Laser-diode-seeded single and double stage femtosecond optical parametric amplification in the mid-infrared

Tunable mid-infrared pulses are generated with a MgO:LiNbO₃-based traveling-wave optical parametric amplifier in single and double stage operation regime pumped by a 1-kHz Ti:sapphire regenerative amplifier system. For the first time to our knowledge a pulsed laser diode is successfully used in the femtosecond regime as a compact seed source at the signal wavelength where the tunability of the generated idler pulses can be realized by tuning the seed wavelength. Almost transform limited mid-infrared pulses as short as 130 and 160 fs with pulse energies as high as 5 and 15 J are produced near 3.5 m by the single and double stage scheme, respectively. The pulse to pulse fluctuations in both cases do not exceed 2% which corresponds to the stability of the pump source.     

Tunable,narrow-band picosecond radiation in the mid-infrared by difference frequency mixing in GaSe and CdSe

We report on the generation of tunable, narrow-band picosecond laser pulses in the mid-IR at 1 kHz repetition rate. An optical parametric oscillator (OPO) seeded optical parametric amplifier (OPA) delivers signal and idler pulses with energies of several hundred microjoule tunable between 1.56 and 3.24 m. Difference frequency mixing of the OPA signal and idler waves permits the generation of mid-IR radiation between 3 and 24 m. The laser system therefore permits full coverage of the wavelength range between 1.6 and 24 m. Conversion efficiencies greater than 50% and pulse energies up to 40 J are obtained with GaSe. PACS 42.65.Re; 42.65.Yj; 42.72.Ai     

The Optimum Operation of an Unified Mini-Optically Pumped NH3 Submillimeter Wave Laser

An unified miniature optically pumped NH₃ submillimeter wave laser (OPSMMWL), including a mini TEA-CO₂ pump laser, was developed. It lased successfully with coherent emission at 67.2m, 90.4m and 151.5m. The optimum operation of the unified mini-OPSMMWL was studied experimentally and the relations among SMMW laser output power, operating gas pressure, length and coupling condition of the cavity were measured. It has been found that buffer gas N₂ has significant effect on 67.2m and 151.5m emissions and very wide band SMMW laser emission was a common feature of the mini-OPSMMW cavity laser.     

High-power source of coherent picosecond light pulses tunable from 0.41 to 12.9 μm

We report a high-power source of coherent picosecond light pulses based on optical parametric generation and amplification in LiB₃O₅ and AgGaS₂ crystals. The spectral range of this continuously tunable source covers the visible, near-infrared and medium-infrared spectrum from 0.41 to 12.9 m. An optical parametric generator and amplifier, consisting of two type-I phase-matched LiB₃O₅ crystals and a diffraction grating, is pumped by the third harmonic of a picosecond Nd:YAG laser and provides spectrally narrow, high-power pulses from 0.41 to 2.4 m. Energy conversion efficiencies up to 16 percent are achieved. The pulse duration is about 14 ps, the bandwidth between 10 and 30 cm^–1. The tuning range is extended to 12.9 m by mixing the infrared output between 1.16 and 2.13 m with the fundamental of the Nd:YAG laser in type-I-phase-matched AgGaS₂ crystals. Up to 25 percent of the pulse energy at 1.064 m is converted into parametric infrared pulses. Bandwidths between 3 and 8 cm^–1 and a pulse duration of approximately 19 ps are measured for these pulses. We also observe a retracing behaviour in the tuning curve of AgGaS₂ not reported before.     

Atmospheric Gas Detection with Broadband Sources

We investigate a new experimental method for detecting molecules from the ultraviolet to the near infrared range using ultrashort laser pulses. Two types of sources are used: a white light continuum generated by 200khz Ti: Sapphire regenerative amplifier system, and a near-gaussian femtosecond pulse (100 fs) generated by an optical parametric amplifier and tunable from 0.45 to 2.4 m. Up to now, this technique has only been performed in the visible domain. Both broadband sources allow the detection of the oxygen and the water vapor bands. Moreover, a new extraction method has been implemented, which provides the molecules' concentration by using a nonlinear fit technique.     

Sub-surface damage in indium phosphide caused by micromachining of grooves with femtosecond and nanosecond laser pulses

Grooves laser-micromachined in InP using 130 fs and 8 ns pulses with fluences 2 and 0.7 J/cm² are investigated by cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy. At the fluence of 2 J/cm², irradiation with both femtosecond and nanosecond laser pulses yield substantial resolidified layers with a maximum thickness of 0.5 m. In contrast, at the fluence of 0.7 J/cm², irradiation with nanosecond pulses leads to a layer of similar thickness, while femtosecond irradiation produces laser induced periodic surface structures with minimal resolidified material. For both fluences, femtosecond pulses generate substantial densities of defects extending over a few microns in depth, while nanosecond laser irradiation leads to no observable damage beneath the resolidified layer. The high peak power density and the stress confinement obtained from femtosecond pulses, along with incubation effects, are identified as the major factors leading the observed plastic deformations. PACS 61.80.Ba; 68.35.Gy; 79.20.Ds     

Gain dynamics of the 4.3 μm CO2 laser

A detailed study of the gain dynamics of the pulsed, optically pumped 4.3 m CO₂ laser is described. Small-signal gain coefficients as high as 14%/cm are measured in a 4.3 m amplifier using low-power pulses from a 4.3 m probe laser. The measurements are compared with a rate-equation model and good quantitative agreement is obtained. The model, which uses no adjustable parameters, is described in detail. Gain is studied as a function of optical pumping power, gas mixture, gas pressure and discharge excitation of the 4.3 m amplifier. Optimization of the gain is discussed.     

Twisted Lie Group C*-Algebras as Strict Quantization

A nonzero 2-cocycle Z2(g, R) on the Lie algebra g of a compact Lie group G defines a twisted version of the Lie–Poisson structure on the dual Lie algebra g*, leading to a Poisson algebra C (g*()). Similarly, a multiplier c Z2(G, U(1)) on G which is smooth near the identity defines a twist in the convolution product on G, encoded by the twisted group C-algebra C*(G,c). Further to some superficial yet enlightening analogies between C (g*()) and C*(G,c), it is shown that the latter is a strict quantization of the former, where Plancks constant assumes values in (Z\{0})-1. This means that there exists a continuous field of C*-algebras, indexed by 0 (Z\{0})-1, for which A0= C0(g*) and A=C*(G,c) for 0, along with a cross-section of the field satisfying Diracs condition asymptotically relating the commutator in A to the Poisson bracket on C(g*()). Note that the quantization of does not occur for =0.     

Time-resolved measurements of picosecond optical breakdown

Picosecond optical breakdown was investigated in order to assess its potential for performing highly localized incisions for laser surgery. Measurements of breakdown were performed using single 40-ps Nd: YAG laser pulses in distilled water. Novel optical pump-probe techniques were developed to characterize the transient spatial and temporal dynamics of the plasma, shock wave, and cavitation phenomena which are associated with the breakdown. The maximum cavity radius and the shock wave zone are shown to scale as the cube root of the pump pulse energy over almost three orders of magnitude. For pulse energies close to the threshold energy of 8 J, the shock range was 100–200 m and the cavity radius was 140 m. Complementary experiments were performed with 10-ns pulse durations. Since picosecond pulses have high peak intensities with low pulse energies, a significant enhancement in localizability may be achieved. The implications for ophthalmic microsurgery are discussed.     

Operation of KrF and ArF tunable excimer lasers without Cassegrain optics

A commercial tunable excimer laser consists of an oscillator-amplifier combination. The oscillator produces high-quality light that is sent to the amplifier and is distributed throughout the amplifier cavity via Cassegrain optics. We describe here two alternative approaches, a single-pass configuration for use with KrF and a triple-pass configuration with ArF, both of which do away with the Cassegrain optics. In each approach, the beam energy is the same as with Cassegrain optics. For KrF, the changes provide better locking, a higher degree of linear polarization, and a better spatial beam homogeneity, but a poorer beam divergence. For ArF, there is also better beam homogeneity, but the locking efficiency and divergence are not as good as with Cassegrain optics.     

Changes in EPR spectrum of free radical species inγ-irradiated polyformaldehyde

We have found that gamma-irradiated polyformaldehyde does not exhibit the effect of the disappearance of the hyperfine structure of EPR spectrum as a function of the dose or the time passed since the end of irradiation, as was found earlier for a group of polymers having only C-C-C-C-atoms in the polymer chain. This difference in the change in the EPR of the polyformaldehyde (PFA) spectrum compared with the polymers with a -C-C-C-C- chain is explained by the impossibility of forming a conjugate double bond in the -C-O-C-O- chain in PFA.

---

, , -, , , atom C-C-C-C-. ( ) C-C-C-C- , C-O-C-O- qu .

---

---

The author thanks K. Vacek for many valuable discussions which helped this work.     

Ablation of polyimide (Kapton™) films by pulsed (ns) ultraviolet and infrared (9.17 μm) lasers

Ablation of the surface of a polyimide (Kapton) film by single pulses of 248 nm or 308 nm radiation (20 ns) or 9.17 m laser radiation (170 ns) was studied by photographing the emergence of the blast wave and the plume by a pulse (<1 ns; 596 nm) of visible laser light. The dynamics of the blast wave was similar in the ultraviolet and in the infrared but the composition of the plume was obviously different. A mass of opaque solid material was ejected for as long as 2.6 s following the IR pulse in contrast to the minute amount of solids that are seen in the ablation by UV laser pulses of ns duration. UV laser pulses of 50–400 s duration interact with polyimide surfaces in a manner that is similar to IR laser pulses of ns duration or longer. Chemical analysis of the ablation products that are obtained under various conditions of ablation when compared to the known modes of thermal degradation of polyimide show that the reaction is a thermal process when IR laser pulses or UV laser pulses of long (>10 s) duration are employed. Ablation by ns UV laser pulses differs fundamentally in the chemistry of the products from all of the cases mentioned above.     

Tunable sub-100 femtosecond dye-laser pulses generated with a nanosecond pulsed pumping

Subpicosecond pulses at a fixed wavelength produced with a low-Q cavity dye laser pumped by a single, nanosecond laser (Q-switched Nd:YAG) are converted into tunable high-power sub-100 femtosecond pulses by generation, spectral selection, amplification and compression of a supercontinuum. The tunable, chirped, high-energy pulses obtained are compressed with a prism pair. Energies up to 50 J in sub-100 fs pulses were obtained in the 540 to 650 nm range using 40 mJ of the Nd: YAG-laser pumping pulses at 532 nm. The whole sub-100 fs system including the low-Q dye laser uses only one Nd:YAG laser as a pump source.     

Ultrashort far-infrared superradiant emissions optically pumped by truncated hybrid 10 μm CO2 laster pulses

We investigate the generation of superradiant far-infrared 496 m CH₃F pulses and produce for the first time smooth and reproducible 373 m CH₃CN superradiant pulses by pumping with pulses from a hybrid 10 m CO₂ laser truncated within 10 ps by a plasma shutter of new design. Superradiance is confirmed by measurement of the pressure dependence of the intensity, the width and the delay versus the pump pulse. We observe pulse durations considerably under the limit of the inverse linewidth of the transition. Thus, we demonstrate for the first time that rapid truncation of the pump pulse is essential for reducing pulse duration of superradiant far-infrared emissions.     

A contribution to the theory of the triple crystal diffractometer

The first part of the paper gives a general equation for triple-crystal arrangement with perfect crystals on the assumption that the third crystal is rotated. It is shown that in the case of perfect crystals the shape of the reflection curve is practically independent of the vertical divergence. The case of mosaic crystals is also solved and the possibility of rotation by other than the third crystal is considered. A method is proposed for investigating the imperfection of a crystal which is different from methods used up to now. The paper is supplemented by some experimental results.

---

, . , . , , . , . .

     

Wavelengths for new CH3OH laser lines

Using a grating-tuned CO₂-TEA laser to pump CH₃OH in a metallic-wave-guide resonator, submillimeter laser emissions have been produced by pumping with 36 lines in the 9.4m CO₂ band and with 23 lines in the 10.6m band. Several dozen new SMM laser lines were observed. Wavelengths accurate to within 0.1% are given for 12 previously unmeasured lines between 34m and 225m.     

ЭЛЕКТРИЧЕСКАЯ ЭКВИВ АЛЕНТНАЯ СХЕМА ЗАТУХАЮЩИХ КОЛЕБАНИ Й ИЗГИБА У ПБЕЗОЭЛЕКТРИЧЕСКИ Х СТЕРЖНЕЙ

- .     

Strong far-infrared laser action in carbonyl fluoride and vinyl fluoride

Intense far-infrared laser action is reported for carbonyl fluoride and vinyl fluoride. Eleven new lines with wavelengths between 339 m538 m were obtained by optically pumping carbonyl fluoride with numerous lines of the 10.4 m band of a cw CO₂ laser. Twenty-three lines with wavelengths in the range 172 m783 m were detected when pumping the recently discovered efficient FIR laser molecule vinyl fluoride. In addition, three very weak new lines were found using 1.1-difluoroethylen.     

Усовершенствование рентгенометрическо го метода определения дефекто в решетки третьего ро да в поликристаллическ их и порошкообразных материалах

, . .     

Deposition kinetics of the γ′ phase in N36T2YU2 steel

Electron microscopy is reported for the deposition in this steel; quantitative results are given on the particle size of the phase deposited during a continuous and uninterrupted decomposition. The deposition of the phase occurs in one stage, while the two stages in the variation in the mechanical properties arise from features of the interaction of dislocations with the phase particles. There appears to be only a small energy barrier to the generation of phase particles. Spherulites are formed in regions of interrupted decomposition. The effects of quenching temperature on the deposition mechanism are discussed.Translated from Izvestiya VUZ, Fizika, No. 3, pp. 41–45, March, 1973.