A fast-Fourier-transform method of topography and interferometry is proposed. By computer processing of a noncontour type of fringe pattern, automatic discrimination is achieved between elevation and depression of the object or wave-front form, which has not been possible by the fringe-contour-generation techniques. The method has advantages over moire topography and conventional fringe-contour interferometry in both accuracy and sensitivity. Unlike fringe-scanning techniques, the method is easy to apply because it uses no moving components.

Fourier-transform method of fringe-pattern analysis for computer-based topography and interferometry

The term photonic crystals appears because of the analogy between electron waves in crystals and the light waves in artificial periodic dielectric structures. During the recent years the investigation of one-, two-and three-dimensional periodic structures has attracted a widespread attention of the world optics community because of great potentiality of such structures in advanced applied optical fields. The interest in periodic structures has been stimulated by the fast development of semiconductor technology that now allows the fabrication of artificial structures, whose period is comparable with the wavelength of light in the visible and infrared ranges.

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel5/6354/16969/00781867.pdf

Photonic crystals

Extremely narrow optical resonances in cold atoms or single trapped ions can be measured with high resolution. A laser locked to such a narrow optical resonance could serve as a highly stable oscillator for an all-optical atomic clock. However, until recently there was no reliable clockwork mechanism that could count optical frequencies of hundreds of terahertz. Techniques using femtosecond-laser frequency combs, developed within the past few years, have solved this problem. The ability to count optical oscillations of more than 1015 cycles per second facilitates high-precision optical spectroscopy, and has led to the construction of an all-optical atomic clock that is expected eventually to outperform today's state-of-the-art caesium clocks.

Optical frequency metrology

The rise time of intense radiation determines the maximum field strength atoms can be exposed to before their polarizability dramatically drops due to the detachment of an outer electron. Recent progress in ultrafast optics has allowed the generation of ultraintense light pulses comprising merely a few field oscillation cycles. The arising intensity gradient allows electrons to survive in their bound atomic state up to external field strengths many times higher than the binding Coulomb field and gives rise to ionization rates comparable to the light frequency, resulting in a significant extension of the frontiers of nonlinear optics and (nonrelativistic) high-field physics. Implications include the generation of coherent harmonic radiation up to kiloelectronvolt photon energies and control of the atomic dipole moment on a subfemtosecond $(1{\mathrm{f}\mathrm{s}=10}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}15}\mathrm{}\mathrm{s})$ time scale. This review presents the landmarks of the 30-odd-year evolution of ultrashort-pulse laser physics and technology culminating in the generation of intense few-cycle light pulses and discusses the impact of these pulses on high-field physics. Particular emphasis is placed on high-order harmonic emission and single subfemtosecond extreme ultraviolet/x-ray pulse generation. These as well as other strong-field processes are governed directly by the electric-field evolution, and hence their full control requires access to the (absolute) phase of the light carrier. We shall discuss routes to its determination and control, which will, for the first time, allow access to the electromagnetic fields in light waves and control of high-field interactions with never-before-achieved precision.

Intense few-cycle laser fields: Frontiers of nonlinear optics

Femtosecond laser micromachining can be used either to remove materials or to change a material's properties, and can be applied to both absorptive and transparent substances. Over the past decade, this technique has been used in a broad range of applications, from waveguide fabrication to cell ablation. This review describes the physical mechanisms and the main experimental parameters involved in the femtosecond laser micromachining of transparent materials, and important emerging applications of the technology. Interactions between laser and matter are fascinating and have found a wide range of applications. This article gives an overview of the fundamental physical mechanisms in the processing of transparent materials using ultrafast lasers, as well as important emerging applications of the technology.

Femtosecond laser micromachining in transparent materials

Confinement of light to small volumes has important implications for optical emission properties: it changes the probability of spontaneous emission from atoms, allowing both enhancement and inhibition. In photonic-bandgap (PBG) materials1,2,3,4 (also known as photonic crystals), light can be confined within a volume of the order of (λ/2n)3, where λ is the emission wavelength and n the refractive index of the material, by scattering from a periodic array of scattering centres. Until recently5,6, the properties of two- and three-dimensional PBG structures have been measured only at microwave frequencies. Because the optical bandgap scales with the period of the scattering centres, feature sizes of around 100 nm are needed for manipulation of light at the infrared wavelength (1.54 µm) used for optical communications. Fabricating features this small requires the use of electron-beam or X-ray lithography. Here we report measurements of microcavity resonances in PBG structures integrated directly into a sub-micrometre-scale silicon waveguide. The microcavity has a resonance at a wavelength of 1.56 µm, a quality factor of 265 and a modal volume of 0.055 µm3. This level of integration might lead to new photonic chip architectures and devices, such as zero-threshold microlasers, filters and signal routers.

/pdf/photonic-bandgap-microcavities-in-optical-waveguides-3rn49e5vnk.pdf

Photonic-bandgap microcavities in optical waveguides

The shortest pulses periodically emitted directly from a mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser are approaching the two-optical-cycle range. In this region, the phase of the optical carrier with respect to the pulse envelope becomes important in nonlinear optical processes such as high-harmonic generation. Because there are no locking mechanisms between envelope and carrier inside a laser, their relative phase offset experiences random fluctuations. Here, we propose several novel methods to measure and to stabilize this carrier-envelope offset (CEO) phase with sub-femtosecond uncertainty. The stabilization methods are an important prerequisite for attosecond pulse generation schemes. Short and highly periodic pulses of a two-cycle laser correspond to an extremely wide frequency comb of equally spaced lines, which can be used for absolute frequency measurements. Using the proposed phase-measurement methods, it will be possible to phase-coherently link any unknown optical frequency within the comb spectrum to a primary microwave standard. Experimental studies using a sub-6-fs Ti:sapphire laser suggesting the feasibility of carrier-envelope phase control are presented.

/pdf/carrier-envelope-offset-phase-control-a-novel-concept-for-syhohi3pis.pdf

Carrier-envelope offset phase control: A novel concept for absolute optical frequency measurement and ultrashort pulse generation

Compact optical channel dropping filters incorporating side-coupled ring resonators as small as 3 /spl mu/m in radius are realized in silicon technology. Quality factors up to 250, and a free-spectral range (FSR) as large as 24 nm are measured. Such structures can be used as fundamental building blocks in more sophisticated optical signal processing devices.

Ultra-compact Si-SiO 2 microring resonator optical channel dropping filters

Pulses of sub-6-fs duration have been obtained from a Kerr-lens mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser at a repetition rate of 100 MHz and an average power of 300 mW. Fitting an ideal sech(2) to the autocorrelation data yields a 4.8-fs pulse duration, whereas reconstruction of the pulse amplitude profile gives 5.8 fs. The pulse spectrum covers wavelengths from above 950 nm to below 630 nm, extending into the yellow beyond the gain bandwidth of Ti:sapphire. This improvement in bandwidth has been made possible by three key ingredients: carefully designed spectral shaping of the output coupling, better suppression of the dispersion oscillation of the double-chirped mirrors, and a novel broadband semiconductor saturable-absorber mirror.

Semiconductor saturable-absorber mirror assisted Kerr-lens mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser producing pulses in the two-cycle regime.

Optical pulses in the 5-femtosecond range are produced by a variety of methods. Although different in technical detail, each method relies on the same three key components: spectral broadening due to the nonlinear optical Kerr effect, dispersion control, and ultrabroadband amplification. The state of the art of ultrashort pulse generation is reviewed with a focus on direct laser oscillator schemes.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/286/5444/1507.full.pdf

Günter Steinmeyer

Papers

Photonic-bandgap microcavities in optical waveguides

Carrier-envelope offset phase control: A novel concept for absolute optical frequency measurement and ultrashort pulse generation

Ultra-compact Si-SiO 2 microring resonator optical channel dropping filters

Semiconductor saturable-absorber mirror assisted Kerr-lens mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser producing pulses in the two-cycle regime.

Frontiers in Ultrashort Pulse Generation: Pushing the Limits in Linear and Nonlinear Optics