Genetic Algorithms and their Applications to Continuum Generation

A genetic algorithm was written to aid in shaping pulses used in continuum generation. Mating techniques, fitness evaluation methods, mutation rate, population size, and generation size were studied and tested. Of the parameters investigated, the best combination of parameters is an initial combination of large population, high mutation rate and “Fitness Is Evaluation” fitness evaluation method with a final parameter combination of low mutation rate and “Linear Normalization” fitness evaluation method. Continuum Generation Continuum generation is the generation of a broad spectrum (∆λ exceeding 500 nm) from a small bandwidth (∆λ ~ 10 nm) laser pulse. This phenomenon occurs when extremely intense laser light is passed through a medium because a medium’s index of refraction depends on the intensity of the light as well as the light’s wavelength according