@phdthesis{Bolze2018,
  author    = {Bolze, Tom},
  title     = {Photodynamics of a fluorescent tetrazolium salt and shaping of femtosecond Laguerre-Gaussian laser modes in time and space},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-160902},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2018},
  abstract  = {This thesis will outline studies performed on the fluorescence dynamics of phenyl-benzo- [c]-tetrazolo-cinnolium chloride (PTC) in alcoholic solutions with varying viscosity using time-resolved fluoro-spectroscopic methods. Furthermore, the properties of femtosecond Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) laser pulses will be investigated with respect to their temporal and spatial features and an approach will be developed to measure and control the spatial intensity distribution on the time scale of the pulse. Tetrazolium salts are widely used in biological assays for their low oxidation and reduction thresholds and spectroscopic properties. However, a neglected feature in these applications is the advantage that detection of emitted light has over the determination of the absorbance. To corroborate this, PTC as one of the few known fluorescent tetrazolium salts was investigated with regard to its luminescent features. Steady-state spectroscopy revealed how PTC can be formed by a photoreaction from 2,3,5-triphenyl-tetrazolium chloride (TTC) and how the fluorescence quantum yield behaved in alcoholic solvents with different viscosity. In the same array of solvents time correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) measurements were performed and the fluorescence decay was investigated. Global analysis of the results revealed different dynamics in the different solvents, but although the main emission constant did change with the solvent, taking the fluorescence quantum yield into consideration resulted in an independence of the radiative rate from the solvent. The non-radiative rate, however, was highly solvent dependent and responsible for the observed solvent-related changes in the fluorescence dynamics. Further studies with the increased time resolution of femtosecond fluorescence upconversion revealed an independence of the main emission constant from the excitation energy, however the dynamics of the cooling processes prior to emission were prolonged for higher excitation energy. This led to a conceivable photoreaction scheme with one emissive state with a competing non-radiative relaxation channel, that may involve an intermediate state. LG laser beams and their properties have seen a lot of scientific attention over the past two decades. Also in the context of new techniques pushing the limit of technology further to explore new phenomena, it is essential to understand the features of this beam class and check the consistency of the findings with theoretical knowledge. The mode conversion of a Hermite-Gaussian (HG) mode into a LG mode with the help of a spiral phase plate (SPP) was investigated with respect to its space-time characteristics. It was found that femtosecond LG and HG pulses of a given temporal duration share the same spectrum and can be characterized using the same well-established methods. The mode conversion proved to only produce the desired LG mode with its characteristic orbital angular momentum (OAM), that is conserved after frequency doubling the pulse. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that temporal shaping of the HG pulse does not alter the result of its mode-conversion, as three completely different temporal pulse shapes produced the same LG mode. Further attention was given to the sum frequency generation of fs LG beams and dynamics of the interference of a HG and a LG pulse. It was found that if both are chirped with inverse signs the spatial intensity distribution does rotate around the beam axis on the time scale of the pulse. A strategy was found that would enable a measurement of these dynamics by upconversion of the interference with a third gate pulse. The results of which are discussed theoretically and an approach of an experimental realization had been made. The simulated findings had only been reproduced to a limited extend due to experimental limitations, especially the interferometric stability of the setup.},
  subject      = {Tetrazoliumsalze},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Schwarz2015,
  author    = {Schwarz, Christoph Benjamin},
  title     = {Full vector-field control of femtosecond laser pulses with an improved optical design},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-142948},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {The controlled shaping of ultrashort laser pulses is a powerful technology and applied in many laser laboratories today. Most of the used pulse shapers are only able to produce linearly polarized pulses shaped in amplitude and phase. Some devices are also capable of producing limited time-varying polarization profiles, but they are not able to control the amplitude. However, for some state-of-the-art non-linear time-resolved methods, such as polarization-enhanced two-dimensional spectroscopy, the possibility of controlling the amplitude and the polarization simultaneously is desirable. Over the last years, different concepts have been developed to overcome these restrictions and to manipulate the complete vector-field of an ultrashort laser pulse with independent control over all four degrees of freedom - phase, amplitude, orientation, and ellipticity. The aim of this work was to build such a vector-field shaper. While the basic concept used for our setup is based on previous designs reported in the literature, the goal was to develop an optimized optical design that minimizes artifacts, allowing for the generation of predefined polarization pulse sequences with the highest achievable accuracy. In Chapter 3, different approaches reported in the literature for extended and unrestricted vector-field control were examined and compared in detail. Based on this analysis, we decided to follow the approach of modulating the spectral phase and amplitude of two perpendicularly polarized pulses independently from each other in two arms of an interferometer and recombining them to a single laser pulse to gain control over the complete vector field. As described in Chapter 4, the setup consists of three functional groups: i) an optical component to generate and recombine the two polarized beams, ii) a 4f setup, and iii) a refracting telescope to direct the two beams under two different angles of incidence onto the grating of the 4f setup in a common-path geometry. This geometry was chosen to overcome potential phase instabilities of an interferometric vector-field shaper. Manipulating the two perpendicularly polarized pulses simultaneously within one 4f setup and using adjacent pixel groups of the same liquid-crystal spatial light modulator (LC SLM) for the two polarizations has the advantages that only a single dual-layer LC SLM is required and that a robust and compact setup was achieved. The shaping capabilities of the presented design were optimized by finding the best parameters for the setup through numerical calculations to adjust the frequency distributions for a broad spectrum of 740 - 880 nm. Instead of using a Wollaston prism as in previous designs, a thin-film polarizer (TFP) is utilized to generate and recombine the two orthogonally polarized beams. Artifacts such as angular dispersion and phase distortions along the beam profile which arise when a Wollaston prism is used were discussed. Furthermore, it was shown by ray-tracing simulations that in combination with a telescope and the 4f setup, a significant deformation of the beam profile would be present when using a Wollaston prism since a separation of the incoming and outgoing beam in height is needed. The ray-tracing simulations also showed that most optical aberrations of the setup are canceled out when the incoming and outgoing beams propagate in the exact same plane by inverting the beam paths. This was realized by employing a TFP in the so-called crossed-polarizer arrangement which has also the advantage that the polarization-dependent efficiencies of the TFP and the other optics are automatically compensated and that a high extinction ratio in the order of 15000:1 is reached. Chromatic aberrations are, however, not compensated by the crossed-polarizer arrangement. The ray-tracing simulations confirmed that these chromatic aberrations are mainly caused by the telescope and not by the cylindrical lens of the 4f setup. Nevertheless, in the experimentally used wavelength range of 780 - 816 nm, only minor distortions of the beam profile were observed, which were thus considered to be negligible in the presented setup. The software implementation of the pulse shaper was reviewed in Chapter 5 of this thesis. In order to perform various experiments, five different parameterizations, accounting for the extended shaping capabilities of a vector-field shaper, were developed. The Pixel Basis, the Spectral Basis, and the Spectral Taylor Basis can generally be used in combination with an optimization algorithm and are therefore well suited for quantum control experiments. For multidimensional spectroscopy, the Polarized Four-Pulse Basis was established. With this parameterization pulse sequences with up to four subpulses can be created. The polarization state of each subpulse can be specified and the relative intensity, phase, and temporal delay between consecutive subpulses can be controlled. In addition, different software programs were introduced in Chapter 5 which are required to perform the experiments conducted in this work. The experimental results were presented in Chapter 6. The frequency distribution across the LC SLM was measured proving that the optimal frequency distribution was realized experimentally. Furthermore, the excellent performance of the TFP was verified. In general, satellite pulses are emitted from the TFP due to multiple internal reflections. Various measurements demonstrated that these pulses are temporally separated by at least 4.05 ps from the main pulse and that they have vanishing intensity. The phase stability between the two arms of the presented common-path setup σ = 28.3 mrad (λ/222) over 60 minutes. To further improve this stability over very long measurement times, an on-the-fly phase reduction and stabilization (OPRAS) routine utilizing the pulse shaper itself was developed. This routine automatically produces a compressed pulse with a minimized relative phase between the two polarization components. A phase stability of σ = 31.9 mrad (λ/197) over nearly 24 hours was measured by employing OPRAS. Various pulse sequences exceeding the capabilities of conventional pulse shapers were generated and characterized. The experimental results proved that shaped pulses with arbitrary phase, amplitude, and polarization states can be created. In all cases very high agreement between the target parameters and the experimental data was achieved. For the future use of the setup also possible modifications were suggested. These are not strictly required, but all of them could further improve the performance and flexibility of the setup. Firstly, it was illustrated how a "dual-output" of the setup can be realized. With this modification it would be possible to use the main intensity of the shaped pulse for an experiment while using a small fraction to characterize the pulse or to perform OPRAS simultaneously. Secondly, the basic idea of replacing the telescope by focusing mirrors in order to eliminate the chromatic aberrations was presented. Regarding the different parameterizations for vector-field shaping, some modifications increasing the flexibility of the implemented bases and the realization of a von Neumann Basis for the presented setup were proposed. In future experiments, the vector-field shaper will be used in conjunction with a photoemission electron microscope (PEEM). This approach combines the temporal resolution provided by ultrashort laser pulses with the high spatial resolution gained by electron microscopy in order to perform two-dimensional spectroscopy and coherent control on nanostructures with polarization-shaped femtosecond laser pulses. In combination with other chiral-sensitive experimental setups implemented earlier in our group, the vector-field shaper opens up new perspectives for chiral femtochemistry and chiral control. The designed vector-field shaper meets all requirements to generate high-precision polarization-shaped multipulse sequences. These can be used to perform numerous polarization-sensitive experiments. Employing the OPRAS routine, a quasi-infinitely long phase stability is achieved and complex and elaborated long-term measurements can be carried out. The fact that OPRAS demands no additional hardware and that only a single dual-layer LC SLM and inexpensive optics are required allows the building of a vector-field shaper at comparatively low costs. We hope that with the detailed insights into the optical design process as well as into the software implementation given in this thesis, vector-field shaping will become a standard technique just as conventional pulse shaping in the upcoming years.},
  subject      = {Ultrakurzer Lichtimpuls},
  language  = {en}
}