Study of the competition between forward and backward stimulated Raman scattering in methane

Simultaneous forward and backward stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) in methane pumped by a single longitudinal mode Nd:YAG laser at 355 nm has been investigated both experimentally and numerically. For forward SRS, a maximum energy-conversion efficiency of 55% was obtained under 24 atm, while for backward SRS the corresponding figure was 58% under 4.7 atm. Under low pressures or at low pump energies, the conversion efficiency for backward SRS was found to be much higher than that for forward SRS, while the situation is quite the contrary under high pressures and at high pump energies. A quasi-two-dimensional numerical model is introduced to elucidate the competition between forward and backward SRS; we conclude that the high-pressure and high-pump-energy experimental results should be caused by the thermal defocusing effect in the SRS process. This is confirmed by the experimental fact that a decrease of the pulse-repetition rate increases the conversion efficiency for backward SRS but decreases that for forward SRS under high pressures. Our calculated results are in good agreement with the experimental results at a pulse-repetition rate of 2 Hz. PACS 42.55.Ye; 42.65.Dr; 42.65.Es     

Threshold and conversion experiments on seeded stimulated Raman scattering

High energy-conversion efficiencies in Stimulated Raman Scattering (SRS) are demonstrated both in experiments and by simulations for pump powers below SRS threshold. The scattering is induced by a short seed pulse at the Stokes frequency, the pulse width of which is much shorter than the pump pulse width and which is comparable with the medium's dephasing time.     

Efficient sub-nanosecond intracavity optical parametric oscillator pumped with a passively Q-switched Nd:GdVO<Subscript>4</Subscript> laser

An efficient diode-pumped passively Q-switched Nd:GdVO₄/Cr⁴⁺:YAG laser was employed to generate a high-repetition-rate, high-peak-power eye-safe laser beam with an intracavity optical parametric oscillator (OPO) based on a KTP crystal. The conversion efficiency for the average power is 8.3% from pump diode input to OPO signal output and the slope efficiency is up to 10%. At an incident pump power of 14.5 W, the compact intracavity OPO cavity, operating at 46 kHz, produces average powers at 1571 nm up to 1.2 W with a pulse width as short as 700 ps. PACS 42.60.Gd; 42.65.Yj; 42.55.X     

Highly efficient Raman conversion in O2 pumped by a seeded narrow band second-harmonic Nd:YAG laser

The first-Stokes conversion efficiency for a stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) is usually very low in gaseous oxygen media. In 3.0 Mpa O₂, a single longitudinal mode second harmonic Nd:YAG laser pump source gives a typical vibrational first-Stokes conversion efficiency of only 2.5%, In comparison, the accompanying stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) attains a reflectivity of 67%. However, by seeding an OPO beam into the Raman cavity, the first-Stokes photon conversion efficiency now attains a peak value of 54%, while the SBS reflectivity reduces to 5% in a 6.1 Mpa 41:59 O₂/ He mixture. This 54% efficiency was obtained for a seeder laser pulse-width less than one half that of pump laser (6.8 ns). A first-Stokes peak power conversion efficiency as high as 88% has been obtained when the pump and seeder pulse peaks coincide. So, we may expect a higher first-Stokes photon conversion efficiency if the seeder pulse-width can be made equal to or larger than that of the pump pulse. On the other hand, the beam quality of the first-Stokes in an O₂/ He mixture excels that of the pump laser for a seeder energy of 5 mJ and pump energy of 50 mJ. However, at pump energies higher than 105 mJ and a pump laser repetition rate of 10 Hz, the thermal defocusing effect worsens the first-Stokes beam quality. This thermal defocusing effect is a result of the Raman heat release and could be eliminated by fast circulating and cooling the Raman gas medium.     

Theoretical models for the extracavity Raman laser with crystalline Raman medium

The rate equation model of an extracavity Raman laser is deduced for the first time to the best knowledge of the authors. The normalized radiation transfer equations of the extracavity Raman laser are given. The normalized radiation transfer equations and rate equations were solved numerically to find the optimum reflectivity of the output coupler to realize the maximum conversion efficiency at the first Stokes for both the single and double-pass pumping configurations. Also, the pulse duration of the first Stokes was investigated numerically. The rate equations are verified to be a good approximation to the radiation transfer equations for the regime of low Raman gain and long pump pulse duration. Furthermore, it is found that the optimum reflectivity of the first Stokes and the second Stokes threshold are influenced significantly by the minor feedback of the resonator mirror at the second Stokes. PACS 42.55 42.55.Ye; 42.65 42.65.Dr; 02.60 02.60.Lj; 63.20 63.20.-e     

三倍频Nd∶YAG激光抽运氧气中的受激拉曼和布里渊散射

报道了三倍频脉冲Nd∶YAG激光(355 nm)在两种不同带宽模式下抽运氧气中受激拉曼散射(SRS)和受激布里渊散射(SBS)的实验研究。在宽带(约1 cm-1)抽运模式下,只测到了前向受激拉曼散射,而没有观察到后向散射,其一级和二级斯托克斯最大能量转换效率可达22%和8%。在窄带(约0.003 cm-1)模式下,前向、后向受激拉曼散射和受激布里渊散射都测量到了,但大部分抽运能量都转换到受激布里渊散射,其转换效率可达67%。测量了两种带宽模式下各散射组分在它们最佳转换时的波形;窄带情况下后向受激拉曼散射和受激布里渊散射的脉宽分别可压窄至1.5 ns和2.3 ns,不到抽运脉宽的三分之一,使得受激布里渊散射峰值功率可大大高于抽运功率。对氧气中前向、后向受激拉曼散射和受激布里渊散射之间的竞争进行了讨论。     

三倍频Nd:YAG激光抽运氧气中的受激拉曼和布里渊散射

报道了三倍频脉冲Nd：YAG激光（355nm）在两种不同带宽模式下抽运氧气中受激拉曼散射（SRS）和受激布里渊散射（SBS）的实验研究。在宽带（约1cm^-1）抽运模式下,只测到了前向受激拉曼散射,而没有观察到后向散射,其一级和二级斯托克斯最大能量转换效率可达22％和8％。在窄带（约0．003cm^-1）模式下,前向、后向受激拉曼散射和受激布里渊散射都测量到了,但大部分抽运能量都转换到受激布里渊散射,其转换效率可达67％。测量了两种带宽模式下各散射组分在它们最佳转换时的波形;窄带情况下后向受激拉曼散射和受激布里渊散射的脉宽分别可压窄至1．5ns和2．3ns,不到抽运脉宽的三分之一,使得受激布里渊散射峰值功率可大大高于抽运功率。对氧气中前向、后向受激拉曼散射和受激布里渊散射之间的竞争进行了讨论。     

Power scale-up of the diode-pumped actively Q-switched Nd:YVO4 Raman laser with an undoped YVO4 crystal as a Raman shifter

With an undoped YVO₄ crystal as a Raman shifter, we substantially improved the reliability and the output performance of an actively Q-switched 1176-nm Nd:YVO₄ Raman laser. With an incident pump power of 18.7 W, the average power is greater than 2.6 W at 80 kHz. The pulse width of the pulse envelope is shorter then 5 ns with mode-locked modulation. With an incident pump power of 12.7 W, the pulse energy and peak power is higher than 43 μJ and 14 kW at 40 kHz. PACS 42.55.Ye; 42.55.Xi; 42.60.Gd     

热散焦效应对甲烷后向受激喇曼散射的影响

采用单纵模Nd:YAG二倍频激光泵浦,研究了CH4气体中的受激喇曼散射．实验发现,当激光的重复频率为2 Hz,1．1 MPa CH4中,泵浦能量为95 mJ时,后向一级斯托克斯(BS1)的量子转化效率可达73％,并且由于激光脉冲的张弛振荡,BS1的脉宽被压窄到1．2 ns,峰值功率达到了泵浦光功率的2．7倍,其光束质量大大优于泵浦光．在同样条件下,而重复频率为10 Hz时,BS1的量子转化效率降低为36％,但对光束质量影响不大,这是因为BS1呈现为与泵浦光波前翻转的复制光波,可以补偿热畸变．研究结果表明,如果设计一个CH4／He混合气体的带封闭循环冷却系统的高性能630 nm喇曼激光器,可能有其实际应用价值．     

High efficiency, high repetition rate, all-fiber picoseconds pulse MOPA source with 125?W output in 15?μm fiber core

A passive mode-locked fiber laser-delivered 13?ps pulse is saturatedly amplified with a four-stage amplifier chain. 125?W high power all-fiber picoseconds pulse laser is demonstrated in a 15-??m fiber core, and the optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of the main amplifier is up to 86.12?%. A home-made (6?+?1)?×?1 fiber combiner is used to couple the pump light and signal light into the gain double cladding fiber. In order to suppress the nonlinear effects in high-power picosecond fiber amplifiers, the repetition rate of the seed pulse is increased from 60?MHz to?~1?GHz; also the gain fibers are advisably selected. The amplified output spectrum is symmetrically broadened to several nanometers due to self-phase modulation (SPM). No stimulated Raman scattering (SRS), amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) and residual pump light are observed and the optical signal-to-noise ratio is more than 30?dB. The all-fiber picoseconds MOPA laser in this report can be easily performed with the conventional fiber handing equipments, and it has great potential to be applied as pump source in the fields of optical parametric oscillator, laser frequency-doubling and supercontinuum generation.     

Compact efficient self-frequency Raman conversion in diode-pumped passively Q-switched Nd:GdVO<Subscript>4</Subscript> laser

I report the first demonstration of the generation of efficient sub-nanosecond self-stimulated Raman pulses by a diode-pumped passively Q-switched Nd:GdVO₄/Cr⁴⁺:YAG laser. The conversion efficiency for the average power is 7% from pump diode input to self-Raman output and the slope efficiency is up to 14%. At an incident pump power of 2.0 W, the pulse duration, pulse energy, and peak power for the Stokes wavelength of 1175.6 nm were found to be 750 ps, 6.3 J, and 8.4 kW, respectively, with a pulse-repetition rate of 22 kHz. PACS 42.55.Ye; 42.55.Xi; 42.60.Gd     

Low-threshold lasing in stimulated Raman lasers with nanosecond pumping

We have studied the conditions resulting in maximum lowering of the excitation threshold for pulsed stimulated Raman (SRS) lasers. It has been shown theoretically that in order to achieve the lowest possible values of laser radiation pulse energy needed to excite lasing in SRS lasers, we need high reflection of the cavity mirrors and low losses at the wavelength of the 1st Stokes component, high reflection of the output mirror at the wavelength of the pump radiation, and also matching of the confocal parameters for the exciting laser radiation and the cavity with each other and with the length of the Raman-active medium. The experimentally achieved excitation threshold for an SRS laser based on a barium nitrate crystal was 6 μJ, which quantitatively corresponds well to the calculation results. Lasing of up to five Stokes components simultaneously occurred. The efficiency for conversion of the laser radiation to one component was as high as 39%. __________ Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Spektroskopii, Vol. 75, No. 2, pp. 284–290, March–April, 2008.     

Stimulated Raman spectra generated by ps-pulses in a single-mode fiber

Efficient frequency conversion of 5 ps-pulses from a cavity dumped Rh6G-dye laser by stimulated-Raman-scattering (SRS) into the first and second Stokes order has been achieved. The simulateneously produced asymmetric spectrical broadening of the pump pulses leads to double peaks in the Raman spectrum. By means of spectrally resolved cross-correlation measurements with 2 ps pulses from a second synchronized dye laser, the relative arrival time of the various spectral components is measured. Furthermore it is shown that the effect of a reduction of the pump peak power by SPM is partially compensated by the temporal broadening of the pump pulses leading to a longer interaction length for SRS.     

Highly stable and efficient KTP-based intracavity optical parametric oscillator with a diode-pumped passively Q-switched laser

We present in this paper a highly stable and efficient KTP-based intracavity optical parametric oscillator with a diode-end-pumped Nd:YVO₄/Cr:YAG passively Q-switched laser. At the incident diode pump power of 4 W, the signal (1.57 μm) and idler (3.29 μm) average output powers up to 580 and 100 mW, respectively, have been achieved. The corresponding conversion efficiency from the input diode pump power to the output signal power is 14.5%, while that to the total OPO output (signal+idler) reaches 17%. To the best of our knowledge, these are the highest conversion efficiencies reported to date. After more than four hours of investigation, the OPO power stability better than 2% has been obtained. In addition, efficient cavity dumping of the IOPO has inevitably led to the short pulse duration (1.6 ns) and high peak power output (8.3 kW) at the signal wave. Additionally, the amplitude and repetition rate fluctuations of the signal pulses are well within 5%. PACS 42.55.Xi; 42.60.Gd; 42.60.Lh; 42.65.Yj     

液芯波导中受激动力学散射与受激拉曼散射的竞争

研究了液芯波导中受激拉曼散射和受激动力学散射的阈值随泵浦激光脉宽的变化，发现受激动力学散射的阈值随泵浦脉冲前沿增长率增大而下降。研究了受激动力学散射和受激拉曼散射的竞争，结果表明受激动力学散射可分解为两种成分，其中与瞬态泵浦功率密度增长率相关的成分在大于阈值的泵浦脉冲前沿处于竞争优势，与瞬态泵浦功率密度相关的成分在高泵浦功率密度处于竞争优势，并讨论了其相应的机制。     

Cascaded compression of the first and second Stokes pulses during forward transient stimulated Raman amplification

The results of numerical modelling of cascaded compression of the first and second Stokes pulses during regenerative regime of the forward transient stimulated Raman amplification are presented for the case when the walk-off length of the first Stokes pulse due to group velocity mismatch is shorter than the length of the nonlinear medium. The influence of the initial amplitudes of the seed first Stokes pulses, its durations and its time delay with respect to the pump pulse, the Kerr nonlinearity of the medium on the conversion efficiency, duration and propagation factor M² of the first and second Stokes pulse are studied. It is demonstrated that for the pump pulse duration of 1 ps the duration of the compressed second Stokes pulses in a KGW crystal near the beam axis may be approximately 14 times shorter than the pump pulse duration. It is shown that the propagation factor of the compressed pulses increases significantly because of complex spatial-temporal dynamics of compression and the influence of Kerr nonlinearity of Raman medium.     

High-repetition-rate eye-safe intracavity KTA OPO driven by a diode-end-pumped Q-switched Nd:YVO4 laser

An eye-safe, high-repetition-rate, single-resonant nanosecond intracavity optical parametric oscillator (IOPO), based on a non-critically phase-matched KTA crystal driven by a diode-end-pumped acousto-optically Q-switchedNd:YVO4 laser, was demonstrated for the first time to our knowledge. With an absorbed pump power of 11.3 W, 1.1 W average power and 2.5 ns pulse width at the signal (1534 nm) wavelength for 30-kHz repetition rate are synchronously achieved with the 25 mm long KTA crystal. The corresponding peak power and single pulse energy are estimated to be up to 14.7 kW and 36.7 μJ. The conversion efficiency from diode laser power to OPO signal output power was 9.8% and the corresponding slope efficiency was 15.4%. PACS 42.60.Gd; 42.65.Yj; 42.55.Xi     

Operation of a Raman laser in bulk silicon

A Raman laser based on a bulk silicon single crystal with 1.127 μm emission wavelength is demonstrated. The Si crystal with 30 mm length was placed into an external cavity and pumped by a Q-switched Nd:YAG master oscillator power amplifier system. Strong defocusing of the pump and Raman laser beam by free carriers was compensated by an intracavity lens. Raman laser operation with a pulse duration of 2.5 ns was identified by a Raman laser threshold significantly lower than the single-pass stimulated Raman-scattering threshold. Linear absorption losses of the 1.06415 μm pump radiation are strongly reduced by cooling the Si crystal to a temperature of 10 K.     

Experimental and numerical study of the switching dynamics of Raman fiber lasers

We present an experimental and numerical survey of the switching behavior of cascaded Raman fiber lasers (RFLs). When these lasers are switched on, the output power shows a pulsing behavior where the pulse powers strongly exceed the steady-state output powers. The influence of the pump-laser and fiber properties of a RFL on this dynamical behavior is investigated both experimentally and numerically, where experiments and simulations showed good qualitative agreement. PACS 42.55.Wd; 42.55.Ye; 42.60.Lh     

Transient stimulated raman scattering in crystals during motion of populations of vibrational states

Transient stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) in crystals is analyzed taking into account the motion of populations of vibrational states under the action of subpicosecond (shorter than the dephasing time) pump pulses. Analytic expressions describing the dynamics of excitation of vibrations in SRS are derived. It is found that for a small wavelength of SRS interaction and high intensities of pump radiation observed for femtosecond SRS in crystals, avalanche excitation of vibrations can be responsible for SRS suppression. It is shown that when phase matching of Stokes-anti-Stokes parametric coupling in transient SRS is ensured, it is possible to elevate the efficiency of frequency conversion under conditions of motion of populations of vibrational states; this explains recent successful results in the experimental implementation of femtosecond SRS in crystals pumped by a Bessel beam.