169 MHz repetition frequency all-fiber passively mode-locked erbium doped fiber laser

Passively mode-locked stretched-pulse erbium fiber laser is presented. With all-fiber configuration 111 fs pulses were achieved with the fundamental repetition rate of 169 MHz and an average output power of more than 30 mW. Proposed setup shows excellent stability, reliability and ‘turn-key’ operation. The impact of the pump power on laser parameters is described.     

Research on temperature field characteristics of optical films under 1064 nm short-pulse laser radiation

The 3-D temperature field distribution (TFD) equation of optical films (OFs) was analyzed, based on the film temperature field distribution (FTFD) model irradiated by Gaussian short-pulse laser, and short-pulse laser-induced temperature field distribution of TiO₂/SiO₂ composite membranes on K9 glasses was obtained by means of numerical simulation. The results show that the thermal effect of optical films is very obvious under the Gaussian short-pulse laser. Temperature at the center of the spot rises faster than in other areas, and it decreases along the radius rapidly. It provides theoretical basis for progress analysis of short-pulse laser acting on optical films.     

All-optical synchronization of a 40 GHz self-pulsating distributed Bragg reflector laser to return-to-zero 10, 20 and 40 Gbit/s data streams

This paper presents experimental investigations of the all-optical synchronization of a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) laser self-pulsating at 40 GHz on various injected bit-rate signals. Even though there is no modulation applied to this laser, it exhibits a modulation of its output emission, measured at 39.7 GHz with a linewidth of 30 MHz. Such performance is exploited in all-optical clock recovery for a return-to-zero data stream at 40 Gbit/s. The SP-DBR laser wavelength and the injected signal wavelength are 10 nm apart. All-optical synchronization is demonstrated at 40 Gbit/s with a linewidth of less than 20 MHz for injected signals at 10 and 20 Gbit/s, respectively. Thus the SP-DBR laser proves to be very versatile and can be synchronized on various bit-rate data signals.     

Compact 7.8-W 1-GHz-repetition-rate passively mode-locked TEM00 Nd:YVO4 laser under 880 nm diode direct-in-band pumping

We demonstrate a compact high-power passively mode-locked TEM₀₀ Nd:YVO₄ laser with 1 GHz repetition rate by 880 nm diode direct-in-band pumping. At the absorbed pump power of 19.9 W, a stable mode-locked output power of 7.8 W was obtained with the pulse width of 21.4 ps and a beam quality factor of M² < 1.5, corresponding to an optical-optical conversion efficiency of 39.2%.     

Generation of 25 ps pulses by self induced mode locking of a single broad area diode laser with 300 mW average output power

Detailed investigations of the spatiotemporal and spectral emission properties of a high power diode laser are presented. The AR coated laser diode with design wavelength of 940 nm is driven in an external resonator. The laser generates up to 340 mW average output power in a train of picosecond pulses with durations of 25 ps and repetition rates of 2.6 GHz. The mechanism of mode locking is discussed as self pulsation because of the strong correlation between round trip time and repetition rate. The double-sided exponential pulses suggest saturable absorber action.     

Optical gain spectra of unstrained graded GaAs/AlxGa1 − xAs quantum well laser

We have calculated the optical gain spectra in unstrained graded GaAs/Al_xGa_1 − xAs single quantum well lasers as a function of the energy of the radiation, the quantum well width and the interface thickness. The optical gain spectra were calculated using the density matrix approach (Luttinger–Kohn method), considering the parabolic band model (conduction band), all subband mixing between the heavy and light holes (valence band), and the transversal electrical light polarization. Our results show that the optical peak gain is sensitive to the width and the graded profile of the interfaces, and is blue-shifted as a function of the interface width.     

Quantum cascade laser spectroscopy of N2O in the 7.9 μm region for the in situ monitoring of the atmosphere

A quantum cascade laser spectrometer was used in the Groupe de Spectrométrie Moléculaire et Atmosphérique of Reims (France) to precisely study nitrous oxide (N₂O) line parameters near 7.9 μm. The spectral region ranging from 1275 to 1280 cm^-1, which is suitable for the in situ measurement of N₂O in the atmosphere from balloon-borne measurements, was studied using a commercial laser from Alpes Lasers. Five lines of the ν₁ band of N₂O have been studied. The results of intensity measurements, air-broadening coefficients and their variation with temperature from −58 °C up to ambient temperature are compared with previous determinations and available databases. These results demonstrate that these parameters for N₂O are quite well known in the literature. Parameters obtained in this work are given with a very high precision.     

Photonic generation of 60 GHz-band vector signals for RoF systems based on optical vector signal down-conversion

A novel photonic method of 60 GHz-band vector signal generation for RoF systems based on optical vector signal down-conversion is proposed and experimentally demonstrated in this paper. In the proposed method, the target vector signals are first generated in the optical domain with the help of mature commercial optical devices and then directly distributed to the base stations (BSs) through the fiber link. The generated vector signals can be automatically down-converted to the 60 GHz band in the BSs after O/E conversion, and then directly transmitted to the users without any further processing. With the proposed method, higher spectrum efficiency and system capacity will be obtained compared with the traditional OOK RoF systems while almost no extra system complexity and cost is brought in. According to the characteristics of different types of vector signals, two particular modulation schemes are provided, which are then verified by corresponding simulations and experiments. In the experimental 60 GHz RoF system, the 622 MSym/s 60 GHz-band 8-QAM and 4-QAM signals generated with two different schemes respectively are successfully transmitted over 50 km SMF and 5 m wireless channel without any compensation, and the power penalty are both about 1.7 dB at the BER of 10^− 9.