Long-wavelength GaInAsSb/AlGaAsSb DFB lasers emitting near 2.6 μm

We have successfully fabricated and characterized room temperature continuous wave (cw) GaInAsSb/AlGaAsSb distributed feedback lasers emitting in the wavelength region between 2.499 and 2.573 μm. To the best of our knowledge, this is the longest emission wavelength realized with a GaSb-based DFB laser diode. The laser structure used for DFB processing was grown by solid source molecular beam epitaxy. A DFB concept requiring no subsequent overgrowth step was used by defining first-order Cr-Bragg gratings laterally patterned to a ridge waveguide. Threshold currents smaller than 60 mA and room temperature cw output powers up to 6.5 mW were obtained. The laser diodes show single mode emission with side mode suppression ratios (SMSR) of up to 32 dB.     

GaInAsSb/AlGaAsSb lasers in the wavelength range between 2.73 μm and 2.93 μm

Compressively strained multiple quantum well lasers in the GaInAsSb/AlGaAsSb material system are reported. Indium concentrations between 40% and 47.5% were chosen for the GaInAsSb quantum wells. Compressive strains varied between 1.16% and 1.43%. The lasers worked continuous wave at room temperature up to a wavelength of 2.81 μm. For a laser with 2.93 μm wavelength continuous wave operation was found up to a temperature of −23°C. This laser worked in pulsed operation at 15°C.     

2.9THz束缚态向连续态跃迁量子级联激光器研制

采用气源分子束外延技术生长了GaAs/AlGaAs束缚态向连续 态跃迁的太赫兹量子级联激光器材料, 基于半绝缘等离子体波导工艺制作了太赫兹量子级联激光器. 测量了激光器的发射光谱和功率-电流-电压关系曲线, 研究了器件的激光特性. 器件激射频率约2.95 THz, 脉冲模式下, 最高工作温度为67 K. 连续波模式下, 阈值电流密度最低为230 A/cm², 最大光输出功率1.2 mW, 最高工作温度为30 K. 关键词： 太赫兹 量子级联激光器 分子束外延 波导     

Optically pumped potassium laser

We present an optically pumped continuous wave potassium vapor laser operating in a single longitudinal and a single transverse mode at 770 nm. The measured value of the input power to the output power slope efficiency was 20%.     

Five-hundred-milliwatts distributed-feedback diode laser emitting at 940 nm

A DFB laser emitting at a wavelength around 940 nm in a single longitudinal mode up to an output power of 500 mW with a side mode suppression ratio greater than 50 dB is presented. More than 4 nm tuning range was reached by varying the current between 100 and 800 mA. Up to a power of about 300 mW, the lateral far field revealed stable fundamental mode operation.     

CW mode locked Nd:YVO4 laser pumped by 20-W laser diode bar

The efficient cw mode locking (cw-ML) regime was demonstrated in Nd:YVO₄ laser by means of saturable absorber mirror (SAM). The 0.3-at.% Nd³⁺ doped 10-mm-long YVO₄ crystal end pumped by 20-W diode module with a beam shaper was applied as a gain medium located in the close vicinity to the rear flat mirror of the first arm of Z-type resonator of 316 cm total length with two curved mirrors of 100-cm curvature radii. The SAM of 2%-saturable absorptance and saturation fluence of 50 μJ/cm² was mounted at the opposite end of a resonator. The developed “dynamically stable” cavity design mitigates detrimental role of thermal aberration in gain medium, enforcing clean perfect mode locking even for the highest pump densities. The cw-ML pulses with 47.5 MHz repetition rate and pulse durations in the range of 15–20 ps were observed for a wide range of pump powers and output coupler losses. In the best case, for 32% of output coupler transmission, up to 6.2 W of average power with near 35% slope efficiency was achieved. The thresholds for Q-switched ML, cw-ML regimes were 2.67 W and 6.13 W of pump power, respectively. For the maximum pump power of 20 W we obtained 133 nJ of pulse energy with 16-ps pulse duration, resulting in a peak power higher than 8 kW. The threshold energy density at SAM giving the QML regime was estimated to be about 30 μJ/cm², threshold of cw-ML regime was 220 μJ/cm².     

Growth and properties of KLu(WO4)2, and novel ytterbium and thulium lasers based on this monoclinic crystalline host

High‐quality crystals of monoclinic KLu(WO₄)₂, shortly KLuW, were grown with sizes sufficient for its characterization and substantial progress was achieved in the field of spectroscopy and laser operation with Yb³⁺‐ and Tm³⁺‐doping. We review the growth methodology for bulk KLuW and epitaxial layers, its structural, thermo‐mechanical, and optical properties, the Yb³⁺ and Tm³⁺ spectroscopy, and present laser results obtained in several operational regimes both with Ti:sapphire and direct diode laser pumping using InGaAs and AlGaAs diodes near 980 and 800 nm, respectively. The slope efficiencies with respect to the absorbed pump power achieved with continuous‐wave (CW) bulk and epitaxial Yb:KLuW lasers under Ti:sapphire laser pumping were ≈ 57 and ≈ 66%, respectively. Output powers as high as 3.28 W were obtained with diode pumping in a simple two‐mirror cavity where the slope efficiency with respect to the incident pump power reached ≈ 78%. Passively Q‐switched laser operation of bulk Yb:KLuW was realized with a Cr:YAG saturable absorber resulting in oscillation at ≈ 1031 nm with a repetition rate of 28 kHz and simultaneous Raman conversion to ≈ 1138 nm with maximum energies of 32.4 and 14.4 μJ, respectively. The corresponding pulse durations were 1.41 and 0.71 ns. Passive mode‐locking by a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) produced bandwidth‐limited pulses with duration of 81 fs (1046 nm, 95 MHz) and 114 fs (1030 nm, 101 MHz) for bulk and epitaxial Yb:KLuW lasers, respectively. Slope efficiency as high as 69% with respect to the absorbed power and an output power of 4 W at 1950 nm were achieved with a diode‐pumped Tm:KLuW laser. The slope efficiency reached with an epitaxial Tm:KLuW laser under Ti:sapphire laser pumping was 64 %. The tunability achieved with bulk and epitaxial Tm:KLuW lasers extended from 1800 to 1987 nm and from 1894 to 2039 nm, respectively.     

Mid-infrared spectroscopic studies and lasing in GaAs–AlGaAs quantum cascade devices

Complementary intersubband and interband optical measurements have been employed in order to study GaAs–AlGaAs quantum cascade light-emitting diode and laser structures. Using these techniques, we have measured the redistribution of electrons throughout the bridging regions and upper states in the active regions of the diode device with increasing bias. The high quality of the sample gives very narrow line widths in the optical spectra, permitting the resolution of transitions involving closely spaced energy levels. This has allowed the direct observation of level alignment at the onset of current flow through the device. In addition, stimulated emission at λ=9.7 μm has been observed from a GaAs–AlGaAs laser structure under pulsed operation. A threshold current density of 6.5 kA/cm² and peak power 300 mW are measured at 10 K and lasing operation is observed up to 200 K.     

Random distributed feedback fibre lasers

The concept of random lasers exploiting multiple scattering of photons in an amplifying disordered medium in order to generate coherent light without a traditional laser resonator has attracted a great deal of attention in recent years. This research area lies at the interface of the fundamental theory of disordered systems and laser science. The idea was originally proposed in the context of astrophysics in the 1960s by V.S. Letokhov, who studied scattering with “negative absorption” of the interstellar molecular clouds. Research on random lasers has since developed into a mature experimental and theoretical field. A simple design of such lasers would be promising for potential applications. However, in traditional random lasers the properties of the output radiation are typically characterized by complex features in the spatial, spectral and time domains, making them less attractive than standard laser systems in terms of practical applications. Recently, an interesting and novel type of one-dimensional random laser that operates in a conventional telecommunication fibre without any pre-designed resonator mirrors–random distributed feedback fibre laser–was demonstrated. The positive feedback required for laser generation in random fibre lasers is provided by the Rayleigh scattering from the inhomogeneities of the refractive index that are naturally present in silica glass. In the proposed laser concept, the randomly backscattered light is amplified through the Raman effect, providing distributed gain over distances up to 100 km. Although an effective reflection due to the Rayleigh scattering is extremely small (∼0.1%), the lasing threshold may be exceeded when a sufficiently large distributed Raman gain is provided. Such a random distributed feedback fibre laser has a number of interesting and attractive features. The fibre waveguide geometry provides transverse confinement, and effectively one-dimensional random distributed feedback leads to the generation of a stationary near-Gaussian beam with a narrow spectrum. A random distributed feedback fibre laser has efficiency and performance that are comparable to and even exceed those of similar conventional fibre lasers. The key features of the generated radiation of random distributed feedback fibre lasers include: a stationary narrow-band continuous modeless spectrum that is free of mode competition, nonlinear power broadening, and an output beam with a Gaussian profile in the fundamental transverse mode (generated both in single mode and multi-mode fibres).     

Efficient continuous wave laser operation of Tb3+‐doped fluoride crystals in the green and yellow spectral regions

In this work Tb³⁺ is revisited as a laser ion for efficient visible laser operation. In detailed spectroscopic investigations of absorption and fluorescence properties we reveal, that neither the spin‐forbidden transitions nor the widespread belief of excited state absorption or upconversion into 4f⁷5d¹‐states ultimately prevent efficient visible laser operation in Tb³⁺‐doped fluorides. In contrast, the rise of blue semiconductor‐based pump sources enabled us to achieve slope efficiencies up to 58% around 545 nm in the green spectral region in highly Tb³⁺‐doped LiLuF₄, LiYF₄, KY₃F₁₀, β‐BaLu₂F₈ and LaF₃ crystals. In addition, we obtained laser emission from Tb³⁺ in the yellow spectral region around 585 nm with slope efficiencies approaching 20%. To the best of our knowledge, these results represent the first continuous wave laser operation of Tb³⁺‐doped crystals and demonstration of laser oscillation on the ⁵D₄ → ⁷F₄‐transition in this ion.

     

Propagation parameters of the beam extracted from a diode pumped Nd:YAG ceramic slab laser with a hybrid stable–unstable resonator

We analyze the propagation properties of the beam extracted from a diode pumped ceramic Nd:YAG slab laser adopting a hybrid stable–unstable resonator. Such a resonator produces a beam characterized by an Hermite–Gauss mixture-like distribution in one transverse direction and a hard-edge diffracted distribution on the other transverse direction. The beam propagation parameters M_x² and M_y² are measured for different values of the diodes driving current. We obtain a beam parameter product smaller than 3 mm mrad in both transverse directions and in the whole range of powers, up to an extraction of 220 W in a QCW regime.     

Missing modes in 1.3 μm InGaAsP/InP uncooled Fabry–Perot lasers and their effect on transmission performance

We report mode missing and modal instability of uncooled Fabry–Perot (FP) lasers for the temperature range from –45 to 85C and their effect on transmission performance. Using the time domain laser model (TDLM), mode missing has been modeled in FP lasers with structural defects in the active layer. Using this model, we have estimated eye opening penalty (EOP) due to missing modes up to 2.5 Gbps data rate. These simulation results suggest that FP lasers should have less than two missing modes for stable operation and high performance for optical data links.     

High power-efficiency terahertz quantum cascade laser

We demonstrate continuous-wave(CW) high power-efficiency terahertz quantum cascade laser based on semiinsulating surface-plasmon waveguide with epitaxial-side down(Epi-down) mounting process.The performance of the device is analyzed in detail.The laser emits at a frequency of ~3.27 THz and has a maximum CW operating temperature of ~ 70 K.The peak output powers are 177 mW in pulsed mode and 149 mW in CW mode at 10 K for 130-μm-wide Epi-down mounted lasers.The record wall-plug efficiencies in direct measurement are 2.26% and 2.05% in pulsed and CW mode,respectively.     

Reabsorption in a neodymium fibre laser

Resonance absorption, the reabsorption of laser light by the laser transition of the dopant material itself, is found to be the limiting factor for fibre lasers when extremely long fibres are used. We report on measurements of the temperature dependence of the losses in a 8.5 m long commercial Nd³⁺ doped fibre (York, ND 95020/E). To determine the reabsorption losses, the threshold power has been measured as a function of temperature between 243 K and 413 K. The results are compared with theory assuming a ⁴l level energy of 2110 cm^-1 and an absorption cross-section of δ = 1.15 x 10^-20cm². The comparison shows that reabsorption from the thermally populated ⁴l level is the dominant contribution to the measured losses.     

Structure optimisation of short-wavelength ridge-waveguide InGaN/GaN diode lasers

Room-temperature (RT) continuous-wave (CW) operation of the 405-nm ridge-waveguide (RW) InGaN/GaN quantum-well diode lasers equipped with the n-type GaN substrate and two contacts on both sides of the structure has been investigated with the aid of the comprehensive self-consistent simulation model. As expected, the mounting configuration (p-side up or down) has been found to have a crucial impact on the diode laser performance. For the RT CW threshold operation of the otherwise identical diode laser, the p-side up RW laser exhibits as high as nearly 68°C maximal active-region temperature increase whereas an analogous increase for the p-side down laser was equal to only 24°C. Our simulation reveals that the lowest room-temperature lasing threshold may be expected for relatively narrow and deep ridges. For the structure under consideration, the lowest threshold current density of 5.75 kA/cm² has been determined for the 2.2-μm ridge width and the 400-nm etching depth. Then, the active-region temperature increase was as low as only 24 K over RT. For wider 5-μm ridge, this increase is twice higher. An impact of etching depth is more essential for narrower ridges. Quite high values (between 120 and 140 K) of the characteristic parameter T₀ convince very good thermal properties of the above laser.     

Optimum convective heat transfer coefficient for diode-pumped laser slabs

It is important for laser designers to study the characteristics of heat transfer from the laser crystal slab to the coolant in high-power DPSS laser operations. We have simulated and obtained the optimum heat transfer coefficient and coolant flow rate for our cavity design, in which the circulating coolant is maintained at a constant temperature. It has been determined that the coolant temperature and the convective heat transfer coefficient (h) are important parameters in the thermal analysis. The coefficient h is affected by the coolant flow rate, the physical properties of the laser slab and the coolant and the pumping cavity geometry. Using analytical heat transfer equation, for cooling water temperature of 300 K, the optimum flow rate for our cavity geometry is found to be 390 cm³/s, corresponding to h=5 W/cm² K.     

Low-energy μ− beam from the PSI anticyclotron

Negative muons of 28.6 Mev/c initial momentum were decelerated in and extracted from the PSI anticyclotron equipped with a Mylar foil in the median plane as moderator to provide a continuous μ⁻ beam of 3–30 keV energy. This technique can also be used to post-decelerate LEAR antiprotons in a continuous or pulsed mode to keV energies with an efficiency up to 10–20%.     

Structural and spectral properties of SnO2 nanocrystal prepared by microemulsion technique

Extrafine SnO₂ nanocrystals as small as 2.4 nm were synthesized by the microemulsion method. The grain sizes and crystallization process were measured and investigated by X-ray diffraction. Two growth processes were proposed, and the activation energies of 4.3 and 23 KJ/mol were obtained for respective low-and fast-growth processes. TEM micrographs and the selected-area diffraction recorded their morphology and crystallization, well crystallized at about 773 K. All the IR modes measured by FT-IR spectrometer were assigned. The 616 cm^-1 mode after annealing at 673 K showed fine crystallization. The temperature dependence of the Raman spectra shows that increase in intensity and decrease in linewidth of the 636 cm^-1 mode with the increasing grain size indicate a phonon confinement effect. A new 330 cm^-1 Raman mode originally inactive in bulk, was observed in the SnO₂ nanocrystal by size effect. A low frequency mode at 76 cm^-1 shifts to 38 cm^-1 as the temperature goes up 873 K, which can be characterized to determine the SnO₂ grain sizes. PACS 61.46.+w; 61.10.-i; 78.30.-j; 81.20.-n     

Laser damage in silicon

Laser damage in silicon has been investigated using single crystals of p-type Si with thin wafers of 0.325 mm thickness being exposed to Nd³⁺ laser pulses. The laser was in a free generation mode, with wavelength 1.064 μm, and pulse duration time of 100 μs, with energy of 200 mJ pulse^-1. It was found that this energy caused visible damage at the sample surface, which is interesting topographically and from viewpoint of the theory of the interaction of laser light and solid dielectric matter.     

Very large mode area optical fiber with complex ring cores

A novel kind of single-mode large-mode-area optical fiber is presented in this paper. The proposed fiber core is composed of high-index central rod and the surrounding multilayer rings. The mode characteristics are discussed considering the fiber structure parameters. The calculation results show that the proposed fiber possesses extreme large mode area of 2975 μm² with single mode operation at the wavelength of 1.08 μm. Even larger mode area of the complex ring core fiber with single mode output can be achieved by coiling the fiber, due to the significant difference of bending loss between the fundamental mode and the higher-order transverse modes. Such fibers are expected to find applications in the field of fiber lasers and amplifiers.