Open AccessGeneration of high-fidelity few-cycle pulses at 21 μm via cross-polarized wave generation
Author(s) -
A. Ricci,
Francisco Silva,
Aurélie Jullien,
Seth L. Cousin,
Dane R. Austin,
J. Biegert,
Rodrigo López-Martens
Publication year - 2013
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.21.009711
Subject(s) - optics , ultrashort pulse , amplifier , laser , sum frequency generation , materials science , physics , nonlinear optics , optoelectronics , cmos
We demonstrate the generation of temporally clean few-cycle pulses at 2.1 μm by shortening of 6-optical-cycle pulses via cross-polarized wave (XPW) generation in BaF(2), CaF(2) and CVD-Diamond crystals. By combining spectra and single-shot third-order intensity cross-correlation traces in a novel Bayesian pulse retrieval technique, we measured pulse durations of 20 fs, corresponding to 2.8 optical cycles. Our results show that XPW generation in the infrared could provide a high-fidelity source of few-cycle pulses for strong-field physics applications. It could also serve as an injector for high-peak power ultrafast mid-IR wavelength parametric amplifiers.