Gires-Tournois interferometer type negative dispersion mirrors for deep ultraviolet pulse compression

Area of Science:

• Optics and Photonics
• Ultrafast Science
• Materials Science

Background:

• Traditional femtosecond pulse compression in the deep ultraviolet (UV) region using prisms or gratings suffers from higher-order dispersion and spatial distortions.
• Existing negatively chirped dielectric mirrors are effective for near-infrared and visible light but have not been extended to the deep UV (<300 nm).

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate the efficacy of Gires-Tournois interferometer (GTI) multilayer dielectric mirrors for femtosecond pulse compression in the deep UV region.
• To overcome the limitations of existing pulse compression techniques in the deep UV, such as higher-order dispersion and spatial-spectral beam distortion.

Main Methods:

• Design and implementation of Gires-Tournois interferometer (GTI) negative dispersion multilayer dielectric mirrors specifically for the deep UV wavelength range.
• Characterization of pulse compression performance for UV pulses centered between 266 and 271 nm.

Main Results:

• Achieved compression of a 5 nm (FWHM) deep UV pulse to 30 fs.
• Demonstrated reduced pulse broadening due to high-order dispersion compared to conventional methods.
• Observed no noticeable spatial deformation of the compressed UV pulses.

Conclusions:

• Gires-Tournois interferometer (GTI) mirrors offer a robust and effective solution for femtosecond pulse compression in the deep UV region.
• This advancement can improve the resolution and capabilities of ultrafast techniques used in fields like photochemistry.
• The developed GTI mirrors provide sufficient bandwidth for compressing sub-30-fs pulses in the UV, surpassing previous limitations.