Significant Enhancement of N2+ Lasing by Polarization-Modulated Ultrashort Laser Pulses

Helong Li, Mengyao Hou, Hongwei Zang, Yao Fu, Erik Lötstedt, Toshiaki Ando, Atsushi Iwasaki, Kaoru Yamanouchi, and Huailiang Xu
Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 013202 – Published 9 January 2019
PDFHTMLExport Citation

Abstract

We show that the intensity of self-seeded N2+ lasing at 391 nm, assigned to the B2Σu+(v=0)X2Σg+(v=0) emission, is enhanced by 2 orders of magnitude by modulating in time the polarization of an intense ultrashort near-IR (40 fs, 800 nm) laser pulse with which N2 is irradiated. We find that this dramatic enhancement of the 391 nm lasing is sensitive to the temporal variation of the polarization state within the laser pulse while the intensity of the spontaneous fluorescence emission at 391 nm is kept constant when the polarization state varies. We conclude that a postionization multiple-state coupling, through which the population can be transferred from the X2Σg+ state of N2+ to the first electronically excited A2Πu state, leads to the depletion of the population in the X2Σg+ state, and consequently, to the population inversion between the X2Σg+ state and the B2Σu+ state.

  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Received 23 September 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.013202

© 2019 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Atomic, Molecular & Optical

Authors & Affiliations

Helong Li1, Mengyao Hou1, Hongwei Zang1, Yao Fu1, Erik Lötstedt2, Toshiaki Ando2, Atsushi Iwasaki2, Kaoru Yamanouchi2,*, and Huailiang Xu1,3,†

  • 1State Key Laboratory of Integrated Optoelectronics, College of Electronic Science and Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China
  • 2Department of Chemistry, School of Science, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan
  • 3State Key Laboratory of Precision Spectroscopy, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China

  • *kaoru@chem.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp
  • huailiang@jlu.edu.cn

Article Text (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

Supplemental Material (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

References (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand
Issue

Vol. 122, Iss. 1 — 11 January 2019

Reuse & Permissions
Access Options
Author publication services for translation and copyediting assistance advertisement

Authorization Required


×
×

Images

×

Sign up to receive regular email alerts from Physical Review Letters

Log In

Cancel
×

Search


Article Lookup

Paste a citation or DOI

Enter a citation
×