Outline of Publicly Offered Research

Program A01-6 Quantum manipulation of exotic matters promoted with an innovative laser technology
Principal Investigator KATSURAGAWA, Masayuki (The University of Electro-Communications)

Nonlinear optical processes can be manipulated to a variety of final states by artificially manipulating the spectral phases of the electromagnetic fields relevant to their nonlinear optical processes to the desired phase relationships at the desired interaction lengths. Wavelength conversions with an unity quantum efficiency in an ultrawide wavelength region ranging from mid infrared to vacuum ultraviolet (vuv) are typical examples. Figure 1 presents the result of a calculation in which incident single-frequency laser radiation was converted to a specific anti-Stokes mode of 120–200 nm with nearly unity quantum efficiency in the high-order stimulated Raman scattering process. A corresponding proof-of-principle experiment confirmed that the above physical mechanism functioned in reality.


Concentration of output energy into a specific anti-Stokes mode in the vacuum ultraviolet wavelength region of 120–200 nm by artificially manipulating the spectral phase relationships in the high-order stimulated Raman scattering process with gaseous parahydrogen. (Sci. Rep. 5, 8874 (2015))． Although more than sixty years has passed since the laser was invented at 1960 and a variety of extreme laser technologies have been realized so far, no single-frequency tunable laser can yet be practically operated in the mid-infrared and vacuum ultraviolet wavelength regions. The intrinsic reason would be that virtually no solid material is transparent in these wavelength regions. In this research project, we aim at the realization of a single-frequency tunable vuv laser by incorporating the above physical mechanism in a nonlinear optical process with a gaseous material, which enables laser cooling of muonium (an exotic atom) at its Lyman α transition (2p-1s; 122.09 nm). We will also try to experimentally create a quantitative scenario to practically cool down the muonium atoms via the realized single-frequency tunable vuv laser.

Members

Principal Investigator
KATSURAGAWA, Masayuki
(Graduate School of Informatics and Engineering, The University of Electro-Communications)
Research Collaborators

Reference Materials

  • C. Ohae, J. Zheng, K. Ito, M. Suzuki, K. Minoshima, and M. Katsuragawa, “Tailored Raman-resonant four-wave-mixing process,” Opt. Express 26, 1452 (2018).
  • M. Katsuragawa and K. Yoshii, “Arbitrary manipulation of amplitude and phase of a set of highly discrete coherent spectra,” Phys. Rev. A 95, 033846 (2017).
  • J. Zheng and M. Katsuragawa, “Freely designable optical frequency conversion in Raman-resonant four-wave-mixing process,” Sci. Rep. 5, 8874 (2015).
  • T. Suzuki, M. Hirai, and M. Katsuragawa, “Octave-spanning Raman comb with carrier envelope offset control,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 243602 (2008). [Cover]