Professor Simon Hooker

Abstract:

We present an analytical solution for the phase introduced by a phase-only spatial light modulator to generate far-field phase and amplitude distributions within a domain of interest. The solution is demonstrated experimentally and shown to enable excellent control of the far-field amplitude and phase.

Abstract:

A simple technique for generating trains of ultrafast pulses is demonstrated in which the linear separation between pulses can be varied continuously over a wide range. These pulse trains are used to achieve tunable quasi-phase-matching of high harmonic generation over a range of harmonic orders up to the harmonic cut-off, resulting in enhancements of the harmonic intensity in excess of an order of magnitude. The peak enhancement of the harmonics is clearly shown to depend on the separation between pulses, as well as the number of pulses in the train, representing an easily tunable source of quasi-phase-matched high harmonic generation.