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1. Wake dynamics of air filaments generated by high-energy picosecond laser pulses at 1 kHz repetition rate

   https://doi.org/10.1364/OL.439232  

   Higginson, A. ; Wang, Y. ; Chi, H. ; Goffin, A. ; Larkin, I. ; Milchberg, H_M ; Rocca, J_J ( October 2021 , Optics Letters)

   We investigated the filamentation in air of 7 ps laser pulses of up to 200 mJ energy from a 1.03 μm-wavelength Yb:YAG laser at repetition rates up to$f=1\mathrm{k}\mathrm{H}\mathrm{z}$. Interferograms of the wake generated show that while pulses in a train of repetition rate$f=0.1\mathrm{k}\mathrm{H}\mathrm{z}$encounter a nearly unperturbed environment, at$f=1\mathrm{k}\mathrm{H}\mathrm{z}$, a channel with an axial air density hole of$\sim <\#comment/>20\mathrm{\%<\#comment/>}$is generated and maintained at all times by the cumulative effect of preceding laser pulses. Measurements at$f=1\mathrm{k}\mathrm{H}\mathrm{z}$show that the energy deposited decreases proportional to the air channel density depletion, becoming more pronounced as the repetition rate and pulse energy increase. Numerical simulations indicate that contrary to filaments generated by shorter duration pulses, the electron avalanche is the dominant energy loss mechanism during filamentation with 7 ps pulses. The results are of interest for the atmospheric propagation of joule-level picosecond pulses from Yb:YAG lasers, of which average powers now surpass 1 kW, and for channeling other directed energy beams.

    

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2. Direct chip-scale optical frequency divider via regenerative harmonic injection locking

   https://doi.org/10.1364/OL.413335  

   Bustos-Ramirez, Ricardo ; Trask, Lawrence_R ; Bhardwaj, Ashish ; Hoefler, Gloria_E ; Kish, Fred_A ; Delfyett, Peter_J ( February 2021 , Optics Letters)

   A novel optical frequency division technique, called regenerative harmonic injection locking, is used to transfer the timing stability of an optical frequency comb with a repetition rate in the millimeter wave range ($\sim <\#comment/>300\mathrm{G}\mathrm{H}\mathrm{z}$) to a chip-scale mode-locked laser with a$\sim <\#comment/>10\mathrm{G}\mathrm{H}\mathrm{z}$repetition rate. By doing so, the 300 GHz optical frequency comb is optically divided by a factor of$30\times <\#comment/>$to 10 GHz. The stability of the mode-locked laser after regenerative harmonic injection locking is$\sim <\#comment/>{10}^{-<\#comment/>12}$at 1 s with a$1/\mathrm{\tau <\#comment/>}$trend. To facilitate optical frequency division, a coupled opto-electronic oscillator is implemented to assist the injection locking process. This technique is exceptionally power efficient, as it uses less than$100\text{µ<\#comment/>}\mathrm{W}$of optical power to achieve stable locking.

    

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3. InGaP quantum nanophotonic integrated circuits with 1.5% nonlinearity-to-loss ratio

   https://doi.org/10.1364/OPTICA.440383  

   Zhao, Mengdi ; Fang, Kejie ( February 2022 , Optica)

   Optical nonlinearity plays a pivotal role in quantum information processing using photons, from heralded single-photon sources and coherent wavelength conversion to long-sought quantum repeaters. Despite the availability of strong dipole coupling to quantum emitters, achieving strong bulk optical nonlinearity is highly desirable. Here, we realize quantum nanophotonic integrated circuits in thin-film InGaP with, to our knowledge, a record-high ratio of$1.5\mathrm{\%<\#comment/>}$between the single-photon nonlinear coupling rate ($g/2\mathrm{\pi <\#comment/>}=11.2\mathrm{M}\mathrm{H}\mathrm{z}$) and cavity-photon loss rate. We demonstrate second-harmonic generation with an efficiency of$71200\pm <\#comment/>10300\mathrm{\%<\#comment/>}/\mathrm{W}$in the InGaP photonic circuit and photon-pair generation via degenerate spontaneous parametric downconversion with an ultrahigh rate exceeding 27.5 MHz/µW—an order of magnitude improvement of the state of the art—and a large coincidence-to-accidental ratio up to$1.4\times <\#comment/>{10}^4$. Our work shows InGaP as a potentially transcending platform for quantum nonlinear optics and quantum information applications.

    

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4. Long-wavelength-infrared laser filamentation in solids in the near-single-cycle regime

   https://doi.org/10.1364/OL.389456  

   Qu, Shizhen ; Chaudhary_Nagar, Garima ; Li, Wenkai ; Liu, Kun ; Zou, Xiao ; Hon_Luen, Seck ; Dempsey, Dennis ; Hong, Kyung-Han ; Jie_Wang, Qi ; Zhang, Ying ; et al ( April 2020 , Optics Letters)

   We experimentally demonstrate long-wavelength-infrared (LWIR) femtosecond filamentation in solids. Systematic investigations of supercontinuum (SC) generation and self-compression of the LWIR pulses assisted by laser filamentation are performed in bulk KrS-5 and ZnSe, pumped by$\sim <\#comment/>145\mathrm{f}\mathrm{s}$, 9 µm, 10 µJ pulses from an optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifier operating at 10 kHz of repetition rate. Multi-octave SC spectra are demonstrated in both materials. While forming stable single filament, 1.5 cycle LWIR pulses with 4.5 µJ output pulse energy are produced via soliton-like self-compression in a 5 mm thick KrS-5. The experimental results quantitatively agree well with the numerical simulation based on the unidirectional pulse propagation equation. This work shows the experimental feasibility of high-energy, near-single-cycle LWIR light bullet generation in solids.

    

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5. Widely separated optical Kerr parametric oscillation in AlN microrings

   https://doi.org/10.1364/OL.384317  

   Tang, Yulong ; Gong, Zheng ; Liu, Xianwen ; Tang, Hong_X ( February 2020 , Optics Letters)

   Here, we report${\mathrm{\chi <\#comment/>}}^{(3)}$-based optical parametric oscillation (OPO) with widely separated signal–idler frequencies from crystalline aluminum nitride microrings pumped at$2\text{µ<\#comment/>}\mathrm{m}$. By tailoring the width of the microring, OPO reaching toward the telecom and mid-infrared bands with a frequency separation of 64.2 THz is achieved. While dispersion engineering through changing the microring width is capable of shifting the OPO sideband by$><\#comment/>9\mathrm{T}\mathrm{H}\mathrm{z}$, the OPO frequency can also be agilely tuned in the ranges of 1 and 0.1 THz, respectively, by shifting the pump wavelength and controlling the chip’s temperature. At high pump powers, the OPO sidebands further evolve into localized frequency comb lines. Such large-frequency-shift OPO with flexible wavelength tunability will lead to enhanced chip-scale light sources.

    

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