Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 123901 |
| Journal | Physical review letters |
| Volume | 119 |
| Issue number | 12 |
| Publication status | Published - 18 Sept 2017 |
Abstract
The concept of coherence is of fundamental importance for describing the physical characteristics of light and for evaluating the suitability for experimental application. In the case of pulsed laser sources, the pulse-to-pulse coherence is usually considered for a judgment of the compressibility of the pulse train. This type of coherence is often lost during propagation through a highly nonlinear medium, and pulses prove incompressible despite multioctave spectral coverage. Notwithstanding the apparent loss of interpulse coherence, however, supercontinua enable applications in precision frequency metrology that rely on coherence between different spectral components within a laser pulse. To judge the suitability of a light source for the latter application, we define an alternative criterion, which we term intrapulse coherence. This definition plays a limiting role in the carrier-envelope phase measurement and stabilization of ultrashort pulses. It is shown by numerical simulation and further corroborated by experimental data that filamentation-based supercontinuum generation may lead to a loss of intrapulse coherence despite near-perfect compressibility of the pulse train. This loss of coherence may severely limit active and passive carrier-envelope phase stabilization schemes and applications in optical high-field physics.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Physics and Astronomy(all)
- General Physics and Astronomy
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In: Physical review letters, Vol. 119, No. 12, 123901, 18.09.2017.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Role of Intrapulse Coherence in Carrier-Envelope Phase Stabilization
AU - Raabe, Nils
AU - Feng, Tianli
AU - Witting, Tobias
AU - Demircan, Ayhan
AU - Brée, Carsten
AU - Steinmeyer, Günter
N1 - We gratefully acknowledge financial support by DAAD and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Grants No. STE 762/11 and No. MO 850/20-1) and the joint Max-Born Amplitude Ph.D. Program (JMAP) (Grant No. 316687). We thank Rick Trebino (Georgiatech) and Goëry Genty (Tampere University of Technology) for many stimulating discussions on various aspects of coherence. G. S. acknowledges a particularly inspiring discussion with Ari Friberg (University of Eastern Finland) on the subject of intrapulse coherence. We further acknowledge Eleftherios Goulielmakis (Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik) for his help in building the high-pressure gas cell.
PY - 2017/9/18
Y1 - 2017/9/18
N2 - The concept of coherence is of fundamental importance for describing the physical characteristics of light and for evaluating the suitability for experimental application. In the case of pulsed laser sources, the pulse-to-pulse coherence is usually considered for a judgment of the compressibility of the pulse train. This type of coherence is often lost during propagation through a highly nonlinear medium, and pulses prove incompressible despite multioctave spectral coverage. Notwithstanding the apparent loss of interpulse coherence, however, supercontinua enable applications in precision frequency metrology that rely on coherence between different spectral components within a laser pulse. To judge the suitability of a light source for the latter application, we define an alternative criterion, which we term intrapulse coherence. This definition plays a limiting role in the carrier-envelope phase measurement and stabilization of ultrashort pulses. It is shown by numerical simulation and further corroborated by experimental data that filamentation-based supercontinuum generation may lead to a loss of intrapulse coherence despite near-perfect compressibility of the pulse train. This loss of coherence may severely limit active and passive carrier-envelope phase stabilization schemes and applications in optical high-field physics.
AB - The concept of coherence is of fundamental importance for describing the physical characteristics of light and for evaluating the suitability for experimental application. In the case of pulsed laser sources, the pulse-to-pulse coherence is usually considered for a judgment of the compressibility of the pulse train. This type of coherence is often lost during propagation through a highly nonlinear medium, and pulses prove incompressible despite multioctave spectral coverage. Notwithstanding the apparent loss of interpulse coherence, however, supercontinua enable applications in precision frequency metrology that rely on coherence between different spectral components within a laser pulse. To judge the suitability of a light source for the latter application, we define an alternative criterion, which we term intrapulse coherence. This definition plays a limiting role in the carrier-envelope phase measurement and stabilization of ultrashort pulses. It is shown by numerical simulation and further corroborated by experimental data that filamentation-based supercontinuum generation may lead to a loss of intrapulse coherence despite near-perfect compressibility of the pulse train. This loss of coherence may severely limit active and passive carrier-envelope phase stabilization schemes and applications in optical high-field physics.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85030151896&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.123901
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.123901
M3 - Article
C2 - 29341640
AN - SCOPUS:85030151896
VL - 119
JO - Physical review letters
JF - Physical review letters
SN - 0031-9007
IS - 12
M1 - 123901
ER -