Non-reciprocal transmission via phase conjugation in multimode optical fibres

We demonstrate phase conjugate correction of modal distortion of a single mode beam on double-passing a passive highly multimode fibre. Phase conjugation is achieved in a self-pumped photorefractive BaTiO₃ crystal which conjugates only the e-polarised input component. We show that only a small fraction of the multimode fibre output is required to faithfully conjugate the single mode input beam. This technique enables the demonstration of a novel non-reciprocal transmission device, which for example has immediate application in gain-grating holographic resonator designs with multimode fibres as the active gain medium.     

激光二极管抽运电光调Q双通激光器中的光纤相位共轭

为了降低高重复频率脉冲固体激光器中热致光束畸变对光束质量的影响，在激光二极管抽运、电光调Q的Nd：YAG激光双通放大系统中对多模石英光纤相位共轭镜进行了实验研究。激光重复频率100Hz、脉宽20ns。实验结果表明：应用多模光纤能够显著改善放大级中热效应引入的波面畸变，双通获得近衍射极限的激光输出，并可大幅度压缩脉宽至7ns，达到了3：1的压缩比。在受激布里渊散射阈值附近，实验中观察到相位共轭光光斑剧烈闪烁，而随着注入光纤能量的增大，闪烁现象渐渐消失，输出激光能量的稳定度提高，在注入能量5．3mJ的情况下，获得了14％的能量不稳定度，此时的反射率和退偏率分别为32．6％和7％。     

Stimulated Brillouin scattering phase conjugating properties of long multimode optical fibers

This paper describes and characterizes a detailed experiment that proves the phase conjugating properties of stimulated Brillouin scattering in multimode fibers (km of length), a problem still in debate in the literature, by studying the random aberrations correction abilities of this nonlinear interaction. Detailed qualitative and quantitative evaluation of aberration correction, by using the M² beam propagation ratio as a criterion to assess beam quality of the beams, proves the phase conjugation via SBS in long MM fibers. A new parameter to characterize the efficiency of the SBS phase conjugation process is proposed and conditions to obtain a complete healing of distortions (complete phase conjugation) are discussed.     

Numerical analysis for smoothing of CW multimode beam transformed by time-varying random phase plate

The numerical analysis of CW multimode laser beam transformed by time-varying random phase plate is presented in this paper. The method is based on diffraction integral formula. The dependence of the intensity distribution on the element size, changing frequency and duty ratio is discussed in detail. The numerical results account for the experimental results satisfactorily.     

Multimode fiber laser beam cleanup based on stochastic parallel gradient descent algorithm

We present experimental research on multimode fiber laser beam cleanup based on a stochastic parallel gradient descent (SPGD) algorithm. The multimode laser is obtained by injecting a 1064 nm central wavelength single mode fiber laser into a multimode fiber and the system is setup by using phase only liquid crystal spatial light modulators (LC-SLM). The quality evaluation function is increased by a factor of 10.5 and 65% of the laser energy is encircled in the central lobe when the system evolves from open-loop into close-loop state. Experimental results indicate the feasibility of the multimode fiber laser beam cleanup by adaptive optics (AO).     

Inverse acoustooptic problem: Coherent summing of optical beams into a single optical channel

A highly efficient summing of mutually coherent beams (channels) into a single beam with the same divergence and aperture (an inverse acoustooptic problem) is realized via diffraction in a Bragg cell. The multibeam field to be converged is formed as a result of the diffraction (splitting) of a single laser beam. Theoretical and experimental evidence is obtained for the fact that the repeated diffraction can provide a highly efficient (up to 100%) reconstruction of beam with initial parameters. The experiments are performed with a single-mode laser radiation at 0.63 μm and multimode radiation at 0.96 μm. The virtually attained summing efficiency is on the order of 70%. The factors that act to diminish the experimental efficiency below the predicted value, the ways to raise the efficiency, and possible applications of the results of this study are discussed.     

利用边缘相位校正实现光束整形的高精度优化

提出利用边缘相位校正的新方法,校正用追迹法设计的产生环形光束的衍射光学元件的相位分布,从而实现光束整形中的高精度优化。通过将高斯光束整形为环形光束,将该方法、G-S(Gerchberg-Saxton)算法和改进的G-S算法设计得到的整形结果作了比较,结果表明,G-S算法的整形结果虽然衍射效率最大,但是均方根值和最大偏差也太大;改进的G-S算法可以有效的降低均方根值和最大偏差,但衍射效率也有较大的下降;而用边缘相位校正可以在衍射效率略微下降的情况下,更大的降低均方根值和最大偏差,其整形结果是综合了衍射效率、均方根值和最大偏差这三个评价指标以后得到的最优化结果,已接近理想的环形光束。     

Focusing for laser hole drilling

The power intensity distribution of a laser beam across the focal plane is important for producing good hole geometry. To examine the power intensity distribution in the region of the image plane of a practical lens, a diffraction integral method is employed. Lens aberration is accounted for by the intensity of the appropriate phase changes. In the analysis, a free-running pulsed multimode solid-state laser is considered and the lens is assumed to have aberrations. Since an on-axis object is examined, only spherical aberration is taken into account.     

Polarization-independent photochromic diffraction in a dye-doped liquid crystal

We report the observation of polarization-independent photochromic diffraction in an azo-dye-doped liquid crystal. The generation of the phase grating is more than 90% independent of the polarization of the writing beams, and the diffraction by the phase grating is more than 90% independent of the polarization of the probe beam. Unpolarized lamp light was also used to generate real-time phase gratings and self-diffraction. For the first time to our knowledge, photochromic phase modulation and light diffraction that exhibit more than 90% polarization independence for both writing and probe beams were produced in an anisotropic liquid-crystalline material.     

凹面光栅衍射效率测量值的影响因素及补偿方法研究

通过仪器获得的凹面光栅的衍射效率是相对值,其测量值的精度受测量过程和补偿方法的影响。为使效率测量值的测量精度得到进一步提高,有必要对测量值产生影响的主要因素进行深入研究。该文进一步考察了影响衍射效率测量精度的主要因素,针对待测凹面光栅根据待测波长的测试要求进行旋转造成光束截面变化而产生的问题,适当补充原理性方案,并在此基础上推导出了适用于凹面光栅的光束截面变化因子k(θ)的解析表达式。基于影响测量精度因素与理论值之间的非线性关系,提出采用二次非线性回归分析的方法对测量结果进行补偿,给出了提高衍射效率测量精度的补偿公式。实验结果表明,对光栅衍射效率的测量值进行进一步补偿后,使得补偿值与理论值之间的整体误差范围由±2.5%缩小为±0.3%以内,与线性回归分析方法相比,显著缩小了补偿值与理论值之间的差距,进一步保证了衍射效率的准确测量。将补偿过程嵌入测量程序,该方法能够实时补偿测量结果,满足仪器准确测量的要求。     

包含波面校正的四程放大系统的准直问题研究

为了解决高功率激光系统中, 尤其是多程放大系统中波前畸变校正和光路准直之间的相互干扰问题, 针对包含自适应光学系统的四程放大系统, 利用菲涅耳衍射积分理论, 建立了310 mm×310 mm大口径光束的四程传输模型, 采用坐标扩展变换的方法解决了传统计算中同时需求近、远场高分辨率带来的计算量过大问题; 基于此模型, 比较了质心法、圆拟合法和纯相位匹配滤波等三种图像处理算法对存在波面差的光束的远场中心的处理精度; 分析了波面校正对焦斑位置的影响; 本文内容为四程放大系统准直调整方案的优化提供了重要依据. 关键词： 光束准直 坐标扩展变换 自适应光学 四程放大     

Beam cleanup in a self-aligned gradient-index Brillouin cavity for high-power multimode fiber amplifiers

We propose a beam cleanup setup to convert a multimode beam into a single-mode beam by use of the Brillouin effect in a multimode gradient-index (GI) fiber. Phase conjugation and beam cleanup regimes in highly multimode fibers are discussed, and the self-aligned GI fiber Brillouin cavity is presented. We report a preliminary conversion from an M2=6.5 beam into an M2=1.3 beam with 31% efficiency.     

Adaptive wave-front correction by means of all-optical feedback interferometry

A novel adaptive wave-front correction system based on an all-optical feedback interferometer is described. In this system the two-dimensional output fringe intensity from a Mach-Zehnder interferometer with large radial shear is optically fed back to an optically addressed phase-only liquid-crystal spatial light modulator. Consequently, without a separate aberration-free reference wave, the modulator phase approximates the conjugate of the interferometer phase that is directly related to the phase of the input aberrated wave front, so this system is applicable in adaptive optics. We successfully achieved real-time correction of aberrated wave fronts: A diffraction pattern that was seriously distorted because of aberrations was transformed into a diffraction-limited spot immediately after the feedback loop was closed.     

Generation of a hollow laser beam by a multimode fiber

A simple method to generate a hollow laser beam by multimode fiber is reported. A dark hollow laser beam is generated from a multimode fiber and the dependence of the output beam profile on the incident angle of laser beam is analyzed. The results show that this hollow laser beam can be used to trap and guide cold atoms.     

Beam and phase effects in angle-beam-through-transmission method of ultrasonic velocity measurement

The accuracy of a plane wave approximation for phase velocity measurements in isotropic and anisotropic material using the angle-beam-through-transmission method has been investigated numerically and experimentally. In this method the velocity is measured in different propagation directions as a function of incidence angle. The effect of two factors on the measurement accuracy have been discussed: intrinsic phase shift of the transmitted signal through a fluid-solid interface and beam diffraction due to the finite beam size of receiver and transmitter. It is shown that the interface-induced phase shift can introduce an error in time delay measurements of the shear wave after the first critical angle and that this time delay error can be accurately corrected for. Numerical results obtained by a time-domain beam model show that except at the critical angles, the finite width of the transmitter and receiver only affects the amplitudes of the transmitted signals and has almost no effect on the measured zero-cross time delay; therefore the plane wave approximation for obtaining phase velocity from the measured time delay data by this method and the plane wave interface-induced phase correction are fully applicable.     

Two-photon path-entangled states in multimode waveguides

We experimentally show that two-photon path-entangled states can be coherently manipulated by multimode interference in multimode waveguides. By measuring the output two-photon spatial correlation function versus the phase of the input state, we show that multimode waveguides perform as nearly ideal multiport beam splitters at the quantum level, creating a large variety of entangled and separable multipath two-photon states.     

Adaptive correction of vortex laser beam in a closed-loop system with phase only liquid crystal spatial light modulator

We propose and demonstrate the wave front correction of a vortex laser beam by using dual phase only liquid crystal spatial light modulators (LC-SLMs) and a stochastic parallel gradient descent (SPGD) algorithm. One phase only LC-SLM is used to generate vortex laser beam by loading spiral phase screen onto the wave front of input quasi-Gaussian beam. The other phase only LC-SLM under SPGD controller based on the subzone control method adaptively compensates the wave front of vortex laser beam. Numerical simulation and experimental results show that after correction, vortex doughnut like beam is focused into a beam with airy disk pattern distribution in the far field. The adaptive corrections of vortex laser beam with different optical topological charges are studied. The results show that the optical topological charge has little influence on adaptive correction. The powers in the main lobe of far field intensity distributions of vortex laser beams with different optical topological charges are all greatly improved by adaptive correction. The technique proposed in this paper can be used in optical communication, relay mirror and atmospheric turbulence correction.     

Diffraction-limited polarized emission from a multimode ytterbium fiber amplifier after a nonlinear beam converter

The multimode and depolarized output beam of a highly multimode diode-pumped Yb-doped fiber amplifier is converted to a diffraction-limited, linearly polarized beam by a self-referencing two-wave-mixing process in an infrared-sensitive photorefractive crystal (Rh:BaTiO3). As much as 11.6 W of single-mode output is achieved with a 78% multimode-to-single-mode photorefractive conversion efficiency.     

新型SOI基3×3多模干涉波导光开关的优化设计

提出了一种基于SOI材料的新型3×3多模干涉(MMI)波导光开关,在开关的多模波导中引入折射率调制区,利用硅的等离子色散效应改变多模波导局部区域的折射率,使得光场在传输过程中的相位发生变化,进而确定输出光场位置,实现开关功能。采用有限差分光束传播法(FD-BPM)方法对开关的各个状态进行了模拟和分析,并对器件的结构参量进行了优化设计,采用优化后的结构参量,开关可实现的最大消光比达到-17.27 dB。     

Fiber phase conjugators at 1064-nm, 532-nm, and 355-nm wavelengths

Undoped multimode quartz fibers can be used as effective phase conjugators with high fidelity and reflectivity for improving the beam quality of lasers with high average power. Such phase conjugators based on stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) in undoped multimode quartz fibers with a core diameter of 100 microm and a length of more than 2 m were characterized at wavelengths of 1064, 532, and 355 nm. The power thresholds at these three wavelengths are 6.4, 3.3, and 3 kW, respectively, and the maximum SBS reflectivity is more than 50% in all cases, without a significant depolarization owing to the fiber. Direct measurement of the far-field fidelity, i.e., the phase-conjugated part of the reflected light in the far field at 1064 nm, results in a fidelity of more than 90%.