arXiv subjects

Ihar Babushkin

Publications and source records attributed to Ihar Babushkin.

15 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2024

Photocurrent-induced harmonics in nanostructures

Photocurrent-induced harmonics appear in gases and solids due to tunnel ionization of electrons in strong fields and subsequent acceleration. In contrast to three-step harmonic emission, no return to the parent ions is necessary. Here we show that the same mechanism produces harmonics in metallic nanostructures in strong fields. Furthermore, we demonstrate how strong local field gradient, appearing as a consequence of the field enhancement, affects photocurrent-induced harmonics. This influence can shed light at the state of electron as it appears in the continuum, in particular, to its initial velocity.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2024

Generation of massively entangled bright states of light during harmonic generation in resonant media

At the fundamental level, full description of light-matter interaction requires quantum treatment of both matter and light. However, for standard light sources generating intense laser pulses carrying quadrillions of photons in a coherent state, the classical description of light during intense laser-matter interaction has been expected to be adequate. Here we show how nonlinear optical response of matter can be controlled to generate dramatic deviations from this standard picture, including generation of several squeezed and entangled harmonics of the incident laser light. In particular, such non-trivial quantum states of harmonics are generated as soon as one of the harmonics induces a transition between different laser-dressed states of the material system. Such transitions generate an entangled light-matter wavefunction, which can generate quantum states of harmonics even in the absence of a quantum driving field or material correlations. In turn, entanglement of the material system with a single harmonic generates and controls entanglement between different harmonics. Hence, nonlinear media that are near-resonant with at least one of the harmonics appear to be quite attractive for controlled generation of massively entangled quantum states of light. Our analysis opens remarkable opportunities at the interface of attosecond physics and quantum optics, with implications for quantum information science.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Wave-Shape-Tolerant Photonic Quantum Gates

Photons, acting as ``flying qubits'' in propagation geometries such as waveguides, appear unavoidably in the form of wavepackets (pulses). The actual shape of the photonic wavepacket, as well as possible temporal/spectral correlations between the photons, play a critical role in successful scalable computation. Currently, unentangled indistinguishable photons are considered as a suitable resource for scalable photonic circuits. Here we show that using so called coherent photon conversion, it is possible to construct flying-qubit gates, which are not only insensitive to waveshapes of the photons and temporal/spectral correlations between them, but which also fully preserve these waveshapes and correlations upon the processing. This allows using photons with correlations and purity in a very broad range for a scalable computation. Moreover, such gates can process entangled photonic wavepackets even more effectively than unentangled ones.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Metallic nanostructures as electronic billiards for nonlinear terahertz photonics

Optical properties of metallic nanoparticles are most often considered in terms of plasmons, the coupled states of light and quasi-free electrons. Here we predict that confinement of electrons inside the nanostructure leads to another, very different, type of resonance, which determines the optical properties in the frequency range significantly below the plasmonic resonance. We demonstrate that closely placed confinement-induces resonances typically join into a single composite "super-resonance" which produces giant nonlinearity at low frequencies. Our simulations show how such nonlinearities can be used for efficient down-conversion of optical pump to terahertz and mid-infrared frequencies in sub-micrometer devices based on nanoparticle composites. We discuss the interaction of these quantum-confinement-induced resonances with the conventional plasmonic ones, as well as the unusual quantum level statistics, adapting here the paradigms of the electronic billiard theory.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2023

Tunable in situ Near-UV Pulses by Transient Plasmonic Resonance in Nanocomposites

We propose a new concept for generation of ultrashort pulses based on transient plasmonic resonance in nanoparticle composites. Photoionization and free-carriers plasma change the susceptibility of nanoparticles on a few-femtosecond scale. This results in a narrow time window during the pump pulse duration when the system is in plasmonic resonance, accompanied by a short burst of the local field. During this process, frequency-tunable few-fs pulses are generated. We elucidate the details of the above mechanism, and investigate the influences of different contributing processes.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2023

Unified Model for a Nonlinear Pulse Propagation in Composites and Optimization of THz Generation

We describe a unified numerical model which allows fast and accurate simulation of nonlinear light propagation in nanoparticle composites, including various effects such as group velocity dispersion, second- and third-order nonlinearity, quasi-free-carrier formation and plasma contribution, exciton dynamics, scattering and so on. The developed software package SOLPIC is made available for the community. Using this model, we analyze and optimize efficient generation of THz radiation by two-color pulses in ZnO/fused silica composite, predicting an efficiency of 3\%. We compare the role of various nonlinear effects contributing to the frequency conversion, and show that optimum conditions of THz generation differ from those expected intuitively.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2022

Onset of Bloch oscillations in the almost-strong-field regime

In the field of high-order harmonic generation from solids, the electron motion typically exceeds the edge of the first Brillouin zone. In conventional nonlinear optics, on the other hand, the excursion of band electrons is negligible. Here, the transition from conventional nonlinear optics to the regime where the crystal electrons begin to explore the first Brillouin zone is investigated. It is found that the nonlinear optical response changes abruptly already before intraband currents due to ionization become dominant. This is observed by an interference structure in the third-order harmonic generation of few-cycle pulses in a non-collinear geometry. Although approaching Keldysh parameter $γ= 1$, this is not a strong-field effect in the original sense, because the iterative series still converges and reproduces the interference structure. The change of the nonlinear interband response is attributed to Bloch motion of the reversible (or transient or virtual) population, similar to the Bloch motion of the irreversible (or real) population which affects the intraband currents that have been observed in high-order harmonic generation.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2022

Cherenkov radiation and scattering of external dispersive waves by two-color solitons

For waveguides with two separate regions of anomalous dispersion, it is possible to create a quasi-stable two-color solitary wave. In this paper we consider how those waves interact with dispersive radiation, both generation of Cherenkov radiation and scattering of incident dispersive waves. We derive the analytic resonance conditions and verify them through numeric experiments. We also report incident radiation driving the internal oscillations of the soliton during the scattering process in case of an intense incident radiation. We generalize the resonance conditions for the case of an oscillating soliton and demonstrate how one can use the scattering process to probe and excite an internal mode of two-color soliton molecules.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2021

Spatial cage solitons -- taming light bullets

Multimode nonlinear optics offers to overcome a long-standing limitation of fiber optics, tightly phase locking several spatial modes and enabling the coherent transport of a wavepacket through a multimode fiber. A similar problem is encountered in the temporal compression of multi-mJ pulses to few-cycle duration in hollow gas-filled fibers. Scaling the fiber length to up to six meters, hollow fibers have recently reached 1 TW of peak power. Despite the remarkable utility of the hollow fiber compressor and its widespread application, however, no analytical model exists to enable insight into the scaling behavior of maximum compressibility and peak power. Here we extend a recently introduced formalism for describing mode-locking to the spatially analogue scenario of locking spatial fiber modes together. Our formalism unveils the coexistence of two soliton branches for anomalous modal dispersion and indicates the formation of stable spatio-temporal light bullets that would be unstable in free space, similar to the temporal cage solitons in mode-locking theory. Our model enables deeper understanding of the physical processes behind the formation of such light bullets and predict the existence of multimode solitons in a much wider range of fiber types than previously considered possible.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2021

High order Brunel harmonics and supercontinuum formed by a weak optical pump in presence of a strong terahertz field

Brunel harmonics appear in the optical response of an atom in process of laser-induced ionization, when the electron leaves the atom and is accelerated in the strong optical field. In contrast to recollision-based harmonics, the Brunel mechanism does not require the electron returning to the core. Here we show that in the presence of a strong ionizing terahertz (THz) field, even a weak driving field at the optical frequencies allow for generating Brunel harmonics effectively. The strong ionizing THz pump suppresses recollisions, making Brunel dominant in a wide spectral range. High-order Brunel harmonics may form a coherent carrier-envelope-phase insensitive supercontinuum, compressible into an isolated pulse with the duration down to 100 attoseconds.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2021

Femtosecond field-driven on-chip unidirectional electronic currents in nonadiabatic tunnelling regime

Recently, asymmetric plasmonic nanojunctions [Karnetzky et. al., Nature Comm. 2471, 9 (2018)] have shown promise as on-chip electronic devices to convert femtosecond optical pulses to current bursts, with a bandwidth of multi-terahertz scale, although yet at low temperatures and pressures. Such nanoscale devices are of great interest for novel ultrafast electronics and opto-electronic applications. Here, we operate the device in air and at room temperature, revealing the mechanisms of photoemission from plasmonic nanojunctions, and the fundamental limitations on the speed of optical-to-electronic conversion. Inter-cycle interference of coherent electronic wavepackets results in a complex energy electron distribution and birth of multiphoton effects. This energy structure, as well as reshaping of the wavepackets during their propagation from one tip to the other, determine the ultrafast dynamics of the current. We show that, up to some level of approximation, the electron flight time is well-determined by the mean ponderomotive velocity in the driving field.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Weak stochastic ratchets and dynamic localization in measurement-induced quantum trajectories

We consider a qubit governed by a sequence of weak measurements, with the measurement strength modified in a time- and state-dependent manner. The resulting trajectory of the qubit in the phase space can be weakly controlled without any direct action on the qubit (control-free control), even only one fixed observable is measured. Here we show a possibility of a weak form of a stochastic ratchet, allowing to create an additional "force" without changing the corresponding effective average potential. Furthermore, if the weak measurement strength is significantly reduced in a way conditioned to some particular state, a dynamical localization near this state takes place. If the measurement strength is reduced to zero, a singularity appears, which behaves like an artificial basis state.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2014

Spectral self-action of THz emission from ionizing two-color laser pulses in gases

The spectrum of terahertz (THz) emission in gases via ionizing two-color femtosecond pulses is analyzed by means of a semi-analytic model and finite-difference-time-domain simulations in 1D and 2D geometries. We show that produced THz signals interact with free electron trajectories and thus influence significantly further THz generation upon propagation, i.e., make the process inherently nonlocal. This self-action plays a key role in the observed strong spectral broadening of the generated THz field. Diffraction limits the achievable THz bandwidth by efficiently depleting the low frequency amplitudes in the propagating field.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2012

Accelerated rogue waves generated by soliton fusion at the advanced stage of supercontinuum formation in photonic crystal fibers

Soliton fusion is a fascinating and delicate phenomenon that manifests itself in optical fibers in case of interaction between co-propagating solitons with small temporal and wavelengths separation. We show that the mechanism of acceleration of trailing soliton by dispersive waves radiated from the preceding one provides necessary conditions for soliton fusion at the advanced stage of supercontinuum generation in photonic crystal fibers. As a result of fusion large intensity robust light structures arise and propagate over significant distances. In presence of small random noise the delicate condition for the effective fusion between solitons can easily be broken, making the fusion induced giant waves a rare statistical event. Thus oblong-shaped giant accelerated waves become excellent candidates for optical rogue waves.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2011

Directionality of THz emission from photoinduced gas plasmas

Forward and backward THz emission by ionizing two-color laser pulses in gas is investigated by means of a simple semi-analytical model based on Jefimenko's equation and rigorous Maxwell simulations in one and two dimensions. We find the emission in backward direction having a much smaller spectral bandwidth than in forward direction and explain this by interference effects. Forward THz radiation is generated predominantly at the ionization front and thus almost not affected by the opacity of the plasma, in excellent agreement with results obtained from a unidirectional pulse propagation model.

physics.optics↗