Non-reciprocal transmission via phase conjugation in multimode optical fibres

We demonstrate phase conjugate correction of modal distortion of a single mode beam on double-passing a passive highly multimode fibre. Phase conjugation is achieved in a self-pumped photorefractive BaTiO₃ crystal which conjugates only the e-polarised input component. We show that only a small fraction of the multimode fibre output is required to faithfully conjugate the single mode input beam. This technique enables the demonstration of a novel non-reciprocal transmission device, which for example has immediate application in gain-grating holographic resonator designs with multimode fibres as the active gain medium.     

Generation of a hollow laser beam by a multimode fiber

A simple method to generate a hollow laser beam by multimode fiber is reported. A dark hollow laser beam is generated from a multimode fiber and the dependence of the output beam profile on the incident angle of laser beam is analyzed. The results show that this hollow laser beam can be used to trap and guide cold atoms.     

Feedback method of the noise suppression in wave-mixing amplifiers based on non-linear materials with photorefractive response in a reflection grating configuration

In the photorefractive wave-mixing system, fluctuation in the signal beam intensity of the photorefractive output with a reflection grating has been analyzed by employing pump feedback method. In this method, fluctuations of the photorefractive wave-mixing process not only induce the intensity fluctuation of the mixing waves but also induce phase fluctuation of the mixing waves. Thus, the phase of the pump and signal beams at the output surface fluctuates in time around a mean value. Using such a positive feedback method of a pump beams, the relative fluctuation in the photorefractive output signal beam intensity with respect to its mean intensity can be minimized significantly without reducing its mean intensity. The factors that control the fluctuation in the signal beam intensity, such as the phase fluctuation of the output pump beam, absorption strength of the material and the feedback reflectivity of the cavity mirrors, on the relative fluctuation of the output signal intensity in the photorefractive wave-mixing systems have been studied in detail. It has been found that the fluctuation of the output signal intensity relative to its mean intensity in the photorefractive wave-mixing system can be suppressed to larger extent by taking lower value of feedback reflectivity of the cavity mirrors which could exist at a higher value of absorption strength of the photorefractive materials.     

Single-mode Raman fiber laser based on a multimode fiber

Single-mode operation of a Raman fiber laser based on a multimode fiber has been demonstrated for what is to our knowledge the first time. Single-mode operation was achieved through the beam cleanup effect of stimulated Raman scattering in multimode fibers. The Raman laser, consisting of a 50-microm-core multimode fiber and a multimode Nd:YAG laser pump, produced an output beam corresponding to the fundamental mode of the fiber.     

Fundamental studies on laser radiation therapy: dispersion of a laser beam passing through optical fibres

For laser internal therapy in medical applications, optical fibres are required to propagate the laser beam. The far-field pattern of the laser beam at the exit face of the optical fibre is studied using a multimode step-index fibre and a graded index Selfoc fibre. The degree of dispersion, or the output angular distribution, of the beam passing through the Selfoc fibre is much smaller than that passing through the multimode step-index fibre. Consequently, the energy density in the far-field pattern of the beam passing through the Selfoc fibre is very much larger than that for the beam passing through the multimode step-index fibre. It is concluded that the Selfoc fibre is more effective in laser internal therapy.     

Degradation of beam quality and depolarization of the laser beam in a step-index multimode optical fiber

The characteristics of a laser beam are altered during propagating through large-core multimode optical fibers. The distribution of modes excited by the input laser beam is modified by means of mode coupling on transmission through the fiber, leading to the degradation of beam quality and the depolarization of the delivered beam. The relationship between the beam quality factor (M²) of output beam from a large-core multimode fiber and the fiber length, as well as the relationship between the degree of polarization (V) of output beam from such a fiber and the fiber length, are introduced in this paper. When a laser beam was well launched into a large-core step-index multimode fiber, M² of the output beam was a compound tanh function of the fiber length. A linear polarization beam that well launched into such fiber suffered depolarization. The V of the output beam was an exponent function of fiber length. And the misalignment between beam axis and fiber axis made the beam quality degrade faster but made no difference of the utmost M² in the aligned and misaligned conditions. Also, the misalignment condition made the polarization of output beam degrade faster.     

Minimization of the fluctuation in the signal beam intensity of a nonlinear optical medium with a transmission grating

Fluctuation in the intensity of the output signal beam of a photorefractive optical resonator can be reduced significantly by employing pump beam positive feedback. The fractional intensity transfer which is independent of time in the absence of fluctuation becomes time dependent in the presence of fluctuation of the optical wave-mixing process. The influence of various controlling parameters on the relative fluctuation of the output signal intensity has also been studied.     

Review of photorefractive materials: an application to laser beam cleanup

Nonlinear photorefractive materials are well suited to record dynamic volume holograms using the wave mixing of coherent laser beams. The photo-induced index modulation is due to a space charge field which modulates the crystal refractive index. The basic phenomena and beam interactions are reviewed for different types of materials operating in the visible and near infrared. In particular, we outline their ability to amplify a low intensity signal beam due to the intensity transfer of a spatially multimode pump beam. We apply this interaction to the cleanup of a multimode large core fiber amplifier. This class of nonlinear materials contribute to extending the performances of laser sources for advanced applications of photonics. To cite this article: L. Lombard et al., C. R. Physique 8 (2007).     

Study on a Bessel–Gaussian beam laser

A new concept and the method are presented to obtain a laser beam output with high luminance and quality. Instead of using the conventional concept of “obtaining a single transverse mode through compressing the oscillating mode volume using a small aperture diaphragm”, the large multimode volume and the high output power are obtained by studying the physical mechanism of the expansion and coupling between a Bessel beam and a Gaussian beam. A high quality light beam (close to the diffraction limit) with high luminance and large intensity difference between the center and the edge is achieved simultaneously.     

光折变自适应光外差探测系统理论研究

首次对光折变自适当光外差探测系统的工作状态进行了较全面分析。给出了系统的最小可探测信号功率和可提供的参考光功率，指出了影响系统特性的关键参数。     

Simple method for determining the gain coefficient of a photorefractive polymer film

We propose a simple method for measuring the gain coefficient of two-beam coupling for photorefractive polymer film. To measure the gain coefficient, we attached a phase grating onto the photorefractive polymer film and made an interference pattern between the transmitted and diffracted beams in the photorefractive film by using an illuminating single beam. The gain coefficient values measured at various external fields by our method showed good agreement with those measured by a standard two-beam coupling method. Compared to standard two-beam coupling, this method exhibited fairly improved stability of the output signal to external factors such as human sounds and airstreams.     

Enhancement of the wavelength selectivity of a volume hologram by use of multimode optical fiber referencing

Wavelength multiplexing of a volume hologram was combined with multimode fiber referencing. A photorefractive volume hologram was recorded and probed by reference light diffracted from a multimode optical fiber. A tunable laser diode was used as a light source that was launched into the multimode fiber. As the wavelength of the source laser shifted, the speckle patterns from the multimode fiber changed. The wavelength selectivity of the volume hologram was enhanced by the combined effect of wavelength change and speckle change.     

Generation of radially polarized mode in Yb fiber laser by using a dual conical prism

For the first time to our knowledge, a radially polarized beam is generated in an Yb-doped multimode double-clad fiber laser by using an intracavity dual conical prism. Up to 6.2 mW of output power is obtained from a 2 m long gain fiber with 7.4% slope efficiency. This research opens a new window to obtaining a radially polarized beam directly from an active fiber.     

Image transmission via a multimode fiber assisted by polarization preserving phase conjugation in the photorefractive crystal

Image transmission via a 2m-long multimode fiber was realized by using polarization-preserving phase conjugation in the photorefractive crystal and correcting holograms.     

（BaSr）TiO3晶体光诱导自泵浦位相共轭的实验研究

对（ＢａＳｒ）ＴｉＯ３晶体中光诱导自泵浦位相共轭现象进行了实验研究。发现诱导自泵浦的输出特性取决于诱导光束强度和信号光的入射条件，并在一定条件下呈现双稳性．作者认为，这是由于诱导光束改变晶体中信号光束Ｆａｎｎｉｎｇ散射强度分布的结果。     

A new laser scheme for energy scaling with a composite six-mirror cavity

We have developed a novel and compact six-mirror cavity configuration to combine four multimode laser modules intracavity for energy scaling. Compared to the conventional 2×N channel scaling schemes, this close-ended six-mirror cavity is simpler, more stable and more practical. Diode-side-pumped rod laser geometry that is appropriate for beam combination is employed in the branch laser module. The characteristics of the output energy and the beam quality are investigated experimentally. With the six-mirror cavity, the output brightness is significantly improved compared to single F–P cavity laser. A single beam output exceeding 453 mJ with 165 μs duration is achieved, with the combination efficiency of 90.7%. PACS 42.60.Da; 42.60.Jf; 42.60.By     

Two-photon path-entangled states in multimode waveguides

We experimentally show that two-photon path-entangled states can be coherently manipulated by multimode interference in multimode waveguides. By measuring the output two-photon spatial correlation function versus the phase of the input state, we show that multimode waveguides perform as nearly ideal multiport beam splitters at the quantum level, creating a large variety of entangled and separable multipath two-photon states.     

Transverse coupling and dynamics of patterns in a photorefractive oscillator

The effect of transverse coupling in a photorefractive oscillator is studied. From the study the condition for stable optical patterns of multimode oscillation is given analytically and verified by numerical simulation. Under the stable condition, the period-doubling route to spatiotemporal chaos is observed.     

Numerical studies of externally pumped phase conjugation in photorefractive crystals with applied electric fields

In the configuration of four-wave mixing, the output intensity and output phase of the conjugate beam in a photorefractive BaTiO₃:Ce crystal are numerically studied. The fidelity of the conjugate beam is analyzed. When an external electric field is applied to the crystal, the intensity of the conjugate beam can be enhanced, but its phase is no longer exactly conjugate to the input phase. The phase conjugate fidelity is, therefore, reduced.     

Beam cleanup in a self-aligned gradient-index Brillouin cavity for high-power multimode fiber amplifiers

We propose a beam cleanup setup to convert a multimode beam into a single-mode beam by use of the Brillouin effect in a multimode gradient-index (GI) fiber. Phase conjugation and beam cleanup regimes in highly multimode fibers are discussed, and the self-aligned GI fiber Brillouin cavity is presented. We report a preliminary conversion from an M2=6.5 beam into an M2=1.3 beam with 31% efficiency.