Room-temperature continuous-wave operation of Ti:sapphire buried channel-waveguide lasers fabricated via proton implantation

Fabrication and laser operation of proton-implanted Ti:sapphire buried channel waveguides is reported for the first time to our knowledge. Without any postimplantation annealing of the structures, continuous laser operation near 780 nm was demonstrated at room temperature at an absorbed pump power threshold of 230 mW. Single-transverse-mode laser emission was observed with measured beam propagation factors M(2)(x) and M(2)(y) of 1.5 and 1.2, respectively. An output power of 12.4 mW for 1 W pump power was obtained with an output coupler of 4.6% transmission at the signal wavelength. Higher output powers were measured in waveguides with larger cross sections exhibiting multimode laser emission.     

低阈值掺钛蓝宝石激光器实验研究

结合特殊的谐振腔设计和半导体可饱和吸收镜，建成了一台低阈值的自启动掺钛宝石激光器 . 分别用3％和12％的输出耦合镜，获得了阈值低至390mW和600mW的稳定锁模脉冲输出. 采 用12％输出耦合镜，在12W抽运时，输出平均功率为114mW，对应的典型脉宽为17fs，谱宽 为47nm. 相对于以往的低阈值克尔透镜锁模激光器，锁模工作的范围区域加宽，减小了操作 难度，提高了稳定性. 关键词： 低阈值 半导体可饱和吸收镜 克尔透镜锁模 掺钛蓝宝石激光器     

Ti:sapphire planar waveguide laser grown by pulsed laser deposition

We document the lasing performance of a waveguiding layer of Ti:sapphire, of ~12-mum thickness, grown by pulsed laser deposition from a 0.12-wt.% Ti(2)O(3) Ti:sapphire single-crystal target onto an undoped z-cut sapphire substrate. Lasing around 800 nm is observed when the waveguide layer is pumped by an argon-ion laser running on all-blue-green lines, with an absorbed power threshold of 0.56 W, with high-reflectivity (R>98%) mirrors. With a 5% pump duty cycle and a T=35% output coupler, a slope efficiency of 26% with respect to absorbed power is obtained, giving quasi-cw output powers in excess of 350 mW.     

Generation of 7-fs laser pulse directly from a compact Ti:sapphire laser with chirped mirrors

A compact femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser resonator consisting of three chirped mirrors and one output coupler was designed. By accurately balancing the intra- cavity dispersions between Ti:sapphire crystal, air and chirped mirrors, we directly generated the laser pulse shorter than 7 fs at the average power of 340 mW with 3.1 W pump. The repetition rate of the laser oscillator is 173 MHz at the centre wavelength of 791 nm, and the ultrabroaden spectrum covers from 600 nm to 1000 nm. To the best of our knowledge, this is the simplest laser resonator capable of generating sub-10 fs laser pulse.     

Efficient Tm：YAG Ceramic Laser at 2 μm

We demonstrate a high-efficiency continuous-wave Tm： YAG ceramic laser pumped with a Ti：sapphire laser. An output power up to 860mW is obtained under an absorbed pump power of 2.21 W at 785nm, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 42.1% and optical to optical efficiency of 22%. The measured central wavelength is 2012nm.     

Performance of gain-switched all-solid-state quasi-continuous-wave tunable Ti:sapphire laser system

We have made a gain-switched all-solid-state quasi-continuous-wave （QCW） tunable Ti：sapphire laser system, which is pumped by a 532 nm intracavity frequency-doubled Nd：YAG laser. Based on the theory of gain-switching and the study on the influencing factors of the output pulse width, an effective method for obtaining high power and narrow pulse width output is proposed. Through deliberately designing the pump source and the resonator of the Ti：sapphire laser, when the repetition rate is 6 kHz and the length of the cavity is 220 mm, at an incident pump power of 22 W, the tunable Ti：sapphire laser from 700 to 950nm can be achieved. It has a maximum average output power of 5.6W at 800nm and the pulse width of 13.2 ns, giving an optical conversion efficiency of 25.5% from the 532 mn pump laser to the Ti：sapphire laser.     

Excited-state absorption and 1064-nm end-pumped laser emission of Nd:YVO4 single-crystal fiber grown by laser-heated pedestal growth

We present an investigation of the excited-state absorption and laser emission of a 1.0-at. %-Nd3+-doped YVO4 single-crystal fiber grown by the low-cost and versatile laser-heated pedestal growth technique. Efficient laser emission at 1064 nm was achieved when the fiber was pumped, in an end-pump cavity, by a Ti:sapphire laser at 808 nm. A continuous-wave threshold of 10 mW was observed with an efficiency of 42% with respect to the absorbed pump power and the maximum output power of 200 mW. These results are excellent when compared with those of a commercial bulk crystal adapted to the same cavity (48% efficiency, 250-mW maximum output power). Thus the fibers are characterized as strong candidates for the construction of compact lasers that can also be pumped by low-cost diode lasers.     

Passively mode-locked 914-nm Nd:YVO4 laser

We demonstrate what is to our knowledge the first mode-locked Nd:YVO4 laser operating on the 4F3/2-4I9/2 transition at 914 nm. Using a semiconductor saturable-absorber mirror for passive mode locking, we have obtained 3-ps pulses at a repetition rate of 233.8 MHz. The laser is based on a standard delta cavity and is pumped by a Ti:sapphire laser. We obtained an average output power of 42 mW through one mirror and an accumulated output power of approximately 150 mW (through all cavity mirrors) at a pump power of 1.4 W.     

CONTINUOUS-WAVE LASER OSCILLATION OF Yb:FAP CRYSTALS AT A WAVELENGTH OF 1043nm

A continuous-wave laser oscillation was demonstrated with a Yb-doped fluorapatite (FAP) crystal pumped with a 905 nm Ti:sapphire laser. The output characteristics for different output couplers were investigated. A maximum power of 67mW at a 1043nm wavelength was obtained with 10% output coupler, pumped by a Ti:sapphire laser with 910mW power. This corresponds to a slope efficiency of 26.5%.     

Continuous-wave laser operation of Yb:LuVO4

We report on the room-temperature spectroscopic properties and continuous-wave laser operation of a new Yb:LuVO4 crystal. The peak absorption cross section for the pi-polarization is 8.42 x 10(-20) cm2 at 985 nm, and the stimulated emission cross section at 1020 nm is 1.03 x 10(-20) cm2. An output power of 0.36 W at 1041 nm was obtained with a slope efficiency of 47% by use of Ti:sapphire laser pumping. With diode pumping the output power reached 1.05 W at the highest available incident pump power of 6.8 W.     

Generation of a Sub-10fs Laser Pulse by a Ring Oscillator with a High Repetition Rate

A compact femtosecond Ti：sapphire ring oscillator composed of chirped mirrors is designed. By accurately optimizing the intra-cavity dispersion and the mode locking range of the ring configuration, we generate laser pulses as short as 7.7fs with a repetition rate as high as 745 MHz. The spectrum spans from 660nm to 94Ohm and the average output power is 480mW under the cw pump laser of 7.5 W.     

Monolithic 0–f Scheme-Based Frequency Comb Directly Driven by a High-Power Ti:Sapphire Oscillator

A monolithic O-f scheme-based femtosecond optical frequency comb directly driven by a high-power Ti:sapphire laser oscillator is demonstrated.The spectrum covering from 650 nm to 950 nm is generated from the Ti:sapphire oscillator with a repetition rate of 170 MHz.The average output power up to 630 mW is delivered under the pump power of 4.5 W.A 44-dB signal-to-noise ratio(SNR) of the carrier-envelope phase offset(CEO) beat note is achieved under the resolution of 100 kHz and is long-term stabilized to a reference source at 20 MHz.The integrated phase noise(IPN) in the range from 1 Hz to 1 MHz is calculated to be 138 mrad,corresponding to the timing jitter of 63 as at the central wavelength of 790 nm.     

Submicrometer axial resolution optical coherence tomography

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) with unprecedented submicrometer axial resolution achieved by use of a photonic crystal fiber in combination with a compact sub-10-fs Ti:sapphire laser (Femtolasers Produktions) is demonstrated for what the authors believe is the first time. The emission spectrum ranges from 550 to 950 nm (lambda(c)=725 nm , P(out)=27 mW) , resulting in a free-space axial OCT resolution of ~0.75 mum , corresponding to ~0.5 mum in biological tissue. Submicrometer-resolution OCT is demonstrated in vitro on human colorectal adenocarcinoma cells HT-29. This novel light source has great potential for development of spectroscopic OCT because its spectrum covers the absorption bands of several biological chromophores.     

采用飞秒光纤激光同步泵浦的自启动锁模钛宝石激光研究

针对常规连续激光泵浦钛宝石激光振荡器不能自启动锁模的缺点,采用倍频飞秒光纤激光同步泵浦,通过调节振荡器腔长与泵浦腔长匹配,实现了飞秒钛宝石激光的自启动锁模。实验中采用3.4 W的倍频掺镱光纤激光同步泵浦钛宝石激光振荡器,获得了平均功率大于130 mW、重复频率75 MHz、光谱宽度大于47 nm、脉冲宽度17 fs的锁模脉冲输出,不仅能够稳定可靠地实现自启动锁模,解决了常规钛宝石激光振荡器锁模启动的困难,而且还具有同步输出1040,800,520 nm三束飞秒激光的特点,为进一步开展飞秒激光相干合成以及光参量放大等研究提供了优势基础。     

All-solid-state Yb:KYW-LBO blue-green laser at 500 nm

It is reported that efficient continuous-wave (CW) blue-green laser generation at 500 nm in a LBO crystal at type-I phase matching direction performed with a Ti:sapphire laser-pumped Yb:KYW laser. With incident pump power of 8.7 W, output power of 138 mW at 500 nm has been obtained using a 10 mm-long LBO crystal. At the output power level of 138 mW, the blue-green output stability is better than 2.8%. The blue-green beam quality M ² values were equal to 1.25 and 1.18 in X and Y directions, respectively.     

Studies on the SFD Properties of Nd_xGd_(1-x)Ca_4O(BO_3)_3 Solid-solution Crystal

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Crystal growth, spectroscopy, and highly efficient laser operation of thulium-doped Lu2O3 around 2?��m

We report on the crystal growth, spectroscopic investigations, and laser experiments of thulium-doped Lu₂O₃. Crystals with dopant concentrations between 0.2?at.% and 10?at.% were grown by the Nacken?CKyropoulos and the Heat-Exchanger Method. Absorption and emission spectra are presented, as well as the lifetimes of the energy levels involved in the laser process. The laser experiments were carried out using a Ti:sapphire laser emitting at 796?nm as the pump source, achieving a maximum slope efficiency of 68% with respect to the absorbed pump power and a maximum output power of 1.5?W. A continuous tuning range from 1900?nm to 2110?nm was obtained.     

Studies on the SFD Properties of NdxGd1-xCa4O(BO3)3 Solid-solution Crystal

NdxGd1-xCa4O(BO3)3 (NdGdCOB) is a new self-frequency-doubling (SFD) solid-solution crystal. The second-harmonic generation (SHG) phase-matching (PM) curves were calculated by using refractive indices. The deff of NdGdCOB crystal along different PM directions were calculated according to the sellmeier equation and dijk data in which the (θ=66.8°, φ=132.6°) PM direction has the highest deff. SFD experiments were carried out with Ti:sapphire CW laser and pulsed dye-laser. A green laser output power up to 225 mW at 530 nm was achieved from a 7×3×3 mm3 crystal sample pumped by 1560 mW CW Ti:sapphire laser. The lasing threshold of SFD was lower than 1.8 mW along the PM direction (66.8°,132.6°). The optical-optical conversion efficiency was 14.4%. The conversion efficiency was 7.7% when 10×3×3 mm3 sample was side-pumped by the pulsed dye-laser tuned to 595.4 nm with 17.5 mJ energy and the lasing threshold is 1.2 mJ.     

Passively mode locked femtosecond Tm:Sc2O3 laser at 2.1 μm

We report on the passive mode locking of a Tm3+:Sc2O3 laser at 2.1 μm using a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror based on InGaAsSb quantum wells. Transform-limited 218 fs pulses are generated with an average power of 210 mW. A maximum output power of 325 mW is produced during mode locking with the corresponding pulse duration of 246 fs at a pulse repetition frequency of 124.3 MHz. A Ti:sapphire laser is used as the pump source operating at 796 nm.     

Growth and laser properties of Nd:Ca4YO(BO3)3 crystal

Nd:Ca₄YO(BO₃)₃ (Nd:YCOB) crystal was grown by the Czochralski method, and its structure was measured by using a four circle X-ray diffractometer. The transparent spectrum from 200 to 2600 nm was measured at room temperature. The fluorescence spectrum near 1.06 μm showed that the main emission wavelength of Nd:YCOB crystal was centered at 1060.8 nm. Laser output at 1.06 μm has been demonstrated when it was pumped by a Ti:sapphire laser at the wavelength of 794 nm, the highest output power was 68 mW under pumping power of 311 mW, the pumping threshold was 163 mW and slope efficiency was 46.9%. The self-frequency doubled green light has been observed when it was pumped by a Ti:sapphire or a laser diode (LD). A 14.5 mm Nd:YCOB crystal sample cut at (θ, φ)=(90°, 33°) was used for type I second-frequency generation (SHG) of the 1.06 μm laser pulse. The SHG conversion efficiency was 22%.