Convergence of general beams into Gaussian intensity profiles after propagation in turbulent atmosphere

It is shown that a general shaped laser beam will eventually approach a Gaussian average intensity profile after propagation in turbulent atmosphere. In our formulation, source field at the exit plane of the laser is taken as the product of arbitrary functions of source transverse coordinates with Gaussian exponential modulations. Following the expansion of the arbitrary functions in terms of Hermite polynomials, the average receiver intensity expression is derived using the extended Huygens-Fresnel principle and the conditions for the intensity profile to assume a Gaussian shape are stated. The results are illustrated by simulating various source field distributions.     

Optimal Truncation of Element Beam in a Coherent Fiber Laser Array

The beam quality of a coherent fiber laser array often suffers from the low fill factor of the Gaussian laser array. One simple and effective approach to improve the fill factor is to truncate the array element properly. An analytical expression for far-field intensity distribution of a truncated coherent fiber laser array is derived. Optimal truncation of the element beam in different coherent fiber laser arrays is obtained by using energy encircled in the far-field central-lobe as the beam quality criterion. By optimal truncation, energy encircled in the central-lobe can be 97% compared with the ideal case. The shift in optimal truncation parameter in the case of phase noise is also analyzed.     

Calculation of the Spatio-Temporal Dynamics of Q-switched Yb^3＋：YAG Laser with an Unstable Cavity and a Super-Gaussian Mirror

A numerical simulation used to compute the spatio-temporal dynamics of pulse formation of diode-pumped Q- switched Yb： YA G laser is carried out. The model takes the laser amplification and gain saturation, the properties of the laser cavity, and the diffractive effects of the laser disc into account. The numerical calculation is performed for a confocal positive-branch unstable resonator with a super Gaussian coupling mirror. The simulation results show that the laser pulse starts from a Gaussian intensity distribution and becomes rapidly non-Gaussian. The corresponding beam quality M^2 factor is seen to vary approximately from 1.5 at the beginning of the formation of pulse to more than 10 in the tail of the pulse, with a value of 11.6 at the peak of the pulse.     

Three-Rod Resonator for Krypton Lamp Pumped 1.8 kW Continuous-Wave Nd：YAG Laser

A three-rod series resonator cw Nd:YAG laser suitable for the industrial applications is presented. The symmetrical resonator laser has been developed and is rated at 1820-W output power with beam parameter product 24 mm.mrad. By utilizing the symmetrical resonator design, the characteristic of beam with multi-rod is not obviously decreased compared with that of a single one. The system total electro-optics efficiency of lamp pumped YAG crystal is as high as 4.0%. The main factors, which affect output power and beam quality of high power solid-state laser module, are theoretically analysed.     

Propagation characteristics of higher-order annular Gaussian beams in atmospheric turbulence

The propagation characteristics of higher-order annular Gaussian (HOAG) beams in turbulence are investigated. From a HOAG source plane excitation, the average intensity of the receiver plane is developed analytically. This formulation is verified against the previously derived HOAG beam solution in free space. The graphical outputs indicate that, upon traveling in turbulent atmosphere, the HOAG beam will undergo different stages of evolution. At intermediate propagation distances, it will attempt to concentrate the energy near the origin. In this process, the appearance of the single higher-order primary beam will be encountered. Eventually HOAG originated beam will become a pure Gaussian beam after propagating an excessive distance in the turbulent medium.     

InnoSlab混合腔输出光束质量的理论研究

对InnoSlab Laser用混合腔的输出光束质量问题从热透镜效应和腔镜的不对准两个方面的影响进行理论分析,并从远场光强分布、远场发散角、光腰半径、光束质量因子M²值和桶中功率曲线等几个角度进行了讨论,特别是离轴非稳腔方向上腔镜倾斜对光束质量的影响,利用M²值和PIB曲线两个参数共同评价非稳腔的光束质量,对目前并无统一标准的非稳腔光束质量评价问题提供了有意义的参考. 关键词： InnoSlab 混合腔 光束质量 桶中功率     

Liquid-cooled ceramic Nd:YAG split-disk amplifier for high-average-power laser

A liquid-cooled ceramic Nd:YAG split-disk laser amplifier has been designed for a high-average-power laser system. The maximum average output power of 17.1 W (1.71 J at 10 Hz) and the beam size of far-field pattern with 1.5 times diffraction limit was obtained. The combination of liquid cooling for disk laser material and wavefront compensation with a phase conjugation mirror was demonstrated. The wavefront degradation by liquid cooling was observed and measured with Michelson interferometer and far-field patterns.     

Propagation analysis of flattened circular Gaussian beams with a circular aperture in turbulent atmosphere

The propagation properties of flattened Gaussian beam with aperture in turbulent atmosphere have been studied by using the extended Huygens-Fresnel principle. From the study and numerical calculation, the effects of aperture on the propagation of flattened Gaussian beams in turbulent atmosphere have been illuminated. It shows that when the value of the truncation parameter δ is bigger, for example δ?2, the effects of aperture on the propagation properties are too small to be neglected. But when the truncation parameter δ is smaller, for example δ<2, the effects of aperture are complex. The peak value of the average intensity descends more rapidly and the beam spot spreads quicker with aperture than that without aperture when the propagation distance increases. Meanwhile, with the propagation distance increasing, the average intensity profiles of flattened Gaussian beams gradually convert into Gaussian average intensity profiles. In addition, some limiting cases are also discussed. It agrees with the existing results.     

Folded diffractive laser resonators with user-defined fundamental mode

The adjustment effort required for the alignment of laser resonators with arbitrarily shaped end mirrors can be significantly reduced by folding the resonator path half-way between the two end mirrors and by slightly tilting the resonator axis. Thus the resulting resonator consists only of one diffractive mirror and a plane mirror, and the separate alignment of both diffractive end mirrors with respect to each other can be avoided. This principle is demonstrated by a Nd:YAG laser with super-Gaussian output beam. Furthermore, it is shown theoretically that the influence of phase quantization effects on the beam quality can be strongly reduced as a consequence of the tilted resonator axis.     

High-beam-quality, 5.1 J, 108 Hz diode-pumped Nd:YAG rod oscillator-amplifier laser system

A high efficiency, high beam quality diode-pumped Nd:YAG master oscillator power-amplifier (MOPA) laser with six amplifier stages is demonstrated. The oscillator with two-rod birefringence compensation was designed as a thermally determined near hemispherical resonator, which presents a pulse energy of 223 mJ with a beam quality value of M² = 1.29 at a repetition rate of 108 Hz. The MOPA system delivers a pulse energy of 5.1 J with a pulse width of 230 μs, a M² factor of 3.6 and an optical-to-optical efficiency of 38.5%. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest pulse energy for a diode-pumped Nd:YAG rod laser operation with a high beam quality and a pulse width of hundreds of microseconds at a repetition rate of over 100 Hz.     

一维激光阵列相干合束远场特性的研究

利用傅里叶光学方法,获得了相干合束远场光强的解析表达式,数值模拟和实验研究了一维锁相二极管激光阵列的相干合束远场特性。研究表明:随着参与合束的发光单元数目的增加,尖峰变锐;同相模的光能集中在更小的立体角内,使得相干合束的亮度增加;异相模的光束能量较为分散,其峰值光强有所降低。系统抖动引起远场峰值光强的降低,破坏了远场的对称性和光束质量。相干合束发光单元数目越多,系统抖动对远场的影响便可以忽略。     

High efficiency TEM00 mode, diode-pumped, conduction-cooled, Nd:YAG zig-zag slab laser

We report a compact, conduction-cooled, highly efficient, continuous wave (CW) Nd:YAG slab laser in diode-side-pumped geometry. To achieve high efficiency, a novel laser head for Nd:YAG slab has been developed. For an absorbed pump power of 27.6 W, maximum output power of 10.4 W in multimode and 8.2 W in near-diffraction-limited beam quality has been obtained. Slope and optical-to-optical conversion efficiencies are 45.3% and 37.7% in multimode with beam quality factors (M²) in x and y directions equal to 32 and 8, respectively. TEM₀₀ mode operation was achieved in a hybrid resonator with slope and optical-to-optical conversion efficiencies of 43.2% and 29.7%, respectively. Beam quality factors in x and y directions are ?1.5 and ?1.6 for the whole output power range. The laser radiation was linearly polarized and polarization contrast ratios are >1200:1 in the multimode and 1800:1 in the TEM₀₀ mode operation. In passive Q-switching with Cr⁴⁺:YAG crystal of 68% initial transmission, 18 ns pulsewidth has been achieved with an average power of 2 W at a repetition rate of 16 kHz.     

XPS studies of short pulse laser interaction with copper

The effect of laser ablation on copper foil irradiated by a short 30 ns laser pulse was investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The laser fluence was varied from 8 to 16.5 J/cm² and the velocity of the laser beam from 10 to 100 mm/s. This range of laser fluence is characterized by a different intensity of laser ablation. The experiments were done in two kinds of ambient atmosphere: air and argon jet gas.The chemical state and composition of the irradiated copper surface were determined using the modified Auger parameter (α′) and O/Cu intensity ratio. The ablation atmosphere was found to influence the size and chemical state of the copper particles deposited from the vapor plume. During irradiation in air atmosphere the copper nanoparticles react with oxygen and water vapor from the air and are deposited in the form of a CuO and Cu(OH)₂ thin film. In argon atmosphere the processed copper surface is oxidized after exposure to air.     

Automatic alignment of a high-power CO2 laser resonator

An on-line, electronic feedback approach for automatic alignment of a laser resonator is described. A measure of the resonator alignment error is derived by partitioning a 1% sample of the laser output into quadrants, and using standard electronic circuits to compare the average power present in each quadrant. A motorized X — Y alignment system is then used to implement the alignment changes required to maintain optimum output quality from the laser. The system is shown capable of stabilizing the output power in each quadrant of the beam to within about 2% of the optimum level.     

Frequency stabilization and transverse mode discrimination in injection-seeded unstable resonator TEA CO2 lasers

Longitudinal mode selection by injection has been demonstrated as a viable technique for TEA-CO₂ lasers with pulse energies of a Joule or greater. Once reliable generation of single-longitudinal-mode (SLM) pulses is obtained, one can study the characteristics and the causes of intrapulse frequency variation. These include the effect of the decaying plasma, the thermal gradient due to the energy dissipation associated with the laser mechanism itself, and the pressure shift of the center frequency of the laser transition. The use of the positive-branch unstable resonator as an efficient means of coupling a discharge with large spatial dimensions to an optical cavity mode introduces another concern: namely, what can be done to emphasize transverse mode discrimination in an unstable resonator cavity while maintaining high coupling efficiency. These issues are discussed in this paper, and relevant experimental results are included.     

千瓦级COIL-UR90实验研究

 首次报导了千瓦级化学氧碘激光器（COIL）采用束转动90°环形非稳腔(UR90)的实验结果,测量了输出光斑的近场相位分布及远场强度分布, 当激光输出平均功率为2kW时,光束质量因子b =3~4。     

Influence of spatial mode matching in end-pumped solid state lasers

We present investigations on the influence of mode matching on the efficiency of longitudinally pumped solid state lasers. In a theoretical part we enhance an existing model for four level lasers from idealized cylindrical modes to arbitary pump and laser modes in a random relative position thereby neglecting beam deformation due to thermal effects. The theoretical predictions were confirmed experimentally with an end-pumped Nd:YAG rod operated at 1064 nm. To investigate the effect of misalignment on the efficiency we used a Ti-Sapphire pump laser which was displaced relative to the laser beam. To establish the influence of arbitary pump modes on laser performance a diode laser equipped with coupling optics served as pump source for the same resonator. The resulting decrease in slope efficiency compared to the Ti-Sapphire pumped system could be explained in terms of limited mode overlap due to the characteristic pump field distribution produced by the diode coupling optics.     

Lengthening the Lifetime of Long Plasma Channel in Air Generated by Femtosecond Laser Pulse

We theoretically investigate the lifetime of self-guided plasma channel in air by launching an auxiliary delayed long-pulsed laser beam following an ultrashort laser. A detailed model makes the electron-ion recombination, the attachment of electrons on neutral particles, and particularly the impact ionization and electron-detachment mechanism incorporate. The calculated results show that the temporal evolution of electron density is greatly flattened and broadened. When the auxiliary laser intensity exceeds the threshold 3.32 × 10^4 Wcm^-2, the channel lifetime is distinctly prolonged from nanosecond to microsecond, or even longer due to the electrical field enhancement. Furthermore, with the laser intensity up to 109 Wcm^-2, the impact ionization overwhelms the detachment in effect. Thus, it is an effective way to extend the channel lifetime and provides a real opportunity for applications.     

1 W tunable near diffraction limited light from a broad area laser diode in an external cavity with a line width of 1.7 MHz

A novel unstable external cavity for a broad area laser diode is presented. The cavity is based on a V-shaped setup that improves the slow axis beam quality by coupling the internal modes of a gain guided laser diode. The novelty here is the compact unstable resonator design without lenses in direction of the slow axis. For frequency stabilisation and to narrow the line width of the laser diode emission a diffraction grating in a Littrow configuration is used. With this setup up to 1 W of near diffraction limited light with a beam quality of M² ? 1.3 and a line width of 1.7 MHz could be achieved. The external cavity laser was tunable over a range of 35 nm (FWHM) around the center wavelength of 976 nm.     

固体激光器光束合成特性分析

光束合成是研制高功率、高光束质量固体激光器的必由途径.建立板条介质固体激光器阵列光束合成的理论模型,从子束间距、整体相位差、偏振态、随机像差等方面,分析了合成光束的远场特性.通过数值模拟可以看到,子束间距决定了合成光束远场光斑的衍射旁瓣的大小和多少;子束间整体相位差决定着合成光束远场中心光斑是否分离,并影响着峰值光强和...