We present a numerical model of internal modification in bulk borosilicate glass by high repetition rate picosecond laser pulses. We study free-electron dynamics, nonlinear energy deposition and thermal conduction. The optical absorptivity and modification regions both have good agreements with the experimental results. The smooth outer zone is the molten region and the inner-structure formation is caused by high-density free-electrons generated by thermal ionization. Excitation, relaxation and accumulation of free-electron density in the focal volume are analyzed using different pulse shapes and a double-pulse train. The deposited energy distribution and modification zone are controlled by pulse shaping.

We investigate the ultrafast nonlinear phenomena of picosecond chirped non-ideal hyperbolic secant pulse evolution in silicon photonic nanowire waveguides with sum frequency generation cross-correlation frequency-resolved optical gating and nonlinear Schr?dinger equation modeling. Pulse broadening and spectral blue shifts are observed experimentally, and they show remarkable agreements with numerical predictions. Nonlinear losses dominate the pulse broadening and limit the spectral bandwidth broadening induced by self-phase modulation. The initial chirp results in noticeable bandwidth compression and aggravation of blue shifts in the presence of nonlinear losses, whereas it plays a negligible role in the output pulse temporal intensity distribution.

We study the roles of thermal ionization and electronic damage in the internal modification of bulk borosilicate glass by high repetition rate picosecond laser pulses. Laser-induced plasma generation, nonlinear energy deposition and steady temperature distribution are numerically analyzed. The simulated modified regions show good agreement with the experimental results, thereby revealing the roles of thermal damage and electronic damage in the internal modification. While the elliptical outer structure is recognized as the molten region, we found that the teardropshaped inner structure is the damaged zone caused by high-density freeelectrons. In the formation of the inner structure, cascade ionization is seeded by thermal ionization instead of multi-photon ionization and dramatically increases the free-electron density to the damage threshold. The contour of the inner structure is found to be corresponding to a characteristic isotherm of around 3000 ~4000 °C.

This study presents a novel numerical model for laser ablation and laser damage in glass including beam propagation and nonlinear absorption of multiple incident ultrashort laser pulses. The laser ablation and damage in the glass cutting process with a picosecond pulsed laser was studied. The numerical results were in good agreement with our experimental observations, thereby revealing the damage mechanism induced by laser ablation. Beam propagation effects such as interference, diffraction and refraction, play a major role in the evolution of the crater structure and the damage region. There are three different damage regions, a thin layer and two different kinds of spikes. Moreover, the electronic damage mechanism was verified and distinguished from heat modification using the experimental results with different pulse spatial overlaps.

We theoretically study the temporal contrast degradation by the spectral phase distortion in chirped pulse amplification (CPA) lasers. As an example, we analyze the impact of the surface qualities of the optical elements such as mirrors and grating in the stretcher and compressor on the temporal contrast. The temporal contrast declines fast in the case of a rapidly varying random surface error of the optical elements. When the values of PV, RMS and GRMS of the surface error curve are reduced, the temporal contrast is becoming better and better. And the temporal contrast can be improved after the surface error curve is to be spatial filtering. Those results are helpful for the choice of the surface parameters of the optical elements in the stretcher and compressor.

We theoretically study the temporal contrast degradation by the spectral phase distortion in chirped pulse amplification (CPA) lasers. As an example, we analyze the impact of the surface qualities of the optical elements such as mirrors and grating in the stretcher and compressor on the temporal contrast. The temporal contrast declines fast in the case of a rapidly varying random surface error of the optical elements. When the values of PV, RMS and GRMS of the surface error curve are reduced, the temporal contrast is becoming better and better. And the temporal contrast can be improved after the surface error curve is to be spatial filtering. Those results are helpful for the choice of the surface parameters of the optical elements in the stretcher and compressor.

A fiber laser system emitting high-quality ultrashort powerful light pulses is reported. The photonic crystal fiber featuring high-gain large -mode-core and short absorption length is used, and the fiber laser is passively mode-locked by a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror. Its output greatly exceeds the power limitation of single-mode fiber oscillators with 1.4-W average power at 1 039-nm center wavelength, 6.9-ps pulse width, and 45.4-MHz repetition rate.

A phase modulator is employed in the scheme of soliton pulse compression with dispersion shifted fiber (DSF). Stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) effect, as a negative influence here, can be dramatically suppressed after optical phase modulation. The experimental result shows that the launched power required for high-order soliton pulse compression has been significantly increased by 11 dB under the condition of 100-MHz phase modulation. Accordingly, the experiment of picosecond pulse compression generated from electro-absorption sampling window (EASW) has also been implemented.