Dispersion and compensation of temporal pulse width for femtosecond pulse laser ranging

We built an atmosphere dispersion model of femtosecond laser pulses that can calculate temporal pulse width travelling in air. The initial pulse duration of 100 fs can be broadened to 60 ps when propagating 200 km in the atmosphere. An experimental system has been established to compensate the large dispersion propagating 200 km in the atmosphere. The single model fiber (SMF) and the prism pairs were, respectively, used for coarse and fine compensation in the system. The pulse duration was consistently regulated 150 fs by moving the distance of prism pairs. This method can reach submicron resolution for a long distance by means of time of flight measurement.     

Generation, measurement and optimization of a variable duration, short pulse, mode-locked cavity-dumped Nd:YAG laser

Spectral and temporal measurements undertaken on a single picosecond laser pulse from a flash lamp pumped, cavity dumped, active/passive mode-locked Nd:YAG laser are presented in this paper. Optimization of several parameters of the resonator cavity produced a single pulse with 0.7 mJ energy and 10² contrast. The pulse duration was variable from 24 to 120 ps by using intra-cavity etalons of different thicknesses. The pulse width and spectrum of the pulse were simultaneously measured using a second harmonic autocorrelator and a spectrometer. The time bandwidth product was 0.445, which is close to theoretical limit for a bandwidth limited pulse.     

Laser-diode end-pumped intracavity frequency doubling semiconductor saturable absorber mirror passively mode-locked picosecond lasers

A diode pumped Nd:YVO₄ semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) passive mode-locked intracavity frequency doubled laser was studied. A type II phase matching KTiOPO₄(KTP) crystal and a type I phase matching LiB₃O₅ (LBO) frequency doubling crystal were respectively inserted in the cavity. With a pump power of 4.5 W, a 90 mW output of frequency doubled beam and 29.7 ps pulse duration were achieved with frequency doubled by KTP. With the same pump power a 140 mW output of frequency doubled beam and 3.67 ps pulse duration were achieved with LBO.     

Generation of dual wavelength ultrashort pulse outputs from a passive mode locked fiber ring laser

By incorporating two sections of polarization maintaining fibers in the passive mode locked fiber ring laser cavity, dual wavelength ultrashort pulse outputs, around 1558 nm and 1570 nm, having the same direction of polarization and pulse widths of 2.4 ps and 2.1 ps, respectively, were observed simultaneously.     

Passively mode-locked ytterbium fiber laser utilizing chirped-fiber-Bragg-gratings for dispersion control

A robust, self-starting picosecond pulse source based on ytterbium (Yb³⁺) doped fiber laser is described. Utilizing a chirped-fiber-Bragg-grating (C-FBG) for dispersion control, solitary mode-locking is obtained without bulk dispersion compensation elements. A semiconductor saturable absorber (SESAM) is used for stable self-starting. 3.6 ps pulses are produced, with 45 MHz basic repetition-rate and mW scale average output power at 1060 nm. Detailed numerical simulations based on the modified nonlinear Schrödinger equation agree well with the experimental results and are used as a design tool for the solitary mode-locked picosecond laser. The presented design can be simply employed in an all-fiber environmentally-stable system.     

输出近百纳焦耳脉冲能量的光子晶体光纤锁模激光器

设计并搭建了一种支持百纳焦耳量级的单脉冲能量输出的锁模光纤激光器.激光器基于σ型腔结构,采用掺Yb偏振型大模场面积光子晶体光纤作为增益介质,利用半导体可饱和吸收镜实现自启动锁模.激光器内没有色散补偿机理,使其工作在全正色散锁模状态.通过在谐振腔内引入多通长腔使激光器的重复频率降低至11.1 MHz,直接获得了平均功率为1.08 W,单脉冲能量为 97 nJ,脉冲宽度为4.17 ps的稳定锁模脉冲输出,经腔外色散补偿,脉冲宽度压缩至740 fs.     

High-energy dissipative soliton with MHz repetition rate from an all-fiber passively mode-locked laser

We experimentally demonstrate pulse energy enhancement in an all-fiber passively mode-locked laser operating in the large normal dispersion regime. By increasing the laser cavity length as well as its net cavity dispersion, the proposed laser, which is mode-locked by nonlinear polarization rotation, generates highly chirped dissipative solitons with pulse energies up to 9.4 nJ. The fundamental repetition rate is 2.3 MHz, and the pulse duration is 35 ps. Such low repetition rate as well as wide pulse width makes this mode-locked all-fiber laser a suitable oscillator to directly seed a fiber amplifier, which can be used as compact sources for high-power applications.     

Ultraviolet laser microstructuring of silicon and the effect of laser pulse duration on the surface morphology

The study of the laser pulse duration effect on the silicon micro-spikes morphology is presented. The microcones were produced by ultraviolet (248 nm) laser irradiation of doped Si wafers in SF₆ environment. The laser pulse duration was adjusted at 450 fs, 5 ps and 15 ns. We have analyzed the statistical nature of the spikes’ morphological characteristics, such as periodicity and apex angle by exploiting image processing techniques, on SEM images of the irradiated samples. The correlation of the quantitative morphological characteristics with the laser parameters (pulse duration, laser fluence and number of pulses) provides new insight on the physical mechanisms, which are involved on the formation of Si microcones.     

Reflective carbon nanotube as the saturable absorber for mode-locked 1064 nm laser

With a reflective single-walled carbon nanotube as the saturable absorber, a laser diode-pumped passively mode-locked Nd:YVO₄ laser at 1064 nm was realized for the first time. The pulse duration of 12 ps was produced with a repetition rate of 83.7 MHz. The peak power and the single pulse energy of the mode-locking laser were 1.28 kW and 15.4 nJ, respectively.     

LD end pumped, actively mode locked and passively Q-switched Nd:YAP laser at 1341 nm

An end pumped Nd:YAP laser at 1341 nm is actively mode locked and passively Q-switched. Pumping was done with a pulsed high power laser diode with maximum power 425 W. V³⁺:YAG with 61% initial transmission served as saturable absorber, and an acousto-optic modulator is used for active mode locking. The output pulse train with 69 ns duration has a total energy of 3.2 mJ with ±4% shot-to-shot fluctuation. The peak output energy of a single mode locked pulse is 0.25 mJ. The pulse duration of a single mode locked pulse is less than 800 ps. The output laser beam is nearly diffraction limited with 1.6 mm diameter, and beam propagation factor M² about 1.3.     

Supercontinuum generation in ultra-flat near zero dispersion PCF with selective liquid infiltration

We present a new design study of ultra-flat near zero dispersion PCF with selectively liquid infiltration with all uniform air-holes in the cladding. The dependence of the individual parameters upon dispersion has been presented in detail. The study establishes that varying Λ influences the total dispersion, whereas d has the desired effect of modifying the dispersion slope, and varying n_L modifies both. With the above study we could achieve near zero ultra-flat dispersion as small as 0 ± 0.41 ps/nm/km for broad wavelength range of 452 nm. The optimized near zero ultra-flat dispersion PCF has been targeted for smooth and flat broadband spectrum supercontinuum generation (SCG) for near Infrared (IR) applications. Broadband SC generations corresponding to three different designs of ultra-flat dispersion fiber have been carried out by using picoseconds pulse laser around the first zero dispersion wavelengths (ZDW). The numerical results show that FWHM of around 400 nm with less than a meter long fiber can be achieved with these fibers that cover most of the communication wavelength bands. The proposed design study will be applicable for applications in the field of tomography, Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) system, spectroscopy, etc.     

非线性放大环形镜“8”字腔光纤激光器实验研究

使用976 nm半导体激光器作为抽运源,对利用非线性放大环形镜（NALM）锁模运行的掺Yb3+光纤激光器进行了实验研究,获得了脉冲宽度43.6 ps,中心波长为1053.3 nm的锁模脉冲激光输出, 光谱宽度8 nm, 输出功率为0.2 mW, 重复频率为18.2 MHz, 经过放大, 通过光栅对腔外色散补偿,在腔外产生了宽度616 fs的脉冲激光.     

Thermal effects investigation and cavity design in passively mode-locked Nd:YVO4 laser with a SESAM

A diode-pumped passively mode-locked Nd:YVO₄ laser with a five-mirror folded cavity is presented by using a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM). The temperature distribution and thermal lensing in laser medium are numerically analyzed to design a special cavity which can keep the power density on SESAM under its damage threshold. Both the Q-switched and continuous-wave mode-locked operation are experimentally realized. The maximum average output power of 8.94 W with a 9.3 ps pulse width at a repetition rate of 111 MHz is obtained under a pump power of 24 W, correspondingly the optical slope efficiency is 39.2%.     

Eleven-wavelength switchable fiber ring laser with a dispersion compensation fiber and a delayed interferometer

We demonstrate a fiber ring laser with a dispersion compensation fiber (DCF) and a delayed interferometer (DI) with temperature control, which is able to switch eleven wavelengths one by one. In ring cavity, DCF supplies different effective cavity lengths for different wavelengths, DI generates a wavelength comb corresponding to the ITU grid, a flat-gain erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) provides uniform gain for each lasting wavelength, and a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) not only acts as active modulator, but also alleviates homogeneous broadening effect of EDFA. Stable pulse trains with a pulsewidth about 40 ps at 10 GHz have been obtained by injecting external optical control signals into the laser. Wavelength switching process among eleven wavelengths is achieved by merely tuning an intracavity optical delay line.     

大色散稳定腔长的光纤锁模激光器的锁模特性研究

报道了一种新型的采用大色散腔结构的光纤锁模激光器,它可以有效地克服激光器腔长抖动对锁模的不良影响,同时,实验中发现,该结构对超模噪声也有很好的抑制作用。完成了大色散控制,电光调制器调制的,稳定的光纤锁模激光器实验,得到形状为sech^2的光脉冲输出,脉冲宽度为7.6ps,脉冲带宽积为0．335。     

基于非线性偏振旋转锁模的高功率光子晶体光纤飞秒激光振荡器

为了探索大模场面积光子晶体光纤锁模激光器在全正色散锁模域内的耗散孤子锁模机理, 以获得更大的单脉冲能量和更高的峰值功率, 本文搭建了以掺镱大模场面积光子晶体光纤作为增益介质的耗散孤子锁模激光器. 激光器使用环形腔结构, 利用非线性偏振旋转以及滤光片提供的耗散作用实现了稳定的锁模运转. 实验中, 从激光器振荡级直接获得了平均功率10 W, 重复频率49.09 MHz(对应202 nJ的单脉冲能量), 脉冲宽度为1.03 ps的稳定锁模脉冲输出, 经过腔外色散补偿得到的脉冲宽度为95.5 fs.     

Diode-pumped passively mode-locked Nd:CLNGG laser

Passive mode-locking of a diode-pumped Nd:CLNGG laser was demonstrated for the first time to our knowledge. The laser operated at a central wavelength of 1061.2 nm with a maximum average output power of 101 mW. The mode-locked pulses have pulse duration of 2.0 ps, a spectral bandwidth of 1.2 nm and a repetition rate of 88.4 MHz. The mode locking of the laser was enabled by a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM).     

Investigations on order and width of RZ super Gaussian pulse in different WDM systems at 40 Gb/s using dispersion compensating fibers

In optical wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) systems the dispersion management is a key issue. In optical systems a lot of research is going on to reduce dispersion by selecting proper dispersion compensating techniques and proper modulation format for input data. One way to reduce dispersion is by using dispersion compensating fibers in the WDM systems. This paper analyzes the use of RZ super Gaussian pulse inputs for different WDM systems i.e. for conventional, dense and ultra dense WDM systems employing dispersion compensating fibers. The pulse width and the order of the RZ super Gaussian pulse was varied to evaluate the performance at 40 Gb/s. The experiment showed that to get minimum BER, pulse width of 7.5 ps and 10 ps along with third-order RZ super Gaussian pulse were found suitable and recommended to be used.     

Investigations on order and width of RZ super Gaussian pulse in pre-, post- and symmetrical-dispersion compensated 10 Gb/s optical communication system using standard and dispersion compensating fibers

We show the effect of varied order and width of super Gaussian pulse at 10 Gb/s in dispersion compensated optical communication system. The optical communication system consists of standard single-mode fiber of 16 ps/nm/km of a certain length, whose dispersion is compensated using pre-, post- and symmetrical-dispersion compensation schemes with proportionate length dispersion compensating fiber of −80 ps/nm/km. Performance of these three compensation schemes is compared at 14 dBm values of Er-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFA) power at 1st, 2nd and 3rd order RZ super Gaussian optical pulse. The pulse width, full width at half maximum (FWHM) is also varied from 5 to 30 ps to highlight the optimum performance. The graphical results obtained show a relationship among the attributes pulse width, order of RZ super Gaussian optical pulse and dispersion compensation scheme implemented. It shows that to decrease BER and timing jitter in the system, smaller width and 3rd order super Gaussian pulse should be used. It is recommended that to decrease dependency of BER and timing jitter in the communication system on the pulse width i.e. FWHM, the symmetrical compensation scheme should be implemented.     

Gain-saturated Ni-like antimony laser at 11.4 nm in grazing-incidence pumping geometry

We report on gain-saturated operation of the 4d → 4p, J = 0-1, 11.4 nm soft-X-ray laser line in Ni-like antimony (Sb) at a pump energy of only 2.5 J. The driving laser used was a 1054 nm Nd:glass CPA laser system with a pulse duration of 7 ps (FWHM). The pump beam was focused with a tilted on-axis parabolic mirror in a grazing-incidence (GRIP) pumping configuration at an incidence angle of 45°. A fraction of 2.8% of the pump energy (∼70 mJ) was used for the prepulse, which was propagated along the same beam line as the main pulse and arrived at the target 4.4 ns before the main pulse.