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Optics Express

Single-cycle pulse compression in dense resonant media

Rostislav M. Arkhipov, Mikhail V. Arkhipov, Ayhan Demircan, Uwe Morgner, Ihar Babushkin, Nikolay N. Rosanov

Published Feb 19, 2021• 20 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We propose here a new approach for compression and frequency up-conversion of short optical pulses in the regime of extreme nonlinear optics in optically dense absorbing media, providing an alternative route to attosecond-scale pulses at high frequencies. This method is based on dynamics of self-induced transparency (SIT) pulses of nearly single cycle duration, leading to single-cycle-scale Rabi oscillations in the medium. The sub-cycle components of an incident pulse behave as separate SIT-pulses, approaching each other and self-compressing, resulting in the threefold compression in time and frequency up-conversion by the same factor. As we show, the scheme can be cascaded, staying at the subsequent stage with nearly the same compression and up-conversion ratio. In this way, as our simulations show, after only few micrometers of propagation, a 700 nm wavelength single cycle pulse can be compressed to a pulse of 200 attoseconds duration located in XUV frequency range.

DOI
10.1364/oe.419862

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Self-induced transparency (SIT) is a kind of coherent transient phenomena in two-level atomic system. The optical pulse with an area that is an integer multiple of 2π, which causes SIT in an absorber, is stable and a kind of soliton. Thus SIT is expected to be useful in pulse compression and pulse shaping. In this paper, we discuss some problems in experiments of SIT and surveys the experimental results of SIT. It is also described the recent experimental results of coherent nonlinear pulse propagation in BiI3 crystal using tunable sub-picosecond pulses.

The Review of Laser Engineering•Jan 1, 1992•0 citations
We propose here a new approach for compression and frequency up-conversion of short optical pulses in the regime of extreme nonlinear optics in optically dense absorbing media, providing an alternative route to attosecond-scale pulses at high frequencies. This method is based on dynamics of self-induced transparency (SIT) pulses of nearly single cycle duration, leading to single-cycle-scale Rabi oscillations in the medium. The sub-cycle components of an incident pulse behave as separate SIT-pulses, approaching each other and self-compressing, resulting in the threefold compression in time and frequency up-conversion by the same factor. As we show, the scheme can be cascaded, staying at the subsequent stage with nearly the same compression and up-conversion ratio. In this way, as our simulations show, after only few micrometers of propagation, a 700 nm wavelength single cycle pulse can be compressed to a pulse of 200 attoseconds duration located in XUV frequency range.
The coherent interaction of extremely short light pulses with a resonant medium can result in the formation of population difference gratings. Such gratings have been created by pulses that are π/2 or smaller. This paper demonstrates that a microcavity with Bragg-like mirrors can be formed by colliding two single-cycle attosecond self-induced transparency pulses in the center of a two-level medium. The parameters of this structure can be quickly adjusted by increasing the number of collisions, which showcases the ability to control the dynamic properties of the medium on a sub-cycle time scale by using attosecond pulses.
Resonant absorption in a laser pulse can be reduced to zero if the trailing part induces stimulated emission and returns the absorbed energy back to the pulse. This kind of effect is called Self-Induced Transparency (SIT). Analytic descriptions of short pulse propagation in a resonant medium, based on Slowly Varying Envelope Approximation (SVEA) and in linear media, have been extended in studies of SIT along two principal directions: First, to improve the SVEA by introducing Short Pulse Approximation (SPA); and second, to consider the effect of nonlinear refractive index.
Quantum coherence and interference in atomic systems can lead to interesting optical phenomena such as nonabsorbing resonances, lasing without inversion, generating an ultrahigh index of refraction without absorption, propagation of light pulses without losses. In the last-named is given the title transparency. Up to now it is known some types of transparency in multi-level resonant media. One of them is electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). The phenomenon of EIT in the propagation of laser radiation through an absorbing medium has been recently investigated and explained in terms of quantum coherence and interference for multi-level atomic system. For instance in the (Lambda) -system, if the atomic medium is prepared in a quantum superposition of states, matched pulses, i.e., a pair of optical pulses whose amplitude and phase have a well defined relation, propagate without absorption. The mechanism of coherent population trapping is responsible for EIT in a (Lambda) -system. There is another, well known mechanism for creating transparency in a two-state atom: self-induced transparency, or SIT. Here, a single pulse whose area (the integral of its Rabi frequency over time) is 2(pi) is applied to the medium. Such a pulse causes the atoms to cycle smoothly from the ground to the excited state and then back again. In principle, such a pulse can propagate over long distances. SIT can be generalized to multi-level systems and multiple quasi-monochromatic fields. Generalization of SIT in a (Lambda) -system was obtained in reference 2. In this report we present a new type of transparency (combined transparency). This type describes propagation of laser pulse through a (Lambda) -type medium where the initial atomic state is prepared in the form of spatially varying coherent superposition of low-energetic states (initial coherency gradient). The common envelope behaves as usual 2(pi) hyperbolic secant pulse, but the ratio between the components of frequencies transitions 1> yields 3> and 2> yields 3> changes due to coherent Raman scattering so (phi) equals atan(E1/E2) equals (pi) /2-Gz, where z is the coordinate, G is the constant determined by both the incident pulse parameters and the initial coherence between the atomic states. Our solution demonstrates a direct connection of EIT in adiabatic regime to the SIT effects. This type of a transparency is given the title screw-type transparency, because for the given form of incident pulse (pitch of screw) medium is transparent, if medium's the initial coherence gradient is correspondingly prepared (thread on a engine nut). Besides a transparency, this phenomenon contains a transformation of the incident pulse frequency during the process of the propagation. This property of the phenomena can be result in a complete conversion of the frequency.
We show that by combining strong-field dressing and resonant propagation of XUV pulses, the transition of absorption lines from their natural Lorentzian profiles through Fano and complex multipeak shapes all the way back to broadened near-Lorentzian profiles can be achieved, in the limit of optically thick samples. The final stage of this spectral modification can be understood in terms of a significant temporal stretching and delay of the resonant XUV pulse as it propagates through the dense gas, which alters the ultrafast absorption that is modified by the time-synchronized few-femtosecond laser pulse. We first demonstrate this concept in numerical calculations, both using a model system and through a fully coupled solution of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation and the Maxwell wave equation. The applicability and generality of the underlying mechanism is then illustrated in proof-of-principle attosecond transient absorption measurements in a helium gas with a widely varying atomic density. These results provide insights into the interaction of ultrashort laser pulses with dense media and its coherent control.
Self-induced transparency (SIT) is a kind of coherent transient phenomena in two-level atomic system. The optical pulse with an area that is an integer multiple of 2π, which causes SIT in an absorber, is stable and a kind of soliton. Thus SIT is expected to be useful in pulse compression and pulse shaping. In this paper, we discuss some problems in experiments of SIT and surveys the experimental results of SIT. It is also described the recent experimental results of coherent nonlinear pulse propagation in BiI3 crystal using tunable sub-picosecond pulses.