Abstract

Availability of relativistically intense, single-cycle, tunable infrared sources will open up new areas of relativistic nonlinear optics of plasmas, impulse IR spectroscopy and pump-probe experiments in the molecular fingerprint region. However, generation of such pulses is still a challenge by current methods. Recently, it has been proposed that time dependent refractive index associated with laser-produced nonlinear wakes in a suitably designed plasma density structure rapidly frequency down-converts photons. The longest wavelength photons slip backwards relative to the evolving laser pulse to form a single-cycle pulse within the nearly evacuated wake cavity. This process is called photon deceleration. Here, we demonstrate this scheme for generating high-power (~100 GW), near single-cycle, wavelength tunable (3–20 µm), infrared pulses using an 810 nm drive laser by tuning the density profile of the plasma. We also demonstrate that these pulses can be used to in-situ probe the transient and nonlinear wakes themselves.

Plasma can act as strong nonlinear refractive index medium that can be exploited to downshift the frequency of a laser pulse. Here, the authors show the generation of single-cycle tunable infrared pulses using strong density gradients associated with laser-produced wakes in plasmas.

Details

Title
Photon deceleration in plasma wakes generates single-cycle relativistic tunable infrared pulses
Author
Nie Zan 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Chih-Hao, Pai 2 ; Zhang, Jie 2 ; Ning Xiaonan 2 ; Hua Jianfei 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; He Yunxiao 2 ; Wu, Yipeng 2 ; Su Qianqian 2 ; Liu, Shuang 2 ; Ma, Yue 2 ; Cheng, Zhi 2 ; Lu, Wei 3 ; Hsu-Hsin, Chu 4   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Wang Jyhpyng 5 ; Zhang Chaojie 6 ; Mori, Warren B 6 ; Joshi, Chan 6 

 Tsinghua University, Key Laboratory of Particle and Radiation Imaging of Ministry of Education, Department of Engineering Physics, Beijing, China (GRID:grid.12527.33) (ISNI:0000 0001 0662 3178); University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, USA (GRID:grid.19006.3e) (ISNI:0000 0000 9632 6718) 
 Tsinghua University, Key Laboratory of Particle and Radiation Imaging of Ministry of Education, Department of Engineering Physics, Beijing, China (GRID:grid.12527.33) (ISNI:0000 0001 0662 3178) 
 Tsinghua University, Key Laboratory of Particle and Radiation Imaging of Ministry of Education, Department of Engineering Physics, Beijing, China (GRID:grid.12527.33) (ISNI:0000 0001 0662 3178); Tsinghua University, State Key Laboratory of Low Dimensional Quantum Physics, Department of Physics, Beijing, China (GRID:grid.12527.33) (ISNI:0000 0001 0662 3178) 
 National Central University, Department of Physics, Jhongli, Taiwan (GRID:grid.37589.30) (ISNI:0000 0004 0532 3167); National Central University, Center for High Energy and High Field Physics, Jhongli, Taiwan (GRID:grid.37589.30) (ISNI:0000 0004 0532 3167) 
 National Central University, Department of Physics, Jhongli, Taiwan (GRID:grid.37589.30) (ISNI:0000 0004 0532 3167); National Central University, Center for High Energy and High Field Physics, Jhongli, Taiwan (GRID:grid.37589.30) (ISNI:0000 0004 0532 3167); Academia Sinica, Institute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences, Taipei, Taiwan (GRID:grid.28665.3f) (ISNI:0000 0001 2287 1366); National Taiwan University, Department of Physics, Taipei, Taiwan (GRID:grid.19188.39) (ISNI:0000 0004 0546 0241) 
 University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, USA (GRID:grid.19006.3e) (ISNI:0000 0000 9632 6718) 
Publication year
2020
Publication date
2020
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20411723
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2409174635
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2020. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.