The interaction of laser radiation with dielectrics and metals is detected with femtosecond resolution by pump&probe techniques (t = 80 fs or 3 ps, λ = 810 nm). Even with femtosecond laser radiation melt ejection dynamics can be observed by irradiating metals like copper or aluminium using time-resolved shadowgraphy. Laser-induced melt ejection has been observed in the time range of 100 ns to 1...

A method to measure the propagation loss of optical waveguides is discussed. The measurement system involves two 3 dB couplers, a CCD camera and a signal processing unit. The propagation loss measured from this technique is found to be independent of coupling conditions. The propagation properties of waveguides prepared by proton exchange (PE) in Lithium Niobate (LiNbO3) and Silver ion exchange...

We report on the accurate measurement of nonlinear ellipse rotation (NER) by means of a phase-sensitive method employing a dual-phase lock-in. The magnitudes and signs of pure refractive electronic nonlinearities of silica and BK7 were determined with this new method using 150 femtosecond (fs) laser pulses at 775 nm. Experimental and theoretical analyses of the NER signal were carried out and t...

Conventional material removal of BK7 optical glass will normally result in brittle fracture at the surface, generating severe subsurface damage and poor surface finish. Subsurface damages induced by grinding strongly influence the mechanical strength and optical quality of optical glasses. However, through ductile mode grinding it is possible to reduce the surface and subsurface cracks. It is m...

Conventional material removal of BK7 optical glass will normally result in brittle fracture at the surface, generating severe subsurface damage and poor surface finish. Subsurface damages induced by grinding strongly influence the mechanical strength and optical quality of optical glasses. However, through ductile mode grinding it is possible to reduce the surface and subsurface cracks. It is m...

Frequency-resolved optical gating (FROG) is a technique that produces a spectrogram of an ultrashort laser pulse. The intensity and phase of the ultrashort laser pulse can be determined through solving for the phase of the spectrogram with an iterative, phase-retrieval algorithm. This work presents a new phase-retrieval algorithm that retrieves both the probe and the gate pulses independently b...