Spectral broadening and temporal compression of ∼100 fs pulses in air-filled hollow core capillary fibers

Li, C., Rishad, K.P.M., Horak, P., Matsuura, Y. and Faccio, D. (2014) Spectral broadening and temporal compression of ∼100 fs pulses in air-filled hollow core capillary fibers. Optics Express, 22(1), pp. 1143-1151. (doi: 10.1364/OE.22.001143) (PMID:24515074)

Abstract

We experimentally study the spectral broadening of intense, ∼100 femtosecond laser pulses at 785 nm coupled into different kinds of hollow core capillary fibers, all filled with air at ambient pressure. Differently from observations in other gases, the spectra are broadened with a strong red-shift due to highly efficient intrapulse Raman scattering. Numerical simulations show that such spectra can be explained only by increasing the Raman fraction of the third order nonlinearity close to 100%. Experimentally, these broadened and red-shifted pulses do not generally allow for straightforward compression using, for example, standard chirped mirrors. However, using special hollow fibers that are internally coated with silver and polymer we obtain pulse durations in the sub-20 fs regime with energies up to 300 μJ.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Faccio, Professor Daniele
• Authors: Li, C., Rishad, K.P.M., Horak, P., Matsuura, Y., and Faccio, D.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Physics and Astronomy
• Journal Name: Optics Express
• Publisher: Optical Society of America
• ISSN: 1094-4087
• ISSN (Online): 1094-4087