Mid-infrared supercontinuum generation to 4.5 microm in ZBLAN fluoride fibers by nanosecond diode pumping

A mid-infrared supercontinuum (SC) is generated in ZBLAN (ZrF4-BaF2-LaF3-AlF3-NaF...) fluoride fibers from amplified nanosecond laser diode pulses with a continuous spectrum from approximately 0.8 microm to beyond 4.5 microm. The SC has an average power of approximately 23 mW, a pump-to-SC power conversion efficiency exceeding 50%, and a spectral power density of approximately -20 dBm/nm over a large fraction of the spectrum. The SC generation is initiated by the breakup of nanosecond laser diode pulses into femtosecond pulses through modulation instability, and the spectrum is then broadened primarily through fiber nonlinearities in approximately 2-7 m lengths of ZBLAN fiber. The SC long-wavelength edge is consistent with the intrinsic ZBLAN material absorption.     

All fiber supercontinuum light source using photonic crystal fibers pumped by nanosecond fiber laser pulses

A novel compact supercontinuum (SC) source using the single mode photonic crystal fibers (PCF) pumped with an all fiber MOPA fiber laser is demonstrated experimentally. A bandwidth of 700 nm is achieved by operating the pumping fiber laser at a wavelength of 1064 nm, pulse duration of 10 ns, repetition rate of 50 kHz and peak power of 1 kW. The SC generation is initiated through modulation instability (MI) which breakups the nanosecond pump pulses into picosecond or femtosecond pulses, and further broadened through nonlinear effects of PCF.     

Supercontinuum generation by nanosecond dual-pumping near the two zero-dispersion wavelengths of a photonic crystal fiber

Supercontinuum generation by dual-wavelength nanosecond pumping in the vicinity of both zero-dispersion wavelengths of a photonic crystal fiber (PCF) is experimentally demonstrated. It is shown in particular that two pumps at 1535 nm and 767 nm simultaneously pumping near the two zero-dispersion wavelengths of a specially designed PCF yields a combined visible and infrared supercontinuum spectrum spanning from 0.55 μm to 1.9 μm. We discuss the generation mechanisms underlying the continuum formation in terms of modulation instability and cascaded Raman generation.     

Broad and ultra-flattened supercontinuum generation in the visible wavelengths based on the fundamental mode of photonic crystal fibre with central holes

By coupling a train of femtosecond pulses with 100 fs pulse width at a repetition rate of 76 MHz generated by a mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser into the fundamental mode of photonic crystal fibre(PCF) with central holes fabricated through extracting air from the central hole,the broad and ultra-flattened supercontinuum(SC) in the visible wavelengths is generated.When the fundamental mode experiences an anomalous dispersion regime,three phases in the SC generation process are primarily presented.The SC generation(SCG) in the wavelength range from 470 nm to 805 nm does not emerge significant ripples due to a higher pump peak power and the corresponding mode fields at different wavelengths are observed using Bragg gratings.The relative intensity fluctuations of output spectrum in the wavelength ranges of 530 nm to 640 nm and 543 nm to 590 nm are only 0.028 and 0.0071,respectively.     

Intense supercontinuum generation in the near-ultraviolet range from a 400-nm femtosecond laser filament array in fused silica

An intense supercontinuum(SC) in the near-ultraviolet range is generated from filamentation by focusing a 400-nm laser into fused silica with a microlens array(MLA). The spectrum of the SC is shown to be sensitive to the distance between the MLA and fused silica. In our optimal conditions, the near-ultraviolet SC can cover a range of 350-600 nm,where a bandwidth of approximately 55 nm above the 1μJ/nm spectral energy density and 20 nm bandwidth with tens ofμJ/nm are achieved. In addition, the energy conversion efficiency of the 400 nm laser for SC generation is further analyzed.A maximum conversion efficiency of 66% is obtained when the entrance face of fused silica is set around the focus of the MLA.     

Tuning visible light generation based on multi-channel quasi-periodically poled LiTaO3

We demonstrate broadband tuning visible light generation based on a multi-channel quasi-periodically poled LiTaO₃ crystal, in which a quasi-phase matched optical parametric generation process and a quasi-phase matched sum-frequency mixing process were achieved simultaneously. The conversion characters on spectrum and energy were studied by using a nanosecond pulse laser at 1.064 μm as pump light. We could tune the visible light over ~ 26 nm by means of changing the crystal's channel and temperature. The ratio of the output wavelength variation to that of temperature was ~ 0.07 nm/°C. The single-pass slope efficiency was 6.3% with the maximum output energy of 25 μJ.     

Comparison of Bistable Light Emission of a Thin CdS:Cu Film Measured in Reflection and Transmission Geometry

All-optical photo-thermally induced bistabilities in luminescence of a thin (10 μm) CdS:Cu film were studied at 170 K. The bistable effect was induced by the 514.5 nm line of an argon laser and measured by putting low-pass filters for yellow and red light in the reflected and transmitted beams. In the visible part of the spectrum, the loop contrasts measured in reflection geometry are considerably smaller than those achieved in transmission geometry. In the near infrared, however, the loop contrasts do not depend on the geometry used. This is due to the observation that visible emissions from the surface region depend less sensitively on temperature than do those from the bulk.     

Generation of a compact high-power high-efficiency normal-dispersion pumping supercontinuum in silica photonic crystal fiber pumped with a 1064-nm picosecond pulse

Broadband normal dispersion pumping supercontinuum （SC） generation in silica photonic crystal fiber （PCF） is investigated in this paper. A 1064-nm picosecond fiber laser is used to pump silica PCF for the SC generation. The length of PCF is optimized for the most efficient stimulated Raman scattering process in the picosecond pump pulse region. The first stimulated Raman Stokes peak is located in the anomalous dispersion regime of the PCF and near the zero dispersion wavelength; thus the SC generation process can benefit from both a normal dispersion pumping scheme and an anomalous dispersion pumping scheme. The 51.7-W SC spanning from about 700 nm to beyond 1700 nm is generated with an all-fiber configuration, and the pump-to-SC conversion efficiency is up to 90%. In order to avoid the output fiber end face damage and increase the stability of the system, an improved output solution for the high power SC is proposed in our experiment. This high-efficiency near-infrared SC source is very suitable for applications in which average output power and spectral power density are firstly desirable.     

Supercontinuum generation in photonic crystal fiber using femtosecond pulses

Supercontinuum (SC) generation in photonic crystal fiber (PCF) is demonstrated using an amplified femtosecond stretched pulses. The stretched pulse is obtained from a mode-locked Erbium-doped fiber laser and operates at 1564 nm with a repetition rate of 8.27 MHz and a pulse width of 340 fs. Using a 50 m long PCF, broad SC spectra are observed starting from 1220 and 1050 nm for the corresponding 5.1 and 177 kW pump and spanning a wavelength region of more than 1750 nm. At a maximum peak pump power of 177 kW, flat SC which extends over bandwidths of 660 and 486 nm are obtained using 50 and 100 m piece of PCF respectively. However, the output power level is higher for the 100 m PCF especially at longer wavelength region.     

Tunable synchronously-pumped fiber Raman laser in the visible and near-infrared exploiting MOPA-generated rectangular pump pulses

We report a tunable synchronously pumped fiber Raman laser (SPFRL) in the near-infrared (NIR) and visible wavebands pumped by a pulsed, all-fiber PM 1060 nm master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) and its frequency-doubled output, respectively. The seed was adaptively shaped to deliver rectangular output pulses, thereby enabling selective excitation of individual Raman Stokes lines. Using filtered synchronous feedback of the desired Raman Stokes line, the linewidth of the SPFRL was reduced by a factor of 4 and the extinction ratio of the desired Raman Stokes was improved by more than 3 dB relative to a simple single-pass conversion scheme. A continuous tuning range of 2.2 THz was obtained for each of the Raman Stokes orders in the visible (spanning from green to orange-first to fifth Stokes lines). A larger 5.0 THz tunable range was achieved in the NIR spectral region.     

The polarization characteristics of single shot nanosecond laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy of Al

The polarization-resolved laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (PRLIBS) technique, which can significantly reduce the polarized emission from laser plasma by placing a polarizer in front of the detector, is a powerful tool to improve the line-to-continuum ratio in LIBS applications. It is shown that the continuum emission from the plasma produced through ablating an Al sample by nanosecond laser pulses is much more polarized than the discrete line emission with the singlepulse PRLIBS technique. The effects of laser fluence and detection angle on the Al polarization spectrum are systematically explored experimentally. The calculated result of the polarization spectrum as a function of laser fluence shows that it is in agreement with the experimental observations.     

High power supercontinuum generation by dual-color femtosecond laser pulses in fused silica

High power supercontinuum (SC) is generated by focusing 800 nm and 400 nm femtosecond laser pulses in fused silica with a microlens array. It is found that the spectrum of the SC is getting broader compared with the case of a single laser pulse, and the spectral energy density between the two fundamental laser wavelengths is getting significantly higher by optimizing the phase matching angle of the BBO. It exceeds μJ/nm over 490 nm range which is from 380 nm to 870 nm, overcoming the disadvantage of relative lower power in the ranges far from the fundamental wavelength.     

Nanosecond periodically poled lithium niobate optical parametric generator pumped at 532 nm by a single-frequency passively Q-switched Nd:YAG laser

We report an efficient, visible, nanosecond optical parametric generator of periodically poled lithium niobate pumped at 532 nm by a frequency-doubled, diode-pumped, passively Q -switched, single-mode Nd:YAG laser with 90-muJ pulse energy. The signal radiation is tunable from 637 to 593 nm. The maximum signal-conversion efficiency is 23%. Optical parametric amplification of a He-Ne laser at 632.8 nm is also studied.     

Reduced graphene oxide as saturable absorbers for erbium-doped passively mode-locked fiber laser

We demonstrate a nanosecond mode-locked erbium-doped fiber laser(EDFL)based on a reduced graphene oxide(RGO)saturable absorber(SA).The RGO SA is prepared by depositing the graphene oxide(GO)on fluorine mica through thermal reduction of GO.A scanning electron microscope(SEM),Raman spectrometer,and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS)are adopted to analyze the RGO characteristics.The results show that the reduction degree of graphene oxide is very high.By embedding the RGO SA into the EDFL cavity,a stable mode-locked fiber laser is achieved with a central wavelength of 1567.29 nm and repetition rate of 12.66 MHz.The maximum output power and the minimum pulse duration are measured to be 18.22 mW and 1.38 ns respectively.As far as we know,the maximum output power of18.22 mW is higher than those of other nanosecond mode-locked oscillators reported.Such a nanosecond pulse duration and megahertz repetition rate make this mode-locked erbium-doped fiber laser a suitable seed oscillator for high-power applications and chirped pulse amplifications.     

纳秒激光诱导空气等离子体的红外辐射特性研究

纳秒激光诱导空气等离子体存在从紫外、可见、近红外乃至射频微波的宽谱段辐射,但目前的研究大多关注紫外到可见波段的光谱辐射。激光等离子体作为一种新型的红外辐射源具有很多优势,相比于红外干扰弹以及红外干扰手段而言,空气等离子体红外辐射源可以灵活布置,成本低廉,因此研究空气等离子体的红外辐射特性就很有必要。针对目前脉冲激光诱导空气等离子体的红外干扰研究需要,对激光波长为532 nm的纳秒脉冲激光诱导空气等离子体的红外辐射特性进行实验研究,探讨激光能量对空气等离子体红外辐射强度的影响规律,以及空气等离子体红外辐射的角度分布特性,分析了等离子体红外辐射的可能产生机制。实验结果表明,激光诱导空气等离子体在950～1 700 nm范围内的红外光谱为线状谱和连续谱的叠加。其中线状谱主要是氮和氧的中性原子谱线,并且氮原子红外辐射占主导。随着激光能量的增加,由于空气击穿产生的氧和氮原子数量增加,导致空气等离子体红外辐射的谱线强度逐渐增大。随着红外探测角度的变化,在探测角度为75°时,OⅠ 1 128.63 nm和NⅠ1 246.96和1 362.42 nm谱线强度达到最大,在探测角度为120°时,NⅠ 1 011.46和1 053.96 nm谱线强度达到最大,这是因为空气等离子体红外辐射强度随探测角度变化呈现空间非对称性,表明空气等离子体内不同粒子的空间分布呈现非对称性。     

Characterization of laser-ablated and chemically reduced silver colloids in aqueous solution by UV/VIS spectroscopy and STM/SEM microscopy

Silver colloids in aqueous solution were studied by different scanning microscopy techniques and UV/VIS spectroscopy. The silver colloids were produced either by chemical reduction or by nanosecond laser ablation from a solid silver foil in water. Variation of laser power and ablation time leads to solutions of metal clusters of different sizes in water. We characterized the electronic absorption of the clusters by UV/VIS spectroscopy. STM (scanning tunneling microscope) imaging of the metal colloids shows atomic resolution of rod- or tenon-like silver clusters up to 10-nm length formed by laser ablation. Our scanning electron microscope measurements, however, show that much larger silver colloids up to 5-μm length are also formed, which are not visible in the STM due to their roughness. We correlate them with the long-wavelength tail of the multimodal UV/VIS spectrum. The silver colloids obtained by chemical reduction are generally larger and their electronic spectra are red-shifted compared to the laser-ablated clusters. Irradiation of the colloid solution with nanosecond laser pulses of appropriate fluence at 532 nm and 355 nm initially reduced the colloid size. Longer irradiation at 355 nm, however, leads to the formation of larger colloids again. There seems to be a critical lower particle size, where silver clusters in aqueous solution become unstable and start to coagulate. Received: 24 June 2002 / Revised version: 25 July 2002 / Published online: 25 October 2002 RID="*" ID="*"This work is part of the thesis of H. M?ltgen RID="**" ID="**"Corresponding author. Fax: +49-211/811-5195, E-mail: kleinermanns@uni-duesseldorf.de     

Efficient anti-stokes signal generation through degenerate four wave mixing in an all solid photonic bandgap fiber

We reported the generation of visible red light through degenerate four wave mixing (FWM) in an all solid photonic bandgap fiber (PBGF), which was achieved by pumping the fiber with a 800 nm Ti:sapphire-based femtosecond pulse laser. At a fiber length of 30 m, a broadband anti-Stokes spectrum range from 620 nm to 740 nm was obtained at the highest pump power, the spectrum evolution as a function of pump power and propagation distance had been measured. Furthermore, the intensity-dependent parametric gain characteristic is also calculated, which accords well with the experimental results.     

Generation of monochromatic visible light in microstructured optical fiber by nondegenerate four-wave mixing

We exploit nondegenerate four-wave mixing to generate narrow-bandwidth visible light from blue to orange in microstructured optical fiber. The process is excited by nanosecond dual-wavelength pump pulses (532/1064 nm) produced by a frequency-doubled passively Q-switched Nd:YAG laser. A linearly polarized, fundamental mode signal wave is generated in the visible, accompanied by an idler wave in the near-infrared. The signal and idler wavelengths are adjustable by the design of the microstructure.     

采用泵浦探测技术研究VO2薄膜相变特性

为研究纳秒激光作用下的VO₂薄膜的相变特性,采用泵浦-探测技术进行实验。首先,利用直流磁控溅射法制备VO₂薄膜,经X射线衍射（XRD）和原子力显微镜（AFM）分析表明样品质量较高。然后,测量VO₂薄膜在波长532 nm处的透过率随温度的变化情况,发现透过率随温度升高由32%上升到37%,与红外波段完全相反。在此基础上,选择1 064 nm泵浦光和532 nm探测光研究激光参数中能量密度和重频对VO₂薄膜相变特性的影响,同时结合ANSYS有限元软件对纳秒激光作用下VO₂薄膜的单脉冲温升情况进行分析。结果表明：VO₂薄膜在大于30 mJ/cm²的纳秒激光能量密度作用下,单脉冲温升可达相变温度,最小相变响应时间在14 ns左右。进一步提高纳秒激光能量密度,其相变响应时间略有增加但变化不大。在100 Hz以内改变纳秒激光重频对VO₂薄膜的相变响应基本无影响。VO₂薄膜的相变恢复时间随着纳秒激光能量密度的增大而呈自然指数增加,其变化过程与基底材料和纳秒激光参数密切相关。因此,可以通过优化VO₂薄膜基底材料参数提高其激光防护效果。