High-power, hybrid Er:fiber/Tm:fiber frequency comb source in the 2 μm wavelength region

We present a 2 μm frequency comb based on a reliable mode-locked Er:fiber laser with 100 MHz repetition rate. After shifting the spectrum of the amplified Er:fiber comb to longer wavelengths, a single-clad Tm/Ho:fiber is used as a self-pumped pre-amplifier to generate a coherent and broadband spectrum centered at 1.93 μm. Subsequently, a cladding-pumped Tm:fiber amplifier boosts the system to a maximum output power of 4.8 W at 1.96 μm. After compression in a compact grating compressor, our amplified Er:fiber/Tm:fiber hybrid system delivers as much as 2.9 W with a pulse duration of 141 fs. The system's comb properties are examined via heterodyne measurement.     

Direct laser writing of near-IR step-index buried channel waveguides in rare earth doped YAG

A new (to our knowledge) ultrashort laser pulse irradiation regime that allows us to directly modify and increase the refractive index of rare earth doped YAG polycrystalline ceramics has been identified. Single-mode buried channel waveguides in both Ho:YAG and Er:YAG ceramics at the near-IR wavelengths of 1.55?μm and 1.95?μm are demonstrated by fabricating positive square step-index cores. Minimum propagation losses of 1.5?dB?cm(-1) at a 1.51?μm wavelength have been preliminarily obtained. Confocal microluminescence mapping reveals that the increased refractive index regions retain the near-IR spectral properties of Er3+ ions in the YAG crystalline matrix.     

Pulse synthesis in the single-cycle regime from independent mode-locked lasers using attosecond-precision feedback

We report the synthesis of a nearly single-cycle (3.7?fs), ultrafast optical pulse train at 78?MHz from the coherent combination of a passively mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser (6?fs pulses) and a fiber supercontinuum (1-1.4?μm, with 8?fs pulses). The coherent combination is achieved via orthogonal, attosecond-precision synchronization of both pulse envelope timing and carrier envelope phase using balanced optical cross-correlation and balanced homodyne detection, respectively. The resulting pulse envelope, which is only 1.1 optical cycles in duration, is retrieved with two-dimensional spectral shearing interferometry (2DSI). To our knowledge, this work represents the first stable synthesis of few-cycle pulses from independent laser sources.     

Frequency stabilization of mode-locked Erbium fiber lasers using pump power control

Mode-locked erbium fiber lasers can serve as frequency comb generators in the 1.5 m telecommunication band or as frequency dividers generating low noise pulse trains at microwave repetition rates from a visible or near infrared frequency standard. Such applications require suitable stabilization methods both for the lasers carrier frequency and the pulse repetition frequency. While control of the optical resonator length with the help of a piezo actuator is an obvious method, we investigate in this paper frequency stabilization of the fiber laser via pump power control. Using this method, we stabilize the pulse repetition rate of the Er:fiber-laser with respect to a hydrogen-maser with residual averaged timing errors of a few femtoseconds (for averaging times between one and one hundred seconds), an order of magnitude below the timing noise of the maser itself. PACS 42.55Wd; 42.62.Eh     

Femtosecond fiber laser at 780 nm for two-photon autofluorescence imaging

We present an Er-doped fiber(Er:fiber)-based femtosecond laser at 780 nm with 256 MHz repetition rate, 191 fs pulse duration, and over 1 W average power. Apart from the careful third-order dispersion management, we introduce moderate self-phase modulation to broaden the output spectrum of the Er:fiber amplifier and achieve 193 fs pulse duration and 2.43 W average power. Over 40% frequency doubling efficiency is obtained by a periodically poled lithium niobate crystal. Delivering through a hollow-core photonic bandgap fiber, this robust laser becomes an ideal and convenient light source for two-photon autofluorescence imaging.     

Free-running and Q-switched operation of a diode pumped Er:YSGG laser at the 3 μm transition

A study is made of a diode pumped Er³⁺:YSGG laser crystal operating at 2.797 μm. Lasers were constructed in the bounce geometry, using a transversely cooled 50 at.% Er:YSGG slab and a face-cooled 38 at.% Er:YSGG slab. Results from these are compared with those from a 50 at.% Er³⁺:YAG laser, also in the bounce geometry. With quasi-continuous wave diode pumping, free-running pulse energies of up to ~55 mJ and a slope efficiency of 20.5% are obtained from 50 at.% Er:YSGG. Better thermal performance is obtained from the face-cooled 38 at.% Er:YSGG slab, allowing average power of ~2 W to be obtained at a repetition rate and pump pulse duration of 140 Hz and 500 μs, respectively. Both Er:YSGG systems perform better than Er:YAG. Numerical modelling of the free-running 50 at.% Er:YSGG and Er:YAG systems is undertaken with good qualitative agreement with experimental results. Electro-optic Q-switching of the 50 at.% Er:YSGG laser using a LiNbO₃ crystal yields ~0.5 mJ pulses with ~77 ns duration.     

High-power pulsed diode-pumped Er:ZBLAN fiber laser

We report on the operation and performance of a gain-switched Er:ZBLAN fiber laser based on an active pulsed diode pump system. The produced laser pulses offer high peak powers while retaining the high average powers and efficiency of the cw regime. The measured pulse duration was about 300 ns and nearly independent of the pump repetition frequency. The maximum obtained 68 W of peak power is the highest reported, to our knowledge, for diode-pumped Er:ZBLAN fiber lasers, and the 2 W of average power at the repetition frequency of 100 kHz is 2 orders of magnitude higher than previously reported average power in a pulsed regime. The obtained slope efficiency was 34%.     

Sensitizing effect of Nd3＋ on the Er3＋： 2.7 μm-emission in fluorophosphate glass

Nd3+ strengthens the Er3+:2.7-μm emission 104 times in fluorophosphate glass;in addition,it can also decrease its upconversion effects and the 1.5-μm emission accordingly.Cross-relaxation process is the principal transition mechanism in this codoping system.Compared with Er3+ singly doped glass,JO parameters along with the Arad,β,τR values of Er3+ change markedly in Er3+:Nd3+ codoped glass because Nd3+ greatly in?uences the local environment around Er3+.Results also show that Nd3+ has a good 4I13/2 lifetime quenching effect as well as thermal load reduction ability for Er3+:2.7-μm emission.     

High-energy directly diode-pumped Q-switched 1617 nm Er:YAG laser at room temperature

We describe high-energy Erbium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Er:YAG) lasers operating at 1617?nm, resonantly pumped using 1532?nm fiber-coupled laser diodes. A maximum continuous wave output power of 4.3?W at 1617?nm was achieved with an output coupler of 20% transmission under incident pump power of 29.7?W, resulting in an optical conversion of 14% with respect to the incident pump power. In Q-switched operation, the pulse energy of 11.8?mJ at 100?Hz pulse repetition frequency and 81?ns pulse duration was obtained. This energy is the highest pulse energy reported for a directly diode-pumped Q-switched Er:YAG laser operating at 1617?nm.     

Resonantly pumped 1.645 μm high repetition rate Er:YAG laser Q-switched by a graphene as a saturable absorber

A fiber laser resonantly pumped 1.645 μm passively Q-switched Er:YAG laser is reported. Graphene on a silicon carbide was used as the saturable absorber for the Q-switching. The pulse energy of the 1.645 μm Q-switched Er:YAG laser was 7.05 μJ, with a pulse repetition rate of 35.6 kHz and an average output power of 251 mW.     

高重频2.94 μm Er:YAG激光器的研究

分析了Er3+离子的能级结构特性和Er:YAG四能级系统的激光速率方程。采用了双灯,双椭圆腔和窄脉冲放电等方式提高了抽运效率; 通过提高激光谐振腔的反射率,降低阈值,从而实现了输出2.94 μm的高重频窄脉冲激光; 采用高压高速层流冷却技术降低了热效应的影响。Er3+:YAG激光器的重复频率为40 Hz,单脉冲输出能量为0.5 J,满足实际应用需要。     

1.6-W self-referenced frequency comb at 2.06 μm using a Ho:YLF multipass amplifier

A high-power optical frequency comb at 2.06 μm has been generated using a Ho:YLF multipass amplifier seeded by the long wavelength supercontinuum tail of an octave-spanning Er:fiber comb source. The Ho:YLF amplifier showed a net gain larger than 30 dB from 2048 to 2068 nm, allowing the generation of a 20 nm bandwidth comb with a mode spacing of 100 MHz and a power per mode ranging from 20 to 370 μW. In the time domain, the amplified comb corresponds to a pulse train with 1.6 W total power and 508 fs transform-limited pulse duration. Using a self-referencing f-2f interferometer and a phase-locking loop, spectral narrowing of the offset frequency down to less than 17 Hz has been achieved.     

稳定的全光纤飞秒激光光源

我们在实验上研究了掺Er³⁺全光纤飞秒激光器的稳定性,得到了令人极其满意的结果.锁模脉冲串如一幅图画贴在荧光屏上,一整天也不飘动.激光器的结构是环形腔.用输出功率为56mW,波长为980nm带尾纤的二级管激光器泵浦时,双路输出分别为194μW和97μW.激光器的阈值14.8mW,脉宽260fs,中心波长1.531μm,重复频率21.3MHz,光谱宽度33.6nm,说明可以产生很短的脉冲.这激光器小型、稳定、可靠、用途广.它是传感器和光通讯的好光源,在科研领域具有潜在的用途.     

Multi-wavelength mode-locked Er/Yb Co-doped fiber laser with square nano-second pulse output

We report a multi-wavelength mode-locked Er/Yb codoped fiber laser with square nano-second pulse output, which is constructed with a “figure-of-eight” cavity structure. A section of polarization-maintaining Er/Yb co-doped double clad fiber was used as the gain medium and pumped by a fiber pigtailed multimode laser diode working at 975 nm via a multimode fiber combiner. Several megahertz repetition rate output pulses with peak power up to 9.2 W and pulse duration around several nanoseconds were obtained.     

Laser diode pumped high-energy single-frequency Er:YAG laser with hundreds of nanoseconds pulse duration

We demonstrated a high-energy single-frequency erbium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet(Er:YAG)laser.With1470 nm laser diodes(LDs)as pumping sources,single-frequency laser pulses with energy of 28.6 m J,21.6 m J,and 15.0 m J are obtained at pulse repetition frequency of 200 Hz,300 Hz,and 500 Hz,respectively.As far as we know,this is the highest single-frequency pulse energy with the Er:YAG gain medium.With the ring cavity design,pulse duration is maintained at hundreds of nanoseconds.This high-energy single-frequency laser with hundreds of nanoseconds pulse duration is a prospective laser source for light detection and ranging applications.     

Acousto-optic Q-switched laser performances of Er3+:Yb3+:LuAl3（BO3）4 crystal at 1.5-1.6 μm

Diode-pumped acousto-optic Q-switched pulse laser at 1.5-1.6 μm is obtained in an Er3+:Yb3+:LuAl3 (BO3)4 crystal. Single-pulse laser operation with slope efficiency of 14% and threshold of approximately 100 mW is realized at an average absorbed pump power of 314 mW and repetition frequency of 20 kHz. Output pulse energy is 67 μJ. The effects of pulse repetition frequency, absorbed pump power, and duty cycle on the wavelength and pulse profile of the Q-switched Er3+:Yb3+:LuAl3(BO3)4 laser are also investigated.     

Demonstration of fiber pulsed light source at 1.6 μm with adjustable pulse duration

A novel practical 1.66-μm pulse light source with adjustable pulse duration is proposed. A 2.5-km Raman fiber is placed into a ring type Q-switched erbium-doped fiber laser (Q-EDFL), serving as both delay line fiber and Raman gain medium so that in addition to the wavelength shifted to 1.6μm, the pulse duration and the buildup time can be relatively extended. By properly controlling the fall edge of the acousto-optic switch (AOS), the pulse duration of 30-345 ns for ～ 770-Hz repetition frequency with power of 1-1.6 W is achieved.     

Tunable mid-infrared source from an ultrafast two-color Yb:fiber chirped-pulse amplifier

We present a tunable, ultrafast, mid-infrared source based on difference frequency between 16?μm and 20?μm from an ultrafast, two-color Yb:fiber chirped-pulse amplifier. We have recorded an average power of 1.5?mW at ～18 μm. We have improved the output power after the pre-amplifier by one order of magnitude. We present the simulation and experimental results to the pre-amplifier.     

Self-referencable frequency comb from a 170-fs, 1.5-μm solid-state laser oscillator

We report measurement of the first carrier-envelope offset (CEO) frequency signal from a spectrally broadened ultrafast solid-state laser oscillator operating in the 1.5 μm spectral region. The f-to-2f CEO frequency beat signal is 49 dB above the noise floor (100-kHz resolution bandwidth) and the free-running linewidth of 3.6 kHz is significantly better than typically obtained by ultrafast fiber laser systems. We used a SESAM mode-locked Er:Yb:glass laser generating 170-fs pulses at a 75 MHz pulse repetition rate with 110-mW average power. It is pumped by one standard telecom-grade 980-nm diode consuming less than 1.5 W of electrical power. Without any further pulse compression and amplification, a coherent octave-spanning frequency comb is generated in a polarization-maintaining highly-nonlinear fiber (PM-HNLF). The fiber length was optimized to yield a strong CEO frequency beat signal between the outer Raman soliton and the spectral peak of the dispersive wave within the supercontinuum. The polarization-maintaining property of the supercontinuum fiber was crucial; comparable octave-spanning supercontinua from two non-PM fibers showed higher intensity noise and poor coherence. A stable CEO-beat was observed even with pulse durations above 200 fs. Achieving a strong CEO frequency signal from relatively long pulses with moderate power levels substantially relaxes the demands on the driving laser, which is particularly important for novel gigahertz diode-pumped solid-state and semiconductor lasers.     

Sellmeier equations for GaS and GaSe and their applications to the nonlinear optics in GaSxSe(1-x)

The Sellmeier equations for GaS and GaSe are constructed from the nonlinear experiments thus far reported in the literature. The model calculations based on these equations were found to reproduce well the phase-matching conditions for second-harmonic generation of the Er:YSGG laser at 2.7960?μm and the CO2 laser lines at 9.5862 and 10.5910?μm achieved in the GaSxSe(1-x) crystals having different S concentrations of 0.004-0.412.