A novel single-cycle optical source in the mid-infrared

In this thesis, I demonstrate the generation of single-optical-cycle pulses in the mid-infrared, which are generated using adiabatic difference frequency in an aperiodically polled lithium niobate crystal. The input pulses were generated in amplified Ti:Sapphire laser system, the construction of which is covered in detail, along with complete characterization of the generated pulses. The generated pulses have a bandwidth spanning (1.8-4.5[mu]m), energy in excess of 1[mu]J at a 1kHz repetition rate, and are compressed to within 15% of their Fourier transform limited duration of 10fs, which is 1.1 optical cycles at their central wavelength of 2.6[mu]m, and represents a peak power well in excess of 100MW. Furthermore, intrinsic to the design of the system is the ability to shape both the spectral amplitude and phase of the generated pulses, which makes this source immediately suitable for applications requiring shaped pulses.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2016

Author dc:creator

• Krogen, Peter Ra

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Erich P. Ippen and Franz X. Kaertner.

• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/105945

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/105945