A Parametric Study of Mirrorless Lasing Dynamics

Sammanfattning

There exists a lack of laser-based remote sensing methods that give signals with high intensity and directionality. According to previous research, mirrorless lasing can meet these requirements; however, neither the dependence on the gain medium geometry nor the light-matter interaction responsible for the emission has been investigated in detail. This thesis project examined the sideways lasing emission from a gain medium with a Fresnel number much smaller than one, generated by the overlap of two counterpropagating femtosecond laser pulses in xenon gas at atmospheric pressure. Both spatial and temporal measurements of the sideways lasing emission were made, with the latter being obtained using a streak camera. The emission was highly localised in space, suggesting it originated from the overlap. It also yielded a power dependence with a clear threshold and an interference pattern indicating coherence, both of which showed strong agreement with the predicted behaviour for superfluorescence (SF). The recorded temporal profile displayed a pulse with oscillations on the incline and the decline, appearing with a delay of about 70 ps relative to the excitation pulse and thus corresponding well to the theoretical predictions for SF emitted from a gain medium with a Fresnel number much smaller than one. It can therefore be concluded that the observed sideways lasing was generated by SF. Additionally, the dependence of the emission on the gain medium geometry was in good accordance with theory. These measurements, to the best of the author's knowledge, provide the first thorough investigation of mirrorless lasing at atmospheric pressure for this gain medium configuration, thus opening the way for both further fundamental research and the implementation of these techniques in applied laser diagnostics.