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| Author(s): |
Jonathas de Paula Siqueira
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Doctoral Thesis |
| Press: | São Carlos. |
| Institution: | Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Física de São Carlos (IFSC/BT) |
| Defense date: | 2012-06-26 |
| Examining board members: |
Lino Misoguti;
Tomaz Catunda;
Carlos Manuel Giles Antúnez de Mayolo;
Ana Maria de Paula;
Ricardo Elgul Samad
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| Advisor: | Lino Misoguti |
| Abstract | |
The main purpose of this thesis was the implementation and study of femtosecond laser pulses generation at short wavelengths (deep ultraviolet, vacuum ultraviolet end extreme ultraviolet) by the technique of frequency conversion in a hollow fiber filled with a noble gas. This frequency conversion technique has made several contributions in the last decades to improve the generation of ultrashort laser pulses in this spectral region. The development of such coherent light sources has important implications on ultrafast time-resolved spectroscopic study of atoms, molecules and materials. Through the implementation of the technique of phase matched frequency conversion in a gas filled hollow fiber using argon, it was possible to obtain femtosecond pulses centered at 260 nm and 195 nm using a Ti: sapphire amplified laser (780 nm, 1.5 mJ, 43 fs, 1 KHz). These wavelengths corresponds, respectively, to the third and fourth harmonics of the laser fundamental frequency. Pulses centered at 260 nm with excellent spatial profile, energies on the order of microjoules and temporal durations down to 18 fs, trough the compression by a prism pair, were obtained, which have wide applicability in nonlinear and time resolved optical spectroscopic studies. Ultrashort pulses at 195 nm where also obtained. An investigation of the influence of the spectral phase modulation of the laser pulses at 780 nm on the four-wave mixing nonlinear process for harmonic generation was also performed. In this way, a femtosecond pulse shaper based on a liquid crystal spatial light modulator in the 4f configuration was implemented in order to modulate the spectral phase of femtosecond pulses at 780 nm. This pulse shaper was then integrated to the system for generation of ultrashort pulses in the deep ultraviolet through the wave mixing process already implemented. This study aimed to obtain the indirect modulation of the 260 nm pulses spectral phase through the transfer of modulated spectral phase from pulses at 780 nm. Interesting initial results were obtained using a -step spectral phase, indicating the correct implementation of the system. The achievement of femtosecond pulses with modulated spectral phase in the deep ultraviolet is of great interest to perform coherent control studies in this spectral range and also for basic studies of how the spectral phase transfer occurs with different nonlinear optical laser processes. High-harmonic generation experiments based in the phase-matched frequency conversion in noble gas filled hollow fiber technique, using femtosecond pulses at 400 nm and 800 nm, were carried out during a internship at University of Colorado, USA. In this study, using pulses at 400 nm, an increase higher than one order of magnitude was obtained in the spectral region of 60 eV compared to harmonics generated, in this same region, with pulses at 800 nm. Finally, through the experience obtained during this internship, were carried out in our laboratory the development and implementation of a high harmonic generation system, based on the frequency conversion in a hollow fiber filled with argon gas. High harmonics with energies around 40eV (31nm) were obtained, and the conversion under phase-matched condition was demonstrated. Using pulses centered at 780nm, the highest harmonic order measured was 27 (28.9nm, 42.9eV), due to the spectral range limitation of monochromator used in our experiments. With the implementation of this system, becomes available at the Photonics Group a coherent light source at extreme ultraviolet wavelengths, which the unique properties have been already widely explored on a diversity of fundamental studies in basic and applied science. (AU) | |