Temporal compression of ultrashort frequency-modulated light signals by spectral holograms in media with hole burning

Alexander Rebane

Alois Renn, Cosimo De, Urs P. Wild

Alexander Rebane, Daniel J. Reiss, Indrek Renge +1 more

Alexander Rebane, Mikhail A. Drobizhev, Christophe Sigel

Summary form only given.Frequency-selective materials, based on spectral hole-burning allow recording holograms and interferograms of spectrally broad-band, temporally incoherent light signals. An important task for information technology as well as spectroscopic applications is simultaneous recording of the temporal, spectral, and spatial characteristics of ultrashort optical signals. Single-shot recording with a spectral hole-burning material will allow us to measure individual time-varying optical amplitudes without involving any temporal or spatial averaging, thus maintaining complete information about an optical signal. We have performed experiments on recording and playback of time- and space-domain holograms using single femtosecond pulses. We have studied the dependence of the hologram recording and playback on both the energy and the number of the applied pulses as well as on photon gating mechanism by an additional laser pulse at a different frequency.

Karl K. Rebane

Alois Renn, Urs P. Wild, Aleksander K. Rebane

Persistent spectral hole burning (PSHB) in organic molecules doped in a polymer matrix at low temperatures allows optical recording of information in the dimensions of frequency and time, as well as in space and externally applied electric field. We use this special property to demonstrate new types of holograms, which extend conventional spatial-domain optical data storage into the new dimensions. Basic aspects of recording and playback of holograms by persistent spectral hole burning, including relation between frequency- and time-domain response function, is discussed. This paper is elucidating inherent relations between the time- and frequency-domain versions of PSHB holography. We show that by multiplexing holograms in the frequency dimension, we can store a large number (up to 12 000) of image holograms using a single spectral hole burning sample. In the time domain, we show storage and reproduction of ultrashort time-space images on the scale of 10 -12 −10 -13 s. Experiments demonstrating unusual hologram properties, such as causality-related asymmetry of diffraction, inversion of time coordinate, and ultrafast processing, are presented.