Output characteristics of a 400 MW Nd:glass laser system

The paper discusses the performance characteristics of a Nd: glass laser system designed for laser produced plasma studies. It consists of aQ-switched oscillator followed by two amplifier stages. The output behaviour of the oscillator, i.e. laser pulse duration, peak power and optimum coupling, has been studied and is in good agreement with theory. Gain characteristics of amplifiers were obtained as a function of various parameters. Energies in excess of 7 J with pulse durations as small as 18 nsec were obtained giving rise to 400 MW peak power.     

Application of a phase conjugate Brillouin cavity for the generation of a train of short laser pulses

Summary An oscillator and a regenerative amplifier have been realized using a phase conjugate mirror in the amplifier laser cavity. The phase conjugate mirror, via stimulated Brillouin scattering, acts as a modulator owing to its time-depending reflectivity. A pulse-forming network applied to the amplifier increases the discharging time which contributes to get an output beam formed by a train having four short pulses. The shortest pulse was 2 ns FWHM long.     

Double XeCl laser with lateral UV preionization

We present a very compact and very reliable laser system formed of two discharge sections both with lateral UV preionization. The discharge electrodes are contained in a single vessel and form an oscillator-amplifier system. A single spark gap switches on both circuits. By applying a generalized self-filtering unstable resonator to the oscillator and injecting the laser beam into the single pass amplifier, an output beam of 105 mJ, with a brightness of 5.5×10¹³ W cm^–2Sr^–1 has been obtained. Moreover, by applying a pulse-forming network in one discharging circuit, the duration of the discharge breakdown has been increased and output laser pulses of 40 ns FWHM, and 80 ns base width duration (at 10% points) and of energy 100 mJ are obtained.     

Continuous Wavelength Sweep of External Cavity 630 nm Laser Diode without Antireflection Coating on Output Facet

We developed a simple method of continuous wavelength sweep using a commercial laser diode (LD) without antireflection (AR) coating. A 630 nm AlGalnP LD was installed in a Littrow-type external cavity. In this cavity, the LD has the same effect as an etalon, and its free spectral range can be controlled easily by the LD drive current. By scanning the grating angle of the external cavity and LD drive current simultaneously, we obtained single-mode oscillation and continuous wavelength sweep of over 22 GHz without mode hopping. This technique is simple and inexpensive because it does not need AR coating on its output facet, and does not use a servo system which requires apparatuses such as a lock-in amplifier and local oscillator.     

基于大基模体积的10mJ飞秒钛宝石激光再生放大器

文章报导了基于大基模体积的高能量飞秒钛宝石激光再生放大器的设计与实验研究,在重复频率10 Hz、抽运能量60 mJ的激励下,得到了单脉冲能量17.4 mJ的种子脉冲放大结果,压缩后的脉冲宽度为40.6 fs,能量为13.9 mJ.借助于此大基模体积再生腔,仅增加一级多通放大,实现了峰值功率达1.9 TW飞秒激光脉冲输出.结果表明,大模体积再生放大不仅降低了后续放大对抽运能量的要求,也可以单独压缩实现再生腔直接输出10 mJ量级的飞秒激光脉冲,是大能量高峰值功率飞秒激光系统的优质前端.     

A 37 mJ, 100 Hz,high energy single frequency oscillator

Ways on energy enhancement for single frequency oscillator are reported in this paper. By quantitative analysis on gain and loss coefficients for each cavity mode with inserted etalons, a 37 mJ, 100 Hz high energy single-frequency Nd:YAG oscillator is obtained. The pulse energy is promoted by enhancement of nearly 7 times for a single frequency oscillator reported. The result proves that this method does help for energy enhancement. It has attractive potential for high energy single frequency oscillator design, especially on condition of intensive side pumped or long cavity laser, where strong competitors exist and are hard to be suppressed.     

全固态kHz啁啾脉冲飞秒激光放大器

要建造大功率超强激光系统,必须将nJ量级的种子进行放大,以得到mJ量级以及更高能量的激光输出.为达到这个目的,必须使种子能量指数增加,再生腔放大器是实现这一目的的良好途径;同时,为了得到更稳定的激光输出,须采用高重复频率的泵浦源.为此,设计了一种kHz重复频率激光泵浦的再生放大器,使用15 mJ的527 nm的绿光泵浦,得到了约2.3 mJ的800 nm放大激光输出,同时,对其输出激光的光谱特性进行了测量,将带宽为40 nm的种子注入后,得到了光谱带宽约为30 nm激光输出.     

1 mJ, 500 kHz Nd:YAG/Nd:YVO<Subscript>4</Subscript> MOPA laser with a Nd:YAG cavity-dumping seed laser

We report a high-repetition-rate, high-pulse-energy master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) laser system, in which the seed laser from the Nd:YAG rod-based oscillator cavity dumped at 500 kHz, was scaled up consecutively by a four-stage Nd:YVO₄ preamplifier and a two-stage Nd:YAG zigzag slab main amplifier. The laser pulsed output with the average power of 510 W was achieved, with the efficiency extraction of 26.6% at the main amplifier stage and the single-pulse energy of 1.02 mJ.     

TEMPORAL CHARACTERIZATION OF LASER PULSES FROM JIGUANG-I LASER FACILITY WITH A COMPACT DUAL FUNCTION AUTOCORRELATOR

An optical pulse autocorrelator for rapid and slow scanning is described in this paper. Using an audio loudspeaker on one arm, an interferometric rapid-scanning signal of the output from a high-repetition laser oscillator is obtained. However, by adjusting the positions of the mirrors and using a step-motor on another arm, the intensity autocorrelation function of the output from a low-repetition laser amplifier can be easily measured. Using all-reflecting optics and an adequate nonlinear crystal, the whole instrument is very compact and has been used to measure sub-20 fs light pulses in both configurations with excellent agreement. In the slow-scanning configuration, a pulse train as long as 500ps has been determined. Using this autocorrelator, the home-made JIGUANG-I CPA laser facility was characterized for its pulse duration evolution.     

不同振荡放大比MOPA型化学激光器的数值模拟

主振功率放大型装置在高能激光器中有着广泛的应用, 在增益体积和沿光轴方向增益长度一定的情况下, 为了得到高能化学激光器主振部分和放大级部分的最佳比例, 研究了不同振荡放大比对输出光束的近场强度以及最终输出功率的影响. 使用快速傅里叶变换的算法经过迭代计算得到了1:4, 1:1, 2:1三种振荡放大比情况下的近场光束强度分布, 并计算了其强度分布均匀性及最终输出功率情况. 计算结果表明: 采用MOPA 结构的氟化氘化学激光器, 振荡放大比越大, 主振荡部分输出的能量越高, 谐振腔内功率密度越大, 对腔内镜片的承受能力要求越高; 而振荡放大比越小最终输出光束的衍射放大效应越明显, 对光束质量越不利. 在本文条件下, 计算结果还表明, 振荡放大比对功率会产生影响, 存在一个最佳的比例使得输出功率最大. 振荡放大比对输出功率的影响随主振部分输出耦合率, 光路中的各种损耗, 增益的规模等多种参数的不同而变化, 工程运用中可根据具体参数进行计算. 关键词： 主振功率放大 光学谐振腔 近场强度 光束质量     

Performance of a CW pumped Nd:YVO4 amplifier with kHz pulses

Until recently, simple and reliable high repetition-rate laser sources with nanosecond pulses much shorter than from conventional A-O Q-switch lasers were not available. However over the past 2 years we have developed such lasers based on proprietary fast E-O switching technology, which allows designs delivering 1 ns pulses and subnanosecond jitter for good synchronisation. The technology provides pulses with multi-kW peak power and repetition-rates to >100 kHz.Most recently, the performance of these short pulse lasers has been developed further by implementing oscillator/amplifier (master oscillator and power amplifier, MOPA) technology which increases the output to >1 W average power. Here we report on a simple model that has been used to predict the performance of the CW pumped Nd:YVO₄ amplifier used in the MOPA laser. The model is based on the well-known expressions for the saturated gain applying to laser pulses, but more usually applied to pulse-excited amplifiers. The model is shown to allow a good interpretation of the amplifier behaviour for kHz pulses and to be a useful tool for predicting the performance of the MOPA laser.     

Influence of laser linewidth on external-cavity frequency doubling efficiency of a 1.56μm master oscillator fiber power amplifier

By using an external-cavity frequency-doubling master oscillator fiber power amplifier (MOPA), a 700~mW continuous-wave single-frequency laser source at 780~nm is produced. It is shown that the frequency doubling efficiency is improved when the seed diode laser is optically locked to a resonant frequency of a confocal Fabry--Perot (F-P) cavity. This phenomenon can be attributed to the narrowing of the 1.56~μ m laser linewidth and explained by our presented theoretical model. The experimental results are found to be in good agreement with the theoretical predictions.     

Comparative studies of eye-safe intracavity and extracavity optical parametric oscillators with an unstable telescopic cavity

We have experimentally studied the lasing characteristics of an eye-safe optical parametric oscillator (OPO) with an unstable telescopic cavity when it is placed inside (intracavity OPO) and outside (extracavity OPO) the plane-parallel cavity of a pulsed, nearly single-mode KGW:Nd pump laser. We used a KTP crystal as the nonlinear medium for the OPO. We have shown that the intracavity OPO has the higher lasing efficiency. We have observed that the distribution of nonlinear losses introduced by the intracavity OPO, nonuniform over the cavity cross section, leads to an increase in the diameter and divergence of the radiation beam from the pump laser and a dependence of its temporal lasing dynamics on the transverse beam coordinate. We propose a physical model qualitatively explaining the spatial and temporal lasing dynamics of a radiation source with an intracavity OPO. Both OPO versions generate beams of radiation with about the same divergence. When the KGW:Nd laser has an electrical pumping energy of 7.3 J and a cavity length of 77 cm, the intracavity OPO and the extracavity OPO emit pulses with energies of 14.5 mJ and 12.0 mJ and duration 18 nsec and 13 nsec respectively. The divergence of the eye-safe radiation (λ = 1.578 μm) at 86.5% of the total pulse energy is no greater than 5.5 mrad for an OPO output beam diameter of = 2 mm. __________ Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Spektroskopii, Vol. 73, No. 4, pp. 535–543, July–August, 2006.     

高能量环形长腔再生放大啁啾脉冲激光的研究

介绍了一种新型的高能量环形长腔再生放大器, 通过对谐振腔的模式分布进行计算, 建立了腔长为12 m的环形腔再生放大器, 在150 mJ的抽运能量下, 得到了单脉冲能量为20 mJ的放大激光输出, 对应的转化效率为13.3%, 其输出激光的能量远远超过了常规的再生放大器输出激光的单脉冲量. 放大激光的输出光谱为30 nm, 可以支持<40 fs的傅里叶转换极限脉宽. 关键词： 环形腔 再生放大 高能量     

激光锁定F-P腔频率的有差锁定研究

基于有差伺服调节技术,实现了外置光学谐振腔的共振频率与钛宝石激光器工作频率的锁定.该技术采用压电陶瓷作为执行元件,通过对压电陶瓷的调制,实现了对透射激光功率的调制,并由锁相放大器解调获得伺服信号,该伺服信号经过高压放大器放大后控制压电陶瓷的伸缩来调控谐振腔的腔长,从而使腔的共振频率锁定在激光频率上.当激光上作于单一频毕时,谐振腔的谐振频率可以长时间地与激光频率保持锁定,锁定后腔的透射光功率相对起伏的稳定性为2%.当激光频率扫描时.谐振腔的谐振频率可以在2 GHz范围内不间断地与激光频率保持锁定.     

Realization of high performance LDA-systems using optical amplifiers, high power semiconductor lasers and optical fiber lasers

Advanced novel techniques for sophisticated LDA applications are presented in this paper. By applying laser sources with high output powers like MOPA-lasers (master oscillator power amplifier), fiber lasers and booster fiber amplifiers to increase the laser power in the measuring volume and by amplifying the scattered light power with optical fiber preamplifiers to increase the sensitivity of the receiving units, the signal-to-noise-ratio of laser Doppler signals is drastically improved and the overall performance of a laser Doppler anemometer is significantly enhanced.     

Efficient generation of 200 mJ nanosecond pulses at 100 Hz repetition rate from a cryogenic cooled Yb:YAG MOPA system

A diode-pumped Master Oscillator Power Amplifier (MOPA) laser system based on cryogenic cooled Yb:YAG has been designed, developed and its output performance characterised. The laser system consists of a fibre oscillator, an active mirror regenerative amplifier and a four pass main amplifier. 2.4 mJ, 10 ns, 100 Hz seed pulses from the fibre oscillator/regenerative amplifier arrangement were amplified up to pulse energies of over 200 mJ by using the four pass main amplifier arrangement. As a further study we have obtained an increased slope efficiency of 40% and an optical-to-optical efficiency of 30% using a pinhole vacuum spatial filter/image relay for laser mode control. With 1.8 mJ input seed pulses, output pulse energies of around 150 mJ were achieved.     

A 200 mJ unstable resonator Nd:YAG oscillator

We have designed and operated a positive branch 6.3 mm diameter rod Nd:YAG unstable resonator oscillator with a 12 nsec, 200 mJ Q-switched output at 10 Hz repetition rate. When followed by a single 9 mm diameter Nd:YAG amplifier output energies up to 750 mJ were obtained with a divergence less than 0.5 mrad.     

High-energy dissipative soliton with MHz repetition rate from an all-fiber passively mode-locked laser

We experimentally demonstrate pulse energy enhancement in an all-fiber passively mode-locked laser operating in the large normal dispersion regime. By increasing the laser cavity length as well as its net cavity dispersion, the proposed laser, which is mode-locked by nonlinear polarization rotation, generates highly chirped dissipative solitons with pulse energies up to 9.4 nJ. The fundamental repetition rate is 2.3 MHz, and the pulse duration is 35 ps. Such low repetition rate as well as wide pulse width makes this mode-locked all-fiber laser a suitable oscillator to directly seed a fiber amplifier, which can be used as compact sources for high-power applications.     

A single-mode KrF laser

Single-mode operation of a KrF laser oscillator has been achieved for the first time. The laser medium is pumped by an electron beam which allows excitation for a much longer duration than with discharge pumping. The long excitation time, together with the use of a short oscillator cavity with a low single-pass gain, allows many roundtrips before saturation is reached. This makes line-narrowing easier and single-mode operation has been achieved using only two intracavity etalons.Technical Research Centre of Finland, Helsinki, Finland