Various techniques for producing a single longitudinal mode TEA-CO2 laser

Techniques used for producing a single longitudinal mode TEA-Co₂ laser are described. The simplest technique seems to be a double unstable resonator.     

A novel power divider with arbitrary power division and high coupling efficiency with a single mode fibre

To improve the coupling efficiency of a conventional Ti: LiNbO₃ channel waveguide with a single mode fibre, a promising Ti-Mg double diffused method has been employed to fabricate a single mode power divider. Calculated numerical results have revealed the feasibility of reducing coupling loss as well as radiation loss, and a set of efficient fabrication parameters for this single mode device can be established. The dependence of asymmetric branching angles and output dividing-power-ratios has been studied by adjusting the branching angle.     

Single longitudinal mode selection of high power actively Q-switched lasers

A Pockels cell Q-switch has been operated in a manner analogous to a saturable absorber by initially keeping the cell partly open for the first 1000 or so double passes and then opening it completely at a pre-set resonator power. This then allows simple and reliable selection of a single longitudinal mode. A detailed discussion is given of the design considerations which lead to the correct choice of mode-selecting device. With three different devices, a TEM₀₀ mode Nd:CaWO₄ laser has produced 400 kW pulses in a single longitudinal mode with a shot-to-shot frequency stability of ∼ 0.01 cm⁻¹.     

正反馈选模和调Q技术

把一个由GaAs光电导开关和激光腔中的普克尔盒组成的正反馈回路,用于YAG激光器中,选单纵模和调Q,获得了稳定可靠的单纵模调Q脉冲.     

Temporal dynamics of high repetition rate pulsed single longitudinal mode dye laser

Theoretical and experimental studies of temporal dynamics of grazing incidence grating (GIG) cavity, single-mode dye laser pumped by high repetition rate copper vapour laser (CVL) are presented. Spectral chirp of the dye laser as they evolve in the cavity due to transient phase dynamics of the amplifier gain medium is studied. Effect of grating efficiency, focal spot size, pump power and other cavity parameters on the temporal behaviour of narrow band dye laser such as build-up time, pulse shape and pulse width is studied using the four level dye laser rate equation and photon evolution equation. These results are compared with experimental observations of GIG single-mode dye laser cavity. The effect of pulse stretching of CVL pump pulse on the temporal dynamics of the dye laser is studied.     

高功率DPSL声光调Q脉宽压窄的影响因素研究

利用调Q速率方程,从工作物质的增益和谐振腔的损耗之间的内在关系出发,论述了谐振腔内多个可变参数对激光器输出脉冲宽度的影响。用实验给予了验证。在实验中,采用高效的光耦合泵浦腔,对35个20W连续激光二极管阵列侧面泵浦的声光调Q Nd∶YAG固体激光器进行了研究,激光工作物质的尺寸为Φ4mm×115mm,使用熔石英声光Q开关,在泵浦电流I=22.2A时,获得了重复频率10kHz,脉冲宽度45.8ns,平均功率112W的1064nm调Q激光脉冲输出。光-光转换效率为21.3%,电-光转换效率为8.5%。     

Mode-locking of high power lasers by a combination of intensity and time dependent Q-switching

A new method for simultaneous mode-looking and Q-switching of high power lasers by a combination of intensity and time dependent Q-switching is described. The two Q-switching mechanisms are achieved by equipping the laser with a device, here called the “Electro-Opto-Optical Modulator” (EOOM). The modulator, which is driven by the optical field which it modulates in addition to an external electric field, contains nonlinear media which exhibit a large optical as well as dc Kerr effect. The advantages of this combined Q-switching compared with a pure intensity dependent Q-switching are that the generation of the model-locked pulses can be predetermined in time and that the length of the Kerr active medium can be decreased.     

A novel technique for laser diode to single mode fiber coupling

An optical fiber coupler based on the semi-linear passive phase conjugate mirror is analyzed. The threshold coupling strength is determined from theoretical considerations. An estimate of 50% for the overall coupling efficiency is made, assuming there is good mode matching between the light incident on the fiber and the propagating mode. The coupler exhibits a high degree of alignment insensitivity allowing for simple manufacture.     

高功率隔离器单模与多模工作退偏特性

以传统结构隔离器为模型,应用琼斯理论,比较分析了单模与多模激光入射时高功率隔离器热致退偏特性。研究结果表明:高功率隔离器热致退偏可分为线性双折射致退偏与圆双折射致退偏;两种退偏均与入射激光功率的平方成正比;在光功率一定的条件下,线性双折射致退偏不随光斑半径的变化而变化,圆双折射致退偏随光斑半径的增大而减小;在其它条件相同的条件下,多模光场能够有效地降低隔离器热致退偏,多模时线性双折射致退偏仅为单模时退偏的60%,圆双折射致退偏也比单模时要小,减小幅度随光斑半径的增加而增加。     

高功率隔离器单模与多模工作退偏特性

以传统结构隔离器为模型,应用琼斯理论,比较分析了单模与多模激光入射时高功率隔离器热致退偏特性。研究结果表明：高功率隔离器热致退偏可分为线性双折射致退偏与圆双折射致退偏;两种退偏均与入射激光功率的平方成正比;在光功率一定的条件下,线性双折射致退偏不随光斑半径的变化而变化,圆双折射致退偏随光斑半径的增大而减小;在其它条件相同的条件下,多模光场能够有效地降低隔离器热致退偏,多模时线性双折射致退偏仅为单模时退偏的60%,圆双折射致退偏也比单模时要小,减小幅度随光斑半径的增加而增加。     

Thermal expanded core technique applied to high power fiber mode field adapter

A mode field adapter(MFA) fabricated by the thermal expanded core(TEC) technique is investigated. Firstly, the mode field characteristics of the TEC large mode area fiber(LMAF) are analyzed. Compared with the single-mode fiber(SMF), the mode field diameter of the LMAF enlarged slower than that of the SMF. Secondly, the mode field characteristics of the different fibers with TEC treatment are discussed. Thirdly, the transmission efficiency of the MFA fabricated by the SMF and LMAF is also investigated. Finally, we used the 6/125 μm SMF and 15/130 μm LMAF to fabricate an MFA with transmission efficiency of 92% and the handling power as high as 100 W.     

Laser Doppler velocimeter using a single longitudinal mode solid-state laser source

An experimental demonstration of using a single longitudinal mode solid-state laser source in laser Doppler velocimeter (LDV) is presented. The technology of frequency spectrum correction is used in processing Doppler signal. The results of the experiments show that: the magnitude and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of Doppler signal are both enhanced by the solid-state laser; the measurement accuracy of LDV is improved by the technology of frequency spectrum correction, and the variance of the measured Doppler frequency is larger than the Cramer-Rao low bound (CRLB) of Doppler frequency about one order of magnitude.     

A power and wavelength detuning-dependent hysteresis loop in a single mode Fabry-Prot laser diode

In this paper, we observe experimentally the optical bistability induced by the side-mode injection power and wave-length detuning in a single mode Fabry-Prot laser diode (SMFP-LD). Results show that the bistability characteristics of the dominant and injected modes are strongly dependent on the injected input optical power and wavelength detuning in an SMFP-LD. We observe three types of hysteresis loops: counterclockwise, clockwise, and butterfly hysteresis with various loop widths. In the case of a bistability loop caused by injection power, the transition from counterclockwise to clockwise in the hysteresis direction with the wavelength detuning from 0.028 nm to 0.112 nm is observed in a way of butterfly hysteresis for the dominant mode by increasing the wavelength detuning. The width of hysteresis loop, induced by wavelength detuning is also changed while the injection power is enhanced from 7 dBm to 5 dBm.     

A widely tunable dual-wavelength erbium-doped fiber ring laser operating in single longitudinal mode

A new mechanism to induce polarization hole burning effect in Er-doped fiber ring lasers is presented. By using this effect, incorporating with the counter-propagation of the two light beams, the inhomogeneous in the gain medium broadening was significantly increased, and thus a stable dual-frequency Er-doped fiber ring laser operating in single longitudinal mode and single-frequency was demonstrated. Frequency spacing was tunable from 0.47 GHz to THz.     

A stable and tunable linear polarization single longitudinal mode fiber ring laser

A stable and tunable linear polarization single longitudinal mode fiber ring laser is proposed and demonstrated. A high extinction ratio spatial mode interference filter utilizing two-mode graded-index fiber supresses irregular side modes effectively, the combination of fiber polarizer and polarization maintaining fiber act as a polarization dependent comb filter, and tunable bandpass filter is adopted to select proper lasing wavelength. The power fluctuation and wavelength fluctuation at 1549.88 nm are less than 0.05 dB and 0.02 nm in 1 h, respectively. Only one longitudinal mode appears within a free spectral range of 7.5 GHz, and the degree of polarization in percentage is approximately as high as 99.07%.     

LOPUT Laser: A novel concept to realize single longitudinal mode laser

We propose a novel type of cavity design to generate single longitudinal mode laser known as LOPUT cavity. LOPUT cavity stands for linear orthogonally polarized modes resulting in unidirectional travelling wave cavity. The technique can be applied to both isotropic as well as anisotropic gain mediums. In the present paper, we applied the technique to anisotropic gain medium such as a-cut Nd:YVO₄. Using the LOPUT cavity, we demonstrated nearly 2 W of single longitudinal mode laser with nearly diffraction-limited spatial profile. Linewidth measurement using a custom-made Fabry Perot interferometer revealed instrument-limited linewidth of ～5 MHz at 1064 nm.     

Measurement of flow fluctuations in single longitudinal mode pulsed dye laser

A simple technique had been demonstrated for measuring flow-induced fluctuations in the single longitudinal mode (SLM) pulsed dye laser. Two prominent frequency components of 10.74 Hz and 48.83 Hz were present in the output of the Nd:YAG-pumped SLM dye laser. The flow-induced frequency component of 48.83 Hz was present due to the revolution per minute of the motor attached to the magnetically coupled gear pump. The time average bandwidth of 180 MHz has been obtained for this SLM dye laser. The effect of pump pulse energy on the bandwidth of the SLM dye laser was studied. The bandwidth of the SLM dye laser was increased to 285 MHz from 180 MHz, when the pump pulse energy was increased to 0.75 mJ from 0.15 mJ for a constant dye flow velocity of 0.5 m/s.     

A study of the effect of axial mode spacing on the single longitudinal mode performance in end pumped solid-state lasers

In this paper, we present the study of the effect of axial mode spacing on the performance of a single longitudinal mode (SLM) laser in an end pumped solid-state laser system. We present a theoretical analysis of an SLM laser for arbitrary values of axial mode spacing, which predicts that the ratio of the maximum pump power up to which SLM operation is possible to the pump power at the lasing threshold is strongly dependent on the axial mode separation. We also present the results of a study where a temperature controlled birefringent filter was used to increase the axial mode spacing in a diode end pumped solid-state laser system, resulting in an enhancement of the SLM laser performance.