双波长飞秒激光器运转特性的数值分析

本文采用有限差分方法对双波长飞秒激光器的运转特性进行了数值分析,得到了不同腔内群速弥散量下交叉锁模脉冲的数值解。结果表明,在双光束谐振腔内,由于飞秒激光的相互作用、平衡增益竞争、补偿腔内的群速弥散,就能够获得最佳的双波长飞秒激光器运转。     

Mechanism of pulse shaping in femtosecond lasers based on the high-order soliton

The mechanism of pulse shaping in Kerr-lens mode-locking Ti : sapphire lasers is investigated. Considering the balanced interaction between self-phase modulation, introduced by Kerr effect in Ti : sapphire, and group-velocity dispersion provided by prism-pair, pulse-splitting reflected in the intensity autocorrelation trace and pulse-compression display that the pulses outputting from different positions in laser cavity have different durations. We have concluded that the solitonlike pulse shaping that results from the competition between intracavity self-phase modulation within the Ti : S and negative group-velocity dispersion play dominant role in pulse evolution in Kerr-lens mode-locking lasers.     

Polarization manipulated solid-state lasers with crystalline-orientations

The polarization states of 〈111〉-cut Yb:YAG crystal microchip lasers were investigated by pumped with the elliptically polarized pump beam from fiber-coupled laser-diode. The manipulated polarized lasers were achieved in laser-diode pumped Yb:YAG microchip laser by controlling the crystalline-orientations in 〈111〉-growth Yb:YAG crystal. Generally elliptically polarized lasers were obtained in laser-diode pumped Yb:YAG microchip lasers. However, crystalline-orientation manipulated linearly polarized laser was obtained when six different sites with different crystalline orientations were set to parallel to the major axis direction of the elliptically polarized pump beam. Six different sites in Yb:YAG crystal were separated with 30° and 90°, which were responsible for the linearly polarized laser oscillations. Circularly polarized lasers were observed when a Yb:YAG crystal was aligned to a special position between two sites responsible for linearly polarized laser oscillation. Effects of the polarization states of pump source on the laser polarization states of Yb:YAG microchip lasers and polarization direction of different polarized lasers with respect to Yb:YAG crystal rotation was addressed.     

基于阿秒抖动光纤锁模激光器的时钟同步

光纤锁模激光器结构简单, 运转稳定, 且输出的超短脉冲序列具有极高的时钟稳定性, 在抽运探测、脉冲相干合成等要求高精度时钟同步的前沿领域有着广阔的应用前景. 本文通过激光器腔内的电光调制器进行反馈控制, 实现了两台光纤锁模激光器之间的紧密时钟信号同步; 并且通过平衡光学互相关方法, 对残余的时钟误差信号进行了测量, 分辨率达到了13 as. 通过优化激光器的腔内动力学过程及反馈环路的参数, 在[1 Hz, 10 MHz]的积分区间内得到了109 as的残余时钟误差, 对应单台激光器的平均时间抖动为77 as.     

Lasing in random media

A random laser is a non-conventional laser whose feedback mechanism is based on disorder-induced light scattering. Depending on whether the feedback supplied by scattering is intensity feedback or amplitude feedback, random lasers are classified into two categories: random lasers with incoherent feedback and random lasers with coherent feedback. A brief survey of random lasers with incoherent feedback is presented. It is followed by a review of our recent experimental work on random lasers with coherent feedback, including measurement of the lasing threshold, lasing spectra, emission pattern, dynamical response, photon statistics, speckle pattern and the investigation of relevant length scales. Large disorder leads to spatial confinement of the lasing modes, that is the foundation for the micro random laser. Some theoretical models of random lasers with coherent feedback are briefly introduced. The study of random lasers improves our understanding of the interplay between light localization and coherent amplification.     

双重复频率锁模Yb:YAG陶瓷激光器

近年来,双重复频率锁模激光器在诸如双光梳光谱和异步光学采样等应用领域吸引了广泛关注.基于单一激光腔的双梳系统能大大降低成本,简化系统结构,且性能优异.双重复频率锁模激光器为发展紧凑型和实用型双梳装置开辟了道路.本文报道了一种可用作双光梳光谱系统光源的双重复频率锁模Yb:YAG陶瓷激光器.该激光器基于半导体可饱和吸收镜锁模技术,采用双通道抽运结构,利用新型非水基流延成型制备的Yb:YAG透明陶瓷,在单一的五镜腔中,当吸收抽运光功率为5.6 W时,实现了自启动、稳定运转的双重复频率锁模脉冲Pulse1和Pulse2,其重复频率分别为448.918和448.923 MHz,重复频率差为5 kHz.在吸收抽运功率为7 W时,得到最大的总平均输出功率170 mW,其中Pulse1和Pulse2的功率分别为89和81 mW,相应的光谱宽度分别为1和1.16 nm.性能相似的双重复频率脉冲彼此间保持了良好的相干性,实验结果证明了双通道抽运在双重复频率锁模激光器应用中的可行性,此种新型双重复频率激光器在双光梳光谱和测距等领域具有较好的应用潜力.     

Two kinds of novel birefringent dual-frequency lasers

Two kinds of novel dual-frequency He–Ne lasers are presented and described in this paper based on the birefringent laser frequency splitting technology: the full-inner cavity photoelastic dual-frequency laser and the half-inner cavity photoelastic dual-frequency laser. The frequency difference between the two kinds of dual-frequency laser can be adjusted from tens to hundreds of megahertz through adjusting the mechanical pressure exerted on the photoelastic element. The stability of the frequency differences of the two lasers are 10⁻³ and 10⁻⁵, respectively, after the lasers are turned on for a while.     

Lasers for materials processing: specifications and trends

An overview is given of the types of lasers dominating the field of laser materials processing. The most prominent lasers in this field are the CO₂ and the Nd: YAG laser. The domain of CO₂ lasers is applications which demand high laser powers (up to 30 kW are available at present), whereas the domain of Nd:YAG lasers is micro-machining applications. In the kilowatt range of laser output power, the two types of lasers are in competition. New diffusion-cooled CO₂ laser systems are capable of output laser powers of several kilowatts, with good beam qualities, while still being quite compact. The output power and beam quality of Nd:YAG lasers has been improved in recent years, so that Nd:YAG lasers are now an alternative to CO₂ lasers even in the kilowatt range. This is especially true for applications that demand optical fibre transmission of the laser beam, which is possible with Nd:YAG laser light but not with the longerwavelength light emitted by CO₂ lasers. The main problem in solid-state lasers such as Nd:YAG is the thermal lensing effect and damage due to thermal stresses. In order to reduce thermal loading, cooling has to be enhanced. Several alternative geometries have been proposed to reduce thermal loading and, by this, thermal lensing effects. There are now slab and tube geometries which allow much higher output powers than the conventionally used laser rods. A very new scheme proposes a thin slab whose cooled side is also used as one of the laser mirrors, so that thermal gradients occur mainly in the direction of the beam propagation and not perpendicular to it, as is the case in the other geometries. As well as CO₂ and Nd:YAG lasers, semiconductor laser diodes are very promising for direct use of the emitted light or as pump sources for Nd:YAG and other solid-state lasers. When packaging together thousands of single laser diodes, output powers of several kilowatts can be realized. Major problems are collimation of the highly divergent laser beams and cooling of the laser diode bars.     

Realization of Optical Phase Locked Loop at 9.2GHz between Two Independent Diode Lasers

The optical-phase-locked-loop (OPLL) at 9.2GHz between two independent narrow linewidth diode lasers is realized. Ultrabroad servo bandwidth at 4MHz is first achieved and it is guaranteed that the full spectral characteristics of the master laser can be transferred to the slave laser. The experimental results prove that the coherence between two lasers is about 99%. This offers a new method to study the interaction between lasers and atoms based on the ground hyperfine structure of caesium atoms.     

Broadband phase-coherent optical frequency synthesis with actively linked Ti:sapphire and Cr:forsterite femtosecond lasers

We link the output spectra of a Ti:sapphire and a Cr:forsterite femtosecond laser phase coherently to form a continuous frequency comb with a wavelength coverage of 0.57-1.45 microm at power levels of 1 nW to 40 microW per frequency mode. To achieve this, the laser repetition rates and the carrier-envelope offset frequencies are phase locked to each other. The coherence time between the individual components of the two combs is 40 micros. The timing jitter between the lasers is 20 fs. The combined frequency comb is self-referenced for access to its overall offset frequency. We report the first demonstration to our knowledge of an extremely broadband and continuous, high-powered and phase-coherent frequency comb from two femtosecond lasers with different gain media.     

Narrow bandwidth operation of high-power broad-area diode laser using cascaded phase-conjugate injection locking

A broad-area laser is injection-locked by another broad-area laser that is also injection-locked by a single-mode diode laser. Two double-phase conjugate mirrors of photorefractive BaTaO₃ are used to couple the master laser beams to the first slave laser, and the first slave laser output to the second slave laser. One of the double-phase conjugate mirrors is built up with the beams from two broad-area lasers. Two slave lasers are oscillating in single longitudinal mode at 808.5 nm and the spectral width is the same as that of the master laser. Final single-mode output power from the second slave broad-area laser is 840 mW, which is limited by the power of the injection beam. This work verifies the possibility of the multi-stage cascaded injection locking of high-power diode lasers with phase-conjugate injection. Received: 18 November 1998 / Revised version: 29 January 1999 / Published online: 7 April 1999     

Diode-pumped tunable laser with dual Cr：LiSAF rods

We propose and demonstrate a simple approach to lower the thermal quenching effect and improve the output power of Cr:LiSAF lasers, which is accomplished by employing two laser rods. The resonator contains two laser rods and is designed by using two ``X' folding cavities in cascade. A tunable laser output of $\sim $ 180\,mW has been achieved with the pump of single-striped laser diodes. Compared with lasers using single gain rod, the laser with dual rods shows less severe thermal effect and increases the output by more than two times.     

Analysis of the photon–photon resonance influence on the direct modulation bandwidth of dual-longitudinal-mode distributed feedback lasers

The paper explores the possibilities to extend the direct modulation bandwidth in dual-longitudinal-mode distributed feedback lasers by exploiting the photon–photon resonance induced by the interaction of the two modes in the laser cavity. The effects on the direct amplitude modulation and on the direct modulation of the difference frequency between the two modes are analyzed using simulation and experimental results. When the photon–photon resonance, which occurs at the difference frequency between the two modes, is properly placed at a higher frequency than the carrier-photon resonance, the small-signal amplitude modulation (AM) bandwidth of the laser can be significantly increased. However, both simulations and experiments point out that a high small-signal AM bandwidth does not lead to a high large-signal AM bandwidth if the small-signal modulation response has significant variations across the modulation bandwidth. The paper shows that a high large-signal AM bandwidth is obtained when the two modes are significantly unbalanced, whereas a high-bandwidth difference frequency modulation can be best detected when the two modes are balanced and the DC bias is properly chosen.     

大口径谐振腔式固体激光中的动力学不稳定性研究

大口径谐振腔式固体激光定标到足够高功率后,由于非稳定腔内激光不对称振荡导致介质上激光强度横向不均匀,激光提取与介质产热耦合会引起激光输出功率和光束质量在时域上的不稳定性。针对三种激光器构型:Nd:YAG薄片、Yb:YAG薄片和浸入式液冷叠片激光器,通过理论分析与数值模拟揭示了其各自不同的光热耦合机制及其影响因素,给出了激光输出的瞬态演化规律。结果表明,前两种构型中基于激光动力学的光热耦合具有饱和效应,其动力学不稳定性只出现在特定参数区间,可以通过恰当的设计加以避免;第三种构型中动力学不稳定性表现出明显的阈值特征,在强光状态下只能通过减少冷却液吸收系数来抑制。     

Stability performance of short cavity Er-doped fiber lasers

An experimental study of stability between two types of short-cavity laser configurations is carried out. The short-cavity lasers are comprised of one or two pairs of wavelength-matched FBGs, encompassing a short length of highly-doped Er-fiber, to create effectively single- or dual-wavelength fiber lasers. The laser performance in terms of the laser output power and laser stability in relation to the gain medium length was investigated experimentally, analyzed and reported in this letter.     

Chaos synchronization and spontaneous symmetry-breaking in symmetrically delay-coupled semiconductor lasers

We present experimental and numerical investigations of the dynamics of two device-identical, optically coupled semiconductor lasers exhibiting a delay in the coupling. Our results give evidence for subnanosecond coupling-induced synchronized chaotic dynamics in conjunction with a spontaneous symmetry-breaking: we find a well-defined time lag between the dynamics of the two lasers, and an asymmetric physical role of the subsystems. We demonstrate that the leading laser synchronizes its lagging counterpart, whereas the synchronized lagging laser drives the coupling-induced instabilities.     

Episodic synchronization via dynamic injection

We report the occurrence of spontaneous synchronizing events between two semiconductor lasers, when the emission of a frequency- and intensity-chaotic driving laser is unidirectionally coupled into a second stable response laser. The driving laser is driven chaotic by delayed optical feedback, the response laser is a device-identical solitary laser. We demonstrate the onset of an episodic synchronization regime when the two lasers are spectrally detuned with respect to each other. By a joint experimental and modeling analysis we can attribute the onset and the duration of the episodes to properties of spectral overlap of both lasers. This effect can even give rise to seemingly anticorrelated intensity behavior. We expect episodic synchronization to be a generic scenario for the loss of synchronization of chaotic oscillators exhibiting frequency cycles.     

Active synchronization of two mode-locked lasers with optical cross correlation

Two mode-locked Ti:sapphire lasers of different wavelengths were precisely synchronized by a simple feedback system employing sum-frequency generation (cross correlation). When the timing error exceeded the pulse duration, the periodic bunch of the sum-frequency pulse was used for rough timing adjustment. Using cross correlation with a stretched pulse, we struck a balance between wide locking range and sensitive timing detection. When the two lasers were well-synchronized, we obtained a continuous cross-correlation pulse train for 3 min. The holding time of the laser synchronization was extended to over one hour by adding a motorized stage to the PZT-mounted cavity mirror. We estimated the rms timing jitter between the two lasers by a scanning cross-correlation measurement. We confirmed that the rms timing jitter of the two lasers during 1.8 s was 28 fs. Received: 30 January 2002 / Revised version: 14 June 2002 / Published online: 8 August 2002     

300 Femtosecond pulses at 497 nanometer generated by an excimer laser pumped cascade of distributed feedback dye lasers

The setup is a cascade of 3 lasers: A competing cavity dye laser pumped by a XeCl excimer laser, followed by two distributed feedback dye lasers. The typical durations of the pulses from the lasers are 100 ps, 5 ps, and 300 fs, respectively. The output pulses at 497 nm are amplified up to 500 MW. The shortest pulse duration obtained was 198 fs.     

Chaotic synchronization of two inverse-injection semiconductor lasers for logic gates

A round-coupling configuration of two inverse-injection semiconductor lasers is presented for logic gate applications. Two laser diodes coupled via injection from the opposite laser became chaotic. Chaotic synchronization is achieved between the two lasers. Two all-optical or two optoelectronic logic gates can be implemented by modulating the injected light or laser diode current, respectively, to synchronize or unsynchronize the two chaotic states. Numerical results show the validity and feasibility of the method.