Ultra-fast switching of light by absorption saturation in vacuum ultra-violet region.
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.
Yoneda
Hitoki
H
Institute for Laser Science, University of Electro-Communications, Tokyo 1828585, Japan. yoneda@ils.uec.ac.jp
Inubushi
Yuichi
Y
Tanaka
Toshihiro
T
Yamaguchi
Yuta
Y
Sato
Fumiya
F
Morimoto
Shunsuke
S
Kumagai
Taisuke
T
Nagasono
Mitsuru
M
Higashiya
Atsushi
A
Yabashi
Makina
M
Ishikawa
Tetsuya
T
Ohashi
Haruhiko
H
Kimura
Hiroaki
H
Kitamura
Hikaru
H
Kodama
Ryosuke
R
D000042:Absorption; D003198:Computer Simulation; D008670:Metals / Q000737:chemistry*; D008956:Models, Chemical; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D014466:Ultraviolet Rays; D014618:Vacuum
D008670:Metals