A topical review of numerical and experimental studies of supercontinuum generation in photonic crystal fiber is presented over the full range of experimentally reported parameters, from the femtosecond to the continuous-wave regime. Results from numerical simulations are used to discuss the temporal and spectral characteristics of the supercontinuum, and to interpret the physics of the underlying spectral broadening processes. Particular attention is given to the case of supercontinuum generation seeded by femtosecond pulses in the anomalous group velocity dispersion regime of photonic crystal fiber, where the processes of soliton fission, stimulated Raman scattering, and dispersive wave generation are reviewed in detail. The corresponding intensity and phase stability properties of the supercontinuum spectra generated under different conditions are also discussed.

Supercontinuum generation, photonic crystal fiber

Femtosecond laser induced phenomena in transparent solid materials: Fundamentals and applications

The forward-backward method has been shown to be an effective iterative technique for the computation of scattering from one-dimensional rough surfaces, often converging rapidly even for very large surface heights. However, previous studies with this method have computed interactions between widely separated points on the surface exactly, resulting in anO(N2) computational algorithm that becomes intractable for large rough surface sizes, as are required when low grazing incidence angles are approached. An acceleration algorithm for more rapidly computing interactions between widely separated points in the forward-backward method is proposed in this paper and results in an O(N) algorithm with increasing surface size. The approach is based on a spectral domain representation of source currents and the Green's function and is developed for both perfectly conducting and impedance boundary surfaces. The method is applied in a Monte Carlo study of low grazing incidence backscattering from very rough (up to 10 m/s wind speed) ocean-like surfaces at 14 GHz and is found to require only a small fraction of the CPU time required by other competing methods; such as the banded matrix iterative approach/canonical grid and fast multipole methods.

A novel acceleration algorithm for the computation of scattering from rough surfaces with the forward-backward method

Remote generation of population-inverted gain media in air is a step towards the realization of bright and coherent atmospheric lasers. Here, the authors verify population inversion in N2+ and demonstrate the generation of air lasing by acting on it as the gain medium.

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Sub-10-fs population inversion in N 2 + in air lasing through multiple state coupling

We propose a new mechanism to explain the origin of optical gain in the transitions between the excited and ground states of the ionized nitrogen molecule following irradiation of neutral nitrogen molecules with an intense ultrashort laser pulse. An efficient transfer of population to the excited state is achieved via field-induced multiple recollisions. We show that the proposed excitation mechanism must lead to a superradiant emission, a feature that we confirm experimentally.

Recollision-Induced Superradiance of Ionized Nitrogen Molecules.

We report on the lasing in air and pure nitrogen gas pumped by a single 800 nm femtosecond laser pulse. Depending on gas pressure, incident laser power and beam convergence, different lasing lines are observed in the forward direction with rapid change of their relative intensities. The lines are attributed to transitions between vibrational and rotational levels of the first negative band of the singly charged nitrogen molecule-ion. We show that self-seeding plays an important role in the observed intensity changes.

Self-seeded lasing in ionized air pumped by 800 nm femtosecond laser pulses

The interaction between a large number of laser filaments brought together using weak external focusing leads to the emergence of few filamentary structures reminiscent of standard filaments, but carrying a higher intensity. The resulting plasma is measured to be one order of magnitude denser than for short-scale filaments. This new propagation regime is dubbed superfilamentation. Numerical simulations of a nonlinear envelope equation provide good agreement with experiments.

Superfilamentation in air.

We demonstrate tunable radiofrequency emission from a meter-long linear plasma column produced in air at atmospheric pressure. A short-lived plasma column is initially produced by femtosecond filamentation and subsequently converted into a long-lived discharge column by application of an external high voltage field. Radiofrequency excitation is fed to the plasma by induction and detected remotely as electromagnetic radiation by a classical antenna.

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Radiofrequency plasma antenna generated by femtosecond laser filaments in air

We report on the lasing action of atmospheric air pumped by an 800 nm femtosecond laser pulse with peak power up to 4 TW. Lasing emission at 428 nm increases rapidly over a small range of pump laser power, followed by saturation above ~ 1.5 TW. The maximum lasing pulse energy is measured to be 2.6 uJ corresponding to an emission power in the MW range, while a maximum conversion efficiency of is measured at moderate pump pulse energy. The optical gain inside the filament plasma is estimated to be excess of 0.7/cm. The lasing emission shows a doughnut profile, reflecting the spatial distribution of the pump-generated white-light continuum that acts as a seed for the lasing. We attribute the pronounced saturation to the defocusing of the seed in the plasma amplifying region and to the saturation of the seed intensity.

Lasing of ambient air with microjoule pulse energy pumped by a multi terawatt IR femtosecond laser

We report on the lasing action of atmospheric air pumped by an 800 nm femtosecond laser pulse with peak power up to 4 TW. Lasing emission at 428 nm increases rapidly over a small range of pump laser power, followed by saturation above ∼1.5  TW. The maximum lasing pulse energy is measured at 2.6 μJ corresponding to an emission power in the MW range, while a maximum conversion efficiency of 3.5×10−5 is measured at moderate pump pulse energy. The optical gain inside the filament plasma is estimated to be in excess of 0.7/cm. Lasing emission shows a doughnut profile, reflecting the spatial distribution of the pump-generated white-light continuum that acts as a seed for the lasing. We attribute the pronounced saturation to the defocusing of the seed in the plasma amplifying region and to the saturation of the seed intensity.

Yohann Brelet

Papers

Self-seeded lasing in ionized air pumped by 800 nm femtosecond laser pulses

Superfilamentation in air.

Radiofrequency plasma antenna generated by femtosecond laser filaments in air

Lasing of ambient air with microjoule pulse energy pumped by a multi terawatt IR femtosecond laser

Lasing of ambient air with microjoule pulse energy pumped by a multi-terawatt infrared femtosecond laser.