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At least 253 records · Page 14

Enabling elliptically polarized high harmonic generation with short cross polarized laser pulses

Abstract Enabling elliptically polarized high-order harmonics overcomes a historical limitation in the generation of this highly nonlinear process in atomic, molecular and optical physics with applications in other branches. Here, we shed new light on a controversy between experimental observations and theoretical predictions on the possibility to generate harmonics with large ellipticity using two bichromatic laser pulses which are linearly polarized in orthogonal directions. Results of numerical calculations confirm the previous experimental data that in short laser pulses even harmonics with large ellipticity can be obtained for the interaction of such cross-polarized laser pulses with atoms initially in a s - or p -state, while odd harmonics have low ellipticity. The amount of the ellipticity can be controlled via the relative carrier-envelope phase of the pulses, their intensity ratio and the duration of the pulses.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

Second harmonic generation by propagation of a p-polarized obliquely incident laser beam in underdense plasma

An analytical study of second harmonic generation due to interaction an intense, p-polarized laser beam propagating obliquely in homogeneous underdense plasma, in the mildly relativistic regime, has been presented. The efficiency of the second harmonic radiation as well as its detuning length has been obtained and their variation with the angle of incidence is analyzed. It is shown that, for a given plasma electron density, the second harmonic efficiency increases with the angle of incidence while the detuning length decreases. The second harmonic amplitude vanishes at normal incidence of the laser beam.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Investigation of plasma diagnostics using a dual frequency harmonic technique

Plasma diagnostic methods using harmonic currents analysis of electrostatic probes were experimentally investigated to understand the differences in their measurement of the plasma parameters. When dual frequency voltage (ω{sub 1},ω{sub 2}) was applied to a probe, various harmonic currents (ω{sub 1}, 2ω{sub 1},ω{sub 2}, 2ω{sub 2},ω{sub 2}±ω{sub 1},ω{sub 2}±2ω{sub 1}) were generated due to the non-linearity of the probe sheath. The electron temperature can be obtained from the ratio of the two harmonics of the probe currents. According to the combinations of the two harmonics, the sensitivities in the measurement of the electron temperature differed, and this results in a difference of the electron temperature. From experiments and simulation, it is shown that this difference is caused by the systematic and random noise.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Harmonic gyrotrons operating in high-order symmetric modes

It is shown that gyrotrons operating at cyclotron harmonics can be designed for operation in symmetric TE{sub 0,p}-modes. Such operation in fundamental harmonic gyrotrons is possible only at small radial indices (p≤3) because of the severe mode competition with TE{sub 2,p}-modes, which are equally coupled to annular beams as the symmetric modes. At cyclotron harmonics, however, this “degeneracy” of coupling is absent, and there is a region in the parameter space where harmonic gyrotrons can steadily operate in symmetric modes. This fact is especially important for sub-THz and THz-range gyrotrons where ohmic losses limit the power achievable in continuous-wave and high duty cycle regimes.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Investigation about relationships between the symmetries of ferroelectric crystal Ca{sub 0.28}Ba{sub 0.72}Nb{sub 2}O{sub 6} and second-harmonic patterns

The broadband quasi-phase matching (QPM) process in a uniaxial ferroelectric crystal Ca{sub 0.28}Ba{sub 0.72}Nb{sub 2}O{sub 6} (CBN-28) was demonstrated with the second-harmonic wavelength range from 450 nm to 650 nm, and the relationship between the symmetries of CBN-28 and the second-harmonic patterns was experimentally and theoretically investigated based on the random anti-parallel domains in the crystal and QPM conditions. The dependences of frequency-doubled patterns on the wavelength and anisotropy of the nonlinear crystal were also studied, and the frequency-doubled photons were found to be trapped on circles. By analyzing the light-matter interacting Hamiltonians, the trapping force for second-harmonic photons was found to be centripetal and tunable by the fundamental lasers, and the variation tendencies of the rotational velocity of second-harmonic generation photons could also be predicated. The results indicate that the CBN-28 ferroelectric crystal is a promising nonlinear optical material for the generation of broadband frequency-doubled waves, and the analysis on centripetal force based on the interaction Hamiltonians may provide a novel recognition for the investigation of QPM process to be further studied.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Second harmonic generation by self-focusing of intense hollow Gaussian laser beam in collisionless plasma

The effect of self focused hollow Gaussian laser beam (HGLB) (carrying null intensity in center) on the excitation of electron plasma wave (EPW) and second harmonic generation (SHG) has been investigated in collisionless plasma, where relativistic-ponderomotive and only relativistic nonlinearities are operative. The relativistic change of electron mass and the modification of the background electron density due to ponderomotive nonlinearity lead to self-focusing of HGLB in plasma. Paraxial ray theory has been used to derive coupled equations for the self focusing of HGLB in plasma, generation of EPW, and second harmonic. These coupled equations are solved analytically and numerically to study the laser intensity in the plasma, electric field associated with the excited EPW, and the power of SHG. Second harmonic emission is generated due to nonlinear coupling between incident HGLB and EPW satisfying the proper phase matching conditions. The results show that the effect of including the ponderomotive nonlinearity is significant on the generation of EPW and second harmonic. The electric field associated with EPW and the power of SHG are found to be highly sensitive to the order of the hollow Gaussian beam.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Three-dimensional simulation of thermal harmonic lasing free electron laser with detuning of the fundamental

Detuning of the fundamental is a way to enhance harmonic generation. By this method, the wiggler is composed of two segments in such a way that the fundamental resonance of the second segment to coincide with the third harmonic of the first segment of the wiggler to generate extreme ultraviolet radiation and x-ray emission. A set of coupled, nonlinear, and first-order differential equations in three dimensions describing the evolution of the electron trajectories and the radiation field with warm beam is solved numerically by CYRUS 3D code in the steady-state for two models (1) seeded free electron laser (FEL) and (2) shot noise on the electron beam (self-amplified spontaneous emission FEL). Thermal effects in the form of longitudinal velocity spread are considered. Three-dimensional simulation describes self-consistently the longitudinal spatial dependence of radiation waists, curvatures, and amplitudes together with the evaluation of the electron beam. The evolutions of the transverse modes are investigated for the fundamental resonance and the third harmonic. Also, the effective modes of the third harmonic are studied. In this paper, we found that detuning of the fundamental with shot noise gives more optimistic result than the seeded FEL.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Harmonic and reactive behavior of the quasiparticle tunnel current in SIS junctions

In this paper, we show theoretically and experimentally that the reactive quasiparticle tunnel current of the superconductor tunnel junction could be directly measured at specific bias voltages for the higher harmonics of the quasiparticle tunnel current. We used the theory of quasiparticle tunneling to study the higher harmonics of the quasiparticle tunnel current in superconducting tunnel junction in the presence of rf irradiation. The impact of the reactive current on the harmonic behavior of the quasiparticle tunnel current was carefully studied by implementing a practical model with four parameters to model the dc I-V characteristics of the superconducting tunnel junction. The measured reactive current at the specific bias voltage is in good agreement with our theoretically calculated reactive current through the Kramers-Kronig transform. This study also shows that there is an excellent correspondence between the behavior of the predicted higher harmonics using the previously established theory of quasiparticle tunnel current in superconducting tunnel junctions by J.R. Tucker and M.J. Feldman and the measurements presented in this paper.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Bright circularly polarized soft X-ray high harmonics for X-ray magnetic circular dichroism

Significance The new ability to generate circularly polarized coherent (laser-like) beams of short wavelength high harmonics in a tabletop-scale setup is attracting intense interest worldwide. Although predicted in 1995, this capability was demonstrated experimentally only in 2014. However, all work to date (both theory and experiment) studied circularly polarized harmonics only in the extreme UV (EUV) region of the spectrum at wavelengths >18 nm. In this new work done in a broad international collaboration, we demonstrate the first soft X-ray high harmonics with circular polarization to wavelengths λ < 8 nm and the first tabletop soft X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) measurements, and also uncover new X-ray light science that will inspire many more studies of circular high-harmonic generation (HHG).

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Attosecond synchronization of extreme ultraviolet high harmonics from crystals

The interaction of strong near-infrared (NIR) laser pulses with wide-bandgap dielectrics produces high harmonics in the extreme ultraviolet (XUV) wavelength range. These observations have opened up the possibility of attosecond metrology in solids, which would benefit from a precise measurement of the emission times of individual harmonics with respect to the NIR laser field. In this work, we show that, when high-harmonics are detected from the input surface of a magnesium oxide crystal, a bichromatic probing of the XUV emission shows a clear synchronization largely consistent with a semiclassical model of electron–hole recollisions in bulk solids. On the other hand, the bichromatic spectrogram of harmonics originating from the exit surface of the 200 μm-thick crystal is strongly modified, indicating the influence of laser field distortions during propagation. Our tracking of sub-cycle electron and hole re-collisions at XUV energies is relevant to the development of solid-state sources of attosecond pulses.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

Macroscopic scaling of high-order harmonics generated by two-color optimized waveforms in a hollow waveguide

We present the macroscopic scaling of high harmonics generated by two-color laser pulses interacting with Ne gas in a hollow waveguide. We demonstrate that the divergence of harmonics is inversely proportional to the waveguide radius and harmonic yields are proportional to the square of the waveguide radius when the gas pressure and waveguide length are chosen to meet the phase-matching condition. We also show that harmonic yields are inversely proportional to the ionization level of the optimized two-color waveform with proper gas pressure if waveguide radius and length are fixed. These scaling relations would help experimentalists find phase-matching conditions to efficiently generate tabletop high-flux coherent soft x rays for applications.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

Generation of circularly polarized XUV and soft-x-ray high-order harmonics by homonuclear and heteronuclear diatomic molecules subject to bichromatic counter-rotating circularly polarized intense laser fields

Recently, studies of bright circularly polarized high-harmonic beams from atoms in the soft-x-ray region as a source for x-ray magnetic circular dichroism measurement in a tabletop-scale setup have received considerable attention. In this paper, we address the problem with molecular targets and perform a detailed quantum study of H 2 +, CO, and N 2 molecules in bichromatic counter-rotating circularly polarized laser fields where we adopt wavelengths (1300 and 790 nm) and intensities (2 × 10 14 W/cm 2 ) reported in a recent experiment [Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 112, 14206 (2015)]. Our treatment of multiphoton processes in homonuclear and heteronuclear diatomic molecules is nonperturbative and based on the time-dependent density-functional theory for multielectron systems. The calculated radiation spectrum contains doublets of left and right circularly polarized harmonics with high-energy photons in the XUV and soft-x-ray ranges. Overall, our results reveal intriguing and substantially different nonlinear optical responses for homonuclear and heteronuclear diatomic molecules subject to circularly polarized intense laser fields. We study in detail the below- and above-threshold harmonic regions and analyze the ellipticity and phase of the generated harmonic peaks.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

Controlling electron quantum paths for generation of circularly polarized high-order harmonics by H 2 + subject to tailored (ω, 2ω) counter-rotating laser fields

Recently, studies of high-order harmonics (HHG) from atoms driven by bichromatic counter-rotating circularly polarized laser fields as a source of coherent circularly polarized extreme ultraviolet (XUV) and soft-x-ray beams in a tabletop-scale setup have received considerable attention. Here, we demonstrate the ability to control the electron recollisions giving three returns per one cycle of the fundamental frequency ω by using tailored bichromatic (ω, 2ω) counter-rotating circularly polarized laser fields with a molecular target. The full control of the electronic pathway is first analyzed by a classical trajectory analysis and then extended to a detailed quantum study of H 2 + molecules in bichromatic (ω, 2ω) counter-rotating circularly polarized laser fields. The radiation spectrum contains doublets of left- and right-circularly polarized harmonics in the XUV ranges. Finally, we study in detail the below-, near-, and above-threshold harmonic regions and describe how excited-state resonances alter the ellipticity and phase of the generated harmonic peaks.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

Harmonic Modeling, Data Generation and Analysis of Power Electronics-Interfaced Residential Loads

The share of electronics-based residential load is expected to rise as devices such as variable frequency drives (VFDs), electric vehicle chargers, and inverter-based distributed energy resources (DERs), e.g., photovoltaic (PV) systems become more common. These loads may introduce significant harmonics into power networks that need to be closely studied in order to perform accurate load modeling and forecasting. However, it can be difficult to obtain harmonic-rich voltage and current data - necessary for identifying accurate load models - for residential electrical loads. Recognizing this need, we identify and model a set of electronics-based end-use loads and DERs in an electromagnetic transients program (EMTP) tool for a residence with a single- phase split-phase supply. Further, a procedure is developed to model harmonic interactions between end-use loads connected to the same non-ideal supply voltage in a residential setting. Finally, a harmonic-rich dataset produced via the proposed procedure is utilized to identify frequency coupling matrix (FCM) based load model. Numerical results demonstrate the accuracy of the model, and explore model identifiability with limited data points.

harmonics, power quality, load modeling↗

High-efficiency, large-aperture fifth-harmonic: Generation of 211-nm pulses in ammonium dihydrogen phosphate crystals for fusion diagnostics

High-energy ultraviolet (UV) sources are required to probe hot dense plasmas from fusion experiments by using Thomson scattering resulting from the lower self-generated background from the plasma in the 180 to 230-nm spectral region. Although recently we demonstrated efficient, joule-class fifth harmonic conversion of 1053-nm pulses using a cesium lithium borate (CLBO) crystal, larger crystals are necessary for increased UV energy. This paper presents an alternative approach for fifth-harmonic generation of a large-aperture neodymium laser using ammonium dihydrogen phosphate (ADP). An Nd:YLF laser was optimized to produce square pulses with a flattop, square beam profile (1053 nm, 1 to 2.8 ns, 12 x 12 mm, ≤1.5 J, ≤5 Hz). Noncritical phase matching in ADP suitable for sum–frequency mixing the fourth harmonic with residual fundamental light was achieved by cooling the crystal (65 x 65 x 10 mm) in a two-chamber cryostat to 200 K. The crystal chamber used helium (1 atm) as the thermally conductive medium between the crystal and the crystal chamber, which in turn was surrounded by a high-vacuum chamber that contained a liquid nitrogen reservoir to cool the crystal chamber. Temperature variation of 0.4 K across the crystal aperture was obtained using two 50-W heaters with active feedback. The total conversion efficiency from the fundamental to the fifth harmonic, including surface losses and absorption, was 26%.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Spectroscopic study of carbon plasma produced by the first (1064 nm) and second (532 nm) harmonics of Nd:YAG laser

In this research work, spectroscopic studies of carbon (C) plasma by using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) are presented. The plasma was produced by the first (1064 nm) and second (532 nm) harmonics of a Q-switched Nd:YAG (Quantel Brilliant) pulsed laser having a pulse duration of 5 ns and 10-Hz repetition rate, which is capable of delivering 400 mJ at 1064 nm and 200 mJ at 532 nm. The laser beam was focused on the target material (100% carbon) by placing it in air at atmospheric pressure. The experimentally observed line profiles of five neutral carbon (C I) lines at 247.85, 394.22, 396.14, 588.95, and 591.25 nm were used to extract the electron temperature T{sub e} by using the Boltzmann plot method and determine its value, 9880 and 9400 K, respectively, for the fundamental and second harmonics of the laser, whereas the electron density N{sub e} was determined from the Stark broadening profile of neutral carbon line at 247.85 nm. The values of N{sub e} at a distance of 0.05 mm from the target surface for the fundamental-harmonic laser with a pulse energy of 130 mJ and the second-harmonic laser with a pulse energy of 72 mJ are 4.68 × 10{sup 17} and 5.98 × 10{sup 17} cm{sup −3}, respectively. This extracted information on T{sub e} and N{sub e} is useful for the deposition of carbon thin films by using the pulsed laser deposition technique. Moreover, both plasma parameters (T{sub e} and N{sub e}) were also calculated by varying the distance from the target surface along the line of propagation of the plasma plume and also by varying the laser irradiance.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Exciton Spectroscopy of Semiconductors by the Method of Optical Harmonics Generation (Review)

Nonlinear optical phenomena are widely used for the study of semiconductor materials. The paper presents an overview of experimental and theoretical studies of excitons by the method of optical second and third harmonics generation in various bulk semiconductors (GaAs, CdTe, ZnSe, ZnO, Cu{sub 2}O, (Cd,Mn)Te, EuTe, EuSe), and low-dimensional heterostructures ZnSe/BeTe. Particular attention is paid to the role of external electric and magnetic fields that modify the exciton states and induce new mechanisms of optical harmonics generation. Microscopic mechanisms of harmonics generation based on the Stark effect, the spin and orbital Zeeman effects, and on the magneto-Stark effect specific for excitons moving in an external magnetic field are considered. This approach makes it possible to study the properties of excitons and to obtain new information on their energy and spin structure that is not available when the excitons are investigated by linear optical spectroscopy. As a result of these studies, a large amount of information was obtained, which allows us to conclude on the establishing of a new field of research—exciton spectroscopy by the method of optical harmonics generation.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

High-harmonic generation in ZnO driven by self-compressed mid-infrared pulses

Progress in attosecond science has relied on advancements in few-cycle pulse generation technology and its application to high-order harmonic generation. Traditionally, self-phase modulation in bulk solids has been used for the compression of moderate-energy pulses, additionally exhibiting favorable dispersion properties for mid-infrared (mid-IR) pulses. For this study, we use the anomalous dispersion of Y 3 Al 5 O 12 (YAG) to self-compress many-cycle pulses from a 50 kHz mid-IR OPA down to produce sub-three-cycle 10 μJ pulses and further use them to generate high-order harmonics in a ZnO crystal. In agreement with theoretical predictions, we observe a boost in the harmonic yield by a factor of two, and spectral broadening of above-gap harmonics, compared to longer driving pulses. The enhanced yield results from an increase in the intensity for the self-compressed pulses.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗