In high-power laser systems, ultra-short laser pulses commonly possess broad spectral bandwidths, leading to space-time coupling effects when interacting with optical elements, which can alter the quality of pulses. Traditional measurement techniques for characterizing these pulses often rely on time-consuming scanning methods or are restricted by limited spectral channels, making them unsuitable for broad-spectral, space-time measurements. To address these limitations, this paper introduces a model combining snapshot compressive imaging and quadri-wave lateral shearing for broad-spectral space-time measurements. Our analysis focuses on the effects of the number of channels, the number of code patterns, and the ratio of the interference points to coded pixel size on measurement accuracy. Utilizing the TWIST-TV algorithm and Fourier phase retrieval, we can reconstruct wavefront over a wide spectral range of 100 nm across 100 channels with RMSE of up to 0.012λ. The research establishes guidelines to maximize recovery accuracy, marking a substantial advancement in broad-spectral space-time field measurement technology.
Wavefront sensors represent a powerful technique for quantitative phase measurement. This paper presents a single-phase continuous self-imaging grating (SPCSIG) for quadriwave lateral shearing interferometry with high measurement accuracy and high adaptability. The SPCSIG is characterized by a single-stage phase structure with the phase distribution in each period encoded by the macro pixel, which achieves an approximate complex amplitude transmittance. In the simulation, the SPCSIG far field stray light is significantly suppressed. The near field interferograms propagation is stable, and the residuals are close to the theoretical limit. The method is expected to be used in the future such as precision optical metrology, X-ray wavefront sensing, or polymer gratings where hybrid gratings are not suitable.
We proposed a self-referenced technique for measuring the spatiotemporal characteristics of ultrashort pulses using the coherent diffraction imaging. This technique includes the wavelength spatial multiplexing coherent diffraction imaging measurement and the three-dimensional spatiotemporal amplitude and phase reconstruction. In experiment, we verified the feasibility of this technique by measuring a pulse from the femtosecond laser oscillator. Wavelength spatial multiplexing was realized by the combination of two-dimensional diffracted optical element and narrow-band-pass filter, and the amplitude and phase information of each wavelength was recovered by ePIE (extended Ptychographic Iterative Engine) algorithm. This technique can measure the three-dimensional spatiotemporal amplitude and phase information of ultrashort pulses with high resolution and simplicity. In the future, it is expected to be an effective method for the comprehensive monitoring of the spatiotemporal optical field of ultrashort pulse lasers, and will be helpful for the laser performance improvement.
We proposed a single-shot diagnostic for spatiotemporal laser-plasma evolution by the multi-dimensional encoding (MuDE) holography. It can achieves high and adjustable temporal resolution measurement of three-dimensional plasma distribution without delay scanning. Experimentally, we verified the feasibility of this technique, and the retrieved results of laser-plasma evolution agreed well with the direct shadow measurement. This technique is expected to provide a helpful tool for the complex spatiotemporal evolution of plasma in ICF and high energy density physics.
Accurate temporal characterization both in intensity and phase distribution is important in the diagnosis of the petawatt (PW) class. We present a single-shot picosecond frequency-resolved optical gating (ps-FROG) setup based on an autocorrelator with ps measurement range that is spectrally resolved through a fine grating. The modified ptychographic-based algorithm with a changing update coefficient was used for the reconstruction of the pulse distribution; it can better adapt to the reconstruction of pulse with a large time–bandwidth product. We calibrated and verified the homemade ps-FROG in a 100-μJ ps laser system and used it to characterize the pulse distribution generated by the PW laser system of the Shen Guang II facility. The system shows good performance and high accuracy in reconstructing the intensity and phase distributions of a ps pulse, which provides reference for accurately adjusting the grating pair to acquire the pulse width as a preset.
The spectrum is a crucial parameter to a petawatt laser which is adopting the chirped pulse amplification technique. In such complex systems with high gain and wide spectrum bandwidth, the shape of the spectrum is crucial to the final output pulse width. In daily operation, the width of the compressed pulse will have some abnormal fluctuation, and the shape of the spectrum before compressed is also changed at the same shot. It will mislead the power and intensity estimation in laser-matter interaction experiments. So far, no theory has been able to analyze the relationship between spectrum and pulse width completely. Because it is hard to describe the fluctuation of the compressed pulse width which the online measure spectral phase in the high power laser system is difficult. In this paper, we first found and analyzed the relation between spectral variation and pulse width in the petawatt laser. With the support of existing data, we establish an end-toend deep learning model to map the petawatt laser’s spectrum before the compressor to the compressed pulse width. The deep learning scheme which based on Bayesian Neural Network (BNN) can provide an estimate of uncertainty as a function of pulse width to improve the accuracy of the model. After 20000 iterations, the Mean Square Error (MSE) is reduced to 0.08 in the validation test. Under the experiment, the model realizes an effective predict of the compressed pulse width. With the help of deep learning, we can get more information on the spectrum rather than the center wavelength and spectrum width to predict the compressed pulse width. It should be emphasized that this method will help to avoid unstable pulse output caused by an abnormal spectrum and to improve the operating efficiency of the petawatt laser system.
KEYWORDS: Crystals, Nonlinear crystals, Laser crystals, Signal to noise ratio, Modulation, Optical filters, Gadolinium, Garnet, High power lasers, Gallium
To obtain seed pulses of large energy, high contrast and broad spectral bandwidth for the high power laser system, a new cross-polarized wave (XPW) generator based on the gadolinium gallium garnet (GGG) crystal is designed. For the injected fundamental wave (FW) pulses exceeding tens of millijoule, the output XPW characteristics of conversion efficiency, spectral broadening and contrast improvement are theoretically analyzed. We also investigated the influence of spatial distribution characteristics of the injected chirped FW pulses on the output XPW. With incident FW pulses of 8 order super gaussian spatial profile for instance, conversion efficiency of ~73%, spectral broadening ratio (SBR) of ~2.7 (from 40nm to 108nm) and contrast boost by >7 orders of magnitude can be obtained. The impact of the FW spatial modulation on XPW was sensitive to the modulation depth, which is significant for spatial quality control of the laser beam in high power laser systems.
Plasma mirror is an effective approach to improve the temporal contrast of high power ultra-short laser system, while it might deteriorate the focal spot, which is reported in some experiments using plasma mirror. In order to investigate such far-field degradation by plasma mirror, we established a spatiotemporal multi-step focusing propagation algorithm based on the formula of plasma expansion and wave-front modulation model. The influence of plasma expansion time, amplitude and spatial frequency of wave-front error on focal spot degradation are quantitatively analyzed. The simulation results reveal that the far-field focal spot degradation by plasma mirror is caused by the non-uniform plasma expansion due to the wave-front error and the wave-front error with higher amplitude and lower spatial frequency has relatively greater effect on the focusing ability. From the perspective of high-contrast ultra-intense output capability, the requirement on the spatiotemporal quality of the pulse is put forward to avoid the far-field focal spot degradation when using plasma mirror in high power ultra-short laser system.
To ensure a high signal to noise contrast ratio, lots of challengeable work must be done during the construction of a petawatt level laser system. In this report, we analyse the effects on the contrast ratio by the optical element manufacture errors expressed as the peak-valley value (PV value) and the PV gradient value, the chromatic aberration and group delay in system design. Using the Fourier transformation method with the random phase attached on the laser beam in frequency domain, it is proved that for manufacture errors, PV gradient value is more tolerable than that of PV value. At the terminal end of a petawatt level laser system, there exist, in pulse compressor, spectral clip, grating manufacture errors and non-uniformity of the diffraction efficiency that will affect the final SN contrast ratio of the laser system. Since the spectral clip here is soft that can benefit the promotion of the contrast ratio. But for manufacture errors of the large size grating, when PV = 1/5 wavelength, and PV differential gradient about 1/75 wavelength per centimeter. The terminal SN contrast ratio is restrained. When focused on the target, simulation for SN contrast ratio near the focal region caused by the residual distortion is taken. Calculation shows that, for a 20 microns focal spot, to maintain the 108:1 contrast ratio across the whole focal spot, residual wavefront distortion should be compensated to PV value less than 0.2 wavelength.
Pulse time delay (PTD) and defocus are mainly introduced by transmitted-based large-aperture beam expander systems in ultrashort high power laser systems due to chromatic aberration, which can significantly reduce the focal-spot intensity by spatially enlarge the spot size as well as temporally distort the pulse profile. In this paper we investigate the chromatic aberration and measure how it deteriorate the focal spot size in SG-II 5PW ultrashort laser system. In addition, we propose and design a simple chromatic aberration pre-compensation scheme based on combination of aspherical lens and spherical mirrors. The simulation results indicate that both PTD and defocus dispersion can nearly be fully compensated by applying this compensation scheme with proper alignment in the system without introducing other kinds of wave-front aberrations.
A model is presented to analyze the effect of chromatic aberration of the spatial filter lenses on the compressed pulse duration. The parameters of the SHENGUANG (SG) II 5 PW laser system are demonstrated as examples. The numerical simulation results show that the compressed pulse duration with full aperture is increased by 3 times compared with the ideal compressed pulse duration in the case of chromatic aberration of the lenses. The result of full-aperture measurement at the SG II 5 PW laser system is in good agreement with the theoretical calculation. In the case of full-aperture measurement, the shortest compressed pulse duration is obtained by adjusting the compressor to compensate for the phase aberration introduced by the chromatic aberration of the spatial filter lenses at the SG II 5 PW laser facility. These results are helpful in finding an optimized pulse duration, considering the chromatic aberration of lenses in the femtosecond laser facility, and in obtaining a deep understanding of the effect of chromatic aberration of lenses on the pulse contrast ratio and pulse duration in ultrashort laser systems.
Ultrashort pulses emerging from multimode optical fibers are spatiotemporally complex—the multiple fiber modes have different spatial shapes and different propagation velocities and dispersions inside fibers. To measure the complete spatiotemporal field from multimode fibers in real time, we propose and demonstrate a technique for the complete measurement of these pulses using a simple pulse characterization technique, called Spatially and Temporally Resolved Intensity and Phase Evaluation Device: Full Information from a Single Hologram (STRIPED FISH). It yields the complete electric field vs. space and time from multiple digital holograms, simultaneously recorded at different frequencies on a single camera frame.
By using the SG-II laser and the ninth-beam as the pump source, the Shenguang-II multi petawatt laser system with three OPCPA stages is designed. Based on the largest size of the commercial gratings provided now by the JY Company, chirped pulses with 260J energy will be delivered after the third stage of OPCPA. When compressed by a four pass compressor, a laser pulse of 150J 30fs (5PW) will be obtained. This laser system is under construction and is expected to be finished in the late of 2015. The paper presents the details of its design and the progress has achieved.
In extremely intense laser system used for plasma physics experiments, temporal contrast is an important property of the ultra-short pulse. In this paper, we theoretically study the temporal contrast degradation due to wave front deviation in large aperture ultra-short pulse focusing system. Two-step focusing fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithm with the coordinate transform based on Fresnel approximation in space domain and Fourier integral transform method in time domain were used to simulate the focusing process spatially and temporally, in which the spatial distribution of ultra-short pulse temporal contrast characteristics at the focal spot is related to the wave front in large aperture off-axis parabolic mirror focusing optical system. Firstly, temporal contrast degradation due to wave front noise with higher spatial frequency is analyzed and appropriate evaluation parameter for large aperture ultra-short pulse focusing system is put forward from the perspective of temporal contrast. Secondly, the influence of wave front distortion with lower spatial frequency on temporal contrast is revealed comparing different degradation characteristics of various aberrations. At last, a method by controlling and optimizing the wave front to prevent temporal contrast degradation in large aperture ultra-short laser system is proposed, which is of great significance for high temporal contrast petawatt laser facilities.
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