Development of ultrafast laser sources using novel light guiding concepts

Domain topic

Laser Physics

Supervisors

Motivation

Ultrashort laser pulses are at the heart of modern science and technology, enabling very diverse applications, ranging from eye-sight correction to studying ultrafast electron dynamics in matter. Such laser pulses can easily undergo nonlinear interactions if sufficiently high intensities are reached. Nonlinear interactions form the basis of modern laser technology and are essential for pushing laser technology to the few optical cycle regime, a regime, which can be reached e.g. via optical parametric processes. As an alternative to high-power parametric sources, the combination of ultrafast high-power lasers followed by pulse post-compression has recently attracted much attention, evoked by a new scheme, which can be used for post-compression starting in the picosecond range. The scheme employs a resonator-like light guiding concept, which provides completely new degrees of freedom for controlling nonlinear light matter interactions. By utilizing such light guiding concepts, new parameter regimes for ultrafast sources will be reached within the next years, opening up new possibilities for various applications within extreme nonlinear optics. Its in-depth exploration is waiting.

Project Description

The project aims at exploring new technologies for ultrafast science. The project consists in designing, building, optimizing and characterizing new few-cycle drivers for future high harmonic based extreme ultraviolet sources. It will be carried out guided by experts in the field of ultrafast laser pulse generation and characterization.

Methodological keywords

Optical systems, Simulation start-to-end & optimization, Assembly and calibration