Professor Galvanauskas conducts research in the areas of fiber optics, ultrafast science and technology, and nonlinear optics. As a member of the Center for Ultrafast Optical Science, he has been a leader in the development of key technologies for a new generation of ultrashort-pulse fiber lasers. This includes the invention and development of a new type of fiber structure called Chirally Coupled Core (CCC) fibers.
Research Contributions
- Invention and demonstration of Coherent Pulse Stacking technique.
- Invented novel spectral-coherent and energy-enhancing N2 laser-array beam combining methods
- Invented and demonstrated novel fiber technology based on Chirally Coupled Core (CCC) fiber structures.
- Demonstrated multi-MW peak power fiber laser systems and their suitability for laser induced plasma applications. This included demonstration of the first efficient fiber-laser driven source of the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation (at 13.4-nm) for EUV lithography applications, and demonstration of the first ultrashort-pulse fiber laser driven hard X-ray (at 7.5-keV) source for time
resolved imaging and diffraction measurements - Demonstrated chirped volume Bragg grating pulse stretching and compression technology for implementing novel compact high power fiber CPA systems
- Demonstrated kW power from a fiber laser system, which at the time constituted the highest power achieved.
- Demonstrated novel devices for arbitrary-optical-waveform generation based on hybrid fiber-optic and MEMS technologies.
- Pioneered the development and study of large-core fiber amplifier technology. This allowed to challenge traditional peak-power limitations in fiber-optics and to demonstrate femtosecond fiber systems with ~ 1 mJ pulse energies and > 10 W average powers.
- Pioneered the development of compact chirped-pulse-amplification circuitry for use in high-power femtosecond fiber systems. This includes introduction of fibergrating pulse stretchers and compressors, the first demonstration of volume Bragg-grating pulse stretchers and compressors, and the pioneering experiments on pulse compression and arbitrary shaping in aperiodic quasi-phase-matched structures in electric-field poled lithium niobate.
- Pioneered the development and study of a parametric chirped pulse amplification method in quasi-phase-matched materials to replace conventional regenerative amplifiers. This includes demonstration of all-diode-pumped parametric systems using microchip and fiber based pump sources.
- Demonstrated first wavelength-tunable fiber lasers using parametric interactions in quasi-phase-matched materials.
- Contributed to the development of highly nonlinear optical waveguides in periodically poled lithium niobate for efficient fiber-pumped parametric and frequency-mixing interactions.
- Pioneered the development of a fast-tuning technique using tunable-wavelength semiconductor lasers for arbitrary-rate ultrashort pulse generation and for realtime picosecond-pulse oscilloscopic measurements.