Novel Tunable Light Source Based On A Laser Ionized Capacitor Array -- An Electromagnetic Accordion

提案编号：ECS-9632735主要研究者：托马斯Katsouleas 基于激光电离电容阵列的新型可调谐光源-电磁手风琴 本文将研究一种具有高功率、可变脉冲长度和宽调谐范围的新型辐射源的基本原理。 该方法可以被表征为“电磁手风琴”，其中短激光脉冲用于在交替充电的电容器板的阵列之间填充低压工作气体。 由激光器产生的移动电离前沿产生时变介电函数，该时变介电函数将电容器的静电场转换成电磁辐射。 实质上，激光扫过静态波形，并像手风琴一样将其挤压成类似但缩短的传播电磁波列。 通过改变气体压力和/或电容器板间距来控制输出辐射的频率;原则上，频率输出可以在三十年内变化。 此外，由于输入波形可以通过改变电容器板的偏置和尺寸来任意成形，因此输出辐射可以被设计为具有任意频率啁啾、幅度调制或周期数。 这项研究将导致开发一种单一的紧凑型设备，该设备将产生从微波到可见光的相干辐射的MW脉冲，具有任意形状和啁啾或编码的波列。 这样的设备可以经济地提供研究、工业和医学所需的许多光源。

Proposal Number: ECS-9632735 Principal Investigator: Thomas Katsouleas Title: Novel Tunable Light Source Based on a Laser Ionized Capacitor Array- An Electromagnetic Accordion The fundamental principles of a new radiation source capable of high power, variable pulse length and broad tunability over orders of magnitude will be investigated. The approach may be characterized as an "electromagnetic accordion", in which a short laser pulse is used to ionize a low pressure working gas between an array of alternately charged capacitor plates. The moving ionization front produced by the laser creates a time varying dielectric function that converts the static electric field of the capacitors into electromagnetic radiation. In essence, the laser sweeps up the static waveform and squeezes it like an accordion into a similar but shortened propagating electromagnetic wavetrain. The frequency of the output radiation is controlled by changing the gas pressures and/or the capacitor plate spacing; in principle, the frequency output could be varied over three decades. Moreover, since the input waveform can be arbitrarily shaped by varying the bias and size of the capacitor plates, the output radiation can be designed to have arbitrary frequency chirp, amplitude modulation, or number of cycles. The research will lead to the development of a single compact device that would produce MW pulses of coherent radiation spanning the spectrum from microwaves to visible light, with arbitrarily shaped and chirped or encoded wavetrains. Such a device could economically provide many of the light source requirements for research, industry and medicine.