Photoionization-induced emission of tunable few-cycle mid-IR dispersive waves in gas-filled hollow-core photonic crystal fiber

TL;DR

This paper presents a theoretical scheme for generating tunable, few-cycle mid-infrared dispersive waves in gas-filled hollow-core photonic crystal fibers through plasma formation by self-compressed pulses, enabling new compact mid-IR sources.

Contribution

It introduces a novel plasma-based phase-matching mechanism for tunable, ultrashort mid-IR wave generation in hollow-core fibers, even without zero dispersion points.

Findings

Pulses of about two optical cycles are generated.

Tuning is achieved by adjusting gas pressure.

The scheme enables access to mid-IR frequencies otherwise difficult to reach.

Abstract

We propose a scheme for the emission of few-cycle dispersive waves in the mid-infrared using hollow-core photonic crystal fibers filled with noble gas. The underlying mechanism is the formation of a plasma cloud by a self-compressed, sub-cycle pump pulse. The resulting free-electron population modifies the fiber dispersion, allowing phase-matched access to dispersive waves at otherwise inaccessible frequencies, well into the mid-IR. Remarkably, the pulses generated turn out to have durations of the order of two optical cycles. In addition, this ultrafast emission, which occurs even in the absence of a zero dispersion point between pump and mid-IR wavelengths, is tunable over a wide frequency range simply by adjusting the gas pressure. These theoretical results pave the way to a new generation of compact, fiber-based sources of few-cycle mid-IR radiation.