Hussain Syed A, Hofer Christina, Högner Maximilian, Schweinberger Wolfgang, Buberl Theresa, Bausch Daniel, Huber Marinus, Krausz Ferenc, Pupeza Ioachim
Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, Hans-Kopfermann-Str. 1, 85748, Garching, Germany.
Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich, Am Coulombwall 1, 85748, Garching, Germany.
Sci Rep. 2024 Sep 6;14(1):20869. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-68848-z.
The generation of laser pulses with controlled optical waveforms, and their measurement, lie at the heart of both time-domain and frequency-domain precision metrology. Here, we obtain mid-infrared waves via intra-pulse difference-frequency generation (IPDFG) driven by 16-femtosecond near-infrared pulses, and characterise the jitter of sub-cycle fractions of these waves relative to the gate pulses using electro-optic sampling (EOS). We demonstrate sub-attosecond temporal jitter at individual zero-crossings and sub-0.1%-level relative amplitude fluctuations in the 10-kHz-0.625-MHz band. Chirping the nearly-octave-spanning mid-infrared pulses uncovers wavelength-dependent attosecond-scale waveform jitter. Our study validates EOS as a broadband (both in the radio-frequency and the optical domains), highly sensitive measurement technique for the jitter dynamics of optical waveforms. This sensitivity reveals outstanding stability of the waveforms obtained via IPDFG and EOS, directly benefiting precision measurements including linear and nonlinear (infrared) field-resolved spectroscopy. Furthermore, these results form the basis toward EOS-based active waveform stabilisation and sub-attosecond multi-oscillator synchronisation/delay tracking.
产生具有可控光学波形的激光脉冲及其测量，是时域和频域精密计量的核心。在此，我们通过由16飞秒近红外脉冲驱动的脉冲内差频产生（IPDFG）获得中红外波，并使用电光采样（EOS）来表征这些波的亚周期分数相对于门脉冲的抖动。我们展示了在10 kHz - 0.625 MHz频段内，单个过零点处的亚阿秒时间抖动以及低于0.1%水平的相对幅度波动。对几乎跨越一个倍频程的中红外脉冲进行啁啾处理，揭示了与波长相关的阿秒尺度波形抖动。我们的研究验证了EOS作为一种宽带（在射频和光学领域）、高灵敏度的测量技术，可用于光学波形的抖动动力学研究。这种灵敏度揭示了通过IPDFG和EOS获得的波形具有出色的稳定性，直接有利于包括线性和非线性（红外）场分辨光谱在内的精密测量。此外，这些结果为基于EOS的有源波形稳定以及亚阿秒多振荡器同步/延迟跟踪奠定了基础。
