Tunable, high-repetition-rate, femtosecond pulse generation in the ultraviolet

We report efficient generation of tunable femtosecond pulses in the ultraviolet (UV) by intracavity doubling of a visible femtosecond optical parametric oscillator (OPO). The OPO, based on a 400 microm BiB3O6 crystal and pumped at 415 nm in the blue, can provide visible femtosecond signal pulses across 500-710 nm. Using a 500 microm crystal of beta-BaB2O4 internal to the OPO cavity, efficient frequency doubling of the signal pulses into the UV is achieved, providing tunable femtosecond pulses across 250-355 nm with up to 225 mW of average power at 76 MHz. Cross-correlation measurements result in UV pulses with durations down to 132 fs for 180 fs blue pump pulses.     

Phase-coherent frequency combs in the vacuum ultraviolet via high-harmonic generation inside a femtosecond enhancement cavity

We demonstrate the generation of phase-coherent frequency combs in the vacuum utraviolet spectral region. The output from a mode-locked laser is stabilized to a femtosecond enhancement cavity with a gas jet at the intracavity focus. The resulting high-peak power of the intracavity pulse enables efficient high-harmonic generation by utilizing the full repetition rate of the laser. Optical-heterodyne-based measurements reveal that the coherent frequency comb structure of the original laser is fully preserved in the high-harmonic generation process. These results open the door for precision frequency metrology at extreme ultraviolet wavelengths and permit the efficient generation of phase-coherent high-order harmonics using only a standard laser oscillator without active amplification of single pulses.     

Femtosecond enhancement cavity with kilowatt average power

Femtosecond enhancement cavity(fsEC) has been proved to be a powerful tool in a diverse range of applications.Here, we report the recent progresses in building an fsEC on kilowatt level average power, with the aim of realization of intracavity high harmonic generation(HHG) and extension of the wavelength of femtosecond optical frequency comb from infrared(IR) to extreme ultraviolet(XUV). Upon mode-matching optimization and cavity length locking, an intracavity average power of 6.08 kW is reached and the corresponding buildup is 225. After introducing noble gas of Xe into the focus region, clear sign of plasma has been observed. The generated HHG is also coupled out by a sapphire plate placed at Brewster's angle for the fundamental laser. Our work paves the way for the realization of an XUV comb.     

Extreme nonlinear optics in a femtosecond enhancement cavity

Intrinsic to the process of high-order harmonic generation is the creation of plasma and the resulting spatiotemporal distortions of the driving laser pulse. Inside a high-finesse cavity where the driver pulse and gas medium are reused, this can lead to optical bistability of the cavity-plasma system, accumulated self-phase modulation of the intracavity pulse, and coupling to higher-order cavity modes. We present an experimental and theoretical study of these effects and discuss their implications for power scaling of intracavity high-order harmonic generation and extreme ultraviolet frequency combs.     

Efficient generation of coherent blue light at 440 nm by intracavity-frequency-tripling 1319-nm emission from a Nd:YAG laser

A new route for efficiently generating coherent blue light has been explored based on intracavity effective third-harmonic generation in one partly periodically poled KTiOPO4 crystal placed inside the cavity of a diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser. To achieve efficient conversion, we use a dual-temperature oven to separately control the phase-matching conditions for the two second-order nonlinear processes. In addition, a Fabry-Perot cavity at 660 nm is incorporated into the crystal to increase the blue power significantly. When the laser is Q switched to produce long pulses, an average power of 118 mW is generated at 440 nm at a pump power of 10 W.     

66 W average power from a microjoule-class sub-100 fs fiber oscillator

Performance scaling of passively mode-locked ultrashort-pulse fiber oscillators in terms of average power, peak power, and pulse energy is demonstrated. A very-large-mode-area fiber laser in an all-positive group-velocity-dispersion ring cavity configuration with intracavity spectral filter, mode-locked by nonlinear polarization evolution, emits 66 W of average power at 76 MHz repetition rate, corresponding to 0.9 μJ pulse energy. The pulses are dechirped to 91 fs outside the cavity with an average power of 60 W remaining after the compressor. The generated pulse peak power is as high as 7 MW.     

Generation of 207-femtosecond pulses from a ytterbium figure-of-eight fibre laser

We report the generation of 207-fs pulses with 1.2mW average power at 1036nm directly from a passively mode-locked Yb-doped fibre laser with a nonlinear optical loop mirror for mode-locking and pairs of diffraction gratings for intracavity dispersion compensation. These results imply a 4-fold reduction in pulse duration over previously reported figure-of-eight cavity passively mode-locked Yb-doped fibre lasers. Stable pulse trains are produced at the fundamental repetition rate of the resonator, 24.0MHz. On the other hand, this laser offers a cleaner spectrum and greater stability and is completely self-starting.     

Blue 489-nm picosecond pulses generated by intracavity frequency doubling in a passively mode-locked optically pumped semiconductor disk laser

We report the generation of blue 489-nm picosecond laser pulses by intracavity second-harmonic generation in a mode-locked optically pumped InGaAs vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting laser. Mode locking achieved by a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror generated 5.8-ps-long sech²-shaped pulses at an emission wavelength of 978 nm and a repetition rate of 1.88 GHz. Intracavity frequency doubling in a 5-mm-long lithium triborate crystal generated blue picosecond pulses with a spectral width of 0.15 nm and an average output power of up to 6 mW.     

Sensitivity of Narrow-Band Intracavity Laser Spectroscopy in Generation of the Second Harmonic

We carried out an analysis of the sensitivity of the method of intracavity laser spectroscopy with intracavity generation of the second harmonic to small frequency-independent losses evaluated by measuring the energies of laser-radiation pulses. We consider laser behavior with a constant and modulated quality factor of the cavity resonator. It is shown that the sensitivity of the method may be improved by an order of magnitude or higher by transforming the frequency of radiation and selecting the optimal parameters of the active medium pumping, nonlinear crystal, Q-factor of the cavity, and the means of its modulation. Measurement of the radiation power at the frequency of the second harmonic expands the range of laser-operation time regimes in which an increase in the sensitivity of the method is ensured.     

Frequency doubled femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser with an assisted enhancement cavity

We report an enhancement cavity for femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser at the repetition rate of 170 MHz. An enhancement factor of 24 is obtained when the injecting pulses have an average power of 1 W and a pulse duration of 80 fs. By placing a BBO crystal at the focus of the cavity, we obtain a 392-m W intracavity doubled-frequency laser, corresponding to a conversion efficiency of 43%. The output power has a long-term stability with a root mean square(RMS) of 0.036%.     

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.     

与794nm飞秒激光精确同步的无直流背底的1064nm脉冲光的产生

基于非共线光参量放大(NOPA)，以宽带794nm飞秒激光的倍频光为抽运光，以连续的He-Ne激光为信号光，产生了与宽带794nm飞秒激光精确同步的无直流背底的1064nm的脉冲光.实验结果显示该1064nm的光脉冲可作为光参量啁啾脉冲放大系统的抽运激光链的种子光，从而实现用全光学方法实现OPCPA系统抽运光和信号光的精确同步.还将非共线光参量放大器置于经特殊设计的He-Ne激光腔内，也同样成功得到了无直流背底的1064nm的光脉冲.经一次光参量放大后所得到的1064nm光的光谱和空间啁啾特性与非共线光参量放大器置于He-Ne激光腔外时得到的1064nm的光脉冲相同，而其单脉冲能量约为腔外NOPA的10倍. 关键词： 非线性光参量放大 光参量啁啾脉冲放大 时间同步     

Tunable femtosecond near-infrared source based on a Yb:LYSO-laser-pumped optical parametric oscillator

We demonstrate a widely tunable near-infrared source from 767 nm to 874 nm generated by the intracavity second harmonic generation(SHG) in an optical parametric oscillator pumped by a Yb:LYSO solid-state laser. The home-made Yb:LYSO oscillator centered at 1035 nm delivers an average power of 2 W and a pulse duration as short as 351 fs. Two Mg O doped periodically poled lithium niobates(Mg O:PPLN) with grating periods of 28.5–31.5 μm in steps of 0.5 μm and19.5–21.3 μm in steps of 0.2 μm are used for the OPO and intracavity SHG, respectively. The maximum average output power of 180 m W at 798 nm was obtained and the output pulses have pulse duration of 313 fs at 792 nm if a sech2-pulse shape was assumed. In addition, tunable signal femtosecond pulses from 1428 nm to 1763 nm are also realized with the maximum average power of 355 m W at 1628 nm.     

High-repetition-rate picosecond pulse generation at 1.5 microm by intracavity laser frequency modulation

We propose and experimentally demonstrate generation of transform-limited pulse trains at a 2.5-GHz repetition rate from a frequency-modulated erbium-ytterbium bulk glass laser by using an intracavity lithium niobate phase modulator and an external fiber Bragg grating filter. Light pulses with durations tunable from 40 to 80 ps and 0.2-mW fiber-coupled average power at 1535 nm have been obtained.     

Low-repetition-rate,all-polarization-maintaining Yb-doped fiber laser mode-locked by a semiconductor saturable absorber

A low-repetition-rate, all-polarization-maintaining(PM)-fiber sub-nanosecond oscillator is presented, which is simple and low-cost, composed of standard components. The ring cavity is elongated by 114-m-long standard PM fiber, and passively mode-locked by a fiber pigtailed semiconductor saturable absorber. Linearly polarized pulses with 1.66 MHz repetition rate and 22 dB polarization extinction ratio are generated at a wavelength of 1030 nm, which is determined by an intracavity filter. In addition, to demonstrate that the oscillator is a good seed for high energy pulse generation, an all-fiber master oscillator power amplifier is built and amplified pulses with energy about 2 μJ are obtained.     

光子晶体光纤飞秒激光非线性放大系统的耦合动力学过程研究

构建了掺镱大模场面积单偏振光子晶体光纤飞秒激光非线性放大系统. 讨论了腔内净色散量和抽运功率对振荡级输出参数的影响和振荡级参数对放大级输出参数的影响. 在本实验条件下, 当腔内净色散量取较大负色散时, 振荡级直接输出的脉冲更宽, 且携带更少的啁啾. 当振荡级抽运4.53 W时, 选择最接近变换极限的脉冲作为种子脉冲, 放大级在60 W抽运时输出压缩后无基底的短脉冲, 宽度为45.7 fs, 平均功率28 W. 振荡级抽运功率增加到5.08 W, 放大级抽运70 W时, 获得最高输出功率34.5 W, 对应脉宽53.5 fs.     

True fundamental solitons in a passively mode-locked short-cavity Cr(4+):YAG laser

We demonstrate a self-starting, passively mode-locked short-cavity Cr(4+):YAG laser that supports fundamental intracavity solitons over wide ranges of cavity group-velocity dispersion and pulse energies. The total dispersion and nonlinear effects are small enough that stable, N=1 soliton pulses are generated. Equally spaced multiple pulsing is also observed, with fundamental soliton behavior preserved. Regions of bistability exist where, at a constant cavity dispersion, the laser can produce transform-limited pulses of a different width and energy. The laser produces 200-fs pulses at approximately 0.9-, 1.8-, and 2.7-GHz repetition rates with a total of 82 mW of average output power.     

紧凑型激光二极管抽运全固态355 nm连续波紫外激光器

报道了一台激光二极管端面抽运Nd:YVO₄晶体内腔三倍频355 nm激光连续输出的全固态紫外激光器.激光腔采用紧凑型简单凹平直腔,腔长仅为70 mm.利用两块LBO晶体进行腔内倍频、和频,当注入抽运功率为2527 W时,获得最大功率为306 mW的355 nm连续波输出,光光转换效率为012％,输出功率短期不稳定性为53%,355 nm激光输出光束质量良好.通过采用内腔倍频技术和设计合理的腔参数,实现了中小功率连续输出的全固态紫外激光器的小型化、便携化,进一步拓宽了紫外激光器 关键词： 激光二极管端面抽运 内腔三倍频 连续波 355 nm激光     

Femtosecond diode-pumped Nd:glass laser with more than 1 W of average output power

We have demonstrated 175-fs pulses with 1 W and 300-fs pulses with 1.2 W of average output power at a pulse repetition rate of 117 MHz from a Nd:phosphate (Schott LG 760) glass laser pumped by a 1-cm-wide, 20-W diode laser bar. Stable soliton mode locking was achieved by use of an intracavity semiconductor saturable absorber mirror. We obtained more than 2 W of average power without mode locking. Using cylindrical cavity mirrors, we adapted the laser mode inside the Nd:glass to the highly elliptical pump beam in both dimensions (tangential and sagittal axes) while maintaining a nearly ideal circular TEM(00) output beam with M(2) approximately 1.2 . Overpumping the laser mode in the tangential plane and efficient unidirectional heat removal in the sagittal plane using a 0.8-mm thin Nd:glass also contributed to the good output-beam quality.     

LD泵浦Cr∶YAG被动调Q 556nm黄光激光器

通过对谐振腔镜镀制合理的激光薄膜，成功实现了LD泵浦Nd∶YAG 1.111 μm激光谱线的运转.利用LBO腔内倍频Nd∶YAG/Cr∶YAG结构获得了高重复频率被动调Q556 nm全固态黄光激光器，在注入泵浦功率为1.6 W时，得到平均功率51 mW，脉冲宽度48 ns,重复频率8.9 kHz,峰值功率高达119 W的脉冲黄光输出.