Laser beacon wave-front sensing without focal anisoplanatism

Wave-front sensing from artificial beacons is normally performed by formation of a focused spot in the atmosphere and sensing of the wave-front distortions produced during the beam's return passage. We propose an alternative method that senses the distortions produced during the outgoing path by forming an intensity pattern in the atmosphere that is then viewed from the ground. A key advantage of this method is that a parallel beam is used, and therefore the wave-front measurements will not suffer from the effects of focal anisoplanatism. We also envisage other geometries, all based on the concept of projecting a pupil pattern onto the atmosphere.     

受激旋转喇曼散射效应对强紫外激光聚焦特性的影响

采用Maxwell-Bloch-Langevin 方程,建立了强紫外激光在空气传输中的瞬态受激旋转喇曼散射（SRRS）效应模型;利用相位均方根（RMS）梯度描述的随机相位屏表示低频相位畸变,用扰动幅度表征的随机相位屏描述中、高频相位畸变,建立了相位畸变模型.讨论了强紫外激光在空气长程传输中所产生的受激旋转喇曼散射（SRRS）效应对其聚焦光斑形态的变化,定量分析了焦斑半径随入射强紫外激光的空间相位畸变及传输距离的变化.研究结果表明：当传输距离超过阈值条件时,焦斑半径随传输距离的增大而明显增大,且相位畸变越大,焦斑半径也越大.     

Structural modifications of silicon-implanted GaAs induced by the athermal annealing technique

We have used high-resolution X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy to investigate structural modifications inside and outside the focal region of Si-implanted GaAs samples that have been irradiated at high power by a focused short-pulse laser. Si atoms implanted into the GaAs matrix generate exciton-induced local lattice expansion, resulting in a satellite on the lower-angle side of the Bragg peak. After the laser pulse irradiation, surface features inside and outside the focal spot suggest the presence of Bernard convection cells, indicating that a rapid melting and re-crystallization has taken place. Moreover, the laser irradiation induces a compressive strain inside the focal spot, since the satellite appears on the higher-angle side of the Bragg peak. The stress maximizes at the center of the focal spot and extends far outside the irradiated area (approximately 2.5-mm away from the bulls eye), suggesting the propagation of a laser-induced mechanical wave. The maximum compressive stress inside the focal spot corresponds to 2.7 GPa. Raman spectra inside the focal spot resemble that of pristine GaAs, indicating that rapid melting has introduced significant heterogeneity, with zones of high and low Si concentration. X-ray measurements indicate that areas inside the focal spot and annealed areas outside of the focal spot contain overtones of a minor tetragonal distortion of the lattice, consistent with the observed relaxation of Raman selection rules when compared with the parent zinc-blende structure. PACS 61.72.Vv; 62.50.+p; 71.55.Eq; 79.20.Ds; 81.05.Ea     

用于快点火的激光驱动器组束方式

 根据实现快点火激光的预估参数要求,分析了非相干组束和相干组束是否可满足快点火所需的激光功率密度和能量。引入与实际情况相当的畸变波前分析远场焦斑,为了满足能量要求非相干组束需要组合更多的光束,并改进驱动器的稳定性将角漂控制在±2 μrad范围内;相干组束可获得更小的焦斑有利于提高功率密度,同时可降低对能量的要求,但仅对单路光分别进行波前补偿并不能提高能量集中度,需要引入复杂的监测和控制设备对整个通光孔径内的波前(包括束内和束间)进行全局控制。基于目前提出的参数要求和波前校正能力,非相干合成更易实现快点火,但相干合成则具有更广泛的应用潜力。     

激光脉冲宽度对有质动力加速电子的影响

基于真空中单电子运动模型,编程计算得到了高斯激光脉冲与初始位于激光传播轴上电子的相互作用结果。不同激光参鼍条件下,得到了电子的能量增益与激光强度、焦斑大小和脉冲宽度关系。结果表明,高斯激光脉冲焦斑较大时,电子没有明显的能量增益,高斯激光脉冲焦斑太小时,电子也没有明显的能量增益。电子的能量增益有一个最佳焦斑大小。在相同激光强度下,电子能量增益的最佳焦斑大小随脉冲宽度的增大而增大,但最佳焦斑大小与脉冲宽度的比值基本上是不变的。     

Holographic optical elements as scanning lidar telescopes

We have developed and investigated the use of holographic optical elements (HOEs) and holographic transmission gratings for scanning lidar telescopes. Rotating a flat HOE in its own plane with the focal spot on the rotation axis makes a very simple and compact conical scanning telescope. We developed transmission and reflection HOEs for use at the first three harmonic wavelengths of Nd:YAG lasers. The diffraction efficiency, diffraction angle, focal length, focal spot size and optical losses were measured for several HOEs and holographic gratings, and found to be suitable for use as lidar receiver telescopes, and in many cases could also serve as the final collimating and beam steering optic for the laser transmitter. Two lidar systems based on this technology have been designed, built, and successfully tested in atmospheric science applications. This technology will enable future spaceborne lidar missions by significantly lowering the size, weight, power requirement and cost of a large aperture, narrow field of view scanning telescope.     

利用光斑图像特征确定飞秒激光有效烧蚀焦距

为确定飞秒激光光束对微尺度结构的烧蚀深度,研究了给定功率条件下对应的激光束有效烧蚀焦距。提出采用激光焦点处获得的烧痕阵列图像及在离焦状态下提取烧痕图像特征,通过分析图像特征与离焦距离,获得激光束有效烧蚀焦距范围的方法。在激光束焦点附近的硅晶片表面烧蚀出斑痕阵列,向下逐渐减小焦距,采集硅晶片斑痕图像,提取斑痕平均像素面积及斑痕目标与背景之间的R分量灰度差,获得斑痕像素面积及灰度差随激光束焦距变化的曲线;向上逐渐增大焦距,提取并获得斑痕像素面积及灰度差随激光束焦距变化的曲线。结合激光束向下离焦阈值(633 μm)及向上离焦阈值(993 μm),确定20 mW输出功率条件下,飞秒激光在硅晶片材料表面的有效烧蚀深度为360 μm。采用中位值方法确定了激光束在硅晶片表面聚焦时的焦距为0.823 mm。实验表明,激光烧蚀斑痕像素面积及灰度差与激光束焦距之间的关系能够客观地反映激光束有效烧蚀焦距的变化范围。     

Generation and characterization of the highest laser intensities (10(22) W/cm2)

We generated a record peak intensity of 0.7 x 10(22) W/cm2 by focusing a 45-TW laser beam with an f/0.6 off-axis paraboloid. The aberrations of the paraboloid and the low-energy reference laser beam were measured and corrected, and a focal spot size of 0.8 microm was achieved. It is shown that the peak intensity can be increased to 1.0 x 10(22) W/cm2 by correction of the wave front of a 45-TW beam relative to the reference beam. The phase and amplitude measurement provides for an efficient full characterization of the focal field.     

Effect of photon density with varying transverse electro-magnetic modes in laser-guided discharges

Experiments have been carried out to investigate the characteristics of a breakdown threshold voltage as a function of various transverse electro-magnetic modes (TEM) in laser-guided discharges (LGD). The electrical breakdown was effectively guided to the location of the laser focal spot on a metallic target by using a pulsed Nd:YAG laser radiation. It is found that the minimum breakdown voltage in LGD depends upon the average density of photons reaching the electrode surface as a function of the mode of the injected laser beam.     

用于直接驱动的快速变焦新方案

在直接驱动方式的惯性约束聚变装置中, 实现中心点火对靶丸的辐照均匀性要求极高. 然而, 在激光脉冲持续时间内, 由于激光与靶丸的相互作用致使靶丸逐渐缩小, 从而导致辐照均匀性降低以及交叉光束能量转移等不利因素增强, 进而影响点火的进展. 为此, 提出了用于直接驱动的快速变焦新方案, 即利用特殊设计的电光晶体及电极结构, 对激光束附加一个实时、快速变化的球面波前, 以控制打靶激光束的聚焦位置和焦斑大小, 从而达到提高靶面辐照均匀性和抑制交叉光束能量转移的目的. 通过建立快速变焦的理论模型, 并基于激光与靶丸相互作用物理过程的分析, 对焦斑尺寸、附加球面波曲率半径等参数随时间的变化规律进行了数值模拟和分析. 结果表明, 本文提出的快速变焦方案可有效地实现对焦斑与靶丸半径比的实时控制, 且对空间滤波器滤波效果及三倍频转换效率并无明显影响.     

Beam quality improvement and focused peak intensity measurement of an intense femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser system

Micro-lens arrays were adopted to homogenize the beam profile of 532-nm pumping laser for the main amplifier of an intense femtosecond, chirped pulse amplification (CPA) Ti:sapphire laser. Experimental measurements showed a great improvement of the near-field pattern of the CPA beam after the main amplifier and the size of the focal spot was improved from 2.7 times diffraction limitation (DL) to 1.6 DL.The spot size focused by an f/4 off-axis parabola (OAP) in the target chamber was measured to be 5.8μm (full-width at half-maximum (FWHM)), and a peak intensity of 2.6 × 1020 W/cm2 was obtained at the output power of 120 TW. Peak intensity exceeding 1021 W/cm2 or even 1022 W/cm2 can be expected with smaller f-number focusing configuration and wavefront correction.     

角量控制的激光天线设计

在多环检测系统理论的基础[4,5]上,通过对激光天线单镜和双反射镜的高斯光束的传播规律和双镜距控制光斑稳定不变的实验数据[1,2],来进行激光天线的设计。设计采用了高斯光束控制入射光束的光腰位置,对天线副镜和主镜的入射角、反射角和天线发散角的控制方法,设计了天线的副镜和主镜的曲率半径、焦距和直径,达到了光斑保持的目的。计算公式简单,使用方便,计算公式和实验测定的数据误差在工程设计要求的范围以内,适合工程设计的需要。     

A focussing funnel for metastable helium

We have constructed a magneto-optical funnel for He atoms and studied its properties using a laser cooled, highly mono-energetic atomic beam. A simple model of its action allows us to quantitatively understand the observed spot size and “focal length”. We show that for a fast beam, the velocity damping coefficient plays an important role in determining the focal length of the device. The observed spot size is limited mainly by transverse heating processes which impose a transverse velocity spread. The device also permits easy scanning of the focussed spot. Received 30 October 1998 and Received in final form 27 January 1999     

玻璃基底Wolter-1型X射线聚焦镜研制及测试

Wolter-1型X射线聚焦镜可将掠入射的X射线反射至焦平面处,具有较强的成像探测能力,在天文探测等领域中具有重要作用.通过建立几何模型对反射镜面及反射光线方程进行理论计算,推导出了适用于以玻璃为基底材料的聚焦镜设计参数方程,可用于对此类聚焦镜进行理论设计,依据理论设计,采用具有极高表面光洁度的超薄肖特D263T玻璃经热弯成型后作为反射镜基底,在反射镜表面制备金属铱薄膜作为反射膜研制了Wolter-1型反射镜组,并使用激光三维扫描仪对所研制的聚焦镜片面型进行了测试.测试结果显示,实际镜片面型与理想镜片面型公差在10 μm以内的测试点占总测试点的50%.通过搭建可见光条件下的焦斑测试系统,使用图像采集相机采集焦斑的灰度图像,通过图像分析软件分析计算该灰度图像的灰度分布来定量分析焦斑的能量分布情况,从而确定焦斑特性参数.实验结果显示：研制出的聚焦镜片焦距为1.6 m,焦斑的半能量包围直径为0.33 mm,对应角分辨率为0.7角分.     

Deformable mirrors based on piezoelectric unimorph microactuator array for adaptive optics correction

This paper describes a piezoelectric deformable mirror (DM) for adaptive optics (AO) applications, with a 100 μm thick silicon mirror driven by 61 unimorph microactuators. Measurement results show that the stroke of the DM is ~ 7.4 μm at 100 V, and the resonance frequency is at 18 kHz. To demonstrate the correction capability of the DM, low-order Zernike modes up to 14th term were reproduced. Furthermore, a close-loop correction of laser beam in a 633 nm helium-neon laser system was performed. After system aberrations being compensated, a focal spot approximate to Airy disk was achieved.     

Cl+HN3产生NCl(a1Δ)和NCl(b1∑)的实验研究

对利用微波放电直接解离Cl2生成Cl, Cl与HN3反应生成NCl(a1Δ )和NCl(b1∑)的过程进行了实验研究。得到了较强的NCl(a1Δ 和NCl(b1∑)自发辐射光谱,考察了Cl2流量和He/Cl2配比对NCl(a1Δ 和NCl(b1∑)生成的影响。发现对于一定的He流量,Cl2流量对NCl(a1Δ 和NCl(b1∑)生成的影响存在一最佳范围,而最佳He/Cl2配比不是一定值,而是随He流量升高而变大,在实验所考察的He流量范围（5~40 L/min）内,最佳He/Cl 2配比在30∶1~100∶1之间。     

甚多束激光直接驱动靶面辐照均匀性研究

针对甚多束激光辐照下的直接驱动靶面光强均匀分布开展了系统研究. 利用球谐模分析选定了可实现均匀辐照的靶面弹着点极角分布, 并通过数值模拟确定了以等效48束激光直接驱动辐照下靶面三环弹着点极角位置分别为22.4°, 47.7°和73.6°. 基于特定装置构型分析了实现极向直接驱动时对各路激光指向的修正, 并对光束截面焦斑进行了优化, 实现了极向直接驱动下的靶面均匀辐照.     

光学成像法和穿孔法测量飞秒激光焦斑特征

 超短超强激光焦斑参数的精确测量是深入开展精密物理实验的前提。在SILEX-Ⅰ激光装置上,采用光学成像法和穿孔法测量了μJ级能量下的激光焦斑特性,采用光学成像方法得到了激光主瓣大小及能量集中度信息,通过穿孔法得到了激光能量透过率与不同大小孔径的关系曲线,并对两种方法得到的测量结果进行了比对研究。研究结果表明,光学焦斑测量法和穿孔法都可以比较准确地反映激光焦斑的能量分布情况,得到的能量分布偏差小于10%。     

Control of the cross-sectional shape of a hollow microchannel embedded in photostructurable glass by use of a femtosecond laser

Theoretical and experimental investigations have been made of the three-dimensional microchannel fabrication of photostructurable glass by use of a femtosecond (fs) laser. Generally, a microchannel fabricated inside glass by the scanning focal spot of a fs laser perpendicular to the direction of laser propagation assumes an elliptical shape with a cross section of large aspect ratio. We demonstrate that one can greatly reduce the aspect ratio merely by inserting a slit, which is oriented parallel to the laser's scanning direction, before the focusing lens. Computer simulations show that a more symmetrical pattern is obtained in the vicinity of the focal point with the help of such a slit, owing essentially to a diffraction effect.     

Novel method for laser focal point positioning on the cover slip for TPP-based microfabrication and detection of the cured structure under optical microscope

Detection of a single cured structure in two-photon photopolymerization (TPP) based microstructure fabrication requires the laser focal spot to be exactly positioned on the cover slip. This is due to the fact that if the laser focal position is not exactly on the cover slip, the structure may not stick to the cover slip and flow away with the liquid during the washing and developing stages. In this paper, we report a scheme of laser spot positioning for the implementation of TPP process and the detection of a single cured microstructure under an optical microscope. For this, a novel yet very simple approach is devised and an uncomplicated procedure is developed. Experimental results are also included to prove the worthiness of the devised method.