Generation and control of super-octave-spanning spectra

Continued progress in photon science demands advances in light source technology. For this purpose, this dissertation presents the generation and control of super-octave-spanning optical pulses based on dielectric chirped mirrors.The generation of isolated attosecond XUV pulses and exploration of attosecond physics would strongly benefit from the availability of intense phase-stable optical waveforms custom-sculpted on the time scale of the light period. The pulse energy and bandwidth scalability of the driving optical waveforms depend on the precise dispersion control. In this work, various dispersion compensation techniques are introduced, and an unprecedented chirped mirror system with smooth dispersion control over 2-octave bandwidth is demonstrated based on an analytical analysis of dual-adiabatic-matching (DAM) structures. These mirrors are used in a sub-cycle optical waveform synthesizer supporting 10 dB enhancement at the spectral wings while maintaining excellent beam quality, which is of great importance to improve the stabilization of optical flywheels and to seed ytterbium-based amplifiers for pumping high-power optical parametric (chirped-pulse) amplifiers. Furthermore, the developed spatiotemporal model can be implemented not only for studying octave-spanning oscillator dynamics but also for optimizing advanced ultrafast sources.During my doctoral studies, a nonlinear light microscope system is also demonstrated. Nonlinear light microscopy is one of the most important applications in ultrafast photonics. For example, second-harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy is a promising candidate for detecting chiral crystals, so-called second-order nonlinear optical imaging of chiral crystals (SONICC). The feasibility of nonlinear light microscopy depends on the availability of robust femtosecond sources and reliable electronic control. We develop a nonlinear light microscope system based on femtosecond fiber lasers and high-speed electronics. With the demonstrated nonlinear light microscope, sub-μm resolution imaging at a video frame rate can be obtained with reduced excitation power compared with commercially available SONICC systems. With the developed ultrafast fiber laser technology and optimized electronic control, a custom-made nonlinear light microscope is constructed, which is capable of observing nucleation and growth kinetics of protein nanocrystals