57 W, 27 fs pulses from a fiber laser system using nonlinear compression

We report on the generation of 27 fs pulses with an average output power of 57 W and a repetition rate of 78 MHz. The pulses are generated by combining a high average power fiber chirped pulse amplification (FCPA) system with a microstructured large-mode-area fiber for nonlinear compression. The FCPA system delivers 270 fs pulses in a linearly polarized beam with diffraction-limited quality. Nonlinear compression is achieved by launching the pulses into a short (few cm) piece of microstructured fiber and subsequent compression by a pair of chirped mirrors. PACS  42.55.Wd; 42.55.Xi, 42.65.Re     

Melting and resolidification of gold film irradiated by laser pulses less than 100 fs

The rapid melting and resolidification of gold films irradiated by laser pulses less than 100 fs are investigated using the dual-hyperbolic two-step model. The solid–liquid interfacial velocity in the ultrafast phase change process is obtained by coupling a hyperbolic interfacial energy balance equation and nucleation dynamics. The results are compared with the experimental data for the 28-fs laser. The effects of laser pulse widths and fluences on melting process are investigated. A phase chart of the variations of pulse widths and fluences is established. The relationship between the melting threshold and ablation threshold is also presented.     

Pulsed solid-state laser system with fiber phase conjugation and 315 W average output power

Solid-state laser sources with high average output power and high beam quality are required for numerous applications in industry and science. To improve the beam quality, stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) mirrors based on optical phase conjugation are used to compensate for phase distortions in master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) systems. SBS phase conjugation in commercially available silica optical fibers facilitates the construction of high-power solid-state laser systems with high beam quality. Here we present a flash lamp-pumped, passively Q-switched Nd:YAP system which delivers an average output power of 315 W with M²=2.6 at a wavelength of 1.08 μm. Received: 11 July 2001 / Revised version: 28 September 2001 / Published online: 23 November 2001     

Investigation of laser diode face-pumped high average power heat capacity laser

The three-dimensional (3D) pump intensity distribution in medium of the laser diode (LD) pumped high average power heat capacity laser is simulated by the ray tracing method, and the divergence characteristics of fast axis and slow axis of LD are simultaneously considered. The transient 3D temperature and stress distributions are also simulated by the finite element method (FEM) with considering the uneven heat source distribution in medium. A LD face-pumped Nd:GGG heat capacity laser is designed. The average output power is 1.49 kW with an optical-optical efficiency of 24.1%.     

High peak power 16 μm InP-related quantum cascade laser

In this paper ～16 μm-emitting multimode InP-related quantum cascade lasers are presented with the maximum operating temperature 373 K, peak and average optical power equal to 720 mW and 4.8 mW at 303 K, respectively, and the characteristic temperature (T₀) 272 K. Two types of the lasers were fabricated and characterized: the lasers with a SiO₂ layer left untouched in the area of the metal-free window on top of the ridge, and the lasers with the SiO₂ layer removed from the metal-free window area. Dual-wavelength operation was obtained, at λ ～ 15.6 μm (641 cm^?1) and at λ ～ 16.6 μm (602 cm^?1) for lasers with SiO₂ removed, while within the emission spectrum of the lasers with SiO₂ left untouched only the former lasing peak was present. The parameters of these devices like threshold current, optical power and emission wavelength are compared. Lasers without the SiO₂ layer showed ～15% lower threshold current than these ones with the SiO₂ layer. The optical powers for lasers without SiO₂ layer were almost twice higher than for the lasers with the SiO₂ layer on the top of the ridge.     

Table-top KrF amplifier delivering 270 fs output pulses with over 9 W average power at 300 Hz

Applying the combination of a solid-state Ti:Sa laser system and a newly developed wide-aperture, discharge-pumped KrF amplifier, output pulses with over 9 W average power at 300 Hz have been achieved in a single output beam. The frequency-tripled seed pulses of the Ti:Sa system – delivering approximately 10 μJ energy at 248 nm – were amplified to over 30 mJ using a 3-pass off-axis amplification scheme. The optical set-up has been fitted to the amplifier’s parameters, and stored-energy measurements were carried out with different parameters in order to optimize the operational conditions of the device for the highest average power. Received: 10 June 2002 / Published online: 25 September 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +49-551/503-599, E-mail: jbekesi@llg.gwdg.de     

Double-pulse LIBS of gadolinium oxide ablated by femto- and nano-second laser pulses

Emission characteristics of gadolinium (Gd) oxide are studied, using ns and fs laser pulses for ablation in double-pulse laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). In the current conditions of pulse energy and signal detection timing, emission intensity enhancement in the reheating mode is 25-fold, but little effect can be observed in a pre-pulse mode. It is shown that the optimum focus position of the ablation pulse is about 5 mm apart from the sample surface in the reheating mode. Although little emission can be observed in the single-pulse configuration with fs ablation pulses, the intense emission can be observed in the reheating mode in the double-pulse configuration.     

Comparison of different side-pumping configurations for high power laser diode pumped solid-state laser

Ray-tracing method is used to simulate the distribution of absorption in crystal rod for different side-pumping configuration. The distribution of pumping power and absorption efficiency is compared, and the numerical results are presented. The results show that the more uniform pumping and the higher absorption coefficient are obtained with a diffuse cavity. And the method of the slow axis of laser diode stack perpendicular to the axis of lasing gives the higher central pumping density.     

Compact diode-pumped Yb:YAl3(BO3)4 laser generating 14.0 W of continuous-wave and 8.5 W of pulsed output powers

An efficient compact diode-pumped Yb:YAl₃(BO₃)₄ laser operating at room temperature is demonstrated. Output powers of 14.0 and 8.5 W are generated in continuous-wave and passively Q-switched operation, respectively. Laser pulses of 262.8 μJ in energy and 8.1 ns in duration are obtained, the corresponding peak power amounting to 32.4 kW.     

Temperature and current coefficients of lasing wavelength in tunable diode laser spectroscopy

The factors determining temperature and current coefficients of lasing wavelength are investigated and discussed under monitoring CO₂-gas absorption spectra. The diffusion rate of Joule heating at the active layer to the surrounding region is observed by monitoring the change in the junction voltage, which is a function of temperature and the wavelength (frequency) deviation under sinusoidal current modulation. Based on the experimental results, the time interval of monitoring the wavelength after changing the ambient temperature or injected current (scanning rate) has to be constant at least to eliminate the monitoring error induced by the deviation of lasing wavelength, though the temperature and current coefficients of lasing wavelength differ with the rate.     

Optimal distance from high power laser diode to cylindrical microlens in a coupling system

In a practical coupling system, a cylindrical microlens is used to collimate the emission of a high power laser diode (LD) in the dimension perpendicular to the junction plane. Using passive alignment, the LD is placed in the focus of the cylindrical microlens generally, regardless of the performance of the multimode optical fiber and the LD. In this paper, a more complete analysis is arrived at by ray-tracing technique, by which the angle 9 of the ray after refraction is computed as a function of the angle θo of the ray before refraction. The focus of the cylindrical microlens is not always the optimal position of the LD. In fact, in order to achieve a higher coupling efficiency, the optimal distance from the LD to the cylindrical microlens is dependent on not only the radius R and the index of refraction n of the cylindrical microlens, but also the divergence angle of the LD in the dimension perpendicular to the junction plane and the numerical aperture (NA) of the multimode optical fiber. The result     

Experimental implementation of ultrashort laser pulses in the von Neumann picture

The characterization and interpretation of ultrashort laser pulses is most intuitive in the joint time–frequency domain, where structures like multiple pulses become immediately apparent. For practical reasons, ultrafast femtosecond laser pulse shaping, however, is commonly carried out in the frequency domain. Here we implement pulse shaping of optical fields defined in the von Neumann representation, which is a joint time–frequency distribution with complex-valued Gaussian basis functions. We discuss the feasibility as well as the principal limitations of this technique, show illustrative examples, and propose possible applications in coherent control.     

Generation of 10 to 50 fs pulses tunable through all of the visible and the NIR

Noncollinearly phase-matched optical parametric amplifiers (NOPAs) pumped by the blue light of a frequency-doubled Ti:sapphire regenerative amplifier are a convenient source of continuously tunable ultrashort pulses in the visible and near infrared for spectroscopic experiments. We present the underlying principles, report recent improvements and describe the experiences gained from the routine use of a number of NOPAs in our laboratories. We find that the setup can easily be optimized for the given experimental requirements. Typical output-pulse energies in the visible are 5 to 10 μJ and a few μJ in the NIR from 200 μJ regenerative-amplifier pulses at 800 nm. From 460 to 700 nm, pulse lengths between 10 and 20 fs are routinely achieved, while the length increases monotonically from about 20 fs at 900 nm to just below 50 fs at 1600 nm. In all cases this corresponds to a dramatic shortening compared to the length of the pump pulses of around 100 fs. First results show that the 700 to 900 nm region can be accessed with sub-50-fs pulse lengths by use of an intermediate white-light generator in a two-stage setup. Received: 29 November 1999 / Published online: 5 July 2000     

Cleaning of artificially soiled paper using nanosecond, picosecond and femtosecond laser pulses

Cleaning of cultural assets, especially fragile organic materials like paper, is a part of the conservation process. Laser radiation as a non-contact tool offers prospects for that purpose. For the studies presented here, paper model samples were prepared using three different paper types (pure cellulose, rag paper, and wood-pulp paper). Pure cellulose serves as reference material. Rag and wood-pulp paper represent essential characteristics of the basic materials of real-world artworks. The papers were mechanically soiled employing pulverized charcoal. Pure and artificially soiled paper samples were treated with laser pulses of 28 fs (800 nm wavelength) and 8–12 ns (532 nm) duration in a multi pulse approach. Additionally, the cellulose reference material was processed with 30 ps (532 nm) laser pulses. Damage and cleaning thresholds of pure and soiled paper were determined for the different laser regimes. Laser working ranges allowing for removal of contamination and avoiding permanent modification to the substrate were found. The specimens prior and after laser illumination were characterized by light-optical microscopy (OM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) as well as multi spectral imaging analysis. The work extends previous nanosecond laser cleaning investigations on paper into the ultra-short pulse duration domain.     

An all-solid-state laser system for generation of 100 μJ femtosecond pulses near 625 nm at 1 kHz

Frequency doubling the output of a high-power femtosecond Cr:forsterite regenerative amplifier with >50% conversion efficiency in a temperature-tuned noncritically phase-matched LBO crystal produces femtosecond pulses of >100 μJ energy in the visible range near 625 nm at a pulse duration of about 200 fs or >65 μJ at <170 fs. Received: 29 March 1999 / Revised version: 27 April 1999 / Published online: 24 June 1999     

Femtosecond diode laser MOPA system at 920 nm based on asymmetric colliding pulse mode-locking

We report on the generation of 267 fs long pulses with a peak power of 661 W emitted by an InGaAs diode laser master-oscillator power-amplifier (MOPA) system with an external grating compressor. The oscillator emits strongly chirped picosecond pulses with several nanometer of bandwidth, which can be amplified without significant phase modulation and are compressed to femtosecond pulses after leaving the amplifier. We used a diode laser module for asymmetric colliding pulse mode-locking and optimized the collision point and the relative intensity of the counter-propagation pulses.     

Frequency shifting of sub-100 fs laser pulses by stimulated Raman scattering in a capillary filled with pressurized gas

The technique of Raman conversion of sub-100 fs laser pulses based on excitation of active medium by two orthogonally polarized pulses has been developed for Raman lasers with a glass capillary. 52 fs Stokes pulse at the wavelength of 1200 nm has been generated by stimulated Raman scattering of 48 fs Ti:sapphire laser pulse at the wavelength of 800 nm in hydrogen. 13% energy conversion efficiency has been achieved at pulse repetition rate up to 2 kHz.