Few-cycle mid-infrared pulses from BaGa2GeSe6

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the generation of few-cycle mid-infrared pulses using the nonlinear material BaGa2GeSe6, achieving sub-four-cycle pulses suitable for ultrashort pulse applications.

Contribution

First experimental demonstration of ultrashort mid-infrared pulses from BaGa2GeSe6, showcasing its potential for ultrabroad frequency mixing and spectroscopy.

Findings

Pulse energy of 21 pJ at 100 MHz

Pulse duration of 91 fs, sub-four optical cycles

Spectral bandwidth from 5.8 to 8.5 microns

Abstract

BGGSe is a newly developed nonlinear material that is attractive for ultrabroad frequency mixing and ultrashort pulse generation due to its comparably low dispersion and high damage threshold.In a first experiment, we show that a long crystal length of 2.6 mm yields a pulse energy of 21 pJ at 100 MHz with a spectral bandwidth covering 5.8 to 8.5 microns. The electric field of the carrier-envelope-phase stable pulse is directly measured with electro-optical sampling and reveals a pulse duration of 91 fs, which corresponds to sub-four optical cycles, thus confirming some of the prospects of the material for ultrashort pulse generation and mid-infrared spectroscopy.