Light wave measurement and sub-cycle nonlinear optics

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17H02801
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Optical engineering, Photon science
• Research Institution: Toyota Technological Institute (2019); Institute for Molecular Science (2017-2018)
• Principal Investigator: Fuji Takao 豊田工業大学, 工学(系)研究科(研究院), 教授 (20313207)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 非線形光学 / 超短光パルス

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this research, we have established a technique that can measure the oscillation of the electric field even when using a pulse longer than the period of the optical field, and we have advanced the research of the nonlinear optics which is sensitive to the oscillation of the optical field using that technique. We have investigated the process of the wavelength conversion from infrared light to visible light,
a kind of nonlinear optical process, by using the originally developed optical field waveform measurement method. It was observed that the efficiency of the wavelength conversion greatly changed depending on the phase of the input electric field. Moreover, it is shown that the phenomenon can be explained by the interference between the harmonics of various orders.

Free Research Field

レーザー物理

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

数フェムト秒の周期で振動する超短光パルスの光電場を直接的に計測することは、その周期よりもはるかに短いアト秒パルスによってしかできないものと信じられてきたが、本研究では、光電場の周期よりも長いパルスを用いても、光電場の振動する様子を計測できる技術を確立した。この技術によって、以前よりもはるかに簡便に光電場波形に敏感な非線形現象を解明できることを実際に示した。今後、この技術は、光を使った超高速情報処理などの進展に役立つと考えられる。