Suppression of nonlinear interactions in resonant macroscopic quantum devices: the example of the solid-state ring laser gyroscope

We report fine-tuning of nonlinear interactions in a solid-state ring laser gyroscope by vibrating the gain medium along the cavity axis. We demonstrate both experimentally and theoretically that nonlinear interactions vanish for some values of the vibration parameters, leading to quasi-ideal rotation sensing. We eventually point out that our conclusions can be mapped onto other subfields of physics such as ring-shaped superfluid configurations, where nonlinear interactions could be tuned by using Feshbach resonance.     

四频差动激光陀螺稳频控制仿真

介绍了四频差动激光陀螺稳频的基本工作原理,在分析稳频电路各组成环节传递特性的基础上,给出了稳频控制系统的开环和闭环传递函数,并从满足相位裕度指标(45°)角度对控制系统各参数进行了优化,结果显示当开环总增益k取33时系统有较好的稳定性和较快的响应速度,满足四频差动激光陀螺稳频控制要求。     

全固态激光中的光谱合成技术

对多种全固态激光中的光谱合成技术进行了探讨和研究,包括光纤激光、Yb:YAG板条激光和半导体激光。对于光纤激光,探讨了基于单个多层介质膜（MLD）光栅、一对MLD光栅、多个体布拉格光栅三种衍射光学元件的光谱合成技术中色散造成的光束质量退化问题,指出子束光谱线型的二阶矩全宽决定了光束质量的退化量,但所允许的光谱宽度又依赖于具体的技术选择途径。进而比较了三种光谱合成方案的优缺点。对于固体激光,实验演示了基于Yb:YAG晶体的板条激光实现光谱合成的原理可行性。通过设计一个基于MLD光栅的振荡器内的光谱合成装置,实现了7束子激光最高241 W的光谱合成输出,合成后光束质量β因子约4.1,表明大功率Yb:YAG板条激光具有通过光谱合束技术实现功率进一步提升的潜力。对于半导体激光,提出并设计了大模场外腔半导体激光+快轴光谱合成的技术。实验演示了9个1 mm宽LD芯片沿快轴方向的光谱合成,用β因子评价合成后的光束质量,在慢轴方向β≈6.3,在快轴方向β≈1.6,表明快轴光谱合成造成的光束质量退化是完全可控的。     

Excitation efficiency measurement in multimode solid-state lasers

Designing solid-state laser systems for various applications is an important subject in the laser industry. Excitation efficiency and the losses of such a laser are the main parameters sought. Both parameters can be measured using a method first published by Findlay and Clay, but measurements of efficiency and losses of several laser cavities showed that the applied technique may fail sometimes. In this note a detailed investigation is reported about the measuring technique for the losses and excitation efficiency of a solid-state laser. It is shown that limitations of the model mislead, and give false results under different experimental conditions, and it is described how to overcome the difficulties outlined here.     

Laguerre-Gaussian modes selection in diode-pumped solid-state lasers

Over the last twenty years, diode pumping of solid-state lasers has opened new prospects for the mode control and formation of Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) beams, enabling a large variety of applications. Experiments on scalar and vector LG modes selection in Nd³⁺- and Yb³⁺-doped ceramics and crystal lasers carried out at the Institute for Laser Science, Tokyo are reviewed. Selection of LG modes from low to high orders using intra-cavity elements, polarization-selective mirrors, or shaping the pump beam profile, is considered. Illustrations of record-high-order LG hollow modes, multiring modes with highly directional propagation properties, characteristics of cw and pulsed lasers with radially or azimuthally polarized beams of high polarization purity are presented. General solutions of the wave equation for the axi-symmetric electric field, which describe LG beams of various profiles, are proposed for data analysis. In parallel, a short review on LG modes selection studies carried out at other laboratories is given.     

Soliton lasers stabilized by coupling to a resonant linear system

Separation into spectral and nonlinear complex-eigenvalue problems is shown to be an effective and flexible approach to soliton laser models. The simplest such model, a complex Ginzburg-Landau model with cubic nonlinearity, has no stable solitonic solutions. We show that coupling it to a resonant linear system is a simple and general route to stabilization, which encompasses several previous instances in both space- and time-domains. Graphical solution in the complex eigenvalue plane provides valuable insight into the similarities and differences of such models, and into the interpretation of related experiments. It can also be used predictively, to guide analysis, numerics and experiment.     

Alternate oscillations in semiconductor ring lasers

We report on fabrication and characterization of single-longitudinal- and transverse-mode semiconductor ring lasers. A bifurcation from bidirectional stable operation to a regime with alternate oscillations of the counterpropagating modes was observed experimentally and is theoretically explained through a two-mode model. Analytical expressions for the onset and the frequency of the oscillations are derived, and L-I curves numerically evaluated. Good quantitative agreement between theory and measurements made over a large number of tested devices is obtained.     

Noise processes in large ring lasers

Large ring lasers with a cavity Q well above 10¹² are characterized by extremely narrow line-widths and high coherence. At this point, active Sagnac interferometers do not quite reach the quantum limit. In this paper, we will explore the current status of this technology and look at the various noise processes involved with large ring lasers rigidly mounted to the Earth crust.     

大口径谐振腔式固体激光中的动力学不稳定性研究

大口径谐振腔式固体激光定标到足够高功率后,由于非稳定腔内激光不对称振荡导致介质上激光强度横向不均匀,激光提取与介质产热耦合会引起激光输出功率和光束质量在时域上的不稳定性。针对三种激光器构型:Nd:YAG薄片、Yb:YAG薄片和浸入式液冷叠片激光器,通过理论分析与数值模拟揭示了其各自不同的光热耦合机制及其影响因素,给出了激光输出的瞬态演化规律。结果表明,前两种构型中基于激光动力学的光热耦合具有饱和效应,其动力学不稳定性只出现在特定参数区间,可以通过恰当的设计加以避免;第三种构型中动力学不稳定性表现出明显的阈值特征,在强光状态下只能通过减少冷却液吸收系数来抑制。     

几项新技术在“闪光二号”加速器上的应用

为追踪国际上脉冲功率技术的发展方向,在“闪光二号”加速器上开展了水介质形成线并联技术、多级多通道气体开关技术和同步触发技术等研究。经过3维结构下电场分布的模拟计算和绝缘设计,采用3根6 Ω小水线并联组成了2 Ω水介质形成线,研制成功了作为主开关的3 MV多级多通道气体触发开关,并实现了3个多级多通道气体开关的并联运行;采用工作时延446 ns的同步触发系统实现了Marx发生器与主开关的延时同步运行。真空负压下的涡流循环冲刷消除水中气泡技术应用于水介质形成线上,有效消除了并联形成线汇聚结构处的气泡,提高了加速器运行的安全性。经过调试后,加速器重新获得了稳定的运行状态,几项新技术的应用获得成功。     

大口径谐振腔式固体激光中的动力学不稳定性研究

大口径谐振腔式固体激光定标到足够高功率后,由于非稳定腔内激光不对称振荡导致介质上激光强度横向不均匀,激光提取与介质产热耦合会引起激光输出功率和光束质量在时域上的不稳定性。针对三种激光器构型：Nd:YAG 薄片、Yb:YAG薄片和浸入式液冷叠片激光器,通过理论分析与数值模拟揭示了其各自不同的光热耦合机制及其影响因素,给出了激光输出的瞬态演化规律。结果表明,前两种构型中基于激光动力学的光热耦合具有饱和效应,其动力学不稳定性只出现在特定参数区间,可以通过恰当的设计加以避免;第三种构型中动力学不稳定性表现出明显的阈值特征,在强光状态下只能通过减少冷却液吸收系数来抑制。     

Laser modes in organic solid-state distributed feedback lasers

We report on the laser modes in optically pumped solid-state lasers using an electroluminescent organic semiconductor as the active medium. Mechanically flexible distributed-feedback lasers are fabricated by depositing a thin film of an active material onto a nano-patterned polyester substrate either via spin-coating of a soluble ladder-type poly(p-phenylene) or via vacuum co-sublimation of small organic molecules. The different surface texture resulting from the fabrication process causes different feedback mechanisms. In both lasers higher lateral modes give rise to a broadening of the laser spectra at higher pumping levels. Received: 7 August 2000 / Revised version: 12 September 2000 / Published online: 8 November 2000     

Proposed method of spike suppression in solid-state lasers

A method is proposed to suppress the spikes in the output of solid-state lasers, using passive negative feedback. A saturable absorber, normally used for Q-switching the laser, is used in a modified laser resonator, so that the resonator losses increase with laser intensity. The rate equations of a laser with such a loss mechanism are solved numerically. Numerical results for a ruby laser are presented.     

Ground-state depleted solid-state lasers: principles,characteristics and scaling

A novel class of rare-earth-doped solid-state lasers is described. The ground-state depleted laser is pumped by an intense (more than tens of kW cm⁻²) narrow-band (less than a few nm) laser source and is characterized by: (1) an unusually low laser ion doping density (5 to 10×10¹⁸ion cm⁻³), (2) an unusually large fractional excited population inversion density (4 to 8×10¹⁸ ion cm⁻³, or >75%), (3) a gain element that is optically thick at the pump wavelength and (4) a gain element that has a substantially uniform gain distribution due to a bleaching of the pump transition at the pump intensity utilized. These features enable efficient room-temperature operation of rare-earth-ion laser transitions terminating on the ground manifold. The relationships between laser parameters (cross-sections, saturation fluences and fluxes, bleaching wave velocities, etc.) are given and laser performance scaling relationships are presented and discussed.

     

Ground-state depleted solid-state lasers: principles, characteristics and scaling

A novel class of rare-earth-doped solid-state lasers is described. The ground-state depleted laser is pumped by an intense (more than tens of kW cm^–2) narrow-band (less than a few nm) laser source and is characterized by: (1) an unusually low laser ion doping density (5 to 10×10¹⁸ion cm^–3), (2) an unusually large fractional excited population inversion density (4 to 8×10¹⁸ ion cm^–3, or >75%), (3) a gain element that is optically thick at the pump wavelength and (4) a gain element that has a substantially uniform gain distribution due to a bleaching of the pump transition at the pump intensity utilized. These features enable efficient room-temperature operation of rare-earth-ion laser transitions terminating on the ground manifold. The relationships between laser parameters (cross-sections, saturation fluences and fluxes, bleaching wave velocities, etc.) are given and laser performance scaling relationships are presented and discussed.     

Coupled electron-phonon modes in optically pumped resonant intersubband lasers

Intersubband lasing at 12-16 microm based on a CO2 laser pumped stimulated resonant Raman process in GaAs/AlGaAs three-level double-quantum-well structures is reported. The presence, or lack of, lasing action provides evidence for resonantly coupled modes of collective electronic intersubband transitions and longitudinal optical phonons. An anticrossing behavior of these modes is clearly seen when the difference between the pump and lasing energies (i.e., Stokes Raman shift) is compared with the subband separation. This work reveals the significance of the strong coupling between intersubband transitions and phonons and raises a new possibility of realizing a phonon "laser."     

All solid-state, injection-seeded Ti: sapphire ring laser

In this letter, we present an all solid-state, injection-seeded Ti:sapphire laser. The laser is pumped by a laser diode pumped frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser, and injection-seeded by an external cavity laser diode with the wavelength between 770 and 780 nm. The single longitude mode and the doubling efficiency of the laser are obtained after injection seeding. The experimental setup and relative results are reported.It is a good candidate laser source for mobile differential absorption lidar (DIAL) system.     

Quasi-soliton generation in solid-state lasers with semiconductor saturable absorber

Recent advances in ultrafast, ultra-short solid-state lasers have resulted in sub-6 fs pulses generated directly from the cavity of Ti:sapphire lasers. The generation of extremely short pulses is possible due to the formation of a quasi-Schrodinger soliton. Our investigation is directed to the peculiarities of the transition between femtosecond to picosecond generation. We found that the above transition is accompanied by the threshold and hysteresis phenomena. On the basis of soliton perturbation theory, the numerical simulation studying two different experimental situations has been performed, the first situation corresponds to the study of the lasers field's parameters under variation of control parameters (dispersion or pump power), the second one is for continuous variation of control parameter within a single generation session. Physically it corresponds to not repeated laser session but the variation of control parameter when the pulse has formed already.