SearcharxivSearch

arXiv subjects

Yohann Brelet

Publications and source records attributed to Yohann Brelet.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

Technical design report of a complete and compact broadband high-harmonics femtosecond beamline based on a modular hollow waveguide for photons generation centered on the upper region of the extreme ultraviolet spectral range

We have successfully developed and implemented an entire and compact table-top high-order harmonics generation (HHG) setup from monochromatic and intense femtosecond ($10^{-15}$ s) laser pulses launched in a target composed of a high-purity monoatomic noble gas specie, which can be Argon or Helium, distinctively. Its frequency arrangement is distributed both in the full eXtreme UltraViolet (XUV, $22-124$ eV) spectral region and in the bottom part of the Soft-X Ray range (SXR, $124-132$ eV), at once. Specifically, the core of this coherent secondary light source is based solely on a homemade, modular, affordable, though sturdy, design. We take advantage of this opportunity to present our design guidance of the XUV generation from a hollow capillary waveguide apparatus, and our simple recipe regarding the alignment process of the latter, which is easily carried out thanks to our adjustable design. Then, a comprehensive description of our entire XUV beamline is described, and participate in adding essential contents to the existing literature. Concurrently, we conducted theoretical studies, in order to anticipate or explain our experimental results. Overall, we found very good consistency between the experimental and cost-effective time-consuming numerical results. Finally, our setup provides very good vacuum performance under high gas load pressures, to a few atmospheres. All of these attributes fulfill the requirements regarding ultrafast time-resolved pump-probe configuration in table-top element-sensitive spectroscopy of complex and integrated optoelectronic devices made of magnetic materials.

physics.optics

Underwater acoustic wave generation by filamentation of terawatt ultrashort laser pulses

Acoustic signals generated by filamentation of ultrashort TW laser pulses in water are characterized experimentally. Measurements reveal a strong influence of input pulse duration on the shape and intensity of the acoustic wave. Numerical simulations of the laser pulse nonlinear propagation and the subsequent water hydrodynamics and acoustic wave generation show that the strong acoustic emission is related to the mechanism of superfilamention in water. The elongated shape of the plasma volume where energy is deposited drives the far-field profile of the acoustic signal, which takes the form of a radially directed pressure wave with a single oscillation and a very broad spectrum.

physics.optics

Two-color interferometer for the study of laser filamentation triggered electric discharges in air

We present a space and time resolved interferometric plasma diagnostic for use on plasmas where neutral-bound electron contribution to the refractive index cannot be neglected. By recording simultaneously the plasma optical index at 532 and 1064 nm, we are able to extract independently the neutral and free electron density profiles. We report a phase resolution of 30 mrad, corresponding to a maximum resolution on the order of $4\times10^{23}~\mathrm{m}^{-3}$ for the electron density, and of $10^{24} ~ \mathrm{m}^{-3}$ for the neutral density. The interferometer is demonstrated on centimeter-scale sparks triggered by laser filamentation in air with typical currents of a few tens of A.

physics.plasm-ph

Superfilamentation in air

The interaction between a large number of laser filaments brought together using weak external focusing leads to the emergence of few filamentary structures reminiscent of standard filaments, but carrying a higher intensity. The resulting plasma is measured to be one order of magnitude denser than for short-scale filaments. This new propagation regime is dubbed superfilamentation. Numerical simulations of a nonlinear envelope equation provide good agreement with experiments.

physics.optics

Lasing of ambient air with microjoule pulse energy pumped by a multi terawatt IR femtosecond laser

We report on the lasing action of atmospheric air pumped by an 800 nm femtosecond laser pulse with peak power up to 4 TW. Lasing emission at 428 nm increases rapidly over a small range of pump laser power, followed by saturation above ~ 1.5 TW. The maximum lasing pulse energy is measured to be 2.6 uJ corresponding to an emission power in the MW range, while a maximum conversion efficiency of is measured at moderate pump pulse energy. The optical gain inside the filament plasma is estimated to be excess of 0.7/cm. The lasing emission shows a doughnut profile, reflecting the spatial distribution of the pump-generated white-light continuum that acts as a seed for the lasing. We attribute the pronounced saturation to the defocusing of the seed in the plasma amplifying region and to the saturation of the seed intensity.

physics.optics

Self-seeded lasing in ionized air pumped by 800 nm femtosecond laser pulses

We report on the lasing in air and pure nitrogen gas pumped by a single 800 nm femtosecond laser pulse. Depending on gas pressure, incident laser power and beam convergence, different lasing lines are observed in the forward direction with rapid change of their relative intensities. The lines are attributed to transitions between vibrational and rotational levels of the first negative band of the singly charged nitrogen molecule-ion. We show that self-seeding plays an important role in the observed intensity changes.

physics.optics