Lecture

Optical Pulse Propagation in Dispersive Media

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In course

PHYS-449: Optics III

Réaliser un système d'optique complexe. Comprendre l'interaction de la lumière avec la matière en optique nonlinéaire et optique pulsé. Comprendre les méthodes de génération, d'amplification e de compression des impulsions courtes. Connaitre les techniques ...

Description

This lecture covers the propagation of an optical pulse in a transparent linear dispersive medium, discussing concepts such as form factor, group speed dispersion, and phase velocity. It explains the temporal widening and frequency chirp effects, as well as the representation of a Gaussian pulse. The lecture delves into the dispersion of group velocity, the generation of new frequencies in nonlinear dispersive media, and the effects of phase self-modulation. Additionally, it explores the principles of laser operation, including stimulated transitions, population inversion, and laser amplification. The lecture concludes with a discussion on the characteristics of short optical pulses and the behavior of axial modes in laser cavities.

Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Physics

Optics: Lasers

Related concepts (32)

Ultrashort pulse

In optics, an ultrashort pulse, also known as an ultrafast event, is an electromagnetic pulse whose time duration is of the order of a picosecond (10−12 second) or less. Such pulses have a broadband optical spectrum, and can be created by mode-locked oscillators. Amplification of ultrashort pulses almost always requires the technique of chirped pulse amplification, in order to avoid damage to the gain medium of the amplifier. They are characterized by a high peak intensity (or more correctly, irradiance) that usually leads to nonlinear interactions in various materials, including air.

Pulsed laser

Pulsed operation of lasers refers to any laser not classified as continuous wave, so that the optical power appears in pulses of some duration at some repetition rate. This encompasses a wide range of technologies addressing a number of different motivations. Some lasers are pulsed simply because they cannot be run in continuous mode. In other cases the application requires the production of pulses having as large an energy as possible.

Laser

A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word laser is an anacronym that originated as an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. The first laser was built in 1960 by Theodore Maiman at Hughes Research Laboratories, based on theoretical work by Charles H. Townes and Arthur Leonard Schawlow. A laser differs from other sources of light in that it emits light that is coherent.

Laser science

Laser science or laser physics is a branch of optics that describes the theory and practice of lasers. Laser science is principally concerned with quantum electronics, laser construction, optical cavity design, the physics of producing a population inversion in laser media, and the temporal evolution of the light field in the laser. It is also concerned with the physics of laser beam propagation, particularly the physics of Gaussian beams, with laser applications, and with associated fields such as nonlinear optics and quantum optics.

Dispersion (optics)

In optics and in wave propagation in general, dispersion is the phenomenon in which the phase velocity of a wave depends on its frequency; sometimes the term chromatic dispersion is used for specificity to optics in particular. A medium having this common property may be termed a dispersive medium (plural dispersive media). Although the term is used in the field of optics to describe light and other electromagnetic waves, dispersion in the same sense can apply to any sort of wave motion such as acoustic dispersion in the case of sound and seismic waves, and in gravity waves (ocean waves).

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