Efficient amplification of sub-picosecond pulses of a non-CW dye laser

Efficient amplification in a dye laser amplifier is investigated theoretically and experimentally. A five-level rate equation approach is considered including rotational relaxation of the dye molecules. The effects of the pump pulse duration and of the parameters of the input pulse are discussed. The results are compared with experimental data for 0.5 ps pulses of a pulsed dye laser. Conversion efficiencies >10% are achieved for a single pass amplifier using Nd:YAG pump pulses of 2 ns while an effective fluorescence lifetime of 1.7±0.2 ns is determined for the gain medium rhodamine 6G. The triple pass amplifier stage of the laser system achieves an energy conversion of 4% with 40 J output pulses.     

Experimental and theoretical investigation of third-harmonic generation in phase-matched dye solutions

The phase-matched third-harmonic light generation in dye solutions is studied experimentally and theoretically. In the experiments picosecond light pulses of a passive mode-locked Nd-glass laser are converted to the third-harmonic frequency. A third-harmonic conversion efficiency of up to 4×10^–4 was achieved for one of the dyes investigated (1,3,3,1,3,3-hexamethylindocarbocyanine iodide in hexafluoroisopropanol). The theoretical calculations determine the influence of various dye and solvent parameters on the conversion efficiency. The conversion efficiency is found to be limited by excited-state absorption of pump laser light and third-harmonic light from the S₁-state to higher singlet states. The S₁-state is mainly populated by two-photon absorption. Amplified spontaneous emission may reduce the limiting effects of excited-state absorption. Phase changes caused by the non-linear refractive index and the refractive index dispersion within the spectral bandwidth of the laser pulses reduce the conversion efficiency. Under ideal conditions conversion efficiencies up to 10% may be achieved.     

The effect of prepulse on X-ray laser development using a powerful subpicosecond KrF laser

A high power UV laser has been developed as a pump source for short wavelength (down to 1 nm) X-ray lasers. Various schemes are considered and theoretical analysis is discussed. Spectroscopic studies of laser-target interaction have been performed and, in particular, the effect of a prepulse on plasma generation has been investigated. Analysis of the observed spectra indicates that reduction of the prepulse energy results in a higher temperature plasma. Investigation of the interaction using thin layered targets is also presented. These data provide evidence for initially hot plasma conditions generated from target layers 150 Å. Discussions of proposed laser schemes at 1–5 nm are presented.Also at the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ     

Photophysical properties and laser characteristics of a new rigid aminocoumarin dye lasing in the blue-green region

The photophysical properties of a new dye, 7-Diethyl AminoCoumarin with a Rigid substitution in the 3-position (referred to as DARC) have been studied in three solvents: dioxane, DMF and DMSO. The dye has been found to have a fluorescence quantum efficiency (_fl) between 0.40 and 0.80 in these solvents. The dye-laser performance of this dye has also been investigated in dioxane, DMF and DMSO, under nitrogen-laser pumping and compared with that of the commercially available standard laser dye, Coumarin 515 (C-515). A tuning range of nearly 70 nm was obtained in the blue-green region with an efficiency up to 80% of that of the standard dye. The observed characteristics of the dye are explained in terms of the sructural rigidization of the dye in the 3-position which inhibits the formation of the Twisted Intramolecular Charge Transfer (TICT) conformation in the excited state leading to an enhancement of the _fl and a considerable improvement in the laser performance.Research carried out at U.D.C.T., Bombay, India     

Analysis and simulation on the performance of a gyro-penitron amplifier

A cylindrical waveguide gyro-peniotron amplifier is analysed theoretically in this paper. By a ballistic method and directly using the energy conservation in the beam-wave system, a set of interaction equations for the cylindrical waveguide gyro-peniotron amplifier is derived. Computer simulation shows that under defined conditions an interaction efficiency of 47%, an output power of 240kW at a gain of 22. 5 dB and a 3 dB-instantaneous bandwidth of 1. 9% for a central frequency of 35GHz, TE₀₃ mode gyro-peniotron amplifier could be achieved. The influence of the operation parameters on the amplifier performance is also presented.     

An Iron-Free Magnetron-Injection-Gun for a 28GHz, 200kW Gyroklystron Amplifier

A design study of a double-anode magnetron-injection-gun is performed to incorporate the electron gun into a high power 28GHz gyroklystron amplifier operating at 70kV and 8.2A. The electron gun is designed to be used in a tapered magnetic field in the cathode region produced from an iron-free superconducting magnet. An electron trajectory code predicts a beam axial velocity spread of 5.9% at = 1.5, 70kV, 8.2A and 10.4kG, which is a high quality electron beam suitable for the high gain, high efficiency, five-cavity gyroklystron amplifier. The successful design of the high quality electron gun is attributed to a longer gap between the modulating anode and the grounded anode compared with the case of the first 28GHz electron gun built with an iron enclosed electromagnet.     

CVL横向泵浦的染料激光放大器中泵浦光纵向分布对效率的影响

本文建立了一套较为全面地描述铜蒸汽激光器横向泵浦的染料激光放大器中各种效应的速率方程．首次计算、分析了泵渝光纵向分布在不同输入信号下对转换效率的影响，并且讨论了所得结果对于设计和改进染料激光放大器的理论指导意义．     

High efficiency and high brightness Raman conversion of dye laser radiation

A technique for efficient Raman conversion of an excimer pumped dye laser is described, based on the use of a Raman oscillator/amplifier combination. A photon conversion efficiency of 90% to first Stokes is demonstrated, with diffraction-limited beam quality.     

Calculation of the Electron Efficiency for a Two-Cavity Gyroklystron Amplifier by Using a Self-Consistent Code

The beam-wave interaction in a Ka-band, two-cavity fundamental gyroklystron amplifier is studied by using a self-consistent nonlinear simulation code. The electron efficiency for this gyroklystron amplifier is calculated, and the effect of various parameters, such as beam voltage, beam current, electron guiding center radius, velocity pitch ratio and drift tube length on the electron efficiency is discussed in detail.     

Efficient generation of tunable VUV laser radiation below 205 nm by SFM in BBO

Design and performance characteristics of a tunable dye laser system for sum frequency mixing (SFM) in a BBO crystal are presented. The system is composed of two tunable pulsed dye lasers pumped synchronously by the second harmonic of a commercial Nd:YAG laser. The radiation produced by the first dye laser is frequency doubled by second-harmonic generation (SHG) in KDP and subsequently mixed by SFM in BBO with the light of the second dye laser. The interest was focussed on generation of tunable laser radiation below 205 nm with high output power and long-time wavelength stability. High conversion efficiencies enable output energies of 100 J (20 kW) at 196 nm using only moderate Nd:YAG pump energies of 67 mJ. Altogether, a laser system with very good specifications for analytical application in the near VUV spectral region is reported.     

Picosecond optical parametric amplification of stimulated Raman as high peak-power source and ultra-sensitive preamplifier

We report the characteristics of the amplified stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) pulses generated in liquid benzene by a picosecond (ps) β-barium borate (BBO) optical parametric amplifier (OPA). When the OPA system was used as an energy amplifier for SRS pulses, with a pump energy of 2.4 mJ at 355 nm for the OPA, the maximum output energy of the amplified SRS was about 0.73 mJ for the signal and 0.18 mJ for the idler, the energy conversion efficiency was 30.4% from the pump beam to the amplified third order Stokes component at 635.1 nm. The total efficiency would be as high as 37.9% if the output of the idler is also included. The corresponding spectral line width of the amplified Raman pulse was 11.8 cm⁻¹ with a pulse width of 10.9 ps and a peak power of 67 MW. The OPA system was also used as an amplifier for very weak Raman signal, the slope gain factor of this amplifier was found to be as high as 4.1 × 10⁷ and the energy detection limit was as low as 14.8 aJ per pulse, or 48 photons at 635.1 nm, in particular. Such a detection limit corresponds to approximately 0.5 photons per pulse if the time-gate of the OPA is reduced to 150 fs and it is about the same as or even better than a recently report on the 0.75 photons detection limit for a 150-fs OPA of coherent signal at 800 nm.     

Experimental study of a broad-band XeCl double-pass amplifier with SBS mirror

An oscillator-amplifier XeCl laser system has been used to experimentally investigate the effectiveness of a liquid stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) mirror for correcting the spatial aberrations of broad-band laser radiation in a double-pass amplifier. It has been found that the SBS amplifier performance is strongly dependent on the intensity I _p exciting the Brillouin medium. A good beam reconstruction has been attained at I _p1GW/cm², whereas highly aberrated output beams have been delivered by the SBS amplifier for I _p>1 GW/cm². By comparing the broad-band SBS amplifier performance to that of the same amplifier with a dielectrically coated flat mirror at one end, it has been found that the use of a SBS mirror is advantageous to obtain lower divergence output beams only for low energy pump beams (<1 mJ).     

Efficient optically pumped NH3 amplifiers in the 10–12 μm region

A pulsed transversely excited CO₂ laser operating on the 9R(30) transition is used to optically pump mixtures of NH₃ in buffer gas. A simple oscillator/amplifier system characterizes the performance of the NH₃ amplifier in the 11 m region. Small-signal gain coefficients of >10%/cm measured on the aQ(3,3) transition at 10.7 m, while pump conversion efficiencies of 50% are shown to occur under saturation conditions. The NH₃ laser system is described by a rate-equation model, which is validated by comparison with experiment over a wide range of operating conditions. Measurements are made for NH₃ concentrations ranging from 0.05 to 0.2%, with Ar, N₂, and He buffer gas pressures from 170 to 700 Torr, and for gas temperatures from 200 to 300 K. Optically pumped NH₃ is shown to be a versatile and efficient system for the amplification of mid-infrared radiation.     

CW diode pumping and FM mode locking of a Nd: KGW laser

We have demonstrated cw diode end pumping of Nd: KGW, a novel solid-state gain medium, with up to 30% conversion efficiency into near-TEM₀₀ (M² < 1.05) output at = 1.067 µm for a pump level of 2.7 W. The slope efficiency was limited by intracavity reflections to 36%; however, direct comparison to a similar Nd:YAG laser indicates the same intrinsic slope efficiency of 60%. FM mode locking of this laser at 200 MHz has produced 12 ps pulses (compared to 16 ps for Nd: YAG), although an intracavity etalon was required. Considerable reduction in pulse width is possible (the line width limit is 0.5 ps) but different techniques may be necessary. Spatial hole burning was evident in both the 120 GHz free-running spectrum and the etalon-limited mode-locked spectrum.     

High Efficient C6H12 Raman Laser Enhanced by DCM Fluorescence

We report the first-order Stokes output （wavelength of 627.6 nm） from C6H12 enhanced by DCM dye fluorescence with high energy conversion efficiency of 47.9%, quantum conversion efficiency of 56.5%. To our knowledge, it is the highest conversion efficiency of stimulated Raman scattering obtained from liquid Raman laser. A 532nm frequency doubled Nd：YAG laser with 8 Hz repetition rate is employed as the pump source, and the enhancement medium is DCM dye solution in ethanol. The conversion efficiencies at various pump energies and various pump repetition rates are measured and analysed. The enhancement mechanism of SRS together with its potential application is discussed.     

High Power Er/Yb Codoped Double Clad Fiber Pulsed Amplifier Based on an All-Fiber Configuration

We report an all-fiber two-stage high power pulsed amplifier, seeded with a 1550nm, 1 kHz repetition rate rectangular pulse, and based on Er/Yb co-doped double clad fiber. All the characteristics are measured in the experiment. The maximal slope efficiency is 22.56%, which is the highest we know of at such a low repetition rate, and the maximal output signal power is 1W. The various factors that affect the pulsed amplifier performance are analyzed. A high output power while keeping high power conversion efficiency can be obtained with careful selection of the input power, pump power and repetition rate. The experimental results show that the crucial parameters should be optimized when designing all-fiber pulsed amplifiers.     

Gain dynamics of the 4.3 μm CO2 laser

A detailed study of the gain dynamics of the pulsed, optically pumped 4.3 m CO₂ laser is described. Small-signal gain coefficients as high as 14%/cm are measured in a 4.3 m amplifier using low-power pulses from a 4.3 m probe laser. The measurements are compared with a rate-equation model and good quantitative agreement is obtained. The model, which uses no adjustable parameters, is described in detail. Gain is studied as a function of optical pumping power, gas mixture, gas pressure and discharge excitation of the 4.3 m amplifier. Optimization of the gain is discussed.     

Performances of ZnO-Based Dye Sensitized Solar Cells Fabricated by Hydrothermal Synthesis and Sol-Gel Technique

ZnO is introduced as an alternative to TiO2 in dye sensitized solar cells （DSSCs） due to its band gap similar to TiO2, higher electron mobility, and flexible procedures of preparations. Several samples of ZnO films are prepared with the hydrothermal synthesis method and the sol-gel technique, respectively. These ZnO films were assembled as photoanodes in DSSCs using N3 dye as the sensitizer. The ZnO-based cells prepared by the hydrothermal synthesis show typical current source characteristics, whose fill factor （FF） is 0.44 and photo-to-electric power conversion efficiency is 0.34%. On the other hand, all the samples prepared with the sol-gel technique show accompanied source characteristics with relatively higher power conversion efficiencies （1%） but a lower FF （0.26）. X-ray diffraction （XRD） and atomic force microscopy （AFM） measurements indicate that the sol-gel samples have small particles sizes. Therefore, sol-gel samples could adsorb more dye molecules to generate high conversion efficiencies. At the same time, more grain boundaries make it more possible for injected electrons to recombine with the oxidized electrolyte. Hydrothermal samples have bigger grains, so they show poor conversion efficiency and relatively high FF.     

Phase-matched third-harmonic generation of Nd: Glass-laser picosecond pulses in a new cyanine-dye solution

The phase-matched direct tripling of picosecond light pulses of a mode-locked Nd: glass laser in a new cyanine dye PMC is studied. The solvents trifluoroethanol (TFE) and hexafluoroisopropanol (HFIP) are applied. The S ₀–S ₁ absorption peak of the dye is around =480 nm and the absorption cross section at the third-harmonic wavelength of ₃=351.3 nm is only ₃1×10^–19 cm². Phase-matching occurred at concentrations of C_PM=0.0874 mol/dm³ in HFIP and 0.1088 mol/dm³ in TFE. A third-harmonic energy conversion efficiency of _E0.01 was achieved at a pump-laser peak intensity of I _0L2.5×10¹¹ W/cm² in a 5 mm long sample of PMC in TFE. The conversion efficiency is limited by destruction of phase-matching due to the intensity-dependent nonlinear refractive index of the dye solutions.     

Optical frequency doubling of a single-mode dye laser in an external ring resonator

Optical frequency doubling of a single-mode cw Rhodamin 6G ring dye laser is performed with a thin angle-tuned LiIO₃ Brewster cut crystal in a stabilized passive ring resonator. A conversion efficiency of =5 mW uv/320 mW fundamental input power was achieved at =603 nm.