Zhizhan Xu

We develop a background-free single-beam coherent Raman scattering technique enabling the high-sensitivity detection of greenhouse gases. In this scheme, Raman coherence prepared by a femtosecond laser is interrogated by self-generated narrowband air lasing, thus allowing single-beam measurements without complex pulse shaping. The unique temporal and spectral characteristics of air lasing are beneficial for improving the signal-to-noise ratio and spectral resolution of Raman signals. With this method, SF₆ gas present at a concentration of 0.38% was detected in an SF₆–air mixture. This technique provides a simple and promising route for remote detection due to the low divergence of Raman signals and the availability of high-energy pump lasers, which may broaden the potential applications of air lasing.

It has been observed that in a pre-excited medium produced by femtosecond laser pulses, nonlinear interaction can be dramatically enhanced. The underlying mechanism is still under debate because of the lack of detailed information on the species, energy states, and temporal dynamics of the excited medium. Here, we report a dramatic enhancement of seventh-harmonic generation in pre-excited argon atoms. By measuring the evolution of the enhanced signal with the propagation distance, we are able to separate the contributions from the improved phase matching and the enhanced nonlinear susceptibility. The time- and spectrum-resolved measurements clearly show that generation of excited states is responsible for the enhanced nonlinear susceptibility. The maximum population of excited states on the picosecond and nanosecond timescales can be attributed to two possible pathways.

We employ the modified 6×6 matrix formalism to describe a pulsed Gaussian beam diffracted by a grating with arbitrary orientation. The matrix treatment is used to analyze the evolution of a pulsed beam propagating in a duplex grating compressor (DGC). For chirped pulse incidence, the inclination angle required in DGC setups will introduce several kinds of first-order spatio-temporal couplings (STCs). We found that temporal stretching due to spatial chirp is suppressed with enlarged beam diameter. Pulse-front tilt and residual frequency chirp in the compressed pulse will be eliminated simultaneously. Pulse with the transform-limited duration can be expected in ultra-intense and ultra-short pulse laser systems employing DGC.

We have theoretically and experimentally investigated the evolution of the temporal contrast in a 10-PW-level Ti:sapphire laser in the Shanghai Superintense Ultrafast Laser Facility (SULF). The effects induced by the grism pair, spectral shaping filter, and increase in gain on the temporal contrast were investigated. First, it was found that the energy loss of clean seed pulses in the grism pair is a major factor in contrast degradation. Because of the low transmission efficiency of the grism pair (~10%), the temporal contrast is degraded by one order of magnitude. Second, the spectral shaping filter in the regenerative amplifier degrades the temporal contrast by increasing the intracavity loss. Finally, as the amplified spontaneous emission pedestal experiences gain more than the main pulse in Ti:sapphire amplifiers, particularly during saturated amplification, the temporal contrast will further deteriorate as the gain increases in multi-stage Ti:sapphire amplifiers. In addition, the effect on the temporal contrast induced by the extraction during pumping technique in large-aperture Ti:sapphire amplifiers has been considered. According to the investigations described above, the design of the SULF can be further improved. It is predicted that a temporal contrast of over 10⁻¹¹ can be achieved at a peak power of 10 PW following the improvements. The investigations conducted in this study can provide guidelines for improving the temporal contrast in ultrahigh-peak-power Ti:sapphire lasers.

We report on the laser pulse output of 339 J centered at 800 nm from a chirped-pulse amplification (CPA) Ti:sapphire laser system at the Shanghai Superintense Ultrafast Laser Facility. The experimental results demonstrated that the parasitic lasing as well as the transverse amplified spontaneous emission of the homemade 235-mm-diameter Ti:sapphire final amplifier were suppressed successfully via the temporal dual-pulse pumped scheme and the index-matching liquid cladding technique. The maximum pump-to-signal conversion efficiency of 32.1% was measured for the final amplifier. With a compressor transmission efficiency of 64% and a compressed pulse duration of 21 fs obtained for the sample light at a lower energy level, this laser system could potentially generate a compressed laser pulse with a peak power of 10.3 PW. The experimental results represent significant progress with respect to the CPA laser.

We report on a method to experimentally generate ionic wind by coupling an external large electric field with an intense femtosecond laser induced air plasma channel. The measured ionic wind velocity could be as strong as >4 m/s. It could be optimized by increasing the strength of the applied electric field and the volume of the laser induced plasma channel. The experimental observation was qualitatively confirmed by a numerical simulation of spatial distribution of the electric field. The ionic wind can be generated outside a high-voltage geometry, even at remote distances.

In the past few years, the laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) electron is a hot topic. One of its applications is to produce soft X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL). During this process, high harmonic generation (HHG) is a potential seed. To decrease the timing jitter between LWFA and HHG, it is better for them to come from the same laser source. We have experimentally investigated bright high-order harmonic generation with a 200-terawatt (TW)/1-Hz Ti: Sapphire laser system. By using the loosely focused method and optimizing the phase-matching conditions, we have obtained bright high-order harmonics around 30 nm. Output energy of the 29th harmonic (27.6 nm) reaches as high as 100 nJ per pulse, and the harmonic beam divergence is estimated to be 0.3 mrad in a full width at half maximum (FWHM). Although the hundred-TW-level laser system has the problems of poor beam quality and shot-to-shot energy fluctuation for HHG, the generated soft X-ray (~30 nm) sources can also have good stability by carefully optimizing the laser system.

By combining cross-polarized wave generation and femtosecond optical parametric amplification, a high-contrast front end featuring ultrahigh contrast, a broadband spectrum, an excellent beam profile, and good stability is built for a 10-PW-level Ti:sapphire laser in the Shanghai Superintense Ultrafast Laser Facility (SULF-10PW laser). The front end can deliver a cleaned pulse with a 110 μJ energy at 1 kHz, and the bandwidth of the cleaned pulse exceeds 60 nm (FWHM), which can support a 17 fs compressed pulse duration. The measured output energy fluctuation in one hour is −10 at 3 ps before the main pulse. Utilizing the high-contrast front end, single-shot contrast at 10⁻¹⁰ level has been demonstrated in the SULF-10PW laser at a 24 fs pulse duration.