Transient behaviour of pulsed dye lasers

Some aspects of the transient behaviour of pulsed dye lasers are investigated both theoretically and experimentally. Relaxation oscillations induced in the output from a dye cell by an external reflector have been observed and explained, using a rate equation approximation to the physical situation in the dye cell. These oscillations are shown to play an important part in the generation of short laser pulses from long cavity dye lasers. Finally, it is proposed that 10 ps pulses can be obtained from conventional dye lasers pumped by 100 ps pulses from a high-pressure nitrogen laser.     

Wavelength-independent all-optical synchronization of a Q-switched 100-ps microchip laser to a femtosecond laser reference source

We present a Q-switched microchip laser emitting 1064-nm pulses as short as 100 ps synchronized to a cavity dumped femtosecond laser emitting 800-nm pulses as short as 80 fs. The synchronization is achieved by presaturating the saturable absorber of the microchip laser with femtosecond pulses even though both lasers emit at widely separated wavelengths. The mean timing jitter is 40 ps and thus considerably shorter than the pulse duration of the microchip laser.     

Time evolution of synchronously pumped dye laser pulses: Picosecond pulse formation studies

The pulse-by-pulse evolution and compression of the output of a synchronously pumped dye laser as a function of the number of pump pulses was investigated with a high resolution, variably triggered streak camera. The measured pulse durations and energies for the pulse compression process are demonstrated to be in disagreement with the predictions of recent classical rate equation models. This is shown not to be due to the complete breakdown of the model but, rather, is caused by the failure to include two key loss terms in the rate equation treatment, namely, excited state absorption and thermal lensing. In addition, a highly durable dye laser compatible with the 100 MHz output of commercially available QS and ML YAG lasers is presented which is capable of 50 μJ, 20–30 ps transform limited pulses without the need of amplification. Further refinements of this laser system are discussed, based on the experimental work reported, which will lead to tunable ～ 100 fs pulses with energies in the μJ range from a single laser pump source.     

Femtosecond transform-limited Kerr-lens mode-locked dye lasers

Using SF6 glass plates as intracavity Kerr lenses and double-prism pairs for dispersion compensation, we achieve tunable femtosecond passive mode locking in rhodamine 590 (R6G) and 4-dicyanomethylene-2-methyl-16-p-dimethylaminostyryl-4H-pyran (DCM) dye lasers. The R6G laser produces transform limited 240–500 fs pulses between 577 and 606 nm, and the DCM laser produces 150 fs transform-limited pulses between 650 and 671 nm. We use dilute intracavity saturable-absorber jets to make the mode locking self-starting. Characteristics of the pulses and the stability regions of the lasers agree with general theories of passive mode locking.     

Generation and amplification of sub-picosecond pulses using a frequency-doubled neodymium YAG pumping source

Stable, tunable, sub-picosecond pulses have been obtained by synchronously pumping a Rhodamine 6G dye laser with a frequency-doubled CW modelocked neodymium YAG laser. Careful attention has been paid to minimize amplitude and timing instabilities, resulting in dye laser pulses shorter than 500 fs. The main advantage of this new pumping source over current synchronously pumped dye lasers is that it is particularly well suited to short pulse amplification. Using this technique amplification of 2 × 10⁶ has been achieved.     

Femtosecond pulse parametric amplification at narrowband high power gas laser pumping

In ultrashort pulse amplification a narrowband gas pump pulse laser has been used for the first time. An all-stage optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier (OPCPA) was driven by a single-shot iodine photodissociation laser. For the first time a broadband amplification was achieved in potassium dihydrogen phosphate crystal at 800 nm seeding. Ti:sapphire laser pulses stretched from 12.5 fs to 250 ps were amplified and compressed to 27 fs at a 0.5 TW output power. The results suggest using narrowband high power gas lasers as OPCPA drivers to generate petawatt beams.     

Fluctuations in synchronously mode-locked dye lasers

We present detailed experimental data on random fluctuations of the pulse properties of a cw rhodamine 6G dye laser synchronously pumped by an acousto-optically mode-locked argon ion laser. It is shown that quantitative information about the fluctuations of the energy, the pulse repetition time and the duration of the pulses can be obtained from the power spectrum of the laser intensity which is measured with the use of an electronic spectrum analyser. This method is capable of revealing small, subpicosecond temporal pulse jitter. We show that the dye laser pulses exhibit an absolute r.m.s. jitter of 20 ps which is induced by the pump laser. The relative jitter in a dual system can be less than 1 ps because well defined correlations of the output fluctuations exist when two lasers are pumped by a common source.     

台面激光核聚变中子源研究进展

通过超短脉冲激光与合适的介质相互作用,在普通光学实验室中可以产生聚变中子,经过特殊设计的固体靶结构和特殊安排的级联过程,亚ＴＷ激光即可引发光核反应产生中子,通过台面超强激光与固体靶相互作用利用对离子的自导通道径向加速机制,可获得较多的高能离子和较多的中子产率,由于超强激光辐照下大的团簇爆炸时可获得大量高能离子,团簇靶实验中实现的中子产率比相似激光能量的固体靶实验高两个量级,文章讨论了上述三种产生中     

A time-compensated spectral filter for transform-limited tunable picosecond pulse generation from spectro-temporal-selection dye lasers

Diffraction and transform-limited picosecond tunable pulses are generated from Spectro-temporal-Selection (STS) dye lasers by using a new extra-cavity filter. This filter is based on a grazing-incident grating and arranged in the configuration of a folded dispersive delay line. Thus, it provides both high spectral selectivity and controllable temporal compensation for elimination of pulse broadening. Direct production of diffraction- and transform-limited picosecond dye laser (10 µJ, 50 ps) pulses spectrally adjustable between 398 and 702 nm is demonstrated in a compact device, with 8 ns pump pulses from a nanosecond nitrogen laser.     

Picosecond pulses produced by synchronously pumped cavity dumped pyridine 1 dye laser

Nearly transform limited picosecond pulses have been produced with a synchronously pumped cavity dumped dye laser using pyridine 1 laser dye. The observed tuning range of 678 to 790 nm extends the usefulness of cavity dumped systems pumped by mode locked argon ion lasers. Pulse autocorrelation widths as short as 3.85 ps were observed. The effects of the variation of bandwidth and net gain on autocorrelation shape and width are presented. Observed autocorrelation traces are compared to transform limited autocorrelation traces calculated from the corresponding power spectra.     

Diode-pumped passively mode-locked Yb:LSO/SESAM laser

Diode-end-pumped passively mode-locked Yb³⁺:Lu₂SiO₅ (Yb:LSO) lasers both in the picosecond and the femtosecond regimes were demonstrated in this paper. The mode-locked lasers were initiated by using of semiconductor saturable absorber mirrors (SESAM). In the absence of intra-prisms for pulse compression, the laser emitted 1.6 W of output power with pulses width of about 4.3 ps. A pair of SF10 prisms was inserted into the laser cavity, pulses as short as 699 fs was generated around a center wavelength of 1043.6 nm with an average output power of 800 mW and a peak power of 11.0 kW.     

Pulse properties of a synchronously mode-locked,cavity dumped,picosecond dye laser system

A synchronously mode-locked, cavity-dumped picosecond dye laser is described. The structure and intensity of the picosecond pulses measured under different conditions are reported. It was found that the structure of the pulses from the synchronously pumped dye laser depends critically on the length of the Ar⁺ laser pulses. At the shortest Ar⁺ laser pulses of about 70 ps the dye pulses are as short as 1.1 ps. With Ar⁺ laser pulses of 200 ps the dye laser pulses contains a broad satellite pulse which contains a large fraction of the total intensity. When a cavity dumper is added to the system one gets dye laser pulses 15–20 ps long with a substructure, which indicates incomplete mode-locking. Well mode-locked 1.5–2.0 ps pulses were obtained in the red part of the dye laser action spectrum, i.e. 620–650 nm for R6G, 595–608 nm for R 110 and 657–662 nm for RB, respectively. Addition of mode-locking dyes also improved the pulse quality at some wavelengths.     

Self phase modulation in a femtosecond pulse amplifier with subsequent compression

The pulses from a colliding-pulse mode-locked dye laser (100 fs, 20 pJ) are amplified to 0.2 mJ and self phase modulated in an excimer laser pumped dye amplifier. Suitable chirp compensation leads to nearly bandwidth-limited pulses of about 50 fs duration.     

Picosecond duration laser pulse generation by simultaneous active-passive mode-locking in Ar+ ion and dye lasers

We use a rate equation model to analyse a technique for the generation of picosecond duration laser pulses in argon pumped dye lasers. The system is based on passive mode-locking of the Ar⁺ laser by saturable absorption of the dye which is inserted in the Ar⁺ laser cavity. Simultaneously, the dye is forced to oscillate in a regime of synchronously pumped mode-locking. The system is relatively simple, does not require the use of an acousto-optical light modulator and can be easily implemented in commercially available lasers. Pulses shorter than 100 ps and having an average power of 20 mW were obtained at a repetition rate of 110 MHz. Good agreement between the model and experimental results was also obtained.     

Two-photon pumping of random lasers by picosecond and nanosecond lasers

We experimentally demonstrated two-photon pumping of random lasers using picosecond and nanosecond pump lasers. The picosecond laser pumping experiment was performed with 400 ps laser pulses at 770 nm, and the gain media was a Coumarin 480D dye solution doped with TiO₂ nanoparticles. Onset of laser action was observed at a pump laser pulse energy below 500 μJ. The nanosecond laser pumping experiment was performed with 7 ns laser pulses at 1064 nm, and the gain media was a Rhodamine 640 dye solution doped with TiO₂ nanoparticles. Onset of laser action was observed at a pump laser energy ∼18 mJ. Our results suggest that there exists an optimal pulse duration of the pumping laser in two-photon pumped random lasing that leads to minimum photodamage of the gain media and still keeps a high pumping efficiency. PACS 33.50.Dq; 42.55.Mv; 42.55.Zz     

Quantum-dot-based saturable absorber for femtosecond mode-locked operation of a solid-state laser

A quantum-dot-based saturable absorber has been demonstrated to initiate the generation of femtosecond pulses from a passively mode-locked solid-state laser. Control and tuning of the pulse duration from 58 ps to 158 fs was achieved. The 158 fs transform-limited pulses at 1280 nm are the shortest pulses that were produced from the Cr:forsterite laser passively mode locked by an InAs/InGaAs quantum-dot semiconductor saturable absorber mirror.     

Linear picosecond electron-optical chronoscopy at a repetition rate of 140 MHz

A picosecond streak camera operating in synchronism with C.W. mode-locked lasers provides real-time integrated measurement of repetitive luminous phenomena with a temporal resolution of ～ 10 ps. The durations of pulses from an actively mode-locked argon ion laser (514.5 nm) have been measured to be ～ 90 ps and the system is particularly suitable for the measurement of dye fluorescence lifetimes.     

Amplification of kW peak power femtosecond pulses in single quantum well InGaAs tapered amplifiers

The amplification of ps and fs pulses with peak powers of up to 4.5 kW has been investigated in a single quantum well InGaAs tapered amplifier. The pulses with durations of 100 fs or 2 ps were generated by a modelocked titanium-sapphire laser. The amplified pulses indicate strong gain saturation and carrier generation due to photon absorption in the laser active region which causes a temporal broadening of the amplified pulses as well as modifications of the optical spectrum. The gain recovery time was measured by a pump-probe experiment. The experimental results are analyzed with respect to the sub-ps gain dynamics which is described by a relaxation time approximation.     

Active mode-locking of lasers using GaAs and GaP picosecond switches

Active mode-locking of coumarin dye lasers has been achieved using either a GaAs or GaP picosecond high voltage switch to drive an intra cavity Pockels cell in a Q modulation technique. Pulses of 30–50 ps were generated with a peak power of ≈500 kW, while pulses as short as 20 ps were observed. The method can be generally applied to various laser systems over wide spectral ranges.     

CW mode-locked dye lasers for ultra fast spectroscopic studies

Continuously working dye lasers have produced pulses as short as 0.3 ps. The properties of passively and actively mode-locked dye lasers are described and compared. Methods of measuring pulse duration and applications of these lasers to photophysics and photobiology are discussed.