We use a supervised machine-learning model based on a neural network to predict the temporal and spectral intensity profiles of the pulses that form upon nonlinear propagation in optical fibers with both normal and anomalous second-order dispersion. We also show that the model is able to retrieve the parameters of the nonlinear propagation from the pulses observed at the output of the fiber. Various initial pulse shapes as well as initially chirped pulses are investigated.
In this letter we present a new technique for pulse shaping. The desired pulse is shaped by two apodized chirped fiber Bragg gratings which dispersions are adjusted to be cancelled. This technique exploits the well-known property of linearly-chirped gratings, in which the apodization (amplitude) grating profile maps its spectral response. This technique presents inherent advantages of chirped fiber Bragg gratings and direct design in frequency domain.
Wavefront shaping techniques allow the control of the transport of light through many types of scattering or complex media, among them multimode fibers. The case of a multimode fiber which is also a gain medium presents further intriguing prospects for control, due to the possibility of wavefront shaping not only the signal light amplified by the medium, but also the pump light absorbed within it. Provided that the lightwave used for pumping is coherent, its shaping prior to injection will affect the complex, speckle-like spatial patterns of excitation within the amplifier volume, which in tur…
We explore parabolic pre-shaping as a means of generating and amplifying ultrashort pulses. We develop a theoretical framework for modeling the technique and use its conclusions to design a femtosecond fiber amplifier. Starting from 9 ps pulses, we obtain 4.3 $μ$J, nearly transform-limited pulses 275 fs in duration, simultaneously achieving over 40 dB gain and 33-fold compression. Finally, we show that this amplification scheme is limited by Raman scattering, and outline a method by which the pulse duration and energy may be further improved and tailored for a given application.
We report experimental results, showing that the Kerr beam self-cleaning of many low-order modes in a graded-index multimode fiber can be controlled thanks to optimized wavefront shaping of the coherent excitation beam. Adaptive profiling of the transverse input phase was utilized for channeling the launched power towards a specific low-order fiber mode, by exploiting nonlinear coupling among all guided modes. Experiments were carried out with 7 ps pulses at 1064 nm injected in a five meters long multimode fiber operating in the normal dispersion regime. Optimized Kerr beam self-cleaning of fi…
Imaging through optical multimode fibers (MMFs) has the potential to enable hair-thin endoscopes that reduce the invasiveness of imaging deep inside tissues and organs. Current approaches predominantly require active wavefront shaping and fluorescent labeling, which limits their use to preclinical applications and frustrates imaging speed. Here we present a computational approach to reconstruct depth-gated confocal images using a raster-scanned, focused input illumination. We demonstrate the compatibility of this approach with quantitative phase, dark-field, and polarimetric imaging. Computati…
We shape fs optical pulses and deliver them in a single spatial mode to the input of a multimode fiber. The pulse is shaped in time such that at the output of the multimode fiber an ultrashort pulse appears at a predefined focus. Our result shows how to raster scan an ultrashort pulse at the output of a stiff piece of square-core step-index multimode fiber and in this way the potential for making a nonlinear fluorescent image of the scene behind the fiber, while the connection to the multimode fiber can be established via a thin and flexible single-mode fiber. The experimental results match ou…
Here we investigate the use of passive intracavity optical filters for controlling the laser output spectrum of a polarization-mode-locked, ultrafast Ytterbium fiber laser. With strategic placement of the filter cutoff frequency, the overall lasing bandwidth can be increased or extended. Overall laser performance, including pulse compression and intensity noise, is investigated for both shortpass and longpass filters with a range of cutoff frequencies, tuned by rotating the filters. We demonstrate the use of an intracavity filter not only shapes the output spectra, it provides a route for over…
Numerical simulations are used to study how fiber supercontinuum generation seeded by picosecond pulses can be actively controlled through the use of input pulse modulation. By carrying out multiple simulations in the presence of noise, we show how tailored supercontinuum Spectra with increased bandwidth and improved stability can be generated using an input envelope modulation of appropriate frequency and depth. The results are discussed in terms of the non-linear propagation dynamics and pump depletion.
A novel time-reversal subwavelength transmission technique, based on pulse shaping circuits (PSCs), is proposed. Compared to previously reported approaches, this technique removes the need for complex or electrically large electromagnetic structures by generating channel diversity via pulse shaping instead of angular spectrum transformation. Moreover, the pulse shaping circuits (PSCs) are based on Radio Analog Signal Processing (R-ASP), and therefore do not suffer from the well-known issues of digital signal processing in ultrafast regimes. The proposed PSC time-reversal systems is mathematica…
Transmission through photoexcited semiconductors is used to temporally and spectrally shape a Terahertz pulse. By adjusting the optical pump-THz probe delay, we experimentally introduce a polar asymmetry in the pulse profile as high as 92%. To shape the spectrum, we apply the same technique after strongly chirping the Terahertz pulse. This led to significant reshaping of the spectrum with a 52% upshift of spectrum median. Pulse shaping techniques introduced here are of particular importance for temporal and spectral shape-sensitive THz nonlinear experiments.
This paper describes the demonstration of linearly polarized picosecond pulse shaping with variable profiles including symmetric and non-symmetric intensity distributions. Important characteristics such as stability and transmission were studied, resulting in highly reliable performance of this fan-type birefringent shaping system. This variable temporal shaping technique is applicable over a wide range of laser parameters and may lead to new opportunities for many potential applications. A new double-pass variable temporal shaping method that significantly reduces the required crystal quantit…
We demonstrate numerically a method of focusing two-photon field inside one-dimensional random media. The approach is based on coherent control of backscattering achieved by adaptive spectral pulse shaping. The spectral phases of a femtosecond laser pulse are adjusted for the constructive interference of its backward-traveling components, resulting in an enhanced reflection from within the random system. A delayed forward-propagating second pulse overlaps with the controlled reflection, increasing the inter-pulse multi-photon field at a location determined by the delay between the two pulses. …
Comparative analysis of second harmonic generation in ordinary and backward-wave settings is presented. Extraordinary properties of frequency doubling nonlinear optical reflectivity and pulse shaping through phase matching of ordinary and backward electromagnetic waves in the nanowaveguides with mixed negative/positive spatial dispersion is demonstrated with numerical simulations.
A novel time-reversal subwavelength transmission technique, based on pulse shaping circuits (PSCs), is proposed. This technique removes the need for complex or electrically large electromagnetic structures by generating channel diversity via pulse shaping instead of angular spectrum transformation. It is shown that, compared to our previous time-reversal system based on chirped delay lines, the PSC approach offers greater flexibility and larger possible numbers of channels, i.e. ultimately higher transmission throughput. The PSC based time-reversal system is also demonstrated experimentally.
This paper reports the study and demonstration of a new variable temporal shaping method capable of generating linearly polarized picosecond laser pulses with arbitrary predefined shapes, which are highly desired by various applications including low emittance high brightness electron bunch generation in photocathode guns. It is found that both high transmittance and high stability of the shaped pulses can be achieved simultaneously when birefringent stages (BSs) are set at specific phase delay. Such variable temporal shaping technique may lead to new opportunities for many potential applicati…
We present a new Randomized Multiple Independent Comb Shaping (RandoMICS) algorithm based on phase-only tailored transmission for ultrashort laser pulse replication. The benefit of this method is satellite-free generation of programmable laser pulse sequences. The result is achieved by creating a transmission function as a stochastic comb of disjoint segments of optical frequency continuum with numerically optimized segment width distribution. The algorithm is realized by generating a regular aperiodic comb and random permutations of its elements. Experimental demonstration is performed with a…
We report, for the first time to the best of our knowledge, spectral phase characterization and line-by-line pulse shaping of an optical frequency comb generated by nonlinear wave mixing in a microring resonator. Through programmable pulse shaping the comb is compressed into a train of near-transform-limited pulses of \approx 300 fs duration (intensity full width half maximum) at 595 GHz repetition rate. An additional, simple example of optical arbitrary waveform generation is presented. The ability to characterize and then stably compress the frequency comb provides new data on the stability …
Recent remarkable progress in wave-front shaping has enabled control of light propagation inside linear media to focus and image through scattering objects. In particular, light propagation in multimode fibers comprises complex intermodal interactions and rich spatiotemporal dynamics. Control of physical phenomena in multimode fibers and its applications is in its infancy, opening opportunities to take advantage of complex mode interactions. In this work, we demonstrate a wave-front shaping approach for controlling nonlinear phenomena in multimode fibers. Using a spatial light modulator at the…
In the past few years, there is a renewed interest in using multimode fibers for a wide range of technologies such as communication, imaging and spectroscopy. Practical implementations of multimode fiber in such applications, however, are held back, due to the challenges in dealing with modal dispersion, mode coupling and the fiber's sensitivity to mechanical perturbations. Here, we utilize these features of multimode fibers to generate all-fiber reconfigurable spectral filters. By applying computer-controlled mechanical deformations to the fiber, along with an optimization algorithm, we manip…
In this work, we identify and characterize intra-pulse intensity noise shaping by saturable absorbers applied in mode-locked lasers and ultra-low noise nonlinear fiber amplifiers. Reshaped intra-pulse intensity noise distributions are shown to be inevitably interconnected with self-amplitude modulation, the fundamental physical mechanism for initiation and stabilization of ultra-short pulses in the steady-state of a mode-locked laser. A theoretical model is used to describe the ultrafast saturation dynamics by an intra-pulse noise transfer function for widely-applied slow and fast saturable ab…
We experimentally demonstrate an efficient broadband second harmonic generation process with tunable mode-locked Ti: sapphire oscillator. We have achieved a robust broadband and efficient flat conversion of more than 35nm wavelength, by designing an adiabatic aperiodically poled potassium titanyl phosphate (KTP) crystal. Moreover, we have shown that with such efficient flat conversion, we can shape and control broadband second harmonic pulses. More specifically, we assign spectral-phase of abs-value and π-step, which allows wavelength tunable intense pump-probe and amplitude modulation of the …
We introduce the concept of spatial and spectral control of nonlinear parametric sidebands in multimode optical fibers by tailoring their linear refractive index profile. In all cases, the pump experiences Kerr self-cleaning, leading to a bell-shaped profile close to the fundamental mode. Geometric parametric instability, owing to quasi-phase-matching from the grating generated via the Kerr effect by pump self-imaging, leads to frequency multicasting of beam self-cleaning across a wideband array of sidebands. Our experiments show that introducing a gaussian dip in the refractive index profile …
We experimentally investigate the impact of pulse shape on the dynamics of laser-generated plasma in rare gases. Fast-rising triangular pulses with a slower decay lead to early ionization of the air and depose energy more efficiently than their temporally reversed counterparts. As a result, in both argon and krypton, the induced shockwave as well as the plasma luminescence are stronger. This is due to an earlier availability of free electrons to undergo inverse Bremsstrahlung on the pulse trailing edge. Our results illustrate the ability of adequately tailored pulse shapes to optimize the ener…
We show that nonlinear phase shifts and third-order dispersion can compensate each other in short-pulse fiber amplifiers. In particular, we consider chirped-pulse fiber amplifiers at wavelengths for which the fiber dispersion is normal. The nonlinear phase shift accumulated in the amplifier can be compensated by the third-order dispersion of the combination of a fiber stretcher and grating compressor. A numerical model is used to predict the compensation, and initial experimental results that exhibit the main features of the calculations are presented. In the presence of third-order dispersion…
We explored the issues related to the resolution and the modulation extinction when filtering the spectrum of a UV femtosecond laser with a standard ultrashort pulse shaper. We have learned that a higher pulse shaping resolution often requires a larger working beam size or a higher density grating for greater dispersion. However, these approaches also introduce more optical errors and degrade the extinction. In this work, we examined specifics of each component to determine the best configuration of our spectral filtering setup. As a proof-of-concept demonstration, we utilized elements availab…
A long sought-after goal for photocathode electron sources has been to improve performance by temporally shaping the incident exitation laser pulse. The narrow bandwidth, short wavelength, and picosecond pulse duration make it challenging to employ conventional spectral pulse shaping techniques. We present a novel and efficient intensity-envelope shaping technique achieved during nonlinear upconversion through opposite-chirp sum-frequency mixing. We also present a numerical case-study of the LCLS-II photoinjector where transverse electron emittance is improved by at least 25%.
We present a minimally-invasive endoscope based on a multimode fiber that combines photoacoustic and fluorescence sensing. From the measurement of a transmission matrix during a prior calibration step, a focused spot is produced and raster-scanned over a sample at the distal tip of the fiber by use of a fast spatial light modulator. An ultra-sensitive fiber-optic ultrasound sensor for photoacoustic detection placed next to the fiber is combined with a photodetector to obtain both fluorescence and photoacoustic images with a distal imaging tip no larger than 250um. The high signal-to-noise rati…
We demonstrate gain-switched fiber laser with bias pumping plays an important role in regulating chaotic relaxation spikes. Under certain conditions the profile of output pulse from gain-switched fiber laser can keep the same shape as that of pump pulse. Bias pumping technique may have significance in increasing output stable pulse energy in gain-switched fiber laser. Gain-switched fiber laser with bias pumping may be interesting for some applications in micro-processing and thin film removal.
One of the greatest challenges in utilizing multimode optical fibers is mode-mixing and inter-modal interference, which scramble the information delivered by the fiber. A common approach for canceling these effects is to tailor the optical field at the input of the fiber to obtain a desired field at its output. In this work, we present a new approach which relies on modulating the transmission matrix of the fiber rather than the incident light. We apply computer-controlled mechanical perturbations to the fiber to obtain a desired intensity pattern at its output. Using an all-fiber apparatus, w…
This letter is to pave the way towards the demonstration of spatiotemporal similariton pulses evolution in passive multimode fibers with Raman amplification. We present numerically these issues in a graded-index and step-index multimode fibers and provide a first look at the complex spatiotemporal dynamics of similariton pulses. The results showed that the similariton pulses can be generated in both multimode fibers. The temporal and the spectral evolution of the pulses can be characterized as parabolic shapes with linear chirp and kW peak power. By compressed these, high energy femtoseconds p…
We experimentally demonstrate spectral broadening and shaping of exponentially-decaying nanosecond pulses via nonlinear mixing with a phase-modulated pump in a periodically-poled lithium niobate (PPLN) waveguide. A strong, 1550~nm pulse is imprinted with a temporal phase and used to upconvert a weak 980 nm pulse to 600 nm while simultaneously broadening the spectrum to that of a Lorentzian pulse up to 10 times shorter. While the current experimental demonstration is for spectral shaping, we also provide a numerical study showing the feasibility of subsequent spectral phase correction to achiev…
The pulse-energy scaling technique electro-optically controlled divided-pulse amplification is implemented in a high-power ultrafast fiber laser system based on coherent beam combination. A fiber-integrated front end and a multi-pass cell based back end allow for a small footprint and a modular implementation. Bursts of 8 pulses are amplified parallel in up to 12 ytterbium-doped large-pitch fiber amplifiers. Subsequent spatio-temporal coherent combination of the 96 total amplified pulse replicas to a single pulse results in a pulse energy of 23 mJ at an average power of 674 W, compressible to …
We investigate the point spread function of a multimode fiber. The distortion of the focal spot created on the fiber output facet is studied for a variety of the parameters. We develop a theoretical model of wavefront shaping through a multimode fiber and use it to confirm our experimental results and analyze the nature of the focal distortions. We show that aberration-free imaging with a large field of view can be achieved by using an appropriate number of segments on the spatial light modulator during the wavefront-shaping procedure. The results describe aberration limits for imaging with mu…
Focusing control of ultrashort pulsed beams is an important research topic, due to its impact to subsequent interaction with matter. In this work, we study the propagation near the focus of ultrashort laser pulses of ~25 fs duration under diffractive focusing. We perform the spatio-spectral and spatio-temporal measurements of their amplitude and phase, complemented by the corresponding simulations. With them, we demonstrate that pulse shaping allows modifying in a controlled way not only the spatio-temporal distribution of the light irradiance in the focal region, but also the way it propagate…
Fiber Kerr resonators are simple driven resonators with desirable wavelength and repetition rate flexibility for generating ultrashort pulses for applications including telecommunications, biomedicine, and materials processing. However, fiber Kerr resonators to date often generate longer pulses and require more complicated techniques for generating single pulses than would be desirable for applications. Here we address these limits by demonstrating robust single-pulse performance with 120-fs pulse durations in fiber Kerr resonators based on stretched-pulse solitons. Through matching numerical …
Evolution of dissipative-soliton-resonance (DSR) pulses in an all-normal-dispersion fiber laser with pump power under various operation conditions are experimentally studied. The fiber laser is mode-locked by using a nonlinear fiber loop mirror. Apart from the typical pulse broadening due to the peak power clamping effect, pulse breaking was observed. In addition, pulse narrowing with pump power increasing was observed. All the incompatible evolution of DSR pulses could be attributed to the multiple parameters change due to pump power increasing under specific operation conditions.
We describe a system for generating frequency-chirped and amplitude-shaped pulses on time scales from sub-nanosecond to ten nanoseconds. The system starts with cw diode-laser light at 780 nm and utilizes fiber-based electro-optical phase and intensity modulators, driven by an arbitrary waveform generator, to generate the shaped pulses. These pulses are subsequently amplified to several hundred mW with a tapered amplifier in a delayed double-pass configuration. Frequency chirps up to 5 GHz in 2 ns and pulse widths as short as 0.15 ns have been realized.
Pulse self-compression followed by the generation of resonant radiation is a well known phenomenon in non-linear optics. Resonant radiation is important as it allows for efficient and tunable wavelength conversion. We vary the chirp of the initial pulse and find in simulations and experiments that a small positive chirp enhances the pulse compression and strongly increases the generation of resonant radiation. This result corroborates previously published simulation results indicating an improved degree of pulse compression for a small positive chirp [1]. It also demonstrates how pulse evoluti…
We propose and demonstrate a simple route to few-optical-cycle pulse generation from a mid-infrared fiber laser through nonlinear compression of pulses from a holmium-doped fiber oscillator using a short length of chalcogenide fiber and a grating pair. Pulses from the oscillator with 265-fs duration at 2.86 μm are spectrally broadened through self-phase modulation in step-index As2S3 fiber to 141-nm bandwidth and then re-compressed to 70 fs (7.3 optical cycles). These are the shortest pulses from a mid-infrared fiber system to date, and we note that our system is compact, robust, and uses only…
Transparent materials do not absorb light but have profound influence on the phase evolution of transmitted radiation. One consequence is chromatic dispersion, i.e., light of different frequencies travels at different velocities, causing ultrashort laser pulses to elongate in time while propagating. Here we experimentally demonstrate ultrathin nanostructured coatings that resolve this challenge: we tailor the dispersion of silicon nanopillar arrays such that they temporally reshape pulses upon transmission using slow light effects and act as ultrashort laser pulse compressors. The coatings ind…
We report on remote delivery of 25 pJ broadband near-infrared femtosecond light pulses from a Ti:sapphire laser through 150 meters of single-mode optical fiber. Pulse distortion due to dispersion is overcome with pre-compensation using adaptive pulse shaping techniques, while nonlinearities are mitigated using an SF10 rod for the final stage of pulse compression. Near transform limited pulse duration of 130 fs is measured after the final compression.
While the performance of mode-locked fiber lasers has been improved significantly, the limited gain bandwidth restricts them to generate ultrashort pulses approaching a few cycles or even shorter. Here we present a novel method to achieve few cycle pulses (~5 cycles) with ultra-broad spectrum (~400 nm). To our best knowledge, this is the shortest pulse width and broadest spectrum directly generated from fiber lasers. It is noteworthy that a dramatic ultrashort pulse evolution can be stabilized in a laser oscillator by the unique nonlinear processes of a self-similar evolution as a nonlinear at…
We present an entirely fiber based laser source for non-linear imaging with a novel approach for multi-color excitation. The high power output of an actively modulated and amplified picosecond fiber laser at 1064 nm is shifted to longer wavelengths by a combination of four-wave mixing and stimulated Raman scattering. By combining different fiber types and lengths, we control the non-linear wavelength conversion in the delivery fiber itself and can switch between 1064 nm, 1122 nm, and 1186 nm on-the-fly by tuning the pump power of the fiber amplifier and modulate the seed diodes. This is a prom…
Characterizing ultrashort optical pulses has always been a critical but difficult task, which has a broad range of applications. We propose and demonstrate a self-referenced method of characterizing ultrafast pulses with a multimode fiber. The linear and nonlinear speckle patterns formed at the distal end of a multimode fiber are used to recover the spectral amplitude and phase of an unknown pulse. We deploy a deep learning algorithm for phase recovery. The diversity of spatial and spectral modes in a multimode fiber removes any ambiguity in the sign of the recovered spectral phase. Our techni…
The possibility of soliton self-compression of ultrashort laser pulses down to the few-cycle regime in photonic crystal fibers is numerically investigated. We show that efficient sub-two-cycle temporal compression of nanojoule-level 800 nm pulses can be achieved by employing short (typically 5-mm-long) commercially available photonic crystal fibers and pulse durations of around 100 fs, regardless of initial linear chirp, and without the need of additional dispersion compensation techniques. We envisage applications in a new generation of compact and efficient sub-two cycle laser pulse sources.
The multiple scattering of coherent light is a problem of both fundamental and applied importance. In optics, phase conjugation allows spatial focussing and imaging through a multiply scattering medium; however, temporal control is nonetheless elusive, and multiple scattering remains a challenge for femtosecond science. Here, we report on the spatially and temporally resolved measurement of a speckle field produced by the propagation of an ultrafast optical pulse through a thick strongly scattering medium. Using spectral pulse shaping, we demonstrate the spatially localized temporal recompress…
We have experimentally demonstrated the all-fiber generation of 1.3-μm femtosecond pulses via Cherenkov radiation (CR) from an ultrafast Er-doped fiber laser. The experiment shows that the pulses maintain below 40 fs in the range from 1270 to 1315 nm with multi-milliwatt average output power. The shortest generated pulses can be as short as 29 fs. This ultrashort pulse source in 1.3-μm window can bring the benefits to many fields such as the bio-imaging and the ultrafast spectroscopy, and so on.
We theoretically study chirped four-wave mixing for VUV pulse generation in hollow-core photonic crystal fibers. We predict the generation of sub-10-fs VUV pulses with energy of up to hundreds of microjoule by broad-band chirped idler pulses at 830 nm and MW pump pulses with narrow-band at 277 nm. MW pump could be desirable to reduce the complexity of the laser system or use a high repetition rate-laser system. The energy conversion efficiency from pump pulse to VUV pulse reaches to 30%. This generation can be realized in kagome-lattice hollow-core PCF filled with noble gas of high pressure wi…
