Supercontinuum Generation, Mode-locked Lasers, Solitons

Prof. Govind Agrawal

Supercontinuum Generation
refers to extreme spectral broadening of femtosecond optical pulses occurring when they propagate in the anomalous-dispersion regime of a highly nonlinear fiber. In this case, the combination of various dispersive and nonlinear effects generates a supercontinuum through a process known as soliton fission, followed by the emission of Cheronkov radiation and Raman-induced spectral shifts. Prof. Agrawal’s group is studying various physical mechanisms that participate in the process of supercontinuum generation.


Mode-locked fiber lasers
produce short optical pulses ranging from 50 fs to tens of picoseconds through a mode-locking technique. Passive mode locking typically produces femtosecond pulses at repetition rates below 50 MHz. The repetition rate can be enhanced through active mode locking by placing a modulator inside the laser cavity. Prof. Agrawal's group is currently focused on erbium (Er) and ytterbium (Yb) fiber lasers. Erbium-fiber lasers operate near 1550 nm and are useful for eye-safe applications. Ytterbium-fiber lasers operate near 1050 nm and can provide high optical powers as well as high-energy pulses.

Optical Solitons
is an exciting research area. When ultrashort pulses are propagated in the anomalous-dispersion regime of a nonlinear fiber, under certain conditions they can form solitons such that their width and shape does not change along the fiber. Prof. Agrawal's group is studying soliton formation and propagation in both passive and active fibers.

Ultrafast Dynamics in Solids, High-Field Sciences

Prof. Chunlei Guo
His group is studying ultrafast dynamics of electrons, phonon, and surface plasmons in various materials.
His group is also studying fundamental interactions of high-intensity femtosecond laser with matter in various phases, including gas, condensed, and plasma phases.

Ultrafast Lasers

Prof. Wayne Knox