Pulse picking by phase-coherent additive pulse generation in an external cavity

We have implemented a simple method for generating an "amplified" phase-coherent light pulse in which a pulse train of phase-coherent, equidistant input light pulses from a mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser is coupled into a ring cavity resonator whose length is matched to the mode-locked pulse repetition frequency at 82 MHz. Pulses are thus coherently superimposed and added inside the buildup cavity and form an intense pulse that is switched out from the cavity via a fast acousto-optic modulator. The method thus provides a pulse train at a reduced and controlled repetition frequency and with higher pulse energies than the original mode-locked pulses.     

Experimental Observation of Bright and Dark Solitons Mode-Locked with Zirconia-Based Erbium-Doped Fiber Laser

We demonstrate the generation of dark and bright solitons with our homemade zirconia-based erbium-doped fiber and graphene oxide(GO) saturable absorber in anomalous dispersion region.The GO is fabricated using an abridged Hummer's method,which is combined with polyethylene oxide to produce a composite film.The film is sandwiched between two optical ferrules and embedded in the laser cavity to enhance its birefringence and nonlinearity.The self-starting bright soliton is easily generated at pump power of 78 mW with the whole length cavity of 14.7 m.The laser produces the bright pulse train with repetition rate,pulse width,pulse energy and central wavelength being 13.9 MHz,0.6 ps,2.74 p J and 1577.46 nm,respectively.Then,by adding the 10 m of single mode fiber into the laser cavity,dark soliton pulse is produced.For the formation of dark pulse train,the measured repetition rate,pulse width,pulse energy and central wavelength are 8.3 MHz,20 ns and 4.98 p J and1596.82 nm,respectively.Both pulses operate in the anomalous region.     

高能量,长锁模脉冲序列的Nd：YLF激光器研究

首次利用ＧａＡｓ光电导开关构成的反馈回路，正、负反馈联合作用，动态控制Ｎｄ：ＹＬＦ被动锁模激光器腔内的Ｑ值，得到高能量、长序列的稳态锁模脉冲。稳态单脉冲的脉宽为４ｐｓ，能量为９μＪ，脉冲序列长１６μｓ，能量为２．５ｍＪ。     

Noiselike pulses with a broadband spectrum generated from an erbium-doped fiber laser

An erbium-doped fiber laser that produces a train of intense noiselike pulses with a broadband spectrum and a short coherence length is reported. The noiselike behavior was observed in the amplitude as well as in the phase of the pulses. The maximum spectral width obtained was 44 nm. The high intensity and the short coherence length of the light were maintained even after propagation through a long dispersive fiber. A theoretical model indicates that this mode of operation can be explained by the internal birefringence of the laser cavity combined with a nonlinear transmission element and the gain response of the fiber amplifier.     

Streak camera investigation of an actively mode-locked flashlamp-pumped dye laser

Direct measurements using a picosecond streak camera have shown that single pulses of 2–6 ps duration are obtained in the middle and latter stages of the output train of an actively mode-locked flashlamp-pumped dye laser. Measured pulse-widths showed no critical dependence on matching the cavity length to that of the driving master oscillator. In contrast pulses selected from the early stages of the train exhibited a complicated structure.     

全内腔可调谐CO2激光器

研制了一台用光栅选支,压电驱动改变腔长的连续CO₂调频激光器。采用全内腔结构,四电极放电。在腔长为2m、放电长度为1.5m的条件下,获得稳定激光输出。输出激光谱线80条以上,最强单线输出功率50 W,单线调谐宽度70 MHz。     

Efficiency of frequency-pulsed excitation of a micron-sized spherical microcavity by chirped ultrashort laser radiation

Peculiarities of internal optical field resonant excitation inside micron-sized spherical transparent dielectric cavity illuminated by a train of ultrashort laser pulses are investigated. On an example of water microdroplet is shown that optimal tuning of incident radiation to a selected high-Q resonance electromagnetic cavity mode can be realized by varying temporal interpulse interval in a laser train together with linear frequency modulation of every pulse (chirp). Efficiency of resonant particle excitation by a chirped picosecond pulses train can be considerably increased as compared to unchirped pulse train and CW excitation also.     

Active stabilization of a higher-order mode-locked fiber laser operating at a pulse-repetition rate of 154 GHz

We report stabilization of a higher-order mode-locked Er-fiber laser producing transform-limited 800-fs Gaussian pulses at a repetition rate of 154 GHz against variation of cavity length caused by ambient temperature fluctuation. We obtained an error signal suitable for active control of the cavity length and synchronization to a 38.4-GHz external clock by tailoring the chromatic dispersion of the ring laser cavity and using a feedback circuit based on balanced photodetection. The wavelength and the repetition rate of the stabilized laser could be tuned over ranges of 11 nm and ~100 MHz , respectively.     

Suppression of mode partition noise in a multiwavelength semiconductor laser through hybrid mode locking

We demonstrate the suppression of intensity fluctuations, which are known as mode partition noise, in a multiwavelength semiconductor laser by using a hybrid mode-locking scheme. The laser design incorporates a saturable absorber and a gain-modulated semiconductor optical amplifier, along with spectral filtering, in an external cavity to achieve multiwavelength hybrid mode locking. The mode-locked laser produces an error-free (pulse Q>13) 300-MHz optical pulse train in each of three wavelength channels.     

Picosecond and subpicosecon pulse generation in synchronously pumped mode-locked cw dye lasers

Generation of tunable near-infrared picosecond and subpicosecond pulses in a synchronously pumped cw mode-locked Oxazine-1-perchlorate dye laser has been investigated for different values of the important system parameters. The experimental results confirm the predictions of a simple theoretical model which describes the steady-state pulse duration in terms of gain modulation strength, pump power, intracavity bandwidth, pump pulse length and cavity detuning. For a pump-pulse length of 100 ps and a bandwidth of more than 500 Å for the intracavity tuning element dye-laser pulses as short as 0.35 ps have been obtained. Under these conditions up to 100 mW of average output power were provided. In addition, mode-locking of an Oxazine 750 dye laser by synchronous pumping with the cw train of pulses obtained from the Oxazine-1-Perchlorate laser is reported.     

Self-pulsing in Er3+-doped fibre laser

The output intensity of an erbium-doped fibre laser was studied. Experiments were performed with three pumping wavelengths: 514.5 nm, 810 nm and 980 nm. The laser output intensity exhibits three different dynamical behaviours: steady-state, sinusoidal variation or self-pulsing. In particular, in a bad (high-loss) cavity configuration, when the pumping ratio is increased above the lasing threshold the output intensity changes continuously from a steady-state to an infinite train of pulses. We also show that, depending on the cavity configuration, the transient oscillations display different forms.     

High-performance,compact, prismless,low-threshold 30-MHz Ti:Al2O3 laser

We describe the design and operation of a compact femtosecond Ti:Al2O3 laser based on a novel multipass cavity (MPC) design. The laser is all solid state, has prismless dispersion compensation with double-chirped mirrors, and uses a tight-focusing geometry to facilitate efficient low-threshold operation. We increase output pulse energies by extending the resonator length with a compact, scalable MPC, which preserves the characteristics of the Gaussian beam for the short cavity. Although the effective cavity length is approximately 5 m, an extremely compact laser that measures only 30 cm x 45 cm is achieved. With only 1.5 W of pump power, the laser generates 23-fs pulses at a repetition rate of 31.25 MHz and with 88 mW of average output power, corresponding to 2.8 nJ of pulse energy.     

Simple and compact 1-Hz laser system via an improved mounting configuration of a reference cavity

We report an improved mounting configuration for a passive optical cavity used for laser frequency stabilization. The associated reduction of the vibration sensitivity of the effective cavity length has led to a simple and compact reference cavity system for laser stabilization at the level of 1 Hz linewidth.     

Stable multigigahertz pulse-train formation in a short-cavity passively harmonic mode-locked erbium/ytterbium fiber laser

We demonstrate a short-cavity erbium-ytterbium fiber laser that is passively mode locked by a saturable Bragg reflector with a fundamental repetition rate of 235 MHz . The laser operates in the soliton regime and under passive harmonic mode locking with 11 pulses in the cavity and produces output pulse trains at 2.6 GHz with transform-limited 270-fs pulses and 1.6 mW of average power. Within the cavity the multiple pulses form a stable pattern with fixed, nearly equal pulse-to-pulse temporal spacings, causing the output pulse train to have timing offsets of less than 15 ps. A slow gain-recovery model is proposed to explain the pulse-train self-organization.     

Optical feedback in a Zeeman-birefringence HeNe laser and its application in ranging

The optical feedback characteristics in a Zeeman-birefringence HeNe laser have been studied systematically when the external cavity varies in a large range. The intensity variations of the two orthogonally polarized lights are observed during the laser cavity tuning in the dual frequency laser. When the external cavity length is an integral multiple of the laser cavity length, either polarized light's intensity modulation depth varies not obviously when the laser works in dual modes conditions or single mode condition. But when the external cavity length is far away from an integral multiple of the laser cavity length and the laser works in different dual modes conditions, polarized light's intensity modulation depth varies obviously. This characteristic can guide us to tune the laser to work in single mode condition to improve the sensitivity of the optical system when the system is used for a large displacement measurement. It can also be used for measuring the position of the target mirror. The theoretical analysis is in good agreement with experimental results.     

Radially polarized laser beam from a Nd:YAG laser cavity with a c-cut YVO4 crystal

We demonstrate the generation of a radially polarized beam by simply inserting an undoped c-cut YVO₄ crystal into a Nd:YAG laser cavity. In a hemispherical cavity, the cylindrically symmetric, positive birefringence of the YVO₄ crystal extends the stability limit of the cavity length for an extraordinary ray (radial polarization) compared to an ordinary one (azimuthal polarization). By adjusting the cavity length, a radially polarized beam with an output power up to 1 W was selectively obtained. In addition, a higher-order transverse mode was also generated by arranging the cavity design. The method demonstrated in this paper can be readily applied to laser systems with an isotropic laser medium. PACS 42.60.Da; 42.25.Lc; 42.25.Ja     

Group and phase velocity coupling of colliding pulses in a nanostructure

It is generally accepted that, in a laser cavity, the group delay--responsible for the round trip time--and the phase delay both have a linear dependence on the cavity length. We show that nanostructures, such as quantum wells, can create a coupling between phase and group velocities, resulting in a periodic dependence of the repetition rate on the laser cavity length.     

Passive mode locking of a Nd:YVO4 laser with an extra-long optical resonator

We describe a mode-locked, diode-pumped Nd:YVO4 laser with a very long optical cavity operating at 1064 nm. High-modulation, InGaAs quantum-well, semiconductor saturable-absorber mirrors were used for passive mode locking, providing a stable train of 13-ps pulses. A novel zero-q-transformation multipass cell provided a variable-length optical cavity as much as 100 m long. The output beam had M2 < 1.1 at average powers of 4.1, 3.9, and 3.5 W at repetition rates of 4.1, 2.6, and 1.5 MHz, respectively. To the best of our knowledge the last of these is the lowest repetition rate ever generated directly from a mode-locked nonfiber solid-state laser without cavity dumping.     

Picosecond-pulse amplification with an external passive optical cavity

We experimentally demonstrate the amplification of picosecond pulses at high repetition rates through the coherent addition of successive pulses of a mode-locked pulse train in a high-finesse optical cavity equipped with cavity dumping. Amplification greater than 30 times is obtained at a repetition rate of 253 kHz, boosting the 5.3-nJ pulses from a commercial mode-locked picosecond Ti:sapphire laser to pulse energies of more than 150 nJ.     

Achieving single-longitudinal-mode output about Tm:YAG laser at room temperature

We report on the single-longitudinal-mode Tm:YAG laser with a volume Bragg grating pumped by laser diode at room temperature. The maximum SLM power of 142 mW was achieved under incident pump power of 3.22 W. The central wavelength was 2012.6 nm accords with the resonant wavelength of the VBG. Three cavity lengths were used to achieve high efficiency and clear spectrum. The maximum output power were measured to be 450.5, 451.4, and 457.3 mW at incident pump power of 3.22 W, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 17.1, 16.9, and 16.7% for the cavity length of 30, 40, and 50 mm, respectively. 40 mm cavity length having the cleanest spectrum among the three was used for SLM laser with one 1 mm F-P etalon inserted into the cavity.