4.7-W, 255-nm source based on second-harmonic generation of a copper-vapor laser in cesium lithium borate

We have generated 4.7 W of UV (255-nm) radiation with wall plug efficiency of 0.12% by frequency doubling the green (511-nm) output of a kinetically enhanced medium-scale copper-vapor laser (CVL) in cesium lithium borate (CLBO). Frequency doubling in beta -barium borate produced 3.9 W of UV radiation with wall plug efficiency of 0.1%. We found that conversion was better with CLBO because of the reduced constraints on CVL beam quality, less UV absorption, and smaller UV walk-off.     

Development of copper bromide laser master oscillator power amplifier system

Development of master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) system of copper bromide laser (CBL) operating at 110 W average power is reported. The spectral distribution of power at green (510.6 nm) and yellow (578.2 nm) components in the output of a copper bromide laser is studied as a function of operating parameters. The electrical input power was varied from 2.6 to 4.3 kW, the pulse repetition frequency (PRF) was changed from 16 to 19 kHz, and the pressure of the buffer gas (neon) was kept fixed at 20 mbar. When the electrical input power was increased to 4.3 kW from 2.6 kW, the tube-wall temperature also increased to 488°C from 426°C but the ratio of the green to yellow power decreased to 1.53 from 3.73. The ratio of green to yellow power decreased to 1.53 from 1.63 when the PRF of the laser was increased to 19 kHz from 16 kHz. These observations are explained in terms of electron temperature, energy levels of transitions, and voltage and current waveforms across the laser head.     

10 W级主控振荡放大半导体激光芯片封装实验研究

结温升高是影响主控振荡放大(MOPA)半导体激光芯片输出功率的重要因素,为解决MOPA芯片的多电极封装和高效散热问题,提出了一种正装和热扩散辅助次热沉相结合的封装结构。建立了该封装结构的3D热模型,对比研究了倒装封装结构、正装无辅助次热沉结构与正装有辅助次热沉结构对MOPA半导体激光器结温的影响。计算结果表明,采用正装有辅助次热沉结构与倒装封装结构散热性能接近,且显著优于正装无辅助次热沉结构,结温降低幅度最高可达40%。另外,采用正装有辅助次热沉封装结构的MOPA半导体激光芯片在连续工作条件下输出功率为10.5 W,谱宽可实现半高全宽小于0.1 nm,中心波长随电流的变化约14 pm/A,实现了10 W级MOPA芯片的封装,验证了该封装结构的有效性。     

26W near diffraction limited Q-switched green laser based on a diode-end-pumped master oscillator power amplifier

An efficient acousto-optically Q-switched extracavity frequency-doubled 532nm laser based on a diode-end-pumped master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) is demonstrated. With a type I non-critically phase-matched LBO, 26W of average power at 532nm in a near diffraction limited mode at a repetition rate of 30kHz was generated under 43W pump power of 1064nm Nd:YVO_{4} laser, which correspond to a frequency-doubling conversion efficiency of 60%.     

Simultaneous narrow linewidth and broadband operation in the master oscillator power amplifier of a self-seeded Ti:sapphire laser

A narrow linewidth pulse and a broadband pulse were simultaneously operated in the master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) of a self-seeded Ti:sapphire laser, and their intensity ratio was varied by increasing the incident pump energy. The broadband pulse from the independent free-running oscillation was preferentially amplified in the MOPA chain and replaced the narrow linewidth pulse. This explanation was confirmed by comparing the behavior with that of a bandpass filter inserted at the exit of the oscillator. The behaviors were well simulated by numerical calculations. From the results, a method to produce both narrow linewidth and broadband pulses was proposed with their ratio depending on the pump energy.     

High-power Tm~(3+)-doped all-fiber laser operating at1908 nm by a master oscillator power amplifier configuration with narrow spectral linewidth

We demonstrate a diode-pump Tm~(3+)t-doped all-fiber laser operating at 1908 nm based on a master oscillator power amplifier(MOPA) configuration. In our work, 152 W of laser output power is generated by a total incident pump power of 434 W at 790 nm, corresponding to the total optical efficiency of 35%. The laser wavelength is1908.29 nm. To the best of our knowledge, it is the highest output power reached around 1908 nm with such a narrow linewidth of 0.18 nm based on a MOPA configuration.     

Efficient second-harmonic generation at 384 nm in periodically poled lithium tantalate by use of a visible Yb--Er-seeded fiber source

We generated 56 mW of average power at 384 nm in periodically poled lithium tantalate by use of a visible fiber source based on a variable-pulse format seeded Yb-Er amplifier and frequency upconversion in periodically poled KTP. The feasibility of high-average-power, wide ultraviolet wavelength-range fiber-based sources is evaluated.     

Highly efficient second-harmonic and sum-frequency generation of nanosecond pulses in a cascaded erbium-doped fiber:periodically poled lithium niobate source

By combining erbium-doped fiber sources based on a large mode-area design and periodically poled lithium niobate, we have obtained single-pass conversion efficiencies of as much as 83% (energy efficiency) for second-harmonic generation into the near IR (768 nm) and of 34% for sum-frequency generation into the green (512 nm) for nanosecond pulses, using first-order quasi-phase matching. Pulse energies in excess of 80microJ of second harmonic have been obtained from systems pumped by a single laser diode.     

Tunable ultraviolet laser source based on solid-state dye laser technology and CsLiB(6)O(10) harmonic generation

Tunable UV radiation centered at 289nm was obtained from a 532-nm Nd:YAG pumped high-brightness solid-state dye laser, frequency doubled in CsLiB(6)O(10). Frequency doubling to 284-294 nm was demonstrated from a singly doped, rotating pyrromethene dye plastic disk with damage threshold >3 J/cm(2) . UV energies up to 44 mJ at 10 Hz were obtained with a 15% absolute conversion efficiency from 532 nm.     

Microwave source of multigigawatt peak power based on a relativistic backward-wave oscillator and a compressor

The effect of passive compression of frequency-modulated pulses in dispersive media is used to raise the microwave radiation peak power to a multigigawatt level. A waveguide with a helically corrugated surface is applied as a dispersive medium, and a relativistic 3-cm backward-wave oscillator with an accelerating voltage decaying within the pulse duration serves as a source of frequency-modulated pulses. The compression of pulses to an FWHM of 2.2 ns attended by a rise in the peak power by a factor of 4.5 (to 3.2 GW) is demonstrated with a SINUS-6 accelerator.     

High-power 390-nm laser source based on efficient frequency doubling of a tapered diode laser in an external resonant cavity

We frequency doubled the single-frequency beam from an external-cavity tapered laser diode operating at 780 nm in a resonant cavity containing a beta -barium borate crystal to generate an output at 390 nm with high efficiency. Output powers as great as 233 mW were obtained, corresponding to an efficiency of 65%/W . The resonant-cavity design was a low-loss three-mirror configuration that provided compensation for astigmatism and coma. The laser diode frequency was locked to the doubling-cavity resonance by use of the H?nsch-Couillaud discrimination technique.     

Multi-beam second-harmonic generation in beta barium borate with a spatial light modulator and application to internal structuring in poly(methyl methacrylate)

Parallel beam frequency doubling of 170 fs, NIR pulses is demonstrated by placing a thin beta barium borate (BBO) nonlinear crystal after a spatial light modulator. Computer-generated holograms applied to the spatial light modulator create 18 parallel diffracted beams at the fundamental wavelength λ=775 nm, then frequency doubled to λ=387 nm and focussed inside the poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) substrate for refractive index structuring. This procedure, demonstrated for the first time in PMMA, requires careful attention to phase matching of multiple beams and opens up dynamic parallel processing at UV wavelengths where nematic liquid crystal devices are more sensitive to optical damage. By overlapping filamentary modifications, an efficient, stable volume phase grating with dimensions 5×5×2.0 mm³ and pitch Λ=15 μm was fabricated in 18 minutes and reached a first-order diffraction efficiency of 70 % at the Bragg angle.     

The influence of laser fluctuations on entanglement generation in a non-degenerate parametric amplifier

We consider the effects of the phase and the amplitude fluctuations of the pump field upon the entanglement generation in a non-degenerate optical parametric amplifier. We show that the entanglement between the signal and idler modes in a NOPA system are suppressed by these fluctuations. Our results also show that entanglement is more sensitive to phase fluctuations than to amplitude fluctuations.     

High power Yb-fiber laser amplifier based on nonlinear chirped-pulse amplification at a repetition rate of 1 MHz

We report a high power fiber amplifier based on nonlinear chirped-pulse amplification(NCPA). To manage the nonlinearity,pulse shaping is introduced by self-phase modulation in the fiber stretcher with the help of spectral filtering. The third-order dispersion is compensated for by the nonlinear phase shift in the NCPA. With optimization, the system can output 382 fs pulse duration with 20 W average power at 1 MHz repetition rate. The long-term average power fluctuation is measured to be0.5% in 24 h, and the beam quality factor(M~2) is 1.25.     

Tunable visible solid-state lasers based on second-harmonic generation of LiF:F(2) in potassium titanyl phosphate

A new broadly tunable visible solid-state laser is reported. Wavelengths between 550 and 610 nm are generated by intracavity frequency doubling of tuned and free-running room-temperature pulsed LiF:F(2)(-) lasers in potassium titanyl phosphate. Second-harmonic energy of 1.3 mJ has been achieved, corresponding to a fundamental-to-second-harmonic conversion efficiency of 20%. Operation is optimized with respect to LiF:F(2)(-) laser parameters.     

Efficient ultraviolet-light (345-nm) generation in a bulk LiIO(3) crystal by frequency doubling of a self-seeded gain-switched AlGaInP Fabry Perot semiconductor laser

A self-seeded gain-switched semiconductor laser is applied as a fundamental optical source to second-harmonic generation, and improvement of frequency-conversion efficiency is demonstrated. 345-nm ultraviolet light of 0.12-muW average power is generated in a bulk LiIO(3) crystal for 690-nm fundamental light of 10.5-mW average power, which is composed of 500-MHz pulse trains emitted from an AlGaInP diode laser with a 68-ps temporal width and a 0.11-nm spectral bandwidth. It is clearly shown that the narrowing of the spectral bandwidth by the self-seeding technique gives rise to a normalized conversion efficiency of 0.218%/Wcm , which is fourtimes larger than that for pulses without seeding.     

High power generation of adaptive laser beams in a Nd:YVO_4 MOPA system

We report efficient power scaling of the laser output with an adaptive beam profile from an Nd:YAG dual-cavity master oscillator using a three-stage end-pumped Nd:YVO_4 amplifier. We succeed in the fast switching of an excited laser mode by modulating an acousto-optic modulator loss in a dual-cavity master oscillator, thereby achieving temporal modulation of the output beam profile. The outputs from the master oscillator are amplified via a three-stage power amplifier yielding 36.6, 40.5, and 45.4 W of the maximum output at 116.8 W of incident pump power for the transverse electromagnetic, Laguerre–Gaussian, and quasi-top-hat beam, respectively. The prospects for further power scaling and applications via the dual-cavity master-oscillator power-amplifier(MOPA) system are considered.     

Design and application of a laser beam alignment system based on the imaging properties of a multi-pass amplifier

Image relaying is presented as a technique for aligning beams onto mm-sized target of high power laser. On the basis of summarizing the preceeding work on the near-field image relaying of multiple spatial filters, the far-filed image relaying is suggested firstly. The near-field and far-field image relaying properties of multiple spatial filters in laser beams automatic alignment system are analyzed. A geometrical optics approach and an ABCD ray matrix theory are used throughout. The reasonable and optimum scheme for automatically aligning multi-pass beam paths is presented and demonstrated on the multi-pass amplifier system of the SG-Ⅲprototype.     

Design and application of a laser beam alignment system based on the imaging properties of a multi-pass amplifier

Image relaying is presented as a technique for aligning beams onto mm-sized target of high power laser. On the basis of summarizing the preceeding work on the near-field image relaying of multiple spatial filters,the far-filed image relaying is suggested firstly. The near-field and far-field image relaying properties of multiple spatial filters in laser beams automatic alignment system are analyzed. A geometrical optics approach and an ABCD ray matrix theory are used throughout. The reasonable and optimum scheme for automatically aligning multi-pass beam paths is presented and demonstrated on the multi-pass amplifier system of the SG-Ⅲ prototype.