Fabrication and enhanced optical absorption of submicrometer pits array on 6H-SiC via two-beam interference of femtosecond laser

We report the fabrication of submicrometer pits array (SP-array) on 6H-SiC surface by the interference of two femtosecond laser beams. Formation mechanisms and optical absorption of SP-array are studied. The relative reflectivity and transmissivity of white light decrease to 10% of the values of SiC crystal, and the optical absorption is enhanced to 97%. The relative reflectivity and transmissivity of incident angles within the range of 20°-60° are kept below 25%. The enhancement mechanism of optical absorption of the SP-array is also discussed.     

Generation of UV radiation at 335.5 nm based on frequency-quadrupling of a diode-pumped Nd:YVO4 laser

The generation of ultraviolet （UV） light at 335.5 nm based on frequency quadrupling of a diode-end- pumped Q-switched Nd：YVO4 laser at 1342 nm was demonstrated. KTP crystal was used for generation of wavelength of 671 nm by intracavity doubling and LBO （BBO） crystal was exploited for the subsequent external fourth harmonic generation （FHG）. With 6.3-W absorbed pump power and 10-kHz frequency repetition rate, the UV output power of 35 and 63 mW were obtained by using LBO and BBO as frequency quadrupling nonlinear crystals, respectively. The experimental results show that the conversion efficiency （red-UV） of 6.4% for BBO crystal is higher than that of 3.5% for LBO crystal, but the UV beam quality obtained by LBO crystal is better than by BBO crystal.     

All-Solid-State Near-Infrared and Blue Femtosecond Laser System

We investigate an all-solid-state continuous wave(cw) green (532nm),femtosecond near-infrared (823.1nm) and blue (402nm) laser system which is pumped by a diode-laser-pumped intracavity frequency-doubled and all-self-structuring cw Nd:YVO4/KTP 532nm green laser.The cavity parameters of the Nd:YVO4/KTP laser have been optimized and the maximum 5.6W TEM00 green laser is obtained at a 22W pump power with an optical-optical conversion efficiency of 25.5%.A Ti:Sapphire laser and nonlinear second-harmonic generation by a crystal BBO is used to obtain different wavelengths.A femtosecond laser with an average output power of 300mW at 823.1nm and 73mW at 402nm is obtained when the green pump power is 2.5W.The spectral full width at half maximum are 32.3 nm and 5.1 nm,which can sustain the pulses of 22 fs and 33.3 fs,respectively.     

Spectroscopic investigation of a new crystal： Nd^3＋,Yb^3＋：YVO4

The absorption and emission spectra of the YVO4 single crystal co-doped with 1 at.% Nd^3＋ and 1 at.% Yb^3＋ are investigated. The efficient Nd^3＋ → Yb^3＋ energy transfer and the back transfer （Yb^3＋ → Nd^3＋） are observed at room temperature. The fluorescence lifetime of the 4F3/2 level of Nd^3＋ in Nd,Yb：YVO4 is measured under 808 nm laser light excitation. The efficiency of Nd^3＋ → Yb^3＋ energy transfer in YVO4 is determined to be about 34%.     

Sol-gel preparation of a silica enhanced hydrophobicity and antireflective coating with optical stability in vacuum

A new silica antireflective coating with improved hydrophobicity and optical stability in a vacuum is obtained by a two-step route. Firstly, silica sols are prepared with a sol-gel process, in which tetraethyl orthosilicate is utilized as a precursor. And by introduction of fluorine containing glycol into the sols, the porosity of silica particles and surface polarity of the coatings are decreased. Afterward, coatings are constructed with low surface roughness by modification of PMBA-PMMA. The coatings retain transmission of up to 99.6%, and laser damage threshold of about 50 J/cm^2 at a wavelenth of 532 nm （1-on-1. 10 ns）     

Design of antireflective coatings for AZO low infrared emissivity layer

In this letter, we investigate the structural, optical, and electrical properties of Al-doped ZnO （AZO） thin film coating prepared by direct current （DC） facing-target sputtering method at room temperature, of which the average optical transmittance is 81% between 400 and 700 nm while the sheet resistance is about 10 Ω/□. Then, based on this AZO coating, in order to enhance the transmittance, interfacial adhesion strength and weathering resistance, two kinds of antireflective coatings are designed for different application purposes. For the two kinds, the highest transmittances in the visible region （400 700 nm） can reach 86.9% and 81.8%. resoectivelv. The design is performed using Macleod Optical Design software.     

The Influence of Au-Doping on Morphology and Visible-Light Reflectivity of TiN Thin Films Deposited by Direct-Current Reactive Magnetron Sputtering

Ti, TiN and Au-TiN （Au content： from 0.5%to 7.7%） thin films were deposited on stainless steel substrates by dc reactive magnetron sputtering with a metal Ti target. The crystal structure, surface morphology and visiblelight reflectivity of the films for different film compositions are studied in detail. Distinctly different surface morphologies appear for the Ti, TiN and Au-TiN thin films. It can be observed that the surface morphology of the TiN film is affected by the Au-doping, when the Au content increases from 0% to 7.7%, surface roughness enlarges from 62.4 to 82.8 nm. Moreover, visible-light reflectivity varies significantly with increasing A u contents in the TiN films. However, the rettectivity of the TiN thin film at 550-800 nm is higher than that of the Au-TiN thin film. The present work illustrates the dependence of metal elements on the surface morphology and on the reflectivity of Au-TiN thin films. It is speculated that the addition of Au can suppress the formation and growth of TiN grains so that it changes the surface morphology and the Au-TiN thin film has potential applications in spectral selective coating.     

Study on optical characteristics of Nd:YVO_4/YVO_4 composite crystal laser

Thermal effect in crystals is the main obstacle blocking diode-pumped solid state laser to get high and stable output, power. Diffusion bonding crystal has been demonstrated to be an effective method to relieve the thermal lensing theoretically based on the numerical heat analysis to the end-pumped anisotropic laser crystal. The temperature distributions in Nd:YV04/YVO4 composite crystal and conventional crystal were analyzed and compared. The end-pumped Nd:YVO4/YVO4 composite crystal laser was designed and set up with 2-cavity. The maximum output powers of 9.87 W at 1064 nm and 6.14 W at 532 nm were obtained at the incident purnp power of 16.5 W. The highest optical-optical conversion efficiencies were up to 59.8% at 1064 nm and 37.2% at 532 nm respectively.     

Frequency up-conversion imaging with 60-dB gain using picosecond optical parametric amplifier

A weak infrared （IR） image amplifier with more than 60-dB optical gain and is developed from a picosecond （PS） 355-nm pumped gated optical parametric frequency up-conversion amplifier （OPA） in a/% BaB204 （BBO） crystal. The IR image at 1064 nm is amplified and up-converted into the visible region at 532 nm by parametric amplification and up-conversion. With the optimized optical gain, the lowest detectable energy of the image can be as low as 1.8 femto-Joule per pulse, which is three orders of magnitude lower than the detection limit of a charge-coupled device （CCD） camera. The transversal resolution of the OPA imaging is investigated, and the approaches for higher detection sensitivity and higher transversal resolution are proposed.     

Green-Beam Generation of 40W by Use of an Intracavity Frequency-Doubled Diode Side-Pumped Nd:YAG Laser

A cw diode side-pumped Nd：YAO laser is frequency doubled to 532nm with an intracavity KTP crystal in a Vshaped arrangement, achieving an output power of 40 W corresponding to an optical-optical conversion efficiency of 9.7%. The instabilities and the M2-parameters of the laser are measured at different output powers after the beam is filtered.     

High-power high-brightness 2-μm continuous wave laser with a double-end diffusion-bonded Tm, Ho：YVO4 crystal

This letter demonstrates an efficient high-power high-brightness 2-μm continuous-wave （CW） laser with double-end, diffusion-bonded Tm, Ho：YVO4 crystal cooled with liquid N2. The reduction in thermal stress in the composite Tm, Ho：YVO4 rod enabled the laser to achieve a laser output power of 23.4 W at 2.05 μm, which is 1.37 times higher than that of the non-composite Tm, Ho：YVO4 rod. The corresponding slope efficiency is 37.3% and the optical optical conversion efficiency is 35.4%. The beam quality M2 factor is about 1.85 at 20 W output level with circularly symmetric beam spot.     

Efficient and high-power laser-diode single-end-pumped Nd：YVO4 continuous wave laser at 1342nm

A compact, efficient and high-power laser diode （LD） single-end-pumped Nd：YVO4 laser with continuous-wave emission at 1342 nm is reported. With a single crystal single-end-pumped by fibre-coupled LD array, an output power of 7.36W is obtained from the laser cavity of concave-convex shape, corresponding to an optical-to-optical efficiency of 32.8%. The laser is operated in TEM00 mode with small rms amplitude noise of 0.3%. The influences of the Nd concentration, transmissivity of the output mirror and the cavity length on the output power have been studied experimentally.     

Anti-reflection coating at 550 nm fabricated by atomic layer deposition

Trimethylamine （TMA）, TIC14, and water are applied as the precursors to deposit Al2O3 and TiO2. With different substrate temperatures, the optical properties and surface morphologies of the two oxides TiO2 and SiO2 are studied, respectively. With substrate temperature of 120 ℃, amorphous TiO2 can be obtained, and the surface roughness （RMS） is only 0.928 nm. Applying Al2O3 and TiO2 deposited in 120 ℃ as low and high refractive index materials, anti-reflection （AR） coating at single point （550 nm） is designed. Furthermore, with the calibrated growth rates, this AR coating is fabricated, and its ultimate reflectance for the AR coating at 550 nm is less than 0.2%, which can meet the requirement for most applications.     

Aging effect of optical properties on low loss antireflection coatings for laser optics

For high precise laser systems like laser gyro, gravitational waves interferometers, the optical components which lie in the cavity or laser path need to control the total loss, scattering, reflection, absorption, and so on. Low loss high-reflection （HR） and antireflection （AR） coating mirrors are their key components and their aging optical properties are the most important performance parameters for long operating lifetime. Low loss AR coatings on quartz substrates for He-Ne laser are designed and manufactured by ion beam sputtering （IBS） technology. Ta205 and SiO2 are used as high and low refractive index materials and the obtained total optical loss of AIR coating is less than 50 ppm. Aging optical properties of AR coatings are investigated as a function of time placed in the air. When the placed time exceeds 40 days, optical properties tend to be stabilization. The obtained results indicate that the prepared low loss AR coatings have good stability of optical properties and can be applied for high precise laser systems.     

Effect of raw material and growth method on optical properties of DKDP crystal

Three kinds of KH2PO4 raw material are used to grow deuterated potassium dihydrogen phosphate （DKDP） crystals by traditional and rapid growth methods, respectively. The growth habit dependence on the purity of raw material is described and analyzed. The optical properties including transmission spectra and laser-induced damage threshold of these crystals are measured. It is found that the growth method affects the optical properties of crystal more obviously than the raw material with the mass content of main metal ions below 1 ppm. Moreover, the morphology of the core in the observed damage sites indicates that an explosion process probably occurs during laser-induced breakdown.     

Compact, Low Threshold Nd^3＋：YVO4 Self-Raman Laser at 1178 nm

A compact low-threshold Raman laser at 1178 nm is experimentally realized by using a diode-end-pumped actively Q-switched Nd^3＋ ：YVO4 self-Raman laser. The threshold is 370mW at a pulse repetition frequency of S kHz. The maximum Raman laser output is 182 m W with the pulse duration smaller than 20 ns at a pulse repetition frequency of 30kHz with 1.8 W incident power. The optical efficiency from the incident power to the Raman laser is 10% and the slope efficiency is 13.5%.     

Suppressing the preferential o-polarization oscillation in a high power Nd：YVO4 laser with wedge laser crystal

We observe the phenomenon of priority oscillation of the unexpected a-polarization in high-power Nd：YVO4 ring laser. The severe thermal lens of the a-polarized lasing, compared with the n-polarized lasing, is the only reason for the phenomenon. By designing a wedge Nd：YVO4 crystal as the gain medium, the unexpected a-polarization is completely suppressed in the entire range of pump powers, and the polarization stability of the expected zc-polarized output is enhanced. With the output power increasing from threshold to the maximum power, no a-polarization lasing is observed. As a result, 25.3 W of stable single-frequency laser output at 532 nm is experimentally demonstrated.     

Fabrication of High Quality Three-Dimensional Photonic Crystals

High quality colloidal photonic crystals made from polystyrene spheres with diameter 24Ohm are fabricated by the vertical deposition method. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and the transmittance spectrum are used to characterize the properties of the photonic crystal. The SEM images show that there are few lattice defects. The transmittance of the photonic crystal is above 75% in the pass band at 700nm and is lower than 5% at the centre of the band gap, respectively. It is found that proper concentration is a very important factor to fabricate the photonic crystal when the diameter of the spheres is lower than 30Onm.     

Growth and optical properties of Cr~（3＋）-doped CdWO_4 single crystals

A high-quality Cr 3+:CdWO4 single crystal at a size of approximatelyΦ25×80 mm is grown using the Bridgman method with CdO,WO3,and Cr2O3 as raw materials and their molar ratio of 100:100:0.5.The temperature gradient of solid-liquid interface at growth is approximately 50?C/cm and the growth rate is 0.05 mm/h.The X-ray diffraction(XRD),absorption,excitation,and emission spectra of different parts of the as-grown and O2-annealed crystals are investigated.Two strong broad optical absorption bands of about 472 and 708 nm are observed,and they are associated with the transitions 4 A2→ 4 T1 and 4 A2→ 4 T2.The weak 4 T2→ 2 E transition(the R-line)at 632 nm is also observed.The crystal-field parameter Dq and the Racah parameters B and C are estimated to be 1 412.4,776.8,and 3 427.6 cm? 1,respectively,according to the absorption spectra and crystal-splitting theory.A broadband fluorescence at about 1 000 nm due to 4 T2→ 4 A2 transition is produced by exciting the samples at 675 nm.After being annealed in an O2 atmosphere,the crystals become more transparent,while the effective light absorption of Cr 3+ ions is evidently enhanced and the emission intensity is also strengthened due to the reduction of oxygen vacancies in the CdWO4 crystal after annealing.     

Violet to Infraned Multiwavelength Generation in Periodically Poled Lithium Niobate Pumped by a Q—Switched Nd：YVO4 Laser

Six output wavelengths from violet to infrared have been observed simultaneously from an all-solid-state laser pumped optical parametric oscillator in a periodically poled lithium niobate crystal.The output wavelengths can be tuned by varying the quasi-phase matched period and/or temperature.The pump laser is a diode-pumped pasive Q-switched Nd:YVO4 laser operated at 1064nm.Using a crystal with a 29.9μm grating period,we measured six wavelengths at 448,515,532,630,773 and 1546nm and obtained efficient output.We explain the multiwavelength generation by multiwave coupling theory.This phenomenon may have novel applications in photonic devices.