Open AccessUltra-fast switching of light by absorption saturation in vacuum ultra-violet region
Author(s) -
Hitoki Yoneda,
Yuichi Inubushi,
Toshihiro Tanaka,
Yoichi Yamaguchi,
Fumiya Sato,
Shota Morimoto,
Taisuke Kumagai,
Mitsuru Nagasono,
A. Higashiya,
Makina Yabashi,
Tetsuya Ishikawa,
Haruhiko Ohashi,
Hiroaki Kimura,
Hikaru Kitamura,
R. Kodama
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.17.023443
Subject(s) - optics , optoelectronics , materials science , photonics , photon , absorption (acoustics) , laser , saturable absorption , wavelength , physics , fiber laser
Advances in free electron lasers producing high energy photons [Nat. Photonics 2(9), 555-559 (2008)] are expected to open up a new science of nonlinear optics of high energy photons. Specifically, lasers of photon energy higher than the plasma frequency of a metal can show new interaction features because they can penetrate deeply into metals without strong reflection. Here we show the observation of ultra-fast switching of vacuum ultra-violet (VUV) light caused by saturable absorption of a solid metal target. A strong gating is observed at energy fluences above 6J/cm2 at wavelength of 51 nm with tin metal thin layers. The ratio of the transmission at high intensity to low intensity is typically greater than 100:1. This means we can design new nonlinear photonic devices such as auto-correlator and pulse slicer for the VUV region.