Curve-shaped ultrashort laser pulses with programmable spatiotemporal behavior

Author(s):

Enar Franco, Óscar Martínez-Matos, and José A. Rodrigo

Abstract:

“Structured ultrashort laser pulses with controlled spatiotemporal properties are emerging as a key tool for the study and application of light–matter interactions in different fields such as microscopy, time-resolved imaging, laser micromachining, particle acceleration, and attosecond science. In practice, a structured ultrashort pulse focused along a target trajectory with controlled pulse dynamics is required, e.g., to set the trajectory and velocity of the resulting intensity peak. Here, to address this challenging problem, we present a technique and experimental setup that allows straightforward engineering of structured ultrashort laser pulses with control of their spatiotemporal properties enabling tailored pulse propagation dynamics along the target trajectory. Our theoretical framework describes the design and control of this kind of curve-shaped laser pulse in terms of the curve geometry and phase prescribed along it. We have derived a closed-form expression that describes the interplay between the curve geometry and prescribed phase governing the pulse dynamics, including the temporal behavior of the pulse peak intensity while preserving the pulse duration. The theoretical results and the corresponding numerical simulations allow us to analyze the pulse dynamics on the example of femtosecond curve-shaped vortex pulses, including contour-shaped pulses created to follow the outline of objects at micrometer scale. The experimental results demonstrate the generation of these structured ultrashort pulses. These findings could pave the way for the next generation of ultrashort laser-based optical tools for the study and control of light–matter interactions.”

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Publication: Optica
Issue/Year: Optica, Volume 10; Number 3; Pages 379–392; 2023
DOI: 10.1364/OPTICA.478086

Control of femtosecond single-filament formation via feedback-based wavefront shaping

Author(s):

Li, Jing; Tan, Wenjiang; Si, Jinhai; Tang, Shiyun; Kang, Zhen & Hou, Xun

Abstract:

“We demonstrate the control of femtosecond single-filament formation via feedback-based wavefront shaping. It is observed that the optimal phase profile forms a single-filament with closed-loop genetic algorithm. Using this method, the position stability of the filament can be significantly improved, and the position of the single filament can be flexibly adjusted. Additionally, a two-step approach combining the premodulation of pinhole with wavefront shaping is presented for forming a bright single filament rapidly.”

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Publication: Optics Communications
Issue/Year: Optics Communications, Volume 490; Pages 126929; 2021
DOI: 10.1016/j.optcom.2021.126929

Tailored spectral rotation of vortex pulses by non-uniform spiral phase gratings

Author(s):

Liebmann, Max; Treffer, Alexander; Bock, Martin; Jurke, Mathias; Wallrabe, Ulrike & Grunwald, Rüdiger

Abstract:

“Previously we studied the spectral Gouy rotation as a specific rotational phenomenon of conical polychromatic light fields shaped by spiral gratings. The rotation of spectral anomalies around singularities results from accumulated spectrally dependent Gouy phase shift. We proposed to apply radially chirped spiral structures to obtain an axial modulation of the rotational characteristics. Here we present related experimental results with non-uniform spiral gratings which were programmed into a 10-Megapixel, phase-only, liquid-crystal-on-silicon (LCoS) spatial light modulator (SLM). A propagation-dependent variation of the Gouy rotation was indicated. More complex non-uniform geometries are considered.”

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Publication: SPIE Proceedings, Complex Light and Optical Forces XV;
Issue/Year: Proc. SPIE 11701, Complex Light and Optical Forces XV, 117010V, 2021
DOI: 10.1117/12.2578503

Long-range quasi-non-diffracting Gauss-Bessel beams in a few-cycle laser field

Author(s):

Stoyanov, Lyubomir; Zhang, Yinyu; Dreischuh, Alexander & Paulus, Gerhard G.

Abstract:

“Many applications ranging from nonlinear optics to material processing would benefit from pulsed ultrashort (quasi-)non-diffracting Gauss-Bessel beams (GBBs). Here we demonstrate a straightforward yet efficient method for generating such zeroth- and first-order GBBs using a single reflective spatial light modulator. Even in the sub-8-fs range there are no noticeable consequences for the measured pulse duration. The only effect is a weak “coloring” of the outer-lying satellite rings of the beams due to the spectrum spanning over more than 300 nm. The obtained beams have diffraction half-angles below 40 μrad and reach propagation distances in excess of 1.5 m.”

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Publication: Optics Express
Issue/Year: Optics Express, Volume 29; Number 7; Pages 10997; 2021
DOI: 10.1364/oe.419486

Amplitude-phase optimized long depth of focus femtosecond axilens beam for single-exposure fabrication of high-aspect-ratio microstructures

Author(s):

Deng Pan, Bing Xu, Shunli Liu, Jiawen Li, Yanlei Hu, Dong Wu, and Jiaru Chu

Abstract:

“Fabrication of high-aspect-ratio (HAR) micro/nanostructures by two-photon polymerization (TPP) has become a hot topic because of the advantages of ultra-high resolution and true 3D printing ability. However, the low efficiency caused by point-by-point scanning strategy limits its application. In this Letter, we propose a strategy for the rapid fabrication of HAR microstructures by combining TPP with an amplitude-phase optimized long depth of focus laser beam (LDFB). The optimization of the LDFB is implemented by modulating the amplitude and phase on a phase-only spatial light modulator, which can suppress the side lobe and smooth energy oscillations effectively. The LDFB is used for rapid fabrication of HAR micropillars and various microstructures, which greatly increases the fabrication efficiency. As a demonstration, several typical HAR microstructures such as assemblies, microchannels, microtubes, and cell scaffolds are prepared. Moreover, the microcapture arrays are rapidly fabricated for the capture of microspheres and the formation of microlens arrays, which show focusing and imaging ability.”

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Publication: Optics Letters
Issue/Year: Vol. 45, Issue 9, pp. 2584-2587 (2020)
DOI: 10.1364/OL.389946

Microchannels inside bulk PMMA generated by femtosecond laser using adaptive beam shaping

Author(s):

Roth, Gian-Luca; Rung, Stefan; Esen, Cemal & Hellmann, Ralf

Abstract:

“In this contribution, we report on the generation of internal microchannels with basically unlimited channel length inside of PMMA bulk material by femtosecond laser. A precisely controllable and stable circular channel cross section is obtained by using a spatial light modulator to compensate the writing depth depending spherical aberration. Furthermore, the generation of a rotatable elliptical input beam by adaptive optics ensures a fitting of the beam shaping to the writing direction. In this study, we report on both, the effect of the ellipticity of the input beam and the effect of a correction of the spherical aberration on the circularity of the resulting internal microchannels. Moreover, we demonstrate the application of this writing technique by creating microfluidic testing structures inside of a transparent standard polymer.”

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Publication: Optics Express
Issue/Year: Optics Express, Volume 28; Number 4; Pages 5801; 2020
DOI: 10.1364/oe.384948

Encoding of arbitrary micrometric complex illumination patterns with reduced speckle

Author(s):

Miguel Carbonell-Leal, Gladys Mínguez-Vega, Jesús Lancis, and Omel Mendoza-Yero

Abstract:

“In nonlinear microscopy, phase-only spatial light modulators (SLMs) allow achieving simultaneous two-photon excitation and fluorescence emission from specific region-of-interests (ROIs). However, as iterative Fourier transform algorithms (IFTAs) can only approximate the illumination of selected ROIs, both image formation and/or signal acquisition can be largely affected by the spatial irregularities of the illumination patterns and the speckle noise. To overcome these limitations, we propose an alternative complex illumination method (CIM) able to generate simultaneous excitation of large-area ROIs with full control over the amplitude and phase of light and reduced speckle. As a proof-of-concept we experimentally demonstrate single-photon and second harmonic generation (SHG) with structured illumination over large-area ROIs.”

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Publication: Optics Express
Issue/Year: Vol. 27, Issue 14, pp. 19788-19801 (2019)
DOI: 10.1364/OE.27.019788

Influence of atmospheric turbulence on optical communications using orbital angular momentum for encoding

Author(s): Mehul Malik, Malcolm O’Sullivan, Brandon Rodenburg, Mohammad Mirhosseini, Jonathan Leach, Martin P. J. Lavery, Miles J. Padgett, and Robert W. Boyd

Abstract:

“We describe an experimental implementation of a free-space 11-dimensional communication system using orbital angular momentum (OAM) modes. This system has a maximum measured OAM channel capacity of 2.12 bits/photon. The effects of Kolmogorov thin-phase turbulence on the OAM channel capacity are quantified. We find that increasing the turbulence leads to a degradation of the channel capacity. We are able to mitigate the effects of turbulence by increasing the spacing between detected OAM modes. This study has implications for high-dimensional quantum key distribution (QKD) systems. We describe the sort of QKD system that could be built using our current technology.”

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Publication: Optics Express, (free download)
Issue/Year: Optics Express, Vol. 20, Issue 12, pp. 13195-13200 (2012)
DOI: 10.1364/OE.20.013195

Nonimaging speckle interferometry for high-speed nanometer-scale position detection

Author(s): E. G. van Putten, A. Lagendijk, and A. P. Mosk

Abstract:

“We experimentally demonstrate a nonimaging approach to displacement measurement for complex scattering materials. By spatially controlling the wavefront of the light that incidents on the material, we concentrate the scattered light in a focus on a designated position. This wavefront acts as a unique optical fingerprint that enables precise position detection of the illuminated material by simply measuring the intensity in the focus. By combining two fingerprints we demonstrate position detection along one in-plane dimension with a displacement resolution of 2.1 nm. As our approach does not require an image of the scattered field, it is possible to employ fast nonimaging detectors to enable high-speed position detection of scattering materials.”

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Publication: Optics Letters
Issue/Year: Optics Letters, Vol. 37, Issue 6, pp. 1070-1072 (2012)
DOI: 10.1364/OL.37.001070

Fabrication of three-dimensional electrospun microstructures using phase modulated femtosecond laser pulses

Author(s): Nathan J. Jenness, Yiquan Wu, Robert L. Clark.

Abstract:

“Electrospun polycaprolactone nanofibers were selectively ablated to form microstructures via the phase modulation of femtosecond laser beams. Ablation width (1–15 μm) and depth (15–110 μm) resolution were dependent upon the selection of pulse energy and microscope objective. Because phase modulation shapes light in a maskless fashion, desired templates were digitally created and physically transferred to electrospun mats within a matter of minutes. Several microarchitectures were formed in parallel by dividing pulse energy between multiple foci, substantially increasing throughput. The data presented herein demonstrates that phase-based laser ablation can be used to rapidly shape and tailor electrospun mats in three dimensions.”

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Publication: Materials Letters
Issue/Year: Materials Letters, Volume 66, Issue 1, 1 January 2012, Pages 360–363
DOI: 10.1016/j.matlet.2011.09.015
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