Variation of potential energy surface height and bound state depth induced by laser phase along the reaction path in atom-molecule reactions: Application to Li + CH<Subscript>4</Subscript> → LiH + CH<Subscript>3</Subscript>

Laser atom-molecule reaction interaction through polarizability and dipole moment contribution leads to potential energy surface barrier reshaping and bound states along the reaction path. The polarizability is maximum in the transition state. We will show here by using gauge representation (electric field gauge) for wave length λ = 20.6 μm, intensity I = 1 × 10¹² W/cm², I = 5 × 10¹² W/cm², I = 1 × 10¹³ W/cm², I = 3 × 10¹³ W/cm², that we can create laser induced potential energy surface barrier reshaping in the transition state region (–1–0.5 a. u.). We illustrate such effects for the LiH + CH₃ ? Li + CH₄ reaction with a barrier using ab-initio methods for calculating the reaction path, polarizability and dipole moment contribution of the atom-molecule reaction.     

The orientational mechanism of nonlinearity and the self-focusing of He-Ne laser radiation in nematic liquid crystal mesophase (theory and experiment)

A giant optical nonlinearity of self-focusing type in the oriented mesophase of nematic liquid crystals (NLC) due to the director reorientation under the action of a light wave field is predicted. Self-focusing of He-Ne laser radiation with power ～10^?2 W and power density ～50 W/cm² in a planar oriented 60 μm thick NLC layer has been carried out experimentally. The measured value of the nonlinearity effective constant ?₂ = 0.07 cm³/erg corresponds to theoretical predictions, and turns out to be larger than the CS₂ nonlinearity by ? 10⁹ times.     

Decay and recondensation of electron-hole liquid in germanium under CO2 laser pulse irradiation: Investigation by microwave conductivity measurements

In microwave conductivity investigations of photoexcited germanium at low temperatures under CO₂ laser pulse irradiation the evaporation of EHL and e-h plasma formation have been observed. This plasma irreversibly vanishes at high CO₂ laser intensities I_CO2 >4 × 10⁵ W cm^?2 but recondenses at low intensities. It was found that complete and irreversible disappearance of EHL is due to the e-h plasma throw out to the crystal boundaries by phonon wind, generated in 10.6 μm radiation absorption whereas at I_CO2 > 10⁶ W cm^?2 it is connected with the crystal lattice heating over the condensation critical temperature. A theoretical analysis of the CO₂ laser produced phonon wind interaction with e-h plasma is briefly presented. By comparing with experimental data on recondensation process the phonon wind efficiency is estimated.     

Growth of high quality non-linear optical crystal zinc germanium phosphide for Mid-infrared optical parametric oscillator

ZnGeP₂ single crystals were grown from Vertical Bridgman method. High-quality near-stoichiometric ZnGeP₂ single crystals were obtained in the diameter of 30 mm and length of 120 mm. The results showed that after thermal annealing of the crystals the optical absorption coefficient was below 0.03 cm^?1 at 2.05 μm, and ～0.02 cm^?1 at 3–8 μm. The low absorption loss ZnGeP₂ samples with dimension of 6 × 6 × 18 mm³ were cut from the annealed ingots for 3–5 μm optical parametric oscillation (OPO) experiments. For OPO experiment, we obtained up to 8.7 W output in the 3–5 μm wavelength range (with signal of 3.80 μm and idler of 4.45 μm, respectively) pumped by a 16.3 W 2.05 μm Tm,Ho:GdVO₄ laser at pulse repetition rate of 10 kHz, which corresponded to a conversion efficiency of 53.4% and slope efficiency of 64.8%, respectively.     

Nonlinear rotation of the polarization of the intense femtosecond laser radiation in BaF<Subscript>2</Subscript>

The dependence of the polarization plane rotation angle in the BaF₂ crystal on the intensity of the femtosecond laser radiation with 0.62 μm wavelength in the ω = ω + ω ? ω process on cubical nonlinearity χ⁽³⁾ is investigated. An anomalous increase in the efficiency of the cross-polarized radiation generation at I > 2 × 10¹² W cm² is observed for the first time. The 10% efficiency of the orthogonal component generation at the ～3 × 10¹² W cm² intensity is obtained.     

Generation of fast ions in femto-and picosecond laser plasmas at low intensities of the heating radiation

X-ray spectra from Teflon targets irradiated by laser pulses with a duration of 60 fs to 1 ps have been investigated experimentally. It is shown that, when the contrast of the laser pulse is sufficiently low, the effect of self-focusing of the main laser pulse in the plasma produced by the prepulse can significantly enhance the generation efficiency of fast particles. In this case, ions with energies as high as ～1 MeV are observed at relatively low laser intensities, q _las ≈ (4–6) × 10¹⁶ W/cm².     

XUV generation from plasma produced by a XeCl excimer laser on a Cu target

Summary We present a detailed study of XUV and soft X-ray emission from Cu plasma produced by an excimer laser at intensitiesI _L≦8·10¹¹ W/cm². The XeCl excimer laser (ψ≈308 nm) delivers pulses with energyE _L≈2.3 J, temporal durationt _L≈100 ns and brightnessB≧10¹⁴ W/cm² sr. We recorded a spectral conversion efficiency η=0.5% eV⁻¹ forI _L=4·10¹¹W/cm² in the aluminium window at 73eV with a harder X-ray tail around ≈400eV. We also measured the dependence of X-ray signal on laser intensity and viewing angle. Experimental results have been compared with some analytical laser-plasma interaction models.     

Nonlinear interaction of CO2 laser radiation with aluminum and polyethylene targets

The characteristics of A1 and (CH₂)_n plasmas produced by a high-power CO₂ laser are investigated over the flux range 10¹⁰-5 × 10¹¹W/cm² where absorption processes other than simple inverse Bremsstrahlung are active. The threshold dependent behavior of the measured plasma parameters indicates the presence of the parmetric decay instability.     

High brightness 735 nm tapered lasers – optimisation of the laser geometry

High brightness tapered laser diodes with different resonator geometries were fabricated and analysed. The devices consist of an index-guided straight section and a gain-guided tapered section. Lasers with a total length L = 2 and 4 mm and different length of the ridge waveguide L _RW (500 μm ≤ L _RW ≤ 1250 μm for L = 2 mm and 500 μm ≤ L _RW ≤ 2000 μm for L = 4 mm) were processed to study the influence of the straight section on the spatial mode filtering. The power–voltage–current-characteristics, the beam waist, the far field, and the beam propagation factor M ² were measured. From the experiments, it can be stated that the lasers with a small L _RW reach higher output powers compared to those with larger L _RW. Concerning the beam quality the length L _RW should exceed a minimal value to guarantee efficient spatial mode filtering. Devices optimised concerning maximum output power and excellent beam quality reach a beam propagation factor smaller than 2.1 at an output power P = 2 W.     

The nonlinear optical coefficient,phasematching, and optical damage in the chalcopyrite AgGaSe2

We have made a direct measurement of the absolute nonlinear coefficient for AgGaSe₂ by phasematched second harmonic generation. The measured value is d₃₆ = (3.24 ± 0.50) × 10^?11 m/V. For CO and Co₂ lasers the observed phasematching angles for second harmonic generation and frequency mixing are within one degree of the values calculated by fitting the reported index of refraction data to Sellmeier equations. At 1.06 μm the optical damage threshold depends on the number of incident laser pulses. For 1000 pulses damage occurs at 11 MW/cm². The samples were cut from crack-free single crystal boules with absorption coefficient smaller than 0.1 cm^? at 10.6 μm.     

Efficient laser operation of diode-pumped Pr3+,Mg2+:SrAl12O19

We report on diode-pumped laser operation of Pr³⁺,Mg²⁺:SrAl₁₂O₁₉ at lasing wavelengths of λ _L = 724.4 nm, λ _L = 643.5 nm, and λ _L = 622.8 nm. Furthermore, the laser threshold could be reached in the green spectral range. By pumping the crystal longitudinally from each side with two polarization beam combined InGaN laser diodes, a total pump power of ≈4 W was available. In the deep red spectral range, a maximum output power of 564 mW was achieved with a maximum slope efficiency of 50 % with respect to the absorbed pump power. The maximum possible internal losses were estimated to ≈1 %. Beam quality factors M ² were in the range of 1.2–1.5.     

DYNAMICS of H+2 in TWO-COLOR ULTRASHORT LASER PULSE

Numerical simulations of ionization and dissociation processes of hydrogen molecular ion H₂⁺ interacting with two-color intense ( 10¹⁴W/cm²-10¹⁵W/cm²) ultrashort (the duration ≈ 22fs) laser pulse are made. The result shows that the ionization and dissociation processes are strongly dependent upon the relative phase between the two color fields. It means that, in the case of ultrashort pulse, the phase coherence control of ionization and dissociation processes can be realized.     

高峰值功率脉冲激光与石英光纤耦合的空气击穿问题

 研究了15 MW峰值功率脉冲激光与600 μm芯径石英光纤耦合中存在的空气击穿现象。对聚焦区域的空气击穿现象进行了理论和实验研究,测得空气击穿阈值为0.79×10⁹ W/cm²。测得固体介质的激光损伤阈值为2.12×10⁹ W/cm²,与理论计算结果相符。提出了七合一光纤耦合器用于解决空气击穿的办法,实验测得7根光纤并束的耦合效率为67.21%。结果表明光纤耦合器可有效解决15 MW峰值功率脉冲激光与600 μm芯径石英光纤的耦合。     

Quasi-cw laser action in K5Nd(MoO4)4

We report on room temperature quasi-cw laser action in K₅Nd(MoO₄)₄ at a wavelength of 1.067 μm. The crystal was pumped with the 5140 Å line of an argon ion laser. Due to thermal effects actual cw lasing was not possible. Chopping the pump light with a low duty cycle of 1∶1000 leads to quasi-cw laser action and stable output power. We have determined the fundamental laser parameters: threshold pump powerA _T=15 mW, slope efficiency η=22%, and internal lossesL=2.5%. In order to explain the measured relaxation oscillations, diffusion of the excited 4f-excitons is considered. According to a recently developed theory, a diffusion constant ofD=2×10^?6cm²/s explains the observed results.     

Interaction between 193-nm pulsed laser radiation and α-alumina

The threshold power density of 15-ns laser pulses with a wavelength 193 nm is determined for basic modes of interaction between the radiation and α-alumina. As power density Q on the target varying in the range 0.001–100 MW/cm² increases, first the interaction mechanism changes from single-photon interaction to two-photon interaction at Q ≈ 0.1 MW/cm². At Q ≈ 5 MW/cm², the material sublimates and then the sublimation products ionize at Q ≈ 15 MW/cm². At Q ≈ 100 MW/cm², the material is removed from the surface at a rate of ≈ 10 nm per pulse.     

Generation of nonclassical light upon resonant excitation of a semiconductor microcavity

Strong correlations in the fluctuations of the intensity of emission from a semiconductor microcavity under resonant laser excitation are observed. The intensity correlation function exhibits an unusual oscillatory behavior with an unexpectedly long oscillation period and decay time. The visibility of the correlation function reaches 0.81. Long oscillation times are attributed to the Rabi frequency characterizing weak coupling between the electromagnetic field of the semiconductor microcavity mode and long-lived exciton states localized by the random potential of the quantum well. For a laser excitation power density of 400 W/cm², the power density of the radiation emitted by the microcavity is 12 W/cm², which corresponds to the total flux of nonclassical light of 1.5 × 10¹⁵ photons/s from an excited spot 50 μm in diameter. Thus, a microcavity can serve as a bright emitter of nonclassical light.     

XUV radiation transfer through high-Z metal foil in a laser-produced plasma

Aluminum and gold foils have been irradiated with 1.05-μm, 100-psec laser pulses at an intensity of 3 × 10¹⁴ W/cm². A spatially resolved spectrum of XUV radiation from a rear-side plasma has been observed in the wavelength range from 10 to 100 Å. The spectral intensity for the Al foil decays exponentially with foil thickness and goes to zero at 3 μm. The intensity for the Au foil also decays exponentially up to 1 μm but remains almost constant from 1 to 6 μm. This result for the Au foil indicates that radiation heat conduction plays an important role in energy transport through high-Z plasmas.     

Optimization of soft x-ray line emission from laser-produced carbon plasma with laser intensity

Absolute measurement for He-α resonance (1s^{2 1}S₀?1s2p¹ P ₁, at 40.2 Å) line emission from a laser-produced carbon plasma has been studied as a function of laser intensity. The optimum laser intensity is found to be ≈1.3×10¹² W/cm² for the maximum emission of 3.2 × 10¹³ photons sr^?1 pulse^?1. Since this line lies in the water window spectral region, it has potential application in x-ray microscopic imaging of biological sample in wet condition. Theoretical calculation using corona model for the emission of this line is also carried out with appropriate ionization and radiative recombination rate coefficients     

A coherent light source,widely tunable down to 16 μm by stimulated Raman scattering

An infra-red emission tunable down to 16 μm is produced by a hydrogen Stokes shifted dye laser. The peak power measured at 16 μm is of ca. 50 kW in 2 ns within a one millimeter diameter beam. The corresponding light flux of the order of 5 MW cm^-2 could allow a multi-step vibrational excitation of molecules absorbing down to 16 μm. Simultaneous emissions from the laser and from the previous Stokes bands are available at: 0.76, 1.62, 2.09 μm with respective peak powers of 550, 50 and 20 MW. Spectral widths of 0.8 cm^-1 and of ca. 7 × 10^-2 cm^-1 are obtained for the dye laser and for each of the Stokes band respectively.