Sub-attosecond-precision optical-waveform stability measurements using electro-optic sampling

Syed A Hussain; Christina Hofer; Maximilian Högner; Wolfgang Schweinberger; Theresa Buberl; Daniel Bausch; Marinus Huber; Ferenc Krausz; Ioachim Pupeza

doi:10.1038/s41598-024-68848-z

Sub-attosecond-precision optical-waveform stability measurements using electro-optic sampling

Sci Rep. 2024 Sep 6;14(1):20869. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-68848-z.

Authors

Syed A Hussain^#^{1

2

3

4}, Christina Hofer^#^{1

2

3

5

6}, Maximilian Högner^{1

7}, Wolfgang Schweinberger^{2

3

8}, Theresa Buberl^{1

2}, Daniel Bausch^{1

2

9}, Marinus Huber^{1

2

9}, Ferenc Krausz^{1

2

3}, Ioachim Pupeza^{10

11

12

13}

Affiliations

¹ Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, Hans-Kopfermann-Str. 1, 85748, Garching, Germany.
² Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich, Am Coulombwall 1, 85748, Garching, Germany.
³ Center for Molecular Fingerprinting, Molekuláris-Ujjlenyomat Kutató Közhasznú Nonprofit Kft., Budapest, Hungary.
⁴ Department of Physics and Applied Mathematics, Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Islamabad, Pakistan.
⁵ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
⁶ Quantum Matter Institute, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
⁷ Physics Department and State Research Center OPTIMAS, University of Kaiserslautern-Landau, 67663, Kaiserslautern, Germany.
⁸ Department of Physics and Astronomy, King Saud University, 11451, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁹ Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology Jena (IPHT Jena), Member of Leibniz Health Technologies, Jena, Germany.
¹⁰ Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, Hans-Kopfermann-Str. 1, 85748, Garching, Germany. [email protected].
¹¹ Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich, Am Coulombwall 1, 85748, Garching, Germany. [email protected].
¹² Physics Department and State Research Center OPTIMAS, University of Kaiserslautern-Landau, 67663, Kaiserslautern, Germany. [email protected].
¹³ Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology Jena (IPHT Jena), Member of Leibniz Health Technologies, Jena, Germany. [email protected].

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

The generation of laser pulses with controlled optical waveforms, and their measurement, lie at the heart of both time-domain and frequency-domain precision metrology. Here, we obtain mid-infrared waves via intra-pulse difference-frequency generation (IPDFG) driven by 16-femtosecond near-infrared pulses, and characterise the jitter of sub-cycle fractions of these waves relative to the gate pulses using electro-optic sampling (EOS). We demonstrate sub-attosecond temporal jitter at individual zero-crossings and sub-0.1%-level relative amplitude fluctuations in the 10-kHz-0.625-MHz band. Chirping the nearly-octave-spanning mid-infrared pulses uncovers wavelength-dependent attosecond-scale waveform jitter. Our study validates EOS as a broadband (both in the radio-frequency and the optical domains), highly sensitive measurement technique for the jitter dynamics of optical waveforms. This sensitivity reveals outstanding stability of the waveforms obtained via IPDFG and EOS, directly benefiting precision measurements including linear and nonlinear (infrared) field-resolved spectroscopy. Furthermore, these results form the basis toward EOS-based active waveform stabilisation and sub-attosecond multi-oscillator synchronisation/delay tracking.

Abstract

Grants and funding