Harmonic generation by an atom in a laser field is described by the three-step mechanism as proceeding via above-threshold ionization (ATI) followed by the electron propagation in the laser-dressed continuum and the subsequent laser assisted recombination (LAR). An amplitude of harmonic production is given by the coherent sum of contributions from different intermediate ATI channels labeled by ...

We present a new interferometer technique based on the interference of high-order harmonic generation radiation from translatable successive gas jets. The phase shifts in the apparatus are shown to originate from the Gouy phase shift of the driving laser. The technique can be used to deliver time delays between light pulses and we demonstrate the unprecedented capability of delivering pulses of...

We discuss the influence of a zero-temperature environment on a coherent quantum system. First, we calculate the reduced density operator of the system in the framework of the well-known, exactly solvable model of an oscillator coupled to a bath of harmonic oscillators. Then, we propose the sketch of an Aharonov–Bohm-like interferometer showing, through interference measurements, the decrease o...

A double-clad Yb-doped all-normal-dispersion fiber laser with a narrow intra-cavity spectral filter is demonstrated to produce 22 nJ pulses at 42.5 MHz repetition rate. These pulses are characterized and compressed via mulitphoton intrapulse interference phase scan to as short as 42 fs and 10 nJ/pulse. Adaptive compression underlies the achievement of 250-kW peak power, which enables efficient ...

An improved approach to interferometry using sinusoidal phase shifting balances several harmonic components in the interference signal against each other. The resulting computationally efficient phase-estimation algorithms have low sensitivity to errors such as spurious intensity noise, vibration, and errors in the phase shift pattern. Specific example algorithms employing 8 and 12 camera frame...

We theoretically and experimentally demonstrate coherence phenomena in optical parametric amplification inside a cavity. The mode splitting in the transmission spectra of a phase-sensitive optical parametric amplifier is observed. Especially, we show that a very narrow dip and peak, which are the shape of a delta function, appear in the transmission profile. The origin of the coherence phenomen...

In this chapter, coherent effects that accompany the propagation of laser radiation in tissues and the interaction of laser radiation with cell flows are considered. These effects include diffraction, formation of speckle structures, interference of speckle fields, scattering from moving particles, etc. Principles of quasi-elastic light scattering (QELS) spectroscopy, diffusion wave spectroscop...

We present a technique for frequency-resolved wavefront characterization of high harmonics based on lateral shearing interferometry. Tilted replicas of the driving laser pulse are produced by a Mach-Zehnder interferometer, producing separate focii in the target. The interference of the resulting harmonics on a flat-field extreme ultraviolet spectrometer yields the spatial phase derivative. A co...

We predict the loss of superfluidity in a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) trapped in a combined optical and axially-symmetric harmonic potentials during a resonant collective excitation initiated by a periodic modulation of the atomic scattering length a, when the modulation frequency equals twice the radial trapping frequency or multiples thereof. This classical dynamical transition is marked b...

By using continuous-wave (CW)–stimulated Raman scattering inside a high-finesse cavity, we generate three CW spectral components covering about one octave of optical bandwidth. We investigate the mutual coherence of these three beams by studying phase-dependent second harmonic generation. From the high contrast of the observed interference fringes, we infer very good phase coherence across the ...