Multi-millijoule few-cycle mid-infrared pulses through nonlinear self-compression in bulk

Area of Science:

• Optics and Photonics
• Nonlinear Optics
• Laser Physics

Background:

• Strong-field physics demands energetic and ultrashort laser pulses.
• Current methods often require nonlinear spectral broadening for pulse compression.
• Mid-infrared (mid-IR) wavelengths are crucial for scaling ponderomotive energy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate a simple, energy-efficient, and scalable method for mid-IR pulse compression.
• To achieve sub-three-cycle pulse durations with high peak power.
• To investigate the interplay of dispersion and nonlinearity for pulse shaping.

Main Methods:

• Soliton-like pulse compression in a millimeter-long yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) crystal.
• Utilizing the anomalous dispersion and optical nonlinearity around 3.9 μm.
• No additional dispersion management was required.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated sub-three-cycle pulse compression in the mid-IR.
• Achieved >0.44 TW peak power.
• Observed mid-IR pulse filamentation in atmospheric air, indicating increased peak power.

Conclusions:

• The YAG crystal enables efficient and scalable soliton-like pulse compression in the mid-IR.
• This technique overcomes limitations of traditional methods for generating ultrashort, high-power pulses.
• The results pave the way for advanced strong-field interactions in the mid-IR spectrum.