Wavefront correction of Ti:sapphire terawatt laser with varying precision of phase conjugation between deformable mirror and wavefront sensor

The phase conjugation between the deformable mirror and the wavefront sensor in the aberration correction of a terawatt Ti:sapphire laser is studied experimentally and theoretically in this paper. At varying values of phase-conjugation precision, we focus the corresponding beams into spots of the same size of 5.1 μm×5.3 μm with a f/4 parabola in the 32 TW/36 fs Ti:sapphire laser system. The results show that the precision of conjugation can induce an intensity modulation but does not significantly affect the wavefront correction.     

Optical property measurements of 235 mm large-scale Ti:sapphire crystal

A Ti:sapphire crystal with a diameter of 235 mm and thickness of 72 mm was grown by the heat exchange method(HEM). The absorption intensity of the crystal at 532 nm averaged at 91%. The figures of merit(FOMs)at different positions of the crystal were measured and the FOM value in the central region was found to reach 90.The transmittance laser beam was intact with no obvious distortions and had only a small deformation compared with the incident laser beam. A small-signal amplification experiment was performed on the Ti:sapphire crystal and a gain of more than 6 times was achieved with a pump energy density of 1.98 J∕cm~2. These tests indicate that the 235 mm Ti:sapphire crystal has excellent optical qualities and will further improve the energy output of a 10 PW laser system.     

A High-Pulse-Energy High-Beam-Quality Tunable Ti:Sapphire Laser Using a Prism-Dispersion Cavity

A high-pulse-energy high-beam-quality tunable Ti:sapphire laser pumped by a frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser is demonstrated.Using a fused-silica prism as the dispersion element,a tuning range of 740-855 nm is obtained.At an incident pump energy of 774 mJ,the maximum output energy of 104 mJ at 790 nm with a pulse width of100 μs is achieved at a repetition rate of 5 Hz.To the best of our knowledge,it is the highest pulse energy at790 nm with pulse width of hundred micro-seconds for an all-solid-state laser.The linewidth of output is 0.5 nm,and the beam quality factor M~2 is 1.16.The high-pulse-energy high-beam-quality tunable Ti:sapphire laser in the range of 740-855 nm can be used to establish a more accurate and consistent absolute scale of second-order optical-nonlinear coefficients for KBe_2BO_3F_2 measured in a wider wavelength range and to assess Miller's rule q uantitatively.     

Experimental study on injection-locked Ti:sapphire lasers

An injection-locked Ti:sapphire laser is developed,with injection locking achieved using the Pound-DreverHall technique.By measuring the dependence of output power on the pump power with various Ti:sapphire laser parameters,we experimentally studied the influences of the ring cavity length,the focal length of the pump-laser mode-matching lens,and the output-coupler transmission on the threshold and slope efficiency.The dependence of the output power on the master laser power is also investigated.The present study provides a guideline for developing a Ti:sapphire laser with high slope efficiency and low threshold.     

Operation of Kerr-lens mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser in thenon-soliton regime

A Kerr-lens mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser operating in a non-soliton regime is demonstrated. Dispersive wave generation is observed as a result of third order dispersion in the vicinity of zero dispersion. The characteristics of the Ti:sapphire laser operating in a positive dispersion regime are presented, where the oscillator directly generates pulses with duration continuously tunable from 0.37~ps to 2.11~ps, and 36~fs pulses are achieved after extracavity compression. The oscillation is numerically simulated with an extended nonlinear Schr?dinger equation, and the simulation results are in good agreement with the experimental results.     

Beam quality improvement and focused peak intensity measurement of an intense femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser system

Micro-lens arrays were adopted to homogenize the beam profile of 532-nm pumping laser for the main amplifier of an intense femtosecond, chirped pulse amplification (CPA) Ti:sapphire laser. Experimental measurements showed a great improvement of the near-field pattern of the CPA beam after the main amplifier and the size of the focal spot was improved from 2.7 times diffraction limitation (DL) to 1.6 DL. The spot size focused by an f/4 off-axis parabola (OAP) in the target chamber was measured to be 5.8μm (full-width at half-maximum (FWHM)), and a peak intensity of 2.6×1020 W/cm2 was obtained at the output power of 120 TW. Peak intensity exceeding 1021 W/cm2 or even 1022 W/cm2 can be expected with smaller f-number focusing configuration and wavefront correction.     

Influence on the Lifetime of ~(87)Rb Bose-Einstein Condensation for Far-Detuning Single-Frequency Lasers with Different Phase Noises

We study the influence of the phase noises of far detuning single frequency lasers on the lifetime of Bose-Einstein condensation(BEC)of~(87)Rb in an optical dipole trap.As a comparison,we shine a continuous-wave singlefrequency Ti:sapphire laser,an external-cavity diode laser and a phase-locked diode laser on BEC.We measure the heating and lifetime of BEC in two different hyperfine states:|F=2,m_F=2〉and|F=1,m_F=1〉.Due to the narrow linewidth and small phase noise,the continuous-wave single-frequency Ti:sapphire laser has less influence on the lifetime of~(87)Rb BEC than the external-cavity diode laser.To reduce the phase noise of the external-cavity diode laser,we use an optical phase-locked loop for the external-cavity diode laser to be locked on a Ti:sapphire laser.The lifetime of BEC is increased when applfying the phase-Jocked diode laser in contrast with the external-cavity diode laser.     

Generation of Very Energetic Ions from Intense Femtosecond Laser Interactions with Rare Gas Clusters in a Dense Jet

Very energetic ions, which are detected by time-of-flight spectrometry with maximum energy up to 1.3 MeV and an average energy of 68keV, are generated in the explosion of large Xe clusters in a dense jet irradiated with a high-intensity (～10^16 W/cm2) 50fs laser pulse from a Ti:sapphire TW laser at 79Ohm wavelength. The interaction of intense laser pulses with a jet of argon clusters is also performed and high average ion energies are observed. The dependence of energy of the ions on the gas backing pressure is examined, suggesting that the results are consistent with the absorption efficiency of the laser energy by the cluster plasmas.     

Thermal characteristics of Nd~(3 )-doped fiber ring laser pumped by Ti:sapphire tunable laser

A Nd(3 )-doped fiber ring laser pumped by a CW Ti:sapphire tunable laser is reported. The characteristics of the system are studied for the first time at 77K and 300K. The results show a lower threshold and a higher slope efficiency at 77K than that at 300K. Applications of the Nd~(3 )-doped fiber ring laser in a multiplexing fiber sensor system and a fiber-ring-laser type temperature sensor are discussed.     

Laser Tracking and Pointing at a Target with Stimulated Brillouin Scattering

Laser tracking and pointing at a simulated moving target in atmosphere 1.27 km away is realized experimentally,in which stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) phase conjugation technology and velocity compensation mirror are used. Only if the angle between the SBS phase conjugation laser and the illumination laser is smaller than the atmosphere isoplanatic angle ψo, is the wave-front aberration of laser beam produced by atmospheric turbulence compensated for in real time. This experiment was carried out with horizontal ranges 1.27km at 50m height above the ground, and Nd: YA G lasers are used. By changing the angle of a velocity compensation mirror reflecting the SBS phase conjugation laser to the simulated target, simulated targets with different moving velocities are tracked and pointed by the laser beam. The spot and energy distribution of illumination laser spot and SBS phase conjugation laser are recorded. The energy back to target is up to 75 mJ. The SBS phase conjugation laser spot shows that it is focused at the simulated moving target within a small area.     

Temporal characteristics of Ti: sapphire laser pumped synchronously by bounded pulse train

A Ti: sapphire laser pumped synchronously by a bounded frequency-doubled pulse train of a pulsed mode-locked Nd : YAG laser was presented. The temporal characteristics of the laser and optimal conditions of generating stable ultrashort pulses are also given.     

High-Conversion-Efficiency and Broadband Tunable Femtosecond Noncollinear Optical Parametric Amplifier

We build a compact high-conversion-efficiency and broadband tunable noncollinear optical parametric amplifier （OPA） in the infra-red （IR） pumped by a femtosecond Ti：sapphire CPA laser. The OPA consists of an internal seed of white-light continuum generator （WLG） and two noncollinear optical parametric amplifiers. The tunable wavelength range is from 1.2μm to 2.4μm for both signal and idle pulses. The total OPA efficiency in the last OPA stage reaches about 40% in a wider tunable spectral range （from 1.3μm to 1.7μm for signal pulse, from 1.5μm to 2.0 μm for idle pulse respectively）.     

Experimental study of nonlinear switching characteristics of conventional 2×2 fused tapered couplers

The nonlinear switching characteristics of fused fiber directional couplers were studied experimentally. By using femtosecond laser pulses with pulse width of 100 fs and wavelength of about 1550 nm from a system of Ti:sapphire laser and optical parametric amplifier (OPA), the nonlinear switching properties of a null coupler and a 100% coupler were measured. The experimental results were coincident with the simulations based on nonlinear propagation equations in fiber by using super-mode theory. Nonlinear loss in fiber was also measured to get the injected power at the coupler. After deducting the nonlinear loss and input efficiency, the nonlinear switching critical peak powers for a 100% and a null fused couplers were calculated to be 9410 and 9440 W, respectively. The nonlinear loss parameter PN in an expression of αNL=αP/PN was obtained to be PN = 0.23 W.     

A compact Tirsapphire femtosecond pulse amplifier without stretcher at high repetition rate

We report a simple approach to amplify Ti:sapphire femtosecond pulses to moderate energy levels by a chirped regenerative amplifier. The seed pulses are broaden naturally because of the material dispersion of system components in regenerative cavity. The off-focusing Ti:sapphire crystal avoids effectively the optical damage. It sustains amplification over a wavelength range from 775 nm to more than 810 nm with a birefringent filter and an oscillation bandwidth of 7.7 nm, and produces 2.1 ps chirped output pulse energy of 100 uJ at 1.1-mJ pumping energy. This system shows good performances in stability and efficiency with the benefits of two thin-film polarizers and TEMoo mode pumping laser.     

Synchronization of an Ultrafast Ti：Sapphire Laser to the S-Band Microwave

We have synchronized a 102-MHz ultrafast self-mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser to a 2856-MHz rf source with thesample-locking technology. The relative root-mean-square time-jitter is 0.57 ps and the maximum time jitter is2.60ps. This is the first time that synchronization between the ultrafast laser pulse and the s-band microwavehas been accomplished in China. Potential applications include synchronization of lasers and rf power sources inparticle accelerator experiments and high-resolution pump-probe experiments.     

Writing of internal gratings in optical glass with a femtosecond laser

The writing of an internal diffraction grating in optical glass plate is demonstrated using low-density plasma formation excited by a high-intensity femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser. The same diffraction efficiency at ±1,±2, and 0 order is achieved by multiple layers writing. The dependences of diffractive efficiency on the irradiated energy, the speed of writing, the numerical aperture (NA) of the focusing objective, and materials are investigated in detail. The grating is birefringent. It is attributed to residual stress interaction between glass and femtosecond laser pulse.     

1.56 μm and 2.86 μm Raman lasers based on gas-filled anti-resonance hollow-core fiber

We report here a single-pass 1.56 μm fiber gas Raman laser in a deuterium-filled hollow-core fiber and a 2.86 μm cascade fiber gas Raman laser with methane in the second stage. The maximum output powers at 1.56 and 2.86 μm are 27 and 8.5 m W with Raman conversion efficiency of 30% and 42%, respectively. The results offer a new method to produce a 1.5 μm fiber source and prove the potential of the cascade fiber gas Raman laser in extending the available wavelength.     

Improvement of the large aperture Ti：sapphire amplifiers in the petawatt femtosecond laser system at SIOM

We report the recent improvement on the petawatt (PW) femtosecond Ti:sapphire chirped pulse amplification (CPA) laser system at Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (SIOM), Chinese Academy of Sciences. By enlarging the sizes of the pump and signal beams in the large aperture Ti:sapphire amplifiers and optimizing the whole laser system, the output laser energy before the pulse compressor is upgraded to 42.6 J. Accordingly, the peak power of the laser system exceeds 1 PW. The shot-to-shot instability of the output laser energy at about 40 J is less than ±5%.     

MEASUREMENT OF IONIC ENERGY FROM FEMTOSECOND LASER-HEATED ARGON CLUSTERS

The high backing pressure argon gases adiabatically expand into vacuum through a pulsed gas jet to nucleate into large clusters. The clusters were heated by a 45fs, 2.3×10¹⁶ Wcm^-2 Ti: sapphire laser. The high energy of the ions produced in the cluster explosion was measured using time-of-flight spectrometry. The maximum and average kinetic energy of the ions were 0.2MeV and ～12.5keV, respectively, indicating that the femtosecond laser interactions with argon clusters are more energetic than interactions with atoms and molecules.     

Writing of internal gratings in optical glss with a femtosecond laser

The writing of an internal diffraction grating in optical glass plate is demonstrated using low-density plasmaformation excited by a high-intensity femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser.The same diffraction efficiency at±1,±2,and 0 order is achieved by multiple layers writing.The dependences of diffractive efficiencyon the irradiated energy,the speed of writing,the numerical aperture(NA)of the focusing objective,and materials are investigated in detail.The grating is birefringent.It is attributed to residual stressinteraction between glass and femtosecond laser pulse.