Continuous-wave,high-power,Raman continuum generation in holey fibers

The possibility of using low pump power for cw Raman continuum generation is demonstrated by optimization of the pump peak power and by accounting for the loss-related reduction of the effective length of Raman interaction in holey fibers. A 3.8-W, 324-nm-wide cw Raman continuum with a spectral power density higher than 10 mW/nm is generated in a completely fiber-integrated, single-mode format.     

Continuous-wave rotational Raman laser in H(2)

A diode-pumped, far-off-resonance cw Raman laser in H(2) with rotational Stokes emission is reported for the first time to our knowledge. The Raman laser can produce single-wavelength emission at either 830 nm (rotational Stokes) or 1180 nm (vibrational Stokes) depending on the frequency tuning of the pump laser. The mirrors for the rotational cw Raman laser are easier to produce; the laser also exhibits a wider continuous tuning range and is less sensitive to thermal effects than the previously studied vibrational Raman laser [Opt. Lett. 26, 426 (2001) and references therein].     

Continuous-wave, all-solid-state, intracavity Raman laser

Continuous-wave operation of a diode-pumped solid-state Raman laser at 1176 nm is reported. The intracavity Raman laser, based on a Nd:YAG laser crystal and a KGd(WO4)2 Raman crystal, reached threshold for 4 W of diode input power and gave up to 800 mW of output power at an overall conversion efficiency of 4%.     

Subfemtosecond pulse generation by rotational molecular modulation

We extend a recent suggestion for the generation of subfemtosecond pulses by molecular modulation [Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 2894 (1998)] to the rotational spectrum of molecular hydrogen (H(2)) . When a rotational transition |a? ? |b? is strongly driven (|rho(ab) |=0.5) the generation and phase-slip lengths are of the same order and the Raman spectrum has approximately Bessel function sideband amplitudes. Numerical simulation predicts that this spectrum (generated in a 14-cm-long cell at 1-atm pressure of H(2)) will compress into a train of pulses with 94-fs pulse separation and a pulse length of 0.5 fs.     

Continuous-wave,single frequency,second harmonic generation in sodium vapour

Single frequency, second harmonic radiation has been generated continuously in sodium vapour using resonant enhancement provided by the two photon transition 3S-4D at 578.7 nm, and a transverse magnetic field to remove the isotropy of the vapour. Phase matching and linewidth effects have been studied. The generation profile of the vapour is shown to be Doppler limited.     

Continuous-wave Raman laser in H(2)

Recent developments in high-finesse cavities now make broadly tunable, continuous-wave Raman lasers possible. The design and preliminary characterization of what is to the authors' knowledge the first continuous-wave Raman laser in H(2) are presented. The threshold is currently at 2 mW of pump, making diode laser pumping possible. The maximum photon conversion efficiency observed was 35% at 7.6 mW of pump power.     

Raman generation by phased and antiphased molecular states

We use molecular deuterium and two driving lasers to demonstrate collinear generation of mutually coherent equidistant sidebands, covering 50 000 cm(-1) of spectral bandwidth and ranging from 2.94 microm to 195 nm in wavelength. The essential idea is the adiabatic preparation of a single, highly coherent (|rho(ab)| = 0.33) molecular eigenstate.     

Continuous-wave Raman generation in a diode-pumped Nd3+:KGd(WO4)2 laser

Continuous-wave Raman generation in a compact solid-state laser system pumped by a multimode diode laser is demonstrated. The Stokes radiation of stimulated Raman scattering at 1.181 microm is generated as a result of self-frequency conversion of the 1.067 microm laser radiation in Nd3+:KGd(WO4)2 crystal placed in the cavity. The Raman threshold was measured at 1.15 W of laser diode power. The highest output power obtained at the Stokes wavelength was 54 mW. The anomalous delay of Raman generation relative to the start of laser generation (the oscillation buildup) due to slow accumulation of Stokes photons in the cavity at low Raman gain and Raman threshold dependence not only on the laser intensity but also on the time of laser action are observed.     

Improved ground state rotational parameters of deuterium fluoride, DF

The rotational spectrum of DF in the 1.3-3.3 THz frequency region has been observed by means of a tunable far-infrared spectrometer. The J + 1 ← J, with J = 1-4, rotational transitions of DF have been recorded with an accuracy of the order of 50-200 kHz. These measurements, in conjunction with the hyperfine components of the J = 1 ← 0 transition recently observed [Cazzoli and Puzzarini, J. Mol. Spectrosc. 231 (2005) 124-130] and the rotational transitions up to J = 47 [R.S. Ram, Z. Morbi, B. Guo, K.-Q. Zhang, P.F. Bernath, J. Vander Auwera, J.W.C. Johns, S.P. Davies, Astrophys. J. Suppl. Series 103 (1996) 247-254] consented to improve the ground state rotational parameters of DF.     

Continuous-wave stimulated Raman scattering (cwSRS) microscopy

Stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy is a powerful tool for chemically sensitive non-invasive optical imaging. However, ultrafast laser sources, which are currently employed, are still expensive and require substantial maintenance to provide temporal overlap and spectral tuning. SRS imaging, which utilizes continuous-wave laser sources, has a major advantage, as it eliminates the cell damage due to exposure to the high-intensity light radiation, while substantially reducing the cost and complexity of the setup. As a proof-of-principle, we demonstrate microscopic imaging of dimethyl sulfoxide using two independent, commonly used lasers, a diode-pumped, intracavity doubled 532-nm laser and a He–Ne laser operating at 632.8-nm.     

Continuous-wave cavity-ringdown detection of stimulated Raman gain spectra

Cavity ringdown (CRD) spectroscopy, with its high sensitivity, provides a novel way to perform continuous-wave (cw) stimulated Raman gain (SRG) spectroscopy, rather than by conventional optically detected coherent Raman techniques. Tunable cw laser light at ∼1544 nm is used to probe ringdown decay from a rapidly-swept, high-finesse optical cavity containing a gas-phase sample of interest and itself located inside the cavity of a cw single-longitudinal-mode Nd:YAG ring laser operating at ∼1064.4 nm. This approach is used to measure cw SRG spectra of the ν ₁ fundamental rovibrational Raman band of methane gas at ∼2916.5 cm⁻¹. The resulting SRG-CRD resonances have ringdown times longer than in the off-resonance case, in contrast to the usual shorter ringdown times arising from absorption and other loss processes. Previously reported noise-equivalent sensitivities have been substantially improved, by using a second ringdown cavity to facilitate subtraction of infrared-absorption background signals. Moreover, by employing a ringdown cavity in the form of a ring, the SRG-pump and CRD-detected Stokes beams can co-propagate uni-directionally, which significantly reduces Doppler broadening.     

Continuous-wave frequency mixing and UV generation in sodium vapor

Resonant nonlinear four-wave mixing processes have been studied in sodium vapor. The generation of cw uv radiation and the upconversion of =10.8 m light is reported. The coefficientC=P ₄/P₁P₂P₃ obtained was on the order of 10^–2 W^–2, the pump spectral width being 12GHz. Resonant atomic nonlinearities are shown to be used for effective cw frequency conversion.     

Continuous-wave pumped, all-fiber optical parametric oscillator assisted by stimulated Raman scattering

A continuous-wave pumped, all-fiber optical parametric oscillator (OPO) around 1523 nm based on the mixing interaction of parametric process and stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) effects are investigated in this paper. We study and give the detailed analysis of the generation and output characteristics of all-fiber OPO with the influence of the SRS effects. Experimental results show that there exists the saturation output effect for this kind of OPO due to the coexistence of first order SRS effect, second order SRS and the optical parametric oscillation. The maximal output power of OPO is about 100 mW as the pump power reaches 1.4 W. Furthermore, a depolarized L-band super-continuum light source from 1570 nm to 1640 nm based on the combined interaction of parametric process and SRS effects can also be obtained.     

Phase-matched high harmonic generation for the study of rotational coherence molecular dynamics

We report the observation of periodic modulations in the high order harmonic radiation from diatomic molecules in a semi-infinitive gas cell when a preceding femtosecond laser beam, which is off-axis to the high-harmonic generation beam, modifies the phase-matching condition through the field-free alignment of the molecules. The observed modulations of the high harmonic radiation versus the time delay between the pulses result from periodic changes in the nonlinear refractive index associated with rotational Raman coherence. This opens up a new potential technique for studying rotational coherence dynamics in the ground states of molecules.     

Continuous-wave Raman laser pumped within a semiconductor disk laser cavity

A KGd(WO?)? Raman laser was pumped within the cavity of a cw diode-pumped InGaAs semiconductor disk laser (SDL). The Raman laser threshold was reached for 5.6 W of absorbed diode pump power, and output power up to 0.8 W at 1143 nm, with optical conversion efficiency of 7.5% with respect to the absorbed diode pump power, was demonstrated. Tuning the SDL resulted in tuning of the Raman laser output between 1133 and 1157 nm.     

Measurement of the Raman polarizability anisotropy for the v = 1 pure rotational Raman transition in H 2 by rotational Raman spectroscopy

A combination of stimulated Raman pumping and rotational Raman spectroscopy is used to accomplish the first measurement of the polarizability anisotropy γ_11,13 (355 nm) for the S₁₁ (1) transition in molecular hydrogen H₂. Saturation of the Q₀₁(1) transition connecting the |X¹ Σ⁺ _g, v = 0, J = 1 > state to the |X¹ Σ⁺ _g, v = 1, J = 1 > state in H₂ by stimulated Raman pumping is the critical element in this experiment. The observed intensities of the rotational Raman lines for these states allow an estimate of γ_11,13 (355 nm) as 0.358 ± 0.004 ų. A comparison of this value to that obtained from fundamental ab initio calculations in H₂ also is possible for the first time.     

Continuous-wave mid-infrared laser sources based on difference frequency generation

We report on recent developments of widely tunable, continuous-wave (CW) laser sources based on difference-frequency generation (DFG) in nonlinear optical materials. The state-of-the-art of CW DFG technology will be reviewed. Applications of the DFG-based laser source to high-resolution molecular spectroscopy and trace gas detection will be presented. New development trends of DFG will be discussed. To cite this article: W. Chen et al., C. R. Physique 8 (2007).     

Investigation of superexcited states in molecular deuterium

A high-resolution VUV laser absorption spectroscopy is used to investigate the photon-induced ion-pair formation in D₂ in the spectral region from 140117.4 to 140732.0 cm^?1. We report determination of photoionization efficiency in ortho-para D₂ in supersonic molecular beam with energy resolution of 0.1 cm^?1. The assignment of the superexcited D₂ Rydberg states is done based on the quantum defect theory.     

Experimental study of vibrational and pure rotational coherent anti-stokes Raman scattering (CARS) in molecular hydrogen

Using a specially designed excimer-laser-pumped dye laser of adjustable bandwidth high-lying pure rotational transitions of both, ortho-and para-hydrogen have been identified by coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS). As an interesting application H₂-based CARS-thermometry is discussed.     

Continuous-wave ultrahigh-repetition-rate pulse-train generation through modulational instability in a passive fiber cavity

Thanks to a passive cavity configuration, modulational instability in fibers is successfully observed, for the first time to our knowledge, in the continuous-wave regime. Our technique provides a new means of generating all-optically ultrahigh-repetition-rate pulse trains and opens up new possibilities for the fundamental study of modulational instability and related phenomena.