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Full-Text Articles in Optics

Measuring The Pulse Duration Of A Femtosecond Laser Using Intensity Autocorrelation, Ross N. Relic Jun 2023

Measuring The Pulse Duration Of A Femtosecond Laser Using Intensity Autocorrelation, Ross N. Relic

Macalester Journal of Physics and Astronomy

In this experiment, an intensity autocorrelator is set up in order to measure the pulse duration of a passively mode-locked Titanium-Sapphire laser with a power of 267mW producing femtosecond pulses. Then this measurement, as well as a measurement of the laser’s spectrum, is used to test the Uncertainty Principle. Intensity autocorrelation is a well-established technique for measuring pulse duration, and is among the more intuitive techniques for this purpose, which is why it was selected for this experiment. The experimental setup was computerized. The delay of one half of the pulse was controlled by a motorized translation stage which was …


Filaments And Their Application To Air Lasing, Spectroscopy, And Guided Discharge, Ali Rastegari May 2023

Filaments And Their Application To Air Lasing, Spectroscopy, And Guided Discharge, Ali Rastegari

Optical Science and Engineering ETDs

Laser filamentation is a fascinating phenomenon that occurs when an intense laser beam travels through transparent materials, in particular air. At sufficiently high power (TW in the near IR, GW in the UV), instead of spreading out like a regular laser beam, something remarkable happens: the laser beam becomes tightly focused, creating a thin and intense column of light called a laser filament. Laser filamentation is characterized by two main properties: (I) a high-intensity core that remains narrow over long distances beyond the Rayleigh range and (II) a low-density plasma channel within the core. In recent years, laser filamentation has …