Laser-jamming analysis of combined fiber lasers to imaging CCD

To complete a successful laser jamming to imaging charge coupled device (CCD) based on combined fiber lasers, the interactions between CCD and combined fiber lasers were analyzed in detail. The saturation and crosstalk thresholds of CCD were achieved, which are lower than 10 mW/cm². Through theoretical analysis and numerical simulations, the thermal processes under single pulse, multi-pulses and continuous laser irradiations were developed. The simulation results have proved the possibility of hard damage caused by multi-pulses and continuous laser irradiations. The combined fiber lasers is suitable to deploy optical saturation jamming at present. The further applications of combined fiber lasers need a more powerful laser source and a more accurate tracking and pointing system.     

Melting behaviours of nickel nanorods

We report the synthesis and measurement of an ultra-precise and extremely stable optical frequency in the telecommunications window around 1543 nm. Using a fibre-based femtosecond frequency comb we have phase-stabilised a fibre laser at 194 THz to an optical frequency standard at 344 THz, thus transferring the properties of the optical frequency standard to another spectral region. Relative to the optical frequency standard, the synthesised frequency at 194 THz is determined to within 1 mHz and its fractional frequency instability is measured to be less than 2×10^-15 at 1 s, reaching 5× 10^-18 after 8000 s. We also measured the synthesised frequency against a caesium fountain clock: here the frequency comparison itself contributes less than 4 mHz (2×10^-17) to the uncertainty. Our results confirm the suitability of fibre based frequency comb technology for precision measurements and frequency synthesis, and enable long-distance comparison of optical clocks by using optical fibres to transmit the frequency information.     

Designing novel chalcone single crystals with ultrafast nonlinear optical responses and large multi-photon absorption coefficients

A chalcone single crystal, 1-(4-chlorophenyl)-3-(4-methoxyphenyl)prop-2-en-1-one that is transparent over the visible to infrared region is introduced as a new potential material to third-order nonlinear optical applications. The crystal exhibits ultrafast optical response (≤90 fs) and large optical nonlinearity in the wavelength range 800–1200 nm. A very large effective two-photon absorption coefficient β_eff exceeding 120 cm/GW can be obtained with this chalcone crystal, at a low intensity threshold of 41 MW/cm². The mechanism of nonlinear absorption at different levels of intensity has been discussed. The crystal shows no damage against the laser pulse intensity as high as 8 GW/cm². We discuss the molecular and crystal designing of chalcones with large and ultrafast optical nonlinearity combined with low optical cut-off (<450 nm).     

A novel confocal optical pulse stretcher for laser pulses

We present an analytical and experimental study of a novel confocal optical pulse stretcher (COPS). The simple and passive pulse stretcher consists of two concave mirrors and a scraper beam-splitter and its optical configuration ensures a perfect spatial overlapping of laser pulses at the beam-splitter. The pulse stretcher is compact and suitable for laser pulses of large divergences. The confocal optical pulse stretcher is demonstrated on a pulsed copper vapour laser to convert a 40 ns (1/e² % points) pulse into a 55 ns with reduction of peak power by a factor of 1.375 without loss of pulse energy.     

Broadband coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering spectroscopy using soliton pulse trains from a photonic crystal fiber

Pulse trains of fundamental soliton pulses with different center wavelengths and delay times from a photonic crystal fiber were generated and used as Stokes optical pulses in coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) spectroscopy. The pulse trains were created by shaping optical pulses with a pulse shaper and their waveforms were measured by a cross-correlation frequency-resolved optical gating method. By the use of pulse trains, the time required for obtaining broadband CARS signals was reduced to be about one third compared with our previous study without using pulse trains. With this setup, broadband CARS signals between 500 and 3100 cm⁻¹ of a single polystyrene bead sample have been measured and the most of the Raman peaks in this frequency range of samples have been observed clearly.     

Integrated Mach-Zehnder micro-interferometer on LiNbO3

This work presents a scanning micro-interferometer, without moving parts, based on the well-known Mach-Zehnder geometry. The micro-system was obtained by using non-standard processes of planar technology on lithium niobate crystals, in particular the waveguide fabrication was obtained by using high energy ion implantation of medium light mass elements. The scanning effect without moving parts has been obtained by changing the refractive index of the optical waveguides by using electric field. The whole device is 60 mm long with a 0.5×1 mm² cross section, weights only few grams and its power consumption lies in the milliwatt range. The performances were preliminary tested in the spectral window ranging from 0.4 to 1.0 μm. By using standard radiation sources, this micro-system demonstrated a spectral resolution suitable for detecting the characteristic spectral lines of a Xe-arc lamp on a 400 nm wide spectral window. In a further experiment we tested the performances of the microinterferometer for gas trace detection by using a calibrated NO₂ optical gas cell. A sensitivity of about 10 ppb for NO₂ detection, when suitable optical paths are used, was evaluated.     

In situ third-order interferometric autocorrelation of a femtosecond deep-ultraviolet pulse

The interferometric measurement of an ultrashort optical pulse is demonstrated using three-photon ionization of Xe in a time-of-flight mass spectrometer (MS). This approach allowed measurement of the third-order fringe-resolved autocorrelation trace of an ultrashort optical pulse in the deep-ultraviolet (DUV) region. The pulse can be measured in situ using the same MS that is employed in ultrafast spectroscopy. Sensitivity (>3×10⁷ W) was sufficient to measure a DUV pulse used in such applications. This setup has the potential to measure the temporal duration of a broadband (204–306 nm) ultrashort optical pulse with no additional distortion in the temporal characteristics.     

Diode-pumped actively Q-switched Nd:GGG laser operating at 938 nm

The stimulated emission cross-section of Nd:GGG crystal in 938 nm transition was measured by the amplifier approach. It is 2.3×10^?20 cm². A quasi-continuous-wave diode pumped, actively Q-switched Nd:GGG laser operating at 938 nm was demonstrated. Pumped by laser diodes with 900 W peak power and 300 μs pulse duration, it generated 168 mJ energy in long pulse mode. The slope efficiency was 36%. Q-switched by a KD?P Pockels cell, 41 mJ output pulse energy was obtained. The pulse duration and peak power were 120 ns and 340 kW, respectively. The optical to optical efficiency was 7%.     

An experimental study of an acousto-optic Q-switched Yb3+-doped all-fiber laser

The Q-switched fiber lasers are very attractive sources in many applications such as military affairs, surgical operation, laser machining, laser marking, nonlinear frequency conversion, range finding, remote sensing and optical time domain reflectometer. In this paper, an acousto-optic Q-switched Yb³⁺-doped all-fiber laser at 1083 nm is reported. The pulse energy of 2.94 mJ has been obtained at the pump power of 8.47 W, and the pulse width is 3 μs.     

ZnMgAlO based transparent conducting oxides with modulatable bandgap

ZnMgAlO films with a broad spectral range of optical transmission and high conductivity were prepared by pulsed laser deposition. The optical and electrical properties of ZnMgAlO films could be controlled by adjusting Al and Mg contents. As the Mg content increased from 10 to 30 at.%, the bandgap value could be modulated from 3.78 to 4.66 eV, and the transparent wavelength range was widened within near-UV, visible and near-IR regions. The optimized ZnMgAlO film possesses a wide bandgap of 4.5 eV and a low resistivity of  cm. The broad spectral range of optical transmission and high conductivity maked ZnMgAlO films are of interest as TCO window materials for optoelectronic devices.     

Femtosecond OPO based on LBO pumped by a frequency-doubled Yb-fiber laser-amplifier system for CARS spectroscopy

We present detailed investigations of a femtosecond green-pumped optical parametric oscillator (OPO) based on lithium triborate. As pump source, a frequency-doubled Yb-fiber laser-amplifier system is used. The OPO generates signal pulses tunable over a spectral range from 780 to 940 nm and idler pulses tunable from 1630 to 1190 nm. More than 250 mW are generated in the signal beam and more than 300 mW in the idler beam. Without dispersion compensation chirped signal pulses with a pulse duration between 100 and 250 fs are measured. Using this system for coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering spectroscopy, vibrational resonances between 1110 and 6760 cm⁻¹ can be excited. Due to the chirped pulses, a spectral resolution of 100 cm⁻¹ is achieved, which is 2.5 times higher compared to an excitation with time-bandwidth limited pulses.     

Single-shot cross-correlator using a long-wavelength sampling pulse

We present a single-shot cross-correlating scheme capable of high dynamic range and large temporal window for pulse contrast characterization. By adopting a long-wavelength sampling pulse parametrically converted from the pulse under test, wavelength combination in the correlating process allows the use of a large noncollinear phase-matching angle in periodically poled lithium niobate crystal, matches the high-sensitivity detection system consisting of a fiber array and a photomultiplier tube, and favors the elimination of optical scattering noise. The prototype experiments demonstrate a detectable contrast maximum up to ～10(9), temporal window of ～50?ps, and resolution of ～1?ps, using <0.5?mJ input energy.     

Practical Aspects of Copper Ion-Based Double Electron Electron Resonance Distance Measurements

We present experimental conditions that lead to high-quality Cu²⁺-based double electron electron resonance (DEER) data. Such experiments are feasible at temperature of about 20 K, and sample concentrations in the range of 0.15–1.5 mM. By systematically investigating the effects of pulse lengths, we find that observer π pulse lengths of 20–48 ns provide reasonable modulation depths as well as signals. The length of the pump pulse needs to be minimized (16 ns in our case). For a Cu²⁺–Cu²⁺ DEER measurement, the optimal frequency offset is about 100 MHz. For a Cu²⁺–nitroxide DEER measurement, the frequency offset is often varied in the range of 100–500 MHz, to probe orientational selectivity. For both cases, the frequency of the pump pulse should be smaller than the observer pulse in order to obtain a larger modulation depth.     

A UV–Visible–NIR fluorescence lifetime imaging microscope for laser-based biological sensing with picosecond resolution

This article describes the design and characterization of a wide-field, time-domain fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) system developed for picosecond time-resolved biological imaging. The system consists of a nitrogen-pumped dye laser for UV–visible–NIR excitation (337.1–960 nm), an epi-illuminated microscope with UV compatible optics, and a time-gated intensified CCD camera with an adjustable gate width (200 ps-10^-3 s) for temporally resolved, single-photon detection of fluorescence decays with 9.6-bit intensity resolution and 1.4-μm spatial resolution. Intensity measurements used for fluorescence decay calculations are reproducible to within 2%, achieved by synchronizing the ICCD gate delay to the excitation laser pulse via a constant fraction optical discriminator and picosecond delay card. A self-consistent FLIM system response model is presented, allowing for fluorescence lifetimes (0.6 ns) significantly smaller than the FLIM system response (1.14 ns) to be determined to 3% of independently determined values. The FLIM system was able to discriminate fluorescence lifetime differences of at least 50 ps. The spectral tunability and large temporal dynamic range of the system are demonstrated by imaging in living human cells: UV-excited endogenous fluorescence from metabolic cofactors (lifetime ∼1.4 ns); and 460-nm excited fluorescence from an exogenous oxygen-quenched ruthenium dye (lifetime ∼400 ns). Received: 23 February 2003 / Published online: 22 May 2003 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +1-734/9361-905, E-mail: mycek@umich.edu     

新型光示波管的研究

本文描还了我们研制的一种新型光示波管的设计特点及测试结果.这种光示波管配以适当的控制电路和读出系统所组成的光示波器,能直接测量光脉冲,并能测量电脉冲;既可测量单次脉冲,又可测量重复脉冲;测量重复脉冲时,测量范围可达0～数GHz(10⁹Hz)的任意频率的重复脉冲.这种新型光示波管的光谱响应范围宽,实测时间分辨率达5ps,工作于椭圆扫描方式.它抛弃了以往光示波管所采用的取样狭缝,而是采用脉冲提取电极,通过调节控制电路使其工作于特殊的同步方式,从而克服了取样光示波器测量时间长、重复性不好等缺点.最后给出了静态椭圆扫描图象和动态时间分辨率的测试结果.     

Monolithic integration technology between microlens arrays and infrared charge coupled devices

In this paper, we develop an integration technology between Si microlens and 256(H)×256(V) element PtSi Schottky-barrier infrared charge coupled device (IR-CCD) to improve the optical responsivity of CCD sensor. The refractive microlenses with the pixel size of approximately 28×28 μm² is directly fabricated on the backside of CCD substrate to focus the incident irradiation onto the active area. For the integration device the fill factor is improved by a factor of 2.1. As a result, the IR-CCD image sensors operating at 77 K indicate an approximate 0.06–0.4 increase in relative optical responsivity in the spectral range of from 1 to 5 μm. CCD imaging quality with microlens has been improved comparing to that without microlens to a great extent.     

Testing of a scintillator and fibre optic based radiation sensor

We describe the optimisation of RadLine^®; a small, real time, remotely operated radiation detector, which consists of an inorganic scintillation crystal coupled to a fibre optic cable transporting produced photons to a CCD camera some distance away. RadLine^® is tested in a beta and gamma narrow radiation field of 2.4 GBq, from a Caesium-137 (662 KeV) source, at doses rates between 0.125 mSvhr⁻¹ and 10 mSvhr⁻¹. Our results establish that the lower limit of the device corresponds to a dose rate of 0.2 mSvhr⁻¹, constrained by the signal to noise ratio of the instrument. We also demonstrate the process of characterising the RadLine^® for utilisation underwater due to its partial electrical inactiveness; and to consider how the instrument might perform in aquatic environments and ultimately in a First Generation Magnox Storage Ponds (FGMSP). The RadLine^® brings a marked difference to actual underwater radiation monitoring devices such as; HPGe, CZT and GM detectors, which not only incorporate the whole electronics within and are more bulky, only perform over a short range. The RadLine^®’s design offers signification value for intermediate (>100 m) and long range detection.     

Global examination of the 12C + 12C reaction data at low and intermediate energies

We examine the ¹²C + ¹²C elastic scattering over a wide energy range from 32.0 to 70.7 MeV in the laboratory system within the framework of the optical model and the coupled-channels formalism. The ¹²C + ¹²C system has been extensively studied within and over this energy range in the past. These efforts have been futile in determining the shape of the nuclear potential in the low energy region and in describing the individual angular distributions, single-angle 50° to 90° excitation functions and reaction cross-section data simultaneously. In order to address these problems systematically, we propose a potential that belongs to a family other than the one used to describe higher energy experimental data and show that it is possible to use it over this wide energy range. This potential also predicts the resonances at correct energies with reasonable widths.     

Structural,optical and electrical properties of CuSCN nano-powders doped with Li for optoelectronic applications

Pure and Li-doped CuSCN nano-powders were prepared using an in situ method. Structural, optical and electrical properties of the prepared samples were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV–Visible spectrophotometer and simple electrical circuit. XRD measurements showed that all pure and doped samples with 1%–7% Li have the hexagonal structures. The crystallite size of CuSCN decreased from 39.46 nm to 36.42 nm with increasing Li concentration from 0 to 7%. The values of direct and indirect optical band gap energies of pure and Li-doped CuSCN nano-powders were calculated. Direct optical band gap energy increased from 3.60 eV to 4.20 eV and indirect optical band gap energy increased from 2.36 eV to 3.20 eV by doping CuSCN with Li. The dc electrical conductivity was calculated at room temperature for all prepared CuSCN samples. Electrical conductivity decreased from 6.04 × 10⁻⁸ (Ω.cm)⁻¹ to 2.82 × 10⁻⁸ (Ω.cm)⁻¹ with increasing Li concentration from 0 to 7%. The optoelectronic performance of CuSCN was improved by doping with Li. As a result, Li-doped CuSCN could be a good candidate material as a window layer and as a hole transport layer (HTL) for producing more efficient solar cells.     

Large optical nonlinearity in CaCu<Subscript>3</Subscript>Ti<Subscript>4</Subscript>O<Subscript>12</Subscript> thin films

CaCu₃Ti₄O₁₂ (CCTO) thin films were successfully prepared on LaAlO₃ substrates by pulsed laser deposition technique. We measured the nonlinear optical susceptibility of the thin films using Z-scan method at a wavelength of 532 nm with pulse durations of 25 ps and 7 ns. The large values of the third-order nonlinear optical susceptibility, χ ⁽³⁾, of the CCTO film were obtained to be 2.79×10⁻⁸ esu and 3.30×10⁻⁶ esu in picosecond and nanosecond time regimes, respectively, which are among the best results of some representative nonlinear optical materials. The origin of optical nonlinearity of CCTO films was discussed. The results indicate that the CCTO films on LaAlO₃ substrates are promising candidate materials for applications in nonlinear optical devices.