Self-starting mode-locked femtosecond forsterite laser with a semiconductor saturable-absorber mirror

We report on a self-starting mode-locked femtosecond Cr:forsterite laser pumped by a diode-pumped Nd:YVO(4) laser. The mode locking is initiated by a semiconductor saturable-absorber mirror (SESAM). We also present the measured group delay of the forsterite crystal and the SESAM.     

Mode-locked Cr(2+):ZnSe laser

We describe active mode locking of a Cr(2+):ZnSe laser operating near 2.5 mum. The laser produces 4.4-ps transform-limited Gaussian-shaped pulses and produces 82 mW of average power.     

Passive mode locking of a diode-end-pumped Nd:GdVO4 laser with a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror

We report an end-pumped and passive mode-locking all-solid-state laser. The laser consists of a Nd:GdVO4 crystal and a linear resonator with a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror that yield mode locking. We achieved stable continuous-wave mode locking with an 8-ps pulse duration at a 154-MHz repetition rate. The average output power was 600 mW with 4 W of pump power. To our knowledge this is the first report of the use of a Nd:GdVO4 crystal for mode locking with a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror.     

High-power neodymium-doped mixed vanadate bounce geometry laser, mode locked with nonlinear mirror

The highest power neodymium-doped mixed vanadate laser oscillator is presented. Using a crystal of Nd:Gd_0.6Y_0.4VO₄ in the bounce geometry, average output powers of 27.5?W in multimode and 23?W in TEM₀₀ operation were achieved. The first nonlinear mirror mode-locked operation of a mixed vanadate laser is also presented, with 16.8?W output power??the highest power mode-locked mixed vanadate oscillator, to the best of our knowledge. Self-starting continuous-wave mode locking was observed at a repetition rate of 100?MHz, pulse duration of 12.7?ps and central wavelength of 1063.8?nm, in TEM₀₀ mode.     

Diode-pumped passively mode-locked Nd:YVO4 laser at 1342 nm with periodically poled LiNbO3

In this Letter, we demonstrate a nonlinear-mirror (NLM) mode-locked diode-pumped solid-state Nd:YVO4 laser operating at 1342?nm, in which the NLM comprises a periodically poled LiNbO3 crystal and a dichroic mirror. The self-starting threshold for cw mode locking is 1.5?W, which is significantly lower than that of saturable absorber mode locking. An average power of 1.52?W at 1342?nm is obtained under diode pump power of 10?W at 808?nm, with the slope efficiency being up to 16.8%. The pulse width and the repetition rate of the mode-locked laser output are about 9.5?ps and 101?MHz, respectively.     

Diode-pumped, high-average-power femtosecond Cr3+ :LiCAF laser

We demonstrate a high-average-power continuous wave (cw) and cw mode-locked Cr3+ :LiCAF laser pumped by broad-area laser diodes. In cw lasing experiments, up to 580 mW of output was obtained with 4.35 W of incident pump. A semiconductor saturable absorber mirror was used to initiate stable, self-starting, mode locking. In the cw mode-locked regime, the Cr3+ :LiCAF laser produced nearly transform-limited, 67 fs long pulses near 800 nm with an average output power of 300 mW. The pulse repetition rate was 120 MHz, with a pulse energy of 2.5 nJ.     

All-optical active mode locking with a nonlinear semiconductor modulator

All-optical active mode locking of a picosecond Nd:YVO(4) laser is demonstrated by use of an intracavity semiconductor nonlinear Fabry-Perot mirror. The reflectivity of the Fabry-Perot mirror is modulated by optical carrier injection. Depending on the carrier recombination time, the width of the Nd:YVO(4) laser pulses varies from 6 to 20 ps, as is typical for passively mode-locked Nd:YVO(4) lasers.     

增益介质位置对腔外倍频效率的影响

采用MgO掺杂的周期性极化铌酸锂晶体作为非线性晶体,搭建了线性平-凹腔结构的外腔式倍频系统,分析了增益介质和输入耦合镜之间的距离对二次谐波转换效率的影响。实验中,使用光纤耦合二极管泵浦Nd: YVO₄激光器作为基频光源,通过改变增益介质和输入耦合镜的间距,测量了激光器的纵模数量、锁模脉冲稳定性、基频光线宽以及光-光转换效率。实验结果显示,增加增益介质和输入耦合镜之间的距离,可以在一定程度上提升自锁模脉冲的稳定性并有效减小基频光线宽。当泵浦功率较高时,适当增加该间距可以有效提升二次谐波转换效率。     

High-power, high-repetition-rate mid-infrared generation with PE-SRO based on a fan-out periodically poled MgO-doped lithium niobate

We present a high-average-power, pulsed mid-infrared pump-enhanced singly-resonant optical parametric oscillator (PE-SRO) using a fan-out periodically poled MgO-doped lithium niobate (MgO:PPLN). The pump laser is a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser with a repetition rate of 10 kHz. When the pump power was 22.0 W, a maximum idler output power of 3.4 W at 3781.4 nm was obtained. The thermal guiding effect caused by signal absorption was observed and the crystal heating power was measured with a new method.     

High-Power,high-repetition-rate operation of a period-continuously-tunable optical parametric oscillator at 3.78–4.62 μm based on a fan-out periodically poled MgO-doped lithium niobate

We present a period-continuously-tunable optical parametric oscillator based on a fan-out MgO:PPLN with a grating period range from 26.9 to 29.5 μm. The OPO was pumped by a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser with a repetition of 10 kHz. With a grating period of 29.3 μm and 22.0 W pump power, the idler output power at 3.78 μm arrived at 3.40 W. With a period of 27.1 μm and 13.5 W pump, the idler output at 4.58 μm arrived at 0.36 W. This is, to our best knowledge, the highest average power for pulsed OPO operating near 4.5 μm based on PPLN or MgO:PPLN. By translating the fan-out MgO:PPLN, the idler wavelength was tuned continuously from 3.78 to 4.62 μm.     

非线性镜锁模激光器的锁模条件

通过对非线性镜锁模激光器的稳态分析，找到了它的锁模条件及锁模脉冲的强度极限，为该激光器输出高功率的短脉冲提供了理论依据。     

Efficient Cr:ZnSe laser with a volume Bragg grating

An efficient and narrow linewidth Cr:ZnSe laser pumped by Tm,Ho:GdVO₄ laser with a volume Bragg grating (VBG) is reported. The Cr:ZnSe laser operated at 2580 nm with emitting linewidth (FWHM) about 0.8 nm. Using the volume Bragg grating, 3.57 W of output was achieved under total incident pump power of 13.1 W, corresponding to optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 27.3%. By use of conventional mirror, 4.11 W of output was achieved the same incident pump power and the optical-to-optical conversion efficiency is 31.4%.     

中红外固体激光器研究进展

本文介绍了中红外固体激光器中新型的Fe²⁺: ZnSe激光器和基于MgO: PPLN、ZnGeP₂晶体的光参量振荡器的发展现状,讨论了它们在发展过程中遇到的技术难题,探讨了中红外固体激光器的未来发展方向。波长为3~5 μm的中红外固体激光器具有效率高、体积小和重量轻等优点,在工业、医疗、军事等方面具有重要应用价值,研制大尺寸、高质量中红外激光晶体和输出波长更长的红外高功率激光泵浦源已成为中红外固体激光器未来发展方向之一。     

High average power and short pulse duration continuous wave mode-locked Nd:GdVO<Subscript>4</Subscript> laser with a semiconductor absorber mirror

Passive mode locking of a solid-state Nd:GdVO₄ laser is demonstrated. The laser is mode locked by use of a semiconductor absorber mirror (SAM). A low Nd³⁺ doped Nd:GdVO₄ crystal is used to mitigate the thermal lens effect of the laser crystal at a high pump power. The maximum average output power is up to 6.5 W, and the pulse duration is as short as 6.2 ps. The optic-to-optic conversion efficiency is 32.5% and the repetition rate is about 110 MHz.     

Surface second-harmonic generation based on periodically poled LiNb03 nonlinear optical crystal

We have generated a second-harmonic generation （SHG） of a Q-switched microchip Nd：YAG laser on the surface of a periodically poled LiNbO3 （PPLN） nonlinear crystal near the grazing incidence angle. Three individual SHC waves as transmitted homogeneous, kthomogeneous and reflected radiations have been generated and their intensities are measured and characterized within a desirable range of about 10 different incidence angles of the Nd：YAG laser as pump source on the PPLN surface. The basic of surface nonlinear radiation is also investigated and similar results are calculated and extracted from the theory. Comparison between calculated and measured data shows that they are in good agreement with each other.     

自锁模Cr:LiSAF激光器的特性研究

本文分析上转换过程及荧光热猝灭效应对Cr:LiSAF激光器的泵浦阈值和输出功率的影响,由此得出Cr:LiSAF激光器特别适合低功率泵浦.分析了三镜腔结构的特性,选择了腔的较佳参数,实现了在750mW的氩离子激光泵浦下三镜腔Cr:LiSAF激光器的自锁模运转.     

Tunable mid-infrared MHz-rate picosecond pulses generated by optical parametric amplification of white-light continuum in GaSe

The output of a long-cavity 2 MHz all-solid-state Nd:YVO(4) picosecond oscillator with nonlinear optical mirror mode locking is used for direct pumping of an optical parametric amplifier seeded with white-light continuum generated in optical fiber by the same laser to generate tunable (5-12 microm) mid-IR radiation.     

2.5-W, continuous-wave, 629-nm solid-state laser source

We report an efficient, high-power, cw, 629-nm laser source based on a diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser and a periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) frequency converter. This device integrates two separate frequency-conversion steps in a single crystal, taking advantage of the ability to fabricate PPLN with nearly arbitrary grating periods and phase-matching temperatures. This device uses a single PPLN crystal that has two grating regions in series. The first region quasi-phase matches a standard optical parametric oscillator process (1064nm?1540nm +3450nm), and the second region quasi-phase matches a sum-frequency process whereby the pump and the signal light make red light (1064nm+1540nm ?629nm). Using a four-mirror ring cavity, we were able to convert 21% of the 1064-nm pump to 629-nm output, yielding 2.5W of red output with 11.8W of input.     

Mid-IR frequency comb source spanning 4.4-5.4 μm based on subharmonic GaAs optical parametric oscillator

Broadband mid-IR output suitable for producing 1000-nm-wide frequency combs centered at 4.9?μm was achieved in a degenerate subharmonic optical parametric oscillator (OPO) based on 500-μm-long Brewster-angled orientation-patterned GaAs crystal. The OPO was synchronously pumped at 182 MHz repetition rate by 100 fs pulses from a Cr2?:ZnSe laser with the central wavelength of 2.45?μm and the average power of 100 mW.     

Sub-90 fs pulses from a passively mode-locked Yb:YAl<Subscript>3</Subscript>(BO<Subscript>3</Subscript>)<Subscript>4</Subscript> laser

Passive mode locking of the self-frequency doubling Yb:YAB crystal with a saturable absorber mirror is studied at the fundamental wavelength. This laser has a very low threshold, and pulses as short as 85 and 87 fs are obtained for Ti:sapphire and diode laser pumping, respectively.