Anatoliy A Ivanov

Doubly phase-matched cascaded parametric wave mixing of ultrashort laser pulses

Doubly phase-matched cascaded parametric wave mixing of femtosecond laser pulses in tapered fibers is experimentally demonstrated. Fibers with an appropriately tailored dispersion profile allow simultaneous phase matching for two types of nonlinear-optical processes-third-harmonic generation and parametric four-wave mixing. Doubly phase-matched cascaded parametric interactions of ultrashort light pulses give rise to a manifold of new spectral components, expanding substantially the capabilities of the available laser sources of ultrashort pulses.

Spectral superbroadening of subnanojoule Cr : Forsterite femtosecond laser pulses in a tapered fiber

Spectral superbroadening of subnanojoule femtosecond Cr:forsterite laser pulses is demonstrated for the first time in experiments with a tapered fiber. Coupling 40-fs 0.6-nJ pulses of 1.25-μm Cr:forsterite laser radiation into a tapered fiber with a taper waist diameter of about 2 μm and a taper waist length of 90 mm, we observed the spectra spanning more than two octaves at the output of the fiber. These experimental results open new horizons for the creation of compact femtosecond systems based on Cr:forsterite lasers and tapered fibers for optical metrology and biomedical applications.

Controlled light localization and nonlinear-optical interactions of ultrashort laser pulses in micro-and nanostructured fibers with a tunable photonic band gap

Physical principles behind the control of light localization and nonlinear-optical interactions in micro-and nanostructured fibers are demonstrated. Transmission measurements on the cladding of nanostructured fibers having a form of a two-dimensional periodic structure with a pitch less than 500 nm have revealed the existence of a photonic band gap tunable within the range from 930 to 1030 nm. The influence of the structure of the holey-fiber cladding on the effective area of the waveguide mode and the spectral broadening of Ti:sapphire and Cr:forsterite femtosecond laser pulses is experimentally studied. It is shown that the increase in the air-filling fraction of a holey-fiber cladding results in a considerable enhancement of spectral broadening of short laser pulses due to the increase in the light localization degree in the fiber core.

Nonlinear-optical spectral transformations of a two-color short-pulse laser field in a photonic-crystal fiber

Femtosecond pulses of fundamental Cr: forsterite laser radiation are used as a pump field to tune the frequency and transform the spectrum of copropagating second-harmonic pulses of the same laser through cross-phase modulation and cross-modulation-induced instability in a photonic-crystal fiber.

Doubly phase-matched cascaded wave mixing in tapered fibers

Doubly phase-matched cascaded four-wave mixing in tapered fibers is demonstrated using femtosecond Cr:forsterite laser pulses. The first stage of this cascade involves phase-matched third-harmonic generation. At the second stage, the third harmonic and fundamental radiation generate new spectral components through phase-matched parametric wave mixing.