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Photonics and nonlinear optics are important areas of science, engineering and technology. One of the most important ultrafast nonlinear optical processes is the supercontinuum (SC) - the production of intense white light pulses covering: uv, visible, NIR, MIR, and IR. It is produced using ultrashort laser pulses (ps/fs) to produce the ultrabroad band of frequencies. This book covers the fundamental principles and surveys research of current thinkers and experts in the field with updated references of the key breakthroughs over the past decade and a half. The application of SC are time-resolved pump-SC probe absorption and excitation spectroscopy for chemistry, biology and physics fundamental processes; optical coherence tomography; ultrashort pulse generation in femtosecond and attosecond regions; frequency clocks; phase stabilization; optical communication; atmospheric science; lightning control; optical medical imaging; biological cell imaging; and metrology standards.
List of contents
Theory of Self-Phase Modulation and Spectral Broadening.- Supercontinuum Generation in Condensed Matter.- Ultrashort Pulse Propagation in Nonlinear Dispersive Fibers.- Cross-Phase Modulation: A New Technique for Controlling the Spectral, Temporal, and Spatial Properties of Ultrashort Pulses.- Simple Models of Self-Phase and Induced-Phase Modulation.- Self-Steepening of Optical Pulses.- Self-Focusing and Continuum Generation in Gases.- Utilization of UV and IR Supercontinua in Gas-Phase Subpicosecond Kinetic Spectroscopy.- Applications of Supercontinuum: Present and Future.- Pulse Compression in Single-Mode Fibers: Picoseconds to Femtoseconds.- Coherence Properties of the Supercontinuum Source.- Supercontinuum Generation in Materials (Solids, Liquids, Gases, Air).- Supercontinuum Generation in Microstructure Fibers.- Supercontinuum in Wavelength Division Multiplex Telecommunication.- Femtosecond Pump: Supercontinuum Probe for Applications in Semiconductors, Biology, and Chemistry.- Supercontinuum in Optical Coherence Tomography.- Supercontinuum in Femtosecond Carrier-Envelope Phase Stabilization.- Supercontinuum in Ultrafast Pulse Compression.- Supercontinuum in Time and Frequency Metrology.- Supercontinuum in Atmospheric Science.- Coherence of the Supercontinuum.
About the author
Dr. Robert R. Alfano's accomplishments in the field include:
Seminal patent on the supercontinuum.
Discovery of the supercontinuum.
Fellow of APS, OSA, IEEE, AP Sloan Fellow, published three (3) Physical Review Letters in one volume in 1970 on the supercontinuum.
700 published works, 80 patents, Distinguished Professor of Science and Engineering.
Photonic and ultrafast phenomena expert
Inventor of Cr4+ tunable lasers
Summary
Photonics and nonlinear optics are important areas of science, engineering and technology. One of the most important ultrafast nonlinear optical processes is the supercontinuum (SC) – the production of intense white light pulses covering: uv, visible, NIR, MIR, and IR. It is produced using ultrashort laser pulses (ps/fs) to produce the ultrabroad band of frequencies. This book covers the fundamental principles and surveys research of current thinkers and experts in the field with updated references of the key breakthroughs over the past decade and a half. The application of SC are time-resolved pump-SC probe absorption and excitation spectroscopy for chemistry, biology and physics fundamental processes; optical coherence tomography; ultrashort pulse generation in femtosecond and attosecond regions; frequency clocks; phase stabilization; optical communication; atmospheric science; lightning control; optical medical imaging; biological cell imaging; and metrology standards.
