Unlocking superior performance of broadband powerful mid-IR optical parametric amplifiers with a BaGaGeS crystal pumped at 1.24 µm.

We report on the development of a tunable (1.5-6.5 µm) femtosecond optical parametric amplifier (OPA) based on a novel, to the best of our knowledge, BaGaGeS (BGGS) crystal with a Cr:Forsterite pumping laser.

High-gain broadband laser amplification of mid-IR pulses in Fe:CdSe crystal at 5 μm with millijoule output energy and multigigawatt peak power.

We report on a first of its kind, to our knowledge broadband amplification in a Fe:CdSe single crystal in the mid-IR beyond 5 µm. The experimentally measured gain properties demonstrate saturation fluence close to 13 mJ/cm and support the bandwidth up to 320 nm (full width at half maximum). Such properties allow the energy of the seeding mid-IR laser pulse, generated by an optical parametric amplifier, to be pushed up to more than 1 mJ.

Single-shot femtosecond bulk micromachining of silicon with mid-IR tightly focused beams.

Being the second most abundant element on earth after oxygen, silicon remains the working horse for key technologies for the years. Novel photonics platform for high-speed data transfer and optical memory demands higher flexibility of the silicon modification, including on-chip and in-bulk inscription regimes. These are deepness, three-dimensionality, controllability of sizes and morphology of created modifications.

Dynamics of ultrafast phase transitions in MgF triggered by laser-induced THz coherent phonons.

The advent of free-electron lasers opens new routes for experimental high-pressure physics, which allows studying dynamics of condensed matter with femtosecond resolution. A rapid compression, that can be caused by laser-induced shock impact, leads to the cascade of high-pressure phase transitions. Despite many decades of study, a complete understanding of the lattice response to such a compression remains elusive.

Dynamics of Ultrafast Phase Transitions in (001) Si on the Shock-Wave Front.

We demonstrate an ultrafast (<0.1 ps) reversible phase transition in silicon (Si) under ultrafast pressure loading using molecular dynamics. Si changes its structure from cubic diamond to β-Sn on the shock-wave front.