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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 595 records · Page 33
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Characterizing non-polarization-maintaining highly nonlinear fiber toward squeezed-light generation

Squeezed light, which is easily degraded by loss, could benefit from generation directly in optical fiber. Furthermore, highly nonlinear fiber could offer more efficient generation with lower pump power and shorter fiber lengths than standard single-mode fiber. We investigate non-polarization-maintaining highly nonlinear fiber (HNLF) for squeezed-light generation by characterizing possible sources of excess noise, including its zero-dispersion wavelength (ZDW) variation and polarization noise. We find significant ZDW variation and excess polarization noise. We believe the polarization noise is from non-linear polarization-mode dispersion. We model this polarization noise and find that it is likely to degrade Kerr squeezing but not squeezing from four-wave mixing.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2023

Integrated quantum optical phase sensor in thin film lithium niobate

Abstract The quantum noise of light, attributed to the random arrival time of photons from a coherent light source, fundamentally limits optical phase sensors. An engineered source of squeezed states suppresses this noise and allows phase detection sensitivity beyond the quantum noise limit (QNL). We need ways to use quantum light within deployable quantum sensors. Here we present a photonic integrated circuit in thin-film lithium niobate that meets these requirements. We use the second-order nonlinearity to produce a squeezed state at the same frequency as the pump light and realize circuit control and sensing with electro-optics. Using 26.2 milliwatts of optical power, we measure (2.7 ± 0.2)% squeezing and apply it to increase the signal-to-noise ratio of phase measurement. We anticipate that photonic systems like this, which operate with low power and integrate all of the needed functionality on a single die, will open new opportunities for quantum optical sensing.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2023

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↗
DOE OSTI2025

Efficient generation and extreme compression of multidimensional solitary states in molecular gas-filled hollow-core fibers driven by picosecond Yb lasers

We present an in-depth study on the impact of spatiotemporal Raman enhancement in molecular gas-filled hollow-core fibers (HCFs), demonstrating the efficient generation and post-compression of multidimensional solitary states (MDSS). Through different experimental scenarios—employing large-core HCFs filled with molecular gases (N 2 and N 2 O) and driven by high energy, sub-picosecond and picosecond Fourier transform-limited ytterbium laser pulses—this work leverages multimode propagation and enhanced spatiotemporal interactions to achieve significant spectral broadening and asymmetric redshift, contrasting sharply with self-phase modulation. Our findings reveal that, beyond the regime of maximum nonadiabatic molecular alignment, spatiotemporal nonlinear enhancement primarily governs spectral broadening for input pulse durations up to 1 ps. The process shows limited sensitivity to input pulse duration and the two investigated molecular gases (N 2 and N 2 O), with only subtle differences in broadening arising from their distinct Raman spectroscopic properties. Furthermore, post-compression of MDSS was achieved in various cases. Notably, using 7 mJ, 1 ps laser pulses, we generated 22 fs pulses with a 47% energy conversion efficiency of the input pulse energy. These results position MDSS as a powerful platform for generating high-energy, ultrashort pulses with tunable wavelengths, offering a robust solution for applications such as high harmonic generation.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2025

Dynamics of McMillan mappings II. axially symmetric map

Here, in this article, we investigate the transverse dynamics of a single particle in a model integrable accelerator lattice, based on a McMillan axially-symmetric electron lens. Although the McMillan e-lens has been considered as a device potentially capable of mitigating collective space charge forces, some of its fundamental properties have not been described yet. The main goal of our work is to close this gap and understand the limitations and potentials of this device. It is worth mentioning that the McMillan axially symmetric map provides the first-order approximations of dynamics for a general linear lattice plus an arbitrary thin lens with motion separable in polar coordinates. Therefore, advancements in its understanding should give us a better picture of more generic and not necessarily integrable round beams. In the first part of the article, we classify all possible regimes with stable trajectories and find the canonical action-angle variables. This provides an evaluation of the dynamical aperture, Poincaré rotation numbers as functions of amplitudes, and thus determines the spread in nonlinear tunes. Also, we provide a parameterization of invariant curves, allowing for the immediate determination of the map image forward and backward in time. The second part investigates the particle dynamics as a function of system parameters. We show that there are three fundamentally different configurations of the accelerator optics causing different regimes of nonlinear oscillations. Each regime is considered in great detail, including the limiting cases of large and small amplitudes. In addition, we analyze the dynamics in Cartesian coordinates and provide a description of observable variables and corresponding spectra.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Information transfer as a framework for optimized phase imaging

In order to efficiently image a non-absorbing sample (a phase object), dedicated phase contrast optics are required. Typically, these optics are designed with the assumption that the sample is weakly scattering, implying a linear relation between a sample’s phase and its transmission function. In the strongly scattering, nonlinear case, the standard optics are ineffective, and the transfer functions used to characterize them are uninformative. We use the Fisher information (FI) to assess the efficiency of various phase imaging schemes and to calculate an information transfer function (ITF). We show that a generalized version of Zernike phase contrast is efficient given sufficient prior knowledge of the sample. We show that with no prior knowledge, a random sensing measurement yields a significant fraction of the available information. Finally, we introduce a generalized approach to common path interferometry that can be optimized to prioritize sensitivity to particular sample features. Each of these measurements can be performed using Fourier lenses and phase masks.

Koppell, Stewart↗
DOE OSTI2021

Bidirectional interconversion of microwave and light with thin-film lithium niobate

Abstract Superconducting cavity electro-optics presents a promising route to coherently convert microwave and optical photons and distribute quantum entanglement between superconducting circuits over long-distance. Strong Pockels nonlinearity and high-performance optical cavity are the prerequisites for high conversion efficiency. Thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) offers these desired characteristics. Despite significant recent progresses, only unidirectional conversion with efficiencies on the order of 10 −5 has been realized. In this article, we demonstrate the bidirectional electro-optic conversion in TFLN-superconductor hybrid system, with conversion efficiency improved by more than three orders of magnitude. Our air-clad device architecture boosts the sustainable intracavity pump power at cryogenic temperatures by suppressing the prominent photorefractive effect that limits cryogenic performance of TFLN, and reaches an efficiency of 1.02% (internal efficiency of 15.2%). This work firmly establishes the TFLN-superconductor hybrid EO system as a highly competitive transduction platform for future quantum network applications.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2024

Roadmap for Optical Metasurfaces

Metasurfaces have recently risen to prominence in optical research, providing unique functionalities that can be used for imaging, beam forming, holography, polarimetry, and many more, while keeping device dimensions small. Despite the fact that a vast range of basic metasurface designs has already been thoroughly studied in the literature, the number of metasurface-related papers is still growing at a rapid pace, as metasurface research is now spreading to adjacent fields, including computational imaging, augmented and virtual reality, automotive, display, biosensing, nonlinear, quantum and topological optics, optical computing, and more. At the same time, the ability of metasurfaces to perform optical functions in much more compact optical systems has triggered strong and constantly growing interest from various industries that greatly benefit from the availability of miniaturized, highly functional, and efficient optical components that can be integrated in optoelectronic systems at low cost. This creates a truly unique opportunity for the field of metasurfaces to make both a scientific and an industrial impact. Furthermore, the goal of this Roadmap is to mark this “golden age” of metasurface research and define future directions to encourage scientists and engineers to drive research and development in the field of metasurfaces toward both scientific excellence and broad industrial adoption.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2021

Calculations of detuning with amplitude for the McMillan electron lens in the Fermilab Integrable Optics Test Accelerator (IOTA)

The McMillan electron lens will be one of the experimental implementations of nonlinear integrable lattices in the Fermilab Integrable Optics Test Accelerator (IOTA). We describe the physics of the nonlinear McMillan lens and calculate the tune dependence with amplitude from the experimental parameters. Some of the implications for the design of experiments in IOTA are discussed.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Degradation of temporal contrast from post-pedestal interference with a chirped pulse in an optical parametric amplifier

Pre-pedestal generation is observed in a 0.35-PW laser front end coming from a post-pedestal via instantaneous gain and pump depletion in an optical parametric amplifier during chirped-pulse amplification. Generalized simulations show how this effect arises from gain nonlinearity and applies to all optical parametric chirped-pulse–amplification systems with a post-pedestal. An experiment minimizing the effect of B -integral is used to isolate and study the newly observed conversion of a continuous post-pedestal into a continuous pre-pedestal. Matching numerical simulations confirm experimental results and additionally reveal how third-order dispersion largely controls the slope of the generated pre-pedestal.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2021

Phase noise limited frequency shift impulsive Raman spectroscopy

We introduce a method to enable optical amplification of a coherent Raman spectroscopy signal, which we call radio frequency (RF) Doppler Raman spectroscopy. In this article, we consider the perturbation of a probe pulse in a sample due to an excited Raman vibrational coherence as a generalized Doppler shift, which connects a time-varying optical path length (the product of the propagation length and refractive index, OPL = n ℓ) with an optical frequency shift. Amplification of a Raman signal outside of the focused interaction is enabled by converting the Doppler frequency shift experienced by a laser probe pulse into a periodic timing jitter. This transit time perturbation is detected through the phase of a RF electronic signal measured at a harmonic of the probe pulse train with a method adapted from precision metrology techniques used to measure laser pulse train timing jitter. Measurement of a timing jitter allows access to much lower noise floors than other coherent Raman techniques, and by exploiting the new capability to scale the signal of a coherent Raman spectroscopic signal, this method opens the potential to detect very weak Raman signals that are currently not observable due to limits of illumination intensity imposed by laser damage to the specimen and noise.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2021

Anomalous two-photon Compton scattering

Abstract X-ray free-electron lasers can generate radiation pulses with extreme peak intensities at short wavelengths. This enables the investigation of laser–matter interactions in a regime of high fields, yet at a non-relativistic ponderomotive potential, where ordinary rules of light–matter interaction may no longer apply and nonlinear processes are starting to become observable. Despite small cross-sections, first nonlinear effects in the hard x-ray regime have recently been observed in solid targets, including x-ray-optical sum-frequency generation (XSFG), x-ray second harmonic generation (XSHG) and two-photon Compton scattering (2PCS). Nonlinear interactions of bound electrons in the x-ray range are fundamentally different from those dominating at optical frequencies. Whereas in the optical regime nonlinearities are predominantly caused by anharmonicities of the atomic potential in the chemical bonds, x-ray nonlinearities far above atomic resonances are expected to be due to nonlinear oscillations of quasi-free electrons, including inner-shell atomic electrons. While the quasi-free-electron model agrees reasonably well with the experimental data for XSFG and XSHG, 2PCS measurements have led to unexpected results: the energy of the nonlinearly scattered photons from non-relativistic electrons shows a substantial unexpected red shift in addition to the Compton shift that is well beyond that predicted by a nonlinear quantum electrodynamics model for free electrons. A potential explanation for the spectral broadening is based on a previously unexplored scattering process that involves the whole atom rather than just quasi-free electrons. A first simulation that includes the atomic binding potential was successful in describing a broadening of the spectrum of the nonlinearly scattered photons to longer wavelengths for soft x-rays. However, the same model does not show any broadening at hard x-ray wavelengths, which is in agreement with other simulation approaches. To this point no calculation has been able to reproduce the experimentally observed broadening. Here we present further experimental data of 2PCS for an extended parameter range using additional diagnostics. In particular, we present measurements of the electron momentum distribution during the interaction that strongly suggest that the spectral broadening is not caused by an increased plasma temperature. We extend our measurement of the magnitude of the red shift in beryllium to > 1.9 k e V in addition to the Compton shift expected for free electrons and expand the measurement of the angular distribution to include forward scattering angles. We also present first measurements of 2PCS from diamond.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Self-Focused Pulse Propagation Is Mediated by Spatiotemporal Optical Vortices

We show that the dynamics of high-intensity laser pulses undergoing self-focused propagation in a nonlinear medium can be understood in terms of the topological constraints imposed by the formation and evolution of spatiotemporal optical vortices (STOVs). STOVs are born from point phase defects on the sides of the pulse nucleated by spatiotemporal phase shear. These defects grow into closed loops of spatiotemporal vorticity that initially exclude the pulse propagation axis, but then reconnect to form a pair of toroidal vortex rings that wrap around it. STOVs constrain the intrapulse flow of electromagnetic energy, controlling the focusing-defocusing cycles and pulse splitting inherent to nonlinear pulse propagation. Here, we illustrate this in two widely studied but very different regimes, relativistic self-focusing in plasma and nonrelativistic self-focusing in gas, demonstrating that STOVs mediate nonlinear propagation irrespective of the detailed physics.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2024

Opto-twistronic Hall effect in a three-dimensional spiral lattice

Studies of moire systems have elucidated the exquisite effect of quantum geometry on the electronic bands and their properties, leading to the discovery of new correlated phases. However, most experimental studies have been confined to a few layers in the 2D limit. The extension of twistronics to its 3D limit, where the twist is extended into the third dimension between adjacent layers, remains underexplored due to the challenges in precisely stacking layers. Here, in this study, we focus on 3D twistronics on a platform of self-assembled spiral superlattice of multilayered WS 2 . Our findings reveal an opto-twistronic Hall effect in the spiral superlattice. This mesoscopic response is an experimental manifestation of the noncommutative geometry that arises when translational symmetry is replaced by a non-symmorphic screw operation. We also discover signatures of altered laws of optical excitation, manifested as an unconventional photon momentum-lattice interaction owing to moire of moire modulations in the 3D twistronic system. Crucially, our findings mark the initial identification of higher-order quantum geometrical tensors in light-matter interactions. This breakthrough opens new avenues for designing quantum materials-based optical lattices with large nonlinearities, paving the way for the development of advanced quantum nanophotonic devices.

Ji, Zhurun↗
DOE OSTI2025

Label-free structural imaging of plant roots and microbes using third-harmonic generation microscopy

Root biology is pivotal in addressing global challenges including sustainable agriculture and climate change. However, roots have been relatively understudied among plant organs, partly due to the difficulties in imaging root structures in their natural environment. Here we used microfabricated ecosystems (EcoFABs) to establish growing environments with optical access and employed nonlinear multimodal microscopy of third-harmonic generation (THG) and three-photon fluorescence (3PF) to achieve label-free, in situ imaging of live roots and microbes at high spatiotemporal resolution. THG enabled us to observe key plant root structures including the vasculature, Casparian strips, dividing meristematic cells, and root cap cells, as well as subcellular features including nuclear envelopes, nucleoli, starch granules, and putative stress granules. THG from the cell walls of bacteria and fungi also provides label-free contrast for visualizing these microbes in the root rhizosphere. With simultaneously recorded 3PF signal, we demonstrated our ability to investigate root-microbe interactions by achieving single-bacterium tracking and subcellular imaging of fungal spores and hyphae in the rhizosphere.

Pan, Daisong [University of California, Berkeley, ↗
DOE OSTI2025

Anomalously slow hot carrier cooling and insulator-to-metal transition in a photo-doped Mott insulator

Photo-doped Mott insulators can exhibit novel photocarrier transport and relaxation dynamics and non-equilibrium phases. However, time-resolved real-space imaging of these processes are still lacking. Here, we use scanning ultrafast electron microscopy (SUEM) to directly visualize the spatial-temporal evolution of photoexcited species in a spin-orbit assisted Mott insulator α-RuCl 3 . At low optical fluences, we observe extremely long hot photocarrier transport time over one nanosecond, almost an order of magnitude longer than any known values in conventional semiconductors. At higher optical fluences, we observe nonlinear features suggesting a photo-induced insulator-to-metal transition, which is unusual in a large-gap Mott insulator. Our results demonstrate the rich physics in a photo-doped Mott insulator that can be extracted from spatial-temporal imaging and showcase the capability of SUEM to sensitively probe photoexcitations in strongly correlated electron systems.

42 ENGINEERING↗