Supercritical Xe at 293 K offers a Kerr nonlinearity that can exceed that of fused silica while being free of Raman scattering. It also has a much higher optical damage threshold and a transparency window that extends from the UV to the infrared. We report the observation of nonlinear phenomena, such as self-phase modulation, in hollow-core photonic crystal fiber filled with supercritical Xe. In the subcritical regime, intermodal four-wave mixing resulted in the generation of UV light in the HE12 mode. The normal dispersion of the fiber at high pressures means that spectral broadening can be clearly obtained without influence from soliton effects or material damage.
Tunable vacuum-UV to visible ultrafast pulse source based on gas-filled
Kagome-PCF
Ka Fai Mak,
John C. Travers,
Philipp Hoelzer,
Nicolas Y. Joly,
Philip St. J. Russell
An efficient and tunable 176-550 nm source based on the emission of resonant dispersive radiation from ultrafast solitons at 800 nm is demonstrated in a gas-filled hollow-core photonic crystal fiber (PCF). By careful optimization and appropriate choice of gas, informed by detailed numerical simulations, we show that bright, high quality, localized bands of UV light (relative widths of a few percent) can be generated at all wavelengths across this range. Pulse energies of more than 75 nJ in the deep-UV, with relative bandwidths of similar to 3%, are generated from pump pulses of a few mu J. Excellent agreement is obtained between numerical and experimental results. The effects of positive and negative axial pressure gradients are also experimentally studied, and the coherence of the deep-UV dispersive wave radiation numerically investigated. (C) 2013 Optical Society of America
Raman-free nonlinear optical effects in high pressure gas-filled hollow
core PCF
M. Azhar,
G. K. L. Wong,
W. Chang,
N. Y. Joly,
P. St J. Russell
The effective Kerr nonlinearity of hollow-core kagome-style photonic crystal fiber (PCF) filled with argon gas increases to similar to 15% of that of bulk silica glass when the pressure is increased from 1 to 150 bar, while the zero dispersion wavelength shifts from 300 to 900 nm. The group velocity dispersion of the system is uniquely pressure-tunable over a wide range while avoiding Raman scattering-absent in noble gases-and having an extremely high optical damage threshold. As a result, detailed and well-controlled studies of nonlinear effects can be performed, in both normal and anomalous dispersion regimes, using only a fixed-frequency pump laser. For example, the absence of Raman scattering permits clean observation, at high powers, of the interaction between a modulational instability side-band and a soliton-created dispersive wave. Excellent agreement is obtained between numerical simulations and experimental results. The system has great potential for the realization of reconfigurable supercontinuum sources, wavelength convertors and short-pulse laser systems. (C)2013 Optical Society of America
Passive mode-locking of fiber ring laser at the 337th harmonic using
gigahertz acoustic core resonances
M. S. Kang,
N. Y. Joly,
P. St. J. Russell
OPTICS LETTERS
38
(4)
561-563
(2013)
We report the experimental demonstration of a passively mode-locked Er-doped fiber ring laser operating at the 337th harmonic (1.80 GHz) of the cavity. The laser makes use of highly efficient Raman-like optoacoustic interactions between the guided light and gigahertz acoustic resonances trapped in the micron-sized solid glass core of a photonic crystal fiber. At sufficient pump power levels the laser output locks to a repetition rate corresponding to the acoustic frequency. A stable optical pulse train with a side-mode suppression ratio higher than 45 dB was obtained at low pump powers (similar to 60 mW). (C) 2013 Optical Society of America
Two techniques for temporal pulse compression in gas-filled hollow-core
kagome photonic crystal fiber
K. F. Mak,
J. C. Travers,
N. Y. Joly,
A. Abdolvand,
P. St. J. Russell
We demonstrate temporal pulse compression in gas-filled kagome hollow-core photonic crystal fiber (PCF) using two different approaches: fiber-mirror compression based on self-phase modulation under normal dispersion, and soliton effect self-compression under anomalous dispersion with a decreasing pressure gradient. In the first, efficient compression to near-transform-limited pulses from 103 to 10.6 fs was achieved at output energies of 10.3 mu J. In the second, compression from 24 to 6.8 fs was achieved at output energies of 6.6 mu J, also with near-transform-limited pulse shapes. The results illustrate the potential of kagome-PCF for postprocessing the output of fiber lasers. We also show that, using a negative pressure gradient, ultrashort pulses can be delivered directly into vacuum. (C) 2013 Optical Society of America
Scientific career
Since 2021: Head of the microstructured optical fibres independent research group at the Max-Planck Institute for the Science of Light in Erlangen, Germany
Since 2009: Associate professor at the Univ. of Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany
2005 – 2008: Maître de conférences at the Univ. of Lille in France
Education background
2012: Habilitation at the Ecole Normale Supérieure of Cachan (France) Title: Supercontinuum generation using pulses propagating in photonic crystal fibres, Defended in July. 10th 2012. Thesis adviser: Prof. Dr. Joseph Zyss.
2002-2005: Post-doctoral fellow at the University of Bath (UK) in the group of Prof. Philip Russell
1999-2002: PhD with honors (“Félicitations du jury”) at the laboratory of Physics of Lasers, Atoms, and Molecules (PhLAM) at the University of Lille (France) Title: Instabilities in pulsed mode-locked lasers: techniques for observation and control Defended on Sept. 23rd 2002. Thesis adviser: Prof. Dr. Serge Bielawski.
Awards & appointments
Since 2023: Advisor of the Erlangen Optica Student Chapter
Since 2021: Scientific coordinator of the Internation Max Planck School for the Physics of Light (IMPRS-PL)
Since 2020: Senior member of Optical Society of America (OSA)
Since 2019: Fellow of the Max Planck School of Photonics (MPSP) and member of the selection committee
Since 2016: Fellow of the Max Planck Center for Extreme and Quantum Photonics, Ottawa, Canada
1999: MENRT scholarship from the French ministry of Research to perform his doctoral degree at the University of Lille from 1999 to 2002
1998: Awarded a CIME scholarship from AUF (Agence universitaire de la Francophonie) to perform his Master study at Laval University (Québec) in 1998
Professional activities
2024: Member of the Technical Program Committee for the SPIE Photonics Europe in Strasbourg
Since 2022: Associate Editor of Opt. Express
2017: General chair of the 1st Sino-German symposium on fiber photonics for light-matter interaction in Shanghai, China
2017 – 2018: Member of the Technical Program Committee for SPIE UV and higher energy photonic
2013 – 2017: Member of Technical Program Committee for CLEO US (OSA)
2015: co-Chair of the 2nd Siegman International School of Laser (OSA)
Since 2015: Member of the Technical Program Committee for WSOF (OSA) in Hong-Kong (2015), Limasol in Cypris (2017), Adelaide in Australia (2022), and in Prague in Czech Republic (2025)
Since 20214: Member of the Student Commission of the internation Master of Advanced Optics and Technologies (MAOT)
2013: Topical session at PIERS (Progress in Electromagnetics Research Symposium) in Stockholm
2011: International conference on Nonlinear optics and complexity in photonic crystal fibers and nanostructures in Erice, in Sicily
2011: 14th International SAOT workshop on Fiber laser, sensors and materials at Reicheschwand, Germany
Since 2009: External expert for the evaluation of proposals from ANR (National agency of research in France), the Polish Society of Science, DFG (National agency of research in Germany) and ERC (European Research Council)
Since 2009: Supervisor of 13 PhD students, 2 post-docs, 14 MSc students
Ongoing projects
DFG project JO 1090/8-3 – OrbitFlySens [FAU] Orbiting flying particle sensor (with Bernhard Schmauß, FAU) – 2025-2028
BayFrance FK-34-2024 [FAU] Real-time detection of Terahertz signals using ultrashort lasers Mobility allowance – collaboration with University of Lille - 2025
BayFrance FK-35-2024 [FAU] Exploring chiral fibers for new-type of polarization-resolved endoscopy Mobility allowance – collaboration with University of Marseille – 2025
DFG project JO 1090/3-2 – Photon Triplets [FAU] Generation of photon triplets via three-photon parametric down-conversion (with Maria Chekhova) – 2024-2027
QuNet beta [MPL] 2021-2026
Max-Planck-School of Photonics (MPSP) [FAU] 2019-2025
DFG project JO 1090/6-1 -Twin Beams [FAU] Fiber source of entangled photons with giant tunable frequency separation (with Maria Chekhova) - 2021-2024
DFG project JO 1090/4-1 – Rydbergatoms in photonic crystal fibres [FAU] (with Robert Löw, University of Stuttgart) - 2019-2023
BayFrance FK-29-2018 [FAU] Frequency conversion of single-photon quantum sources using gas-filled hollow-core photonic crystal fibres Mobility allowance – collaboration with LKB, Ens Paris, France - 2018
DFG project JO 1090/3-1 – Photon Triplets [FAU] Generation of photon triplets via three-photon parametric down-conversion (with Maria Chekhova) – 2017-2020
BayFrance FK-38-2013 [FAU] Dynamical instabilities in photonic crystal fiber ring cavities synchronously pumped by femtosecond pulses Mobility allowance – collaboration with University of Lille, France - 2013-2014
