Intracavity spectroscopy with modulated multimode lasers

The output of a cw multimode dye laser with an intracavity narrow-band absorber and its pump power modulated shows spectral condensation on both wings of the absorption line. This indicates phase locking of two groups of laser modes. The dispersion of the absorber modifies the mode spacing of the laser such that mode groups on both sides of the absorption line get into resonance with the modulation. These mode groups feel smaller loss and acquire the total laser power. Spectra of the laser output reveal the total absorption coefficient, the homogeneous broadening of the absorber, and the spectral width of individual laser modes.On leave from Lebedev Physical Institute, Academy of Sciences of the USSR, SU-117924 Moscow, USSR     

Parasitic selection in intracavity laser detection spectroscopy

The origin of the parasitic structure in the spectra of multimode dye lasers in the presence of additional optical surfaces in the cavity has been investigated. Methods are proposed to diminish the influence of parasitic structures in real experiments on the results of measurements by intracavity laser spectroscopy when studying low absorption with coefficients down to ～10^-9cm^-1.     

Method of Sellctive Intracavity Absorption Using Dye Lasers

The method of the selective intracavity absorption is based on the high sensitivity of the laser intensity on the absorption of the sample placed into the resonator. The method for Nd-glass laser with inhomogeneous broadening of the gain spectrum was grounded and experimentally checued by the authors of the papers^1,2. Later demands for the spectral region expanding of the method have led to application of dye lnsers for the intracavity measurements. The capability to broadrband emission in the different spectral regions makes of dye lasers the unique instruments for intracavity spectroscopy. A number of the successful experiments on the dye lasers applications to the sensitive detection of Na, da, Ho, Pr, I₂, Br₂ small concentrations was published until now^3–6 At the same time one cannot consider the theoretical analysis of the intracavity absorption characteristics of the dye lasers, i.e, the lasers with homogeneous spectral broadeninti of active media as sufficiently complete and reliable. The theoretical estimation of the sensitivity of the method for CW laser operation was given in papers^7,8. But analytical formulae for sensitivity in reference⁷ are valid only for near-threshold levels of pumping power which does not often correspond to experimental conditions and leaves open the question about potentialities of the method at the higher pumping power (two or more times exceeding the threshold). The authors of the reference⁸ consider the problem at any pumping levels, but their approach is based on the simplified model which seem to be doubtful and requires the special foundation. In particular they suppose the existence in the active media of the number of N_j particles, which interact only with one mode j and do not interact with other laser modes, and also of the number of N_o molecules (so called reservoir) equally interacting with every mode. In the case of the homogeneous spectral broadening such dividing the molecules into types does not seem to be rightful. In addition in the both the gain and loss of all modes (except one) are assumed to be of the same values so the total number of modes is given arbitrary and not connected with resonator, active media and pumping parameters. Because of this reason one cannot calculate correctly the value of the method sensitivity or analyze it's dependence on the parameters.     

Widely tunable, narrow-linewidth, subnanosecond pulse generation in an electronically tuned Ti:sapphire laser

Widely tunable subnanosecond Ti:sapphire laser radiation pumped with a cw Q -switched laser-diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser has been demonstrated in a simple laser system with a configuration of variable cavity length. Laser wavelengths can be continuously tuned by adjustment of the rf of an intracavity acousto-optic tunable filter with a computer through the whole range of the laser gain. During tuning of the whole spectral range, there is no need to realign any optics in the laser, except for moving the mirror to track the change of the rf. The peak powers of the output pulses at a pump level of 300 mW are comparable with those of conventional tunable picosecond Ti:sapphire lasers at a cw pump level of almost 10 W.     

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.     

Stabilization of intracavity frequency-doubled lasers with type I phase matching

We report a new method for stabilizing the power of intracavity frequency-doubled multimode lasers with type I phase matching. Such lasers usually show strong fluctuations of the output power caused by coupling of longitudinal laser modes in the nonlinear crystal. We eliminate these fluctuations by placing the gain medium and nonlinear crystal in specific locations in the laser cavity where the nonlinear coupling of different longitudinal modes is strongly reduced.     

Pulse stretching of Q-switched lasers

Pulse stretching of a passively Q-switched ruby laser is accomplished by the introduction of a non-linear absorber into the laser cavity. Single pulses of length 150 to 400 nsec are observed. The non-linear absorption is obtained by using a Rayleigh-wing scatterer as the solvent for a bleachable dye. This approach is unique in that stretched Q-switched pulses may be obtained by the introduction of a single liquid into the laser resonator with no electronics necessary. Since the Rayleigh Frequency is within the gain lineshape of the active medium, threshold for the stimulated Rayleigh scattering is exceeded at relatively low power densities.     

Fiber laser intracavity absorption spectroscopy for in situ multicomponent gas analysis in the atmosphere and combustion environments

Intracavity absorption spectroscopy with a broadband Er³⁺-doped fiber laser is applied for the measurements of several molecular species revealing quantitative information about the gas concentration, temperature and chemical reactions in flames. The spectral range of measurements extends from 6200 cm⁻¹ to 6550 cm⁻¹ with the proper choice of the fiber length and by moving an intracavity lens. With a pulsed laser applied in this experiment, the sensitivity to absorption corresponds to an effective absorption path length of 3 km assuming the cavity is completely filled with the sample. For a cw laser, the effective absorption path length is estimated to be 50 km. Absorption spectra of various molecules such as CO₂, CO, H₂O, H₂S, C₂H₂ and OH were recorded separately in the cell and/or in low-pressure methane and propane flames. The presented measurements demonstrate simultaneous in situ detection of three molecular products of chemical reactions at different flame locations. Variation of the relative strengths of OH absorption lines with the temperature enables the estimation of the local flame temperature. The sensitivity of this laser does not depend on the broadband cavity losses and it can be used for in situ measurements of absorption spectra in hostile environments such as contaminated samples, flames or combustion engines. The presented technique can be applied for various diagnostic purposes, such as in environmental, combustion and plasma research, in medicine and in the determination of stable isotope ratios.     

Absorption electronic spectrum of gaseous FeO: in situ detection with intracavity laser absorption spectroscopy in a nanoparticle-generating flame reactor

Absorption measurement of a gas-phase iron oxide (FeO) electronic spectrum is reported for the first time. FeO was obtained in a methane/oxygen/nitrogen flame doped with iron pentacarbonyl and monitored via the 611-nm band of the orange system with intracavity laser absorption spectroscopy. The measured spectral range extends from 16,250 to 16,450 cm^?1 for the appropriate intracavity tuning element position. The presented measurements demonstrate sensitive detection of the gas-phase precursor, playing a key role in flame synthesis of iron oxide nanoparticles. The sensitivity of the intracavity technique does not depend on broadband cavity losses and allows conducting measurements in a highly scattering, particle-laden flame environment.     

Dye Laser for Absorption Trace Analysis of Sodium

The advent of organic dye lasers made possible many experiments in physics, chemistry and biology. Most of these applications are based on the possibility to tune dye laser emission almost at any wavelength between 3400 Å and 12000 Å.This quality combined with high light power made feasible multiphotone absorption, selective absorption and fluorescence experiments. Recently a group of authors published the papers: “Enhancement of absorption spectra by dye laser quenching I and II”^1,2 which start a new field of applications of dye lasers. Namely if a weak absorber is placed inside the broad band laser cavity the absorption is enhanced and this results in the same absorption bands or lines observable in the spectrally resolved laser output. This effect can be used for detection of the traces of elements as a complementary method to the classical absorption spectroscopy but with much higher sensitivity. Same method could be also very useful for detection of transient species with a very short lifetimes.     

High-sensitivity intracavity laser absorption spectroscopy with vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting semiconductor lasers

We report the demonstration of high-sensitivity intracavity laser absorption spectroscopy with multiple-quantum-well vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting semiconductor lasers (VECSEL's). A detection limit of 3x10(-10) cm (-1) has been achieved. The spectrotemporal dynamics of a VECSEL in the 1030-nm wavelength region has been studied. The laser was operating cw at room temperature, with a baseline signal-to-noise ratio as high as 400. The laser was optically pumped with a threshold as low as 80 mW and was broadly tunable over a spectral range of ~75 nm .     

A high-power single-mode cw dye ring laser

Due to spatial hole burning, standing-wave dye lasers require a large amount of selectivity inside the cavity for single-mode operation. The output power of these lasers is limited by losses caused by the frequency selecting elements. In a travelling-wave laser, on the other hand, spatial hole burning does not exist, thereby eliminating the need for high selectivity. A travelling-wave cw dye laser was realized by unidirectional operation of a ring laser, yielding single mode output powers of 1.2 W at 595 nm and of 55 mW in the UV-region with intracavity frequency doubling.     

A continuous wave SrMoO4 Raman laser

We demonstrate a cw, laser diode-pumped Nd:GdVO4/SrMoO4 crystalline Raman laser. First Stokes laser output at 1173.5?nm of 2.18?W was achieved with a diode-to-first Stokes efficiency of 8.7%. With intracavity frequency doubling in LiB3O5, 3.1?W of cw yellow emission at 586.8?nm was obtained with a 12.4% diode-to-yellow efficiency. The experimental results show that SrMoO4 is an excellent stimulated Raman scattering gain material for high-power cw near-IR Stokes and yellow lasers.     

Gas spectroscopy and optical path-length assessment in scattering media using a frequency-modulated continuous-wave diode laser

Simultaneous assessment of the spectroscopic absorption signal of gas enclosed in a scattering medium and the corresponding optical path length of the probing light is demonstrated using a single setup. Sensitive gas absorption measurements are performed by a tunable diode laser using wavelength-modulation spectroscopy, while the path length is evaluated by the frequency-modulated cw technique commonly used in the field of telecommunication. Proof-of-principle measurements are demonstrated with water vapor as the absorbing gas and using polystyrene foam as an inhomogeneously scattering medium. The combination of these techniques opens up new possibilities for straightforward evaluation of gas presence and exchange in scattering media.     

Two-wavelength self-seeded pulsed tunable laser

A compact self-seeded pulsed tunable laser is described. Its optical cavity comprises a diffraction grating, operating at a grazing angle of incidence as a spectral selector and narrow-band spectral gate. The grating couples two partially overlapping laser channels: a highly selective master laser and a nonselective slave laser. Due to the implemented efficient intracavity self-seeding the laser emits spectrally pure single-longitudinal-mode radiation at two independently tunable wavelengths, with an efficiency and output energy that are typical for nonselective lasers. Results of the experimental investigation of the laser’s output characteristics are presented. Received: 12 March 2001 / Revised version: 10 December 2001 / Published online: 7 February 2002     

Recording of selective intracavity absorption at doubled frequencies of multimode laser radiation

We carried out measurements of the spectral distribution of wideband dye laser generation intensity within the limits and in the vicinity of an absorption line with its simultaneous recording at the frequencies of the fundamental and second harmonics of laser radiation. In the laser cavity we placed optical cuvettes with active and absorbing media, as well as selecting and nonlinear-optical elements. We show that at double frequencies the contrast of the narrow-band hole in the multimode laser generation spectrum increases. The gain in the concentration sensitivity of measurements depends in this case on the value of the absorption coefficient being determined. Institute of Molecular and Atomic Physics, National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, 70, F. Skorina Ave., 220072, Minsk, Belarus. Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Spektroskopii, Vol. 65, No. 4, pp. 516–521, July–August, 1998.     

A basic property of dye lasers: Spectral evolution

We have derived an analytical equation which is found to be useful in understanding injection locking, progressive narrowing, enhancement of intracavity absorption and amplification, dual-wavelength dye lasers, broad band shift and coupled cavities. The basic property of the dye laser emission, i.e. the spectral evolution, is described without explicit reference to the molecular populations and the excitation time shape. The concept of spectral evolution is expressed in terms of new parameters such as the evolution length of the amplifier and the evolution time of the oscillator.     

Continuous-wave mode-locked solid-state lasers with enhanced spatial hole burning

In Part I of this paper [1] experimental results were presented and discussed. In this part, we investigate theoretically the dynamics of end-pumped solid-state lasers due to enhanced spatial hole burning. This becomes possible by a fast numerical implementation of the saturated gain in the presence of strong spatial hole burning that allows to treat the multimode case for an arbitrary pumping level. We find for a wide range of laser parameters that the mode spacing of the cw running modes is essentially determined by the length of the gain medium and only weakly depends on the absorption depth of the pump transition. It is shown that spatial hole burning can lead to a completely flat saturated gain profile over half of the gain bandwidth. In mode-locked lasers, the flat gain due to spatial hole burning results in shorter pulses. But the pulses are neither Gaussian-nor sech-shaped as they are in actively or passively mode-locked lasers without spatial hole burning. Further, we show that soliton-like pulse shaping can be used to restore a transform-limited sech-shaped pulse in an end-pumped solid-state laser while exploiting the full gain bandwidth of the laser material.     

High-sensitivity time-resolved intracavity laser Fourier transform spectroscopy with vertical-cavity surface-emitting multiple-quantum-well lasers

Spectra composed of hundreds of time components for absorption path lengths of up to 130 km have been recorded near 1050 nm by combination of two recent techniques, intracavity laser spectroscopy with vertical external cavity surface-emitting multiple-quantum-well lasers and time-resolved Fourier transform spectroscopy. A sensitivity of 1 x 10(-10) cm(-1) Hz(-1/2) is achieved for 10(4) simultaneously acquired spectral elements, 3 orders of magnitude better than the sensitivity obtained in previous similar experiments. Specific advantages of the method, especially for frequency and intensity metrology of weak absorption transitions, are discussed.     

Theory and experiment of CW dye laser injection locking and its application to second harmonic generation

High-power single-mode operation of a cw ring dye laser has been obtained by injection of cw single-mode radiation. The intracavity power of this system was used to generate tunable single-mode uv radiation by frequency doubling in a temperature phase-matched ADA crystal: up to 45 W intracavity fundamental power and up to 70 mW extracted uv power have been observed. A theoretical treatment of the injection locked cw ring dye laser system is given for the stationary state. Expressions for the intracavity intensities as a function of the small-signal gain and the saturation intensity are derived.