy distribution of the multicolor emission between the gas cell and the hollow fiber. The hydrogen-filled gas cell generates visible pulses with higher energies than the pulses created by the hollow fiber. We have generated visible pulses with energies of several tens of microjoules. The hydrogen-filled hollow fiber, on the other hand, generates ultraviolet pulses with energies of a few microjoules, which are higher than the energies of the ultraviolet pulses generated in the gas cell. In both schemes, the spectral width of each emission line supports a transform-limited pulse duration shorter than 15 fs. Four-wave mixing in hydrogen gas therefore can be used for the development of a light source that emits sub-20 fs multicolor pulses in a wavelength region from the deep ultraviolet to the near infrared with microjoule pulse energies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multi-Color Laser Emission for the Generation of Ultrashort Optical Pulse)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Review

Jump to: Editorial, Research

8134 KiB  
Review
Fundamentals of Highly Non-Degenerate Cascaded Four-Wave Mixing
by Rosa Weigand and Helder M. Crespo
Appl. Sci. 2015, 5(3), 485-515; https://doi.org/10.3390/app5030485 - 07 Sep 2015
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 6824
Abstract
By crossing two intense ultrashort laser pulses with different colors in a transparent medium, like a simple piece of glass, a fan of multicolored broadband light pulses can be simultaneously generated. These newly generated pulses are emitted in several well-defined directions and can [...] Read more.
By crossing two intense ultrashort laser pulses with different colors in a transparent medium, like a simple piece of glass, a fan of multicolored broadband light pulses can be simultaneously generated. These newly generated pulses are emitted in several well-defined directions and can cover a broad spectral range, from the infrared to the ultraviolet and beyond. This beautiful phenomenon, first observed and described 15 years ago, is due to highly-nondegenerate cascaded four-wave mixing (cascaded FWM, or CFWM). Here, we present a review of our work on the generation and measurement of multicolored light pulses based on third-order nonlinearities in transparent solids, from the discovery and first demonstration of highly-nondegenerate CFWM, to the coherent synthesis of single-cycle pulses by superposition of the multicolored light pulses produced by CFWM. We will also present the development and main results of a dedicated 2.5-D nonlinear propagation model, i.e., with propagation occurring along a two-dimensional plane while assuming cylindrically symmetric pump beam profiles, capable of adequately describing noncollinear FWM and CFWM processes. A new method for the generation of femtosecond pulses in the deep-ultraviolet (DUV) based on FWM and CFWM will also be described. These experimental and theoretical results show that highly-nondegenerate third-order nonlinear optical processes are formally well understood and provide broader bandwidths than other nonlinear optical processes for the generation of ultrashort light pulses with wavelengths extending from the near-infrared to the deep-ultraviolet, which have many applications in science and technology. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multi-Color Laser Emission for the Generation of Ultrashort Optical Pulse)
►▼ Show Figures

Graphical abstract

2236 KiB  
Review
Tunable Multicolored Femtosecond Pulse Generation Using Cascaded Four-Wave Mixing in Bulk Materials
by Jinping He, Jun Liu and Takayoshi Kobayashi
Appl. Sci. 2014, 4(3), 444-467; https://doi.org/10.3390/app4030444 - 22 Sep 2014
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 6896
Abstract
This paper introduces and discusses the main aspects of multicolored femtosecond pulse generation using cascaded four-wave mixing (CFWM) in transparent bulk materials. Theoretical analysis and semi-quantitative calculations, based on the phase-matching condition of the four-wave mixing process, explain the phenomena well. Experimental studies, [...] Read more.
This paper introduces and discusses the main aspects of multicolored femtosecond pulse generation using cascaded four-wave mixing (CFWM) in transparent bulk materials. Theoretical analysis and semi-quantitative calculations, based on the phase-matching condition of the four-wave mixing process, explain the phenomena well. Experimental studies, based on our experiments, have shown the main characteristics of the multicolored pulses, namely, broadband spectra with wide tunability, high stability, short pulse duration and relatively high pulse energy. Two-dimensional multicolored array generation in various materials are also introduced and discussed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multi-Color Laser Emission for the Generation of Ultrashort Optical Pulse)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-11
Back to TopTop