Yb:CaF2–YF3 transparent ceramics ultrafast laser at dual gain lines

Yb³⁺:CaF₂-YF₃ transparent ceramics with excellent optical quality was successfully fabricated by hot-pressed method. Pulsed laser properties of this ceramics were investigated for the first time. Laser diode (LD) was applied as the pump source to generate a dual-wavelength mode-locked (ML) laser. The maximum average output power was 310 mW, which represents the highest output power of ultrafast calcium fluoride ceramic laser. The spectrum separated at 1048.9 nm and 1049.7 nm with a total pulse duration of 8.9 ps. The interval period between the beating signals was about 4.3 ps, corresponding to a 0.23 THz beat pulse repetition rate. These results demonstrate its potential in producing dual-wavelength ultrashort pulses. These Yb³⁺:CaF₂-YF₃ ceramics with low-cost and short-preparation period are ideal candidate materials for ultrafast lasers.     

Cutting and welding using a CO2 laser

Of all the types of lasers now available, the CO₂ laser is particularly suitable for materials working. It has a very high efficiency (15–20%) and a high out-put power (up to several kW). When the laser light is focused by means of a lens or a mirror, a c.w. power density of more than 10⁹ W cm^-2 can be attained. The laser need not be used in vacuum.

The CO₂ laser is a suitable cutting tool for numerous materials. These include metals such as titanium or steel; combustible materials such as paper, textiles and wood; and plastics. The CO₂ laser can also cut hard and brittle materials such as aluminum oxide and silicon carbide. If metals are cut in an oxidizing atmosphere, the cutting speed may be increased. The cutting width, however, is determined by the size of the laser spot. Another important field of application is the growth of single crystals.

Experiments are reported in which the CO₂ laser was used for welding steel, titanium, plastics, quartz, and glass. The advantages of the laser for this application are discussed. A comparative study of laser and electron beam techniques is included.     

Highly efficient 1181 nm output from a transversely diode-pumped Nd:KGd(WO4)2 self-stimulating Raman laser

We have achieved high average power Raman output from a compact, diode-pumped, self-stimulating Nd³⁺:KGd(WO₄)₂ Raman laser. Maximum Raman output power of 0.8 W was achieved at a pulse repetition frequency (PRF) of 2 kHz. The optical efficiency from diode to Raman laser was 14%. By generating extra-cavity second harmonics using a LiB₃O₅ crystal, it was possible to produce 0.2 W yellow output. The laser system was simulated numerically using rate equations and the results obtained were in good agreement with the experimental results.     

Ba1-xB2-y-zO4SixAlyGaz晶体和频可调谐深紫外飞秒激光器

介绍了一种基于新型非线性晶体Ba_1-xB_2-y-zO₄Si_xAl_yGa_z 的可调谐深紫外飞秒激光光源. 从理论上分析了基频光和倍频光在通过非线性晶体时所造成的空间走离和群速度失配, 为了补偿空间走离以及波长调谐过程中晶体折射造成的光束偏离现象, 将两块相同的倍频晶体成镜像放置来产生二次谐波. 并调节延迟线的长度来补偿基频光和倍频光之间的群速度失配, 从而提高和频转换效率. 然后通过和频方式进行三倍频和四倍频来突破晶体相位匹配条件的限制, 产生了波长低于200 nm的深紫外飞秒激光. 利用钛宝石激光器提供基频光光源, 最终在250–300 nm, 192.5–210 nm 范围内获得了高重频、可调谐超短脉冲紫外和深紫外激光. 并在基频光波长为800 nm时, 得到的二倍频、三倍频和四倍频的功率分别为1.28 W, 194 mW和5.8 mW, 相对于前一级的转换效率依次为46.14%, 15.16%和3%. 采用互相关法测量得到266.7 nm紫外激光的脉冲宽度约为640.4 fs.     

Inert gas cutting of titanium sheet with pulsed mode CO2 laser

The present work aimed at studying the dynamic behavior of melt ejection in laser cutting of 1 mm thick titanium sheet and to obtain dross-free cuts with minimum heat affected zone (HAZ). CO₂ laser cutting of titanium sheet was carried out with continuous wave (CW) and pulsed mode laser operation with different shear gases namely argon, helium and nitrogen. Laser cutting with high frequency and low-duty cycle pulse mode operation produced dross-free cuts with no noticeable HAZ. Helium, because of its high heat convection and ability to generate high shear stress, produced laser-cuts with narrow HAZ and low dross, as compared to those produced with argon as the shear gas. Microscopic features of laser cut surfaces were analyzed and correlated with dynamic mechanism involved in laser cutting process. Process parameters for laser piercing, required for the initiation of fusion cut within the sheet, were also studied. Laser piercing requires either CW or high-duty cycle (>80%) pulse mode operation.     

COLORATION EFFECT OF PULSED LASER ON WO3

When laser pulses irradiate the surface of the sample WO₃, an interesting coloration effect is obtained. Only by one pulse of XeCl laser irradiation (wavelength: 308 nm, pulse duration: 36 ns, output power: 100 mJ/pulse), a significant color change appears. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) shows that a partial reduction process of WO₃ occurs and conduction band electrons appears. X-ray diffraction pattern indicates that the lattice parameters of the colored samples are increased. A molten layer can be seen in scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image. It may be concluded that the coloration effect of pulsed laser undergoes a process different from that of electro- or photo- chromism, and may be attributed to thermochromism and substoichiometric WO₃ is formed. The coloration process is characterized by its high speed and stability.     

基于SESAM被动调Q的激光二极管泵浦Yb∶CaYAlO_4脉冲激光器

采用发射波长约为976 nm的半导体激光器作为泵浦源,Yb~(3+)掺杂浓度为1. 5at.%、通光长度为2 mm的Yb∶CaYAlO_4晶体作为增益介质,本文提出了一种基于半导体可饱和吸收镜(SESAM)被动调Q的激光二极管泵浦Yb∶CaYAlO_4以获取稳定脉冲输出的方案。通过合理设计谐振腔,实现了稳定的被动调Q激光脉冲输出,并分析了泵浦功率的大小对输出脉冲的重复频率、脉冲宽度、单脉冲能量以及脉冲峰值功率的影响。     

高效率LD端面抽运准连续355 nm激光器

报道了一台激光二极管（LD）端面抽运Nd：YVO₄晶体腔内倍频和腔外和频相结合的声光调Q准连续355 nm 紫外激光器。采用LD端面抽运双侧翼键合YVO₄基质的Nd：YVO₄晶体,在腔内置入Ⅰ类相位匹配的LiB₃O₅（LBO）晶体进行倍频实现1 064 nm和532 nm双波长准连续激光输出,通过消色差透镜将双波长激光聚焦耦合到Ⅱ类相位匹配的LBO 晶体中进行和频,并采用双向和频光路,获得了高效率、高光束质量、高重复频率的准连续355 nm 紫外激光输出。在抽运功率为28.6 W、重复频率为20 kHz时,355 nm激光最大输出功率4.2 W,脉宽为20.6 ns,光-光转换效率为14.7%,激光器光束质量因子M_x²和M_y²分别为1.29和1.23。     

Power scaling of printed-circuit-board preionized TEA CO2 laser up to 3.6 kW

A high average power, high-repetition-rate TEA CO₂ laser employing printed-circuit-board preionizer is described. The power scaling of this preionization configuration has been demonstrated. The average output power reaches 3.6 kW at pulse repetition rate of 180 pps. Furthermore, the scaling-up ability of the rotating spark gap as high-voltage switch for high-average-power gas laser has been validated.     

非真空传输的高效交叉偏振滤波设计与产生

采用常规透镜设计了适用于非真空环境中交叉偏振波(XPW)产生的双透镜聚焦系统,在相对较短的距离实现了长焦透镜聚焦的效果,并测量了聚焦后的激光脉冲,发现其没有显著的非线性相位积累,保证了激光光束质量.在非真空中采用双BaF_2晶体得到了XPW系统转换效率22%,光谱1.78倍展宽的净化脉冲输出,双透镜组合聚焦形式使得双BaF_2晶体间距在13—22 cm内可保证20%以上的XPW转换效率,双晶体间距的调节冗余度提高了两个量级,极大地降低了双晶转换效率对晶体间距的依赖.这种正负透镜组合聚焦的光路设计在非真空中实现了高效稳定的XPW输出,为后续的放大应用提供了高对比度、宽光谱的高质量种子源.     

Passively Q-switched dual-wavelength Yb:LSO laser based on tungsten disulphide saturable absorber

We demonstrate a passively Q-switched Yb:LSO laser based on tungsten disulphide(WS_2) saturable absorber operating at 1034 nm and 1056 nm simultaneously. The saturable absorbers were fabricated by spin coating method. With low speed, the WS_2 nanoplatelets embedded in polyvinyl alcohol could be coated on a BK7 glass substrate coated with high-refractive-index thin polymer. The shortest pulse width of 1.6 μs with a repetition rate of 76.9 k Hz is obtained. As the pump power increases to 9 W, the maximum output power is measured to be 250 m W, corresponding to a single pulse energy of 3.25 μJ. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time to obtain dual-wavelength Q-switched solid-state laser using few-layer WS_2 nanoplatelets.     

State selective laser photodissociation of Tl2 at 337.1 nm by optogalvanic spectroscopy

This paper reports the first time achievement of laser photolysis of thallium dimers by single photon absorption of N₂-laser light at 337.1 nm resulting in a large population inversion of thallium 7 ²S excited state with respect to 6 ²P state. The photodissociation nitrogen laser pulse is spatially and temporally overlapped with the tunable dye laser pulse that is used for confirming the production of selectively excited thallium atoms. The dye laser excites the thallium atoms from 7 ²S state to high lying Rydberg states that collisionally ionize giving an ion-current signal which is subsequently processed by a box-car average/integrator and recorded on the chart recorder. The photodissociation of Tl₂ to Tl(7 ²S ) state demonstrates the existence of the molecular dissociative state 1g that is correlated with Tl 7 ²S +6 ²P states. A complete absence of 6 ²P state population among the photolysis products indicates a 100% prompt population inversion between 7 ²S and 6 ²P atomic states.     

High-order harmonic generation of the cyclo[18]carbon molecule irradiated by circularly polarized laser pulse

High-order harmonic generation of the cyclo[18]carbon (C₁₈) molecule under few-cycle circularly polarized laser pulse is studied by time-dependent density functional theory. Compared with the harmonic emission of the ring molecule C₆ H₆ having similar ionization potential, the C₁₈ molecule has higher efficiency and cutoff energy than C₆ H₆ with the same laser field parameters. Further researches indicate that the harmonic efficiency and cutoff energy of the C₁₈ molecule increase gradually with the increase of the laser intensity of the driving laser or decrease of the wavelength, both are larger than those of the C₆ H₆ molecule. Through the analysis of the time-dependent evolution of the electronic wave packets, it is also found that the higher efficiency of harmonic generation can be attributed to the larger spatial scale of the C₁₈ molecule, which leads to a greater chance for the ionized electrons from one atom to recombine with others of the parent molecule. Selecting the suitable driving laser pulse, it is demonstrated that high-order harmonic generation in the C₁₈ molecule has a wide range of applications in producing circularly polarized isolated attosecond pulse.     

A gigahertz tunable, high power, high repetition rate rf CO2 laser operating without He

This paper reports on a gigahertz mode-tunable waveguide CO₂ laser operating with high-pressure He-free mixtures (0.4 bar), with a long pulse (20 μs) high repetition rate (1 kHz) radio-frequency discharge. Single-mode tuning at 0.92 GHz with good mean laser linewidth (<40 MHz) and large peak power (150 W) have been obtained over 40 laser lines, with 0.3 W mean power. By using standard He reach mixtures both the laser line number and mean power are slightly increased.     

Er~(3+)/Yb~(3+)共掺杂氧氟硼硅酸盐微晶玻璃绿色上转换发光的温度特性

采用高温熔融法和热处理工艺制备得到透明的Er3+/Yb3+共掺杂氧氟微晶玻璃。XRD结果证实析出的纳米晶相为Ba YF5。在980 nm激发下,观察到强的绿光发射,源于Er3+的2H11/2→4I15/2和4S3/2→4I15/2跃迁的上转换发光。根据荧光强度比(FIR)的方法研究了微晶玻璃上转换荧光的温度传感特性,其最大灵敏度在523 K时为0.003 4 K-1,表明Er3+/Yb3+共掺氧氟硼硅酸盐微晶玻璃上转换发光在高精度温度传感器方面具有一定的应用前景。     

2-μm mode-locked nanosecond fiber laser based on MoS_2 saturable absorber

We demonstrated a 2-μm passively mode-locked nanosecond fiber laser based on a MoS_2 saturable absorber(SA).Owing to the effect of nonlinear absorption in the MoS_2 SA, the pulse width decreased from 64.7 to 13.8 ns with increasing pump power from 1.10 to 1.45 W. The use of a narrow-bandwidth fiber Bragg grating resulted in a central wavelength and 3-dB spectral bandwidth of 2010.16 and 0.15 nm, respectively. Experimental results show that MoS_2 is a promising material for a 2-μm mode-locked fiber laser.     

紫外激光解离羰基铁生成超细粉末

利用中等能量(～20mJ/pulse)紫外激光作为光源,照射含有10—20Torr的羰基铁气体池,已获得羰基铁解离所生成的超细粉末。经现代的物理仪器进行分析,辨认其粉末含有氧化铁、碳化铁和小量晶态铁或碳、氧等产物。粉末颗粒均匀性好,直径在300—400?,具有催化活性。适当增加激光功率密度,亦可在气体池的通光窗片上沉积一层铁膜,由X射线荧光测定。 关键词：     

Enhanced luminescence from transparent Ni-doped MgO–Al2O3–SiO2 glass ceramics by Ga2O3 addition

Transparent Ni²⁺-doped MgO–Al₂O₃–SiO₂ glass ceramics without and with Ga₂O₃ were synthetized. The precipitation of spinel nanocrystals, which was identified as solid solutions in the glass ceramics, could be favored by Ga₂O₃ addition and their sizes were about 7.6 nm in diameter. The luminescent intensity of the Ni²⁺-doped glass ceramics was largely enhanced by Ga₂O₃ addition which could mainly be caused by increasing of Ni²⁺ in the octahedral sites and the reduction of the mean frequency of phonon density of states in the spinel nanocrystals of solid solutions. The full width at half maximum (FWHM) of emissions for the glass ceramics with different Ga₂O₃ content was all more than 200 nm. The emission lifetime increased with the Ga₂O₃ content and the longest lifetime is about 250 μs. The Ni²⁺-doped transparent glass ceramics with Ga₂O₃ addition have potential application as broadband optical amplifier and laser materials.     

采用泵浦探测技术研究VO2薄膜相变特性

为研究纳秒激光作用下的VO₂薄膜的相变特性,采用泵浦-探测技术进行实验。首先,利用直流磁控溅射法制备VO₂薄膜,经X射线衍射（XRD）和原子力显微镜（AFM）分析表明样品质量较高。然后,测量VO₂薄膜在波长532 nm处的透过率随温度的变化情况,发现透过率随温度升高由32%上升到37%,与红外波段完全相反。在此基础上,选择1 064 nm泵浦光和532 nm探测光研究激光参数中能量密度和重频对VO₂薄膜相变特性的影响,同时结合ANSYS有限元软件对纳秒激光作用下VO₂薄膜的单脉冲温升情况进行分析。结果表明：VO₂薄膜在大于30 mJ/cm²的纳秒激光能量密度作用下,单脉冲温升可达相变温度,最小相变响应时间在14 ns左右。进一步提高纳秒激光能量密度,其相变响应时间略有增加但变化不大。在100 Hz以内改变纳秒激光重频对VO₂薄膜的相变响应基本无影响。VO₂薄膜的相变恢复时间随着纳秒激光能量密度的增大而呈自然指数增加,其变化过程与基底材料和纳秒激光参数密切相关。因此,可以通过优化VO₂薄膜基底材料参数提高其激光防护效果。     

高功率,红光至中红外可调谐腔内和频光学参量振荡器

本文利用高重复频率,高平均功率大模场面积飞秒光纤激光器作为同步抽运源,抽运以多周期极化掺氧化镁铌酸锂为非线性晶体的单共振光学参量振荡器,获得了高功率可调谐红光至中红外光,信号光调谐范围为1450—2200 nm,闲频光调谐范围为2250—4000 nm,在2 W的抽运功率下,信号光输出波长为1502 nm时获得最大输出功率374 mW,转换效率为18.7%,脉冲宽度为144 fs,此时中红外输出中心波长为3.4μm,平均功率为166 mW.再利用BBO晶体对信号光进行腔内和频,获得和频光输出波长调谐范围为610—668 nm,在4.1 W抽运的情况下,最高平均功率为615 nm处的694 mW,转换效率达16.9%.