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Backward lasing of singly ionized nitrogen ions pumped by femtosecond laser pulses

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Abstract

We report on the observation of backward lasing at 391.4 nm of nitrogen ions pumped by linearly polarized intense femtosecond pulses at 800 nm. The strongly enhanced spectral intensity at 391.4 nm, as well as the amplification of an externally injected backward seeding pulse, confirm that the backward 391.4 nm signal is due to optical amplification in the nitrogen gas plasma. Compared to the forward emission at 391.4 nm, the optimal backward emission is achieved at a lower gas pressure around 10 mbar, which is due to asymmetry of the backward and forward directions rooted in the traveling excitation geometry. Comparison of the signals in pure nitrogen and air revealed a strong quenching effect of the oxygen molecules, preventing backward lasing action in ambient air.

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Acknowledgements

National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11574213, 11904232), Innovation Program of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission (Grant No. 2017-01-07-00-07-E00007), Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission (No. 17060502500), ELITAS (ELI Tools for Advanced Simulation) CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16-013/0001793 from the European Regional Development Fund. The authors acknowledge the fact that the nonlinear pulse propagation simulation has been performed by Dr. X. H. Gao of Shaoxing University of Science and Technology (China) based on the gUUPE core software developed by Prof. M. Kolesik and his colleagues of Arizona University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shanghai Key Lab of Modern Optical System, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, 516, Jungong Road, Shanghai, 200093, China

    Xiang Zhang, Rostyslav Danylo, Zhengquan Fan, Chenhao Kou, Qingqing Liang & Yi Liu

  2. Laboratoire d’Optique Appliquée, ENSTA Paris, Ecole Polytechnique, CNRS, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, 828 Boulevard des Maréchaux, 91762, Palaiseau cedex, France

    Rostyslav Danylo, Pengji Ding, Aurélien Houard & André Mysyrowicz

  3. Division of Combustion Physics, Department of Physics, Lund University, 118, 221 00, Lund, Sweden

    Pengji Ding

  4. Centre Lasers Intenses et Applications, University of Bordeaux-CNRS-CEA, 351 Cours de la Liberation, 33405, Talence cedex, France

    Vladimir Tikhonchuk

  5. ELI-Beamlines, Institute of Physics, Czech Academy of Sciences, Dolní Břežany, 25241, Prague, Czech Republic

    Vladimir Tikhonchuk

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  1. Xiang Zhang
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  2. Rostyslav Danylo
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  10. Yi Liu
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Correspondence to Yi Liu.

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Zhang, X., Danylo, R., Fan, Z. et al. Backward lasing of singly ionized nitrogen ions pumped by femtosecond laser pulses. Appl. Phys. B 126, 53 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-020-7402-x

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