a582_1.pdf CThM6.

pdf

Ultrashort Lagguere-Gaussian Pulses With Angular and Group Velocity Dispersion Compensation
I. Zeylikovich, H. Sztul, V. Kartazaev, T. Le and R. R. Alfano
Institute for Ultrafast Spectroscopy and Lasers. Department of Physics, City College and Graduate Center of the City University of New York, New York, New York 10031 zeylikov@sci.ccny.cuny.edu

Abstract: Coherent optical vortices are generated from ultrashort 6.4 fs pulses with carrier envelope phase control. The properties of angular dispersion and temporal chirp compensated pulses are consistent with a monochromatic Laguerre-Gaussian beam.
2007 Optical Society of America
OCIS codes: 140.3300; 140.7090.

A new type of laser beam with helical wavefronts is shown to have orbital angular momentum, much like circularly polarized light is shown to have spin angular momentum, and that angular momentum can be transferred to matter. The angular momentum has been seen by micro-particles that are made to rotate when they are in the path of such beams of light. New communications protocols can now be developed because the entirely new degree of freedom to control. Orbital angular momentum of a light beam arises from an azimuthal phase dependence of exp(-il ) and is independent of the beams polarization. For any given l, the beam has l intertwined helical phase fronts. A main feature of helically phased beams is that the phase singularity yields a region of zero intensity. Some of the possible applications are: adaptive optics, real-time holography, optical tweezing, and helically enhanced imaging. Most of this work has been done with monochromatic Laguerre Gaussian (LG) beams. More recently, optical vortices created by femtosecond pulses have been studied and expected to be more versatile in intense-field ionization processes [1, 2]. Ultrashort pulses (less than 10 fs) with carrier envelope phase control use of these helical beams are a completely unexplored territory that will lead to new dynamical processes involving orbital angular momentum in addition to spin. Our objective is to have ultrashort pulses with carrier envelope phase (CEP) control containing an optical vortex. We plan to first create an ultrashort pulse with a vortex, and then to amplify it to the required energy level. Because 6.4 fs pulses have a 200 nm bandwidth (FWHM), many of the techniques reported to generate vortices in monochromatic light are not suitable. We used a spatial light modulator (SLM) to produce reconfigurable, computer-generated holograms (CGH) [3] that allow a laser beam to be converted into beams with almost any desired phase and amplitude structure using angular dispersion and temporal chirp compensation to generate femtosecond LG laser pulses. The experimental setup to generate LG beam is shown in Fig. 1. In this paper a Ti:sapphire Kerr-lens mode-locked oscillator (Rainbow-DFG from FemtoLasers) is used. It emits 6.4-fs pulses at a repetition rate of 78 MHz with a mean power of 150 mW, of 200 nm spectral bandwidth at a central wavelength of 797 nm with pulse repetition rate and CEP stabilization. To generate a LG field distribution with this source, we project a CGH onto a spatial light modulator (SLM, Holoeye Corp. Model LC-R 720). The CGH used was a forked, blazed diffraction grating designed to put much of the power into the first-order diffracted beam and is shown in Fig. 1. We block out all of the reflected beam except the +1st-order diffracted beam with an aperture, which leaves only a beam with the desired exp(-il ) phase structure. In the peripheral part of this grating the stripes are parallel. Therefore, such a region can serve as a second grating to recombine the spectral components at the exit. The pulse compressor using a single grating and lens with angular magnification M = 1 was analyzed in [4]. Note that because of the inversion introduced by the telescope in a 4f optical system a simple mirror is used to fold the angular and the group velocity zero-dispersion compressor. We analyze the group velocity dispersion (GVD) when CGH is shifted in distance z1 between plane F and AL as shown in Fig. 1. The accumulated GVD is related to the coefficient d 2 / d 2 = 2k 2 z1 (1) that results negative if z 1 < 0 . = 2 ( 0) , where 0 is the central frequency and is the frequency considered. The parameter determines the angular dispersion for the emerging angle 0 and for a beam waist , (2) The dispersion of the grating is in the xz plane, and no special feature appears in the variable y upon propagation. The largest possible negative value is obtained for z1 = f

= / 2 cos 0 .

a582_1.pdf CThM6.pdf

(3) In order to compensate the group velocity dispersion of the input pulse, the compressor must satisfy d 2 p / d 2 = d 2 c / d 2 , (4) where p is the phase shift across the pulse and c across the compressor. z1 f f AL CGH 2 M 1 6.4 fs Laser M

d 2 / d 2 | max = 2k 2 f .

AC
Fig.1. Experimental setup to generate LG pulses with angular and group velocity dispersion compensation: CGH, computer-generated hologram; M, plane mirror; AL, achromatic lens; AC, autocorrelator.

In Fig. 2 we show experimental results obtained with this 4f setup. Images of a LG beam for the 6.4 fs pulses were recorded without (a) and with (b) dispersion compensation.

y-direction (arb. u)

(a)

Intensity (arb. u.)

(b)

Intensity (arb. u.)

Fig.2. Left, gray-scale images of a LG beam for 6.4 fs laser pulses: (a) no 4f setup is used and (b) with 4f setup. Right, intensities in arbitrary units for vertical cross sections.

Figure 2 (b) shows that the setup successfully eliminates angular dispersion for the 6.4 fs LG pulses with l = 1 in first-order radiation. In spite of the 200-nm bandwidth of our pulses, a clean zero intensity dark spot results in the center of the image. The SHG interferometric autocorrelator (Femtometer from FemtoLasers) was used to measure the pulse width of the generated LG pulses. Measured power of the LG beam was ~ 2 mW due to 10 % efficiency of the CGH. For this power, we were not able to measure a LG pulse width. We used a Coherent Ti:Sapphire regenerative amplifier system with up to 4 J pulse energy at 800 nm and 250 kHz repetition rate at a pulse duration of 80 fs to measure LG pulses. At output power of the amplifier 500 mW the power of the LG beam was about 5 mW. The measured pulse width was (100 20) fs when a 4f configuration was used. Accuracy of the measurements was 20 %. This uncertainty is due to the fact that the CGH was modulated with frequency of 180 Hz. When the CGH was shifted at z1 = 10 cm, the LG pulse duration was more than 300 fs. References
[1] K. Bezuhanov, A. Dreischuh, G.G. Paulus, M.G. Schtzel, and H. Walther, Vortices in femtosecond laser fields, Opt. Lett. 29, 19421944 (2004). [2] I. G. Mariyenko, J. Strohaber, and C. J. G. J. Uiterwaal, Creation of optical vortices in femtosecond pulses, 13, 7599-7608 (2005). [3] H. I. Sztul, V. Kartazayev, and R. R. Alfano, LaguerreGaussian supercontinuum, Opt. Lett. 31, 2725-2727 (2006). [4] 0. E. Martinez, 3000 Times Grating Compressor with Positive Group Velocity Dispersion: Application to Fiber Compensation in 1.3-1.6 m Region, IEEE J. Quantum Electron., QE-23, 59-64 (1987).

y-direction (arb. u)