Efficient temporal shaping of ultrashort pulses with birefringent crystals.
We report on a simple and robust technique to temporally shape ultrashort pulses. A number of birefringent crystals with appropriate crystal length and orientation form a crystal set. When a short pulse propagates through the crystal set, the pulse is divided into numerous pulses, producing a desired temporal shape. Flexibility in the final pulse shape is achieved through varying initial pulse duration, divided-pulse number, the polarization-mode delay, and energy distribution of the divided pulses. The energy efficiency of the technique is near 100% for a pulse train of alternating polarizations, and 50% for a linearly polarized pulse train.
Zhou
Shian
S
Department of Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. sz53@cornell.edu
Ouzounov
Dimitre
D
Li
Heng
H
Bazarov
Ivan
I
Dunham
Bruce
B
Sinclair
Charles
C
Wise
Frank W
FW