Compression of ultrashort laser pulses in planar hollow waveguides: a stability analysis.
We investigate compression of ultrashort laser pulses by nonlinear propagation in gas-filled planar hollow waveguides, using (3+1)- dimensional numerical simulations. In this geometry, the laser beam is guided with a fixed size in one transverse dimension, generating significant spectral broadening, while it propagates freely in the other, allowing for energy up-scalability. In this respect the concept outperforms compression techniques based on hollow core fibers or filamentation. Small-scale self-focusing is a crucial consideration, which introduces mode deterioration and finally break-up in multiple filaments. The simulation results, which match well with initial experiments, provide important guidelines for scaling the few-cycle pulse generation to higher energies. Pulse compression down to few-cycle duration with energies up to 100 mJ levels should be possible.
Arnold
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Laboratoire d'Optique Appliquée, Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Techniques Avancées-Ecole Polytechnique, CNRS, F-91761 Palaiseau, France. cord.arnold@ensta.fr
Akturk
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Franco
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Couairon
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Mysyrowicz
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