Frequency-narrowed external-cavity diode-laser-array bar

We demonstrate that appropriately designed external cavities can be used to frequency narrow high-power diode-array bars. Using a commercial 20-W array, we narrow the linewidth to 50 GHz with 14 W of cw output power. A magnifying telescope and a cylindrical collimating lens minimize broadening owing to curvature in the alignment of the diode-array elements.     

用于铷蒸气激光泵浦的窄线宽阵列半导体激光器

在激光二极管LD泵浦铷蒸气激光器中,窄线宽半导体激光是实现铷蒸气激光高效率输出的关键技术之一。基于体布拉格光栅（VBG）外腔技术,实现了40 W功率0.14 nm线宽的780 nm激光输出。采用半导体制冷片（TEC）控制VBG温度,使得该激光器空气中波长可从779.35 nm调谐至780.10 nm,可用于铷蒸气激光的高效泵浦。     

用于铷蒸气激光泵浦的窄线宽阵列半导体激光器

在激光二极管LD泵浦铷蒸气激光器中,窄线宽半导体激光是实现铷蒸气激光高效率输出的关键技术之一。基于体布拉格光栅（VBG）外腔技术,实现了40 W功率0.14 nm线宽的780 nm激光输出。采用半导体制冷片（TEC）控制VBG温度,使得该激光器空气中波长可从779.35 nm调谐至780.10 nm,可用于铷蒸气激光的高效泵浦。     

Mid-infrared external-cavity quantum-cascade laser

Single-frequency operation of a 10.4-mum room-temperature multimode quantum-cascade laser was achieved by use of a 17-mm short Littrow-type external-cavity configuration. The spectral intensity of the external-cavity laser was increased as much as 20-fold compared with that of a multimode quantum-cascade laser without an external cavity. A single-frequency tuning range of 76 nm (7 cm(-1)) was achieved. The results were obtained without antireflection coating of the laser output facet.     

Electronically tunable external-cavity laser diode

We present a new concept for an electronically tunable diode laser. It is based on an external-cavity configuration with simultaneous feedback and intracavity spatial separation of the laser's spectral components. The electronical tunability is achieved by insertion of a liquid-crystal array as an electronically controlled aperture into the region of spatial separation of the spectral components. Wavelength tunability without mechanical movement over a range of 10 nm and two-color operation are demonstrated with a 670-nm laser diode.     

Study on external-cavity semiconductor laser

In this paper, a narrow-band tunable external-cavity semiconductor laser with the Littman set-up is reported. The laser system consists of a semiconductor laser, a blazed grating and an external mirror. Its sideband suppression ratio over 20 dB was obtained. Conveniently tuning in wavelength region of 797.38 - 807.26 nm was achieved. The laser is operating in single frequency with narrow linewidth smaller than 0.06 nm. The output beam has good directional stability when tuned.     

Cascaded synchronization of external-cavity laser diodes

An experimental demonstration of optical synchronization of a chain of chaotic external-cavity laser diodes is reported for what is believed to be the first time. The experiment is performed in the low-frequency-fluctuation regime.     

半导体泵浦铷蒸气激光器国内首次出光

采用体光栅对商用线阵半导体激光器进行线宽压缩,得到线宽0.1 nm、中心波长780.2 nm、最高连续输出功率80 W的泵浦激光输出。为了降低热效应,通过外加斩波器将泵浦光转化为脉冲模式,脉宽440 μs,占空比为1∶5。采用长度为5 mm的铷金属饱和蒸气作为增益介质,并在常温下充入33 kPa乙烷和47 kPa氦气,进行了出光实验。在泵浦峰值功率35.4 W,铷吸收池温度120 ℃时,得到峰值功率600 mW的795 nm铷激光输出,斜率效率为1.7%。     

Dynamic characteristics in an external-cavity multi-quantum-well laser

This paper outlines our studies of bifurcation, quasi-periodic road to chaos and other dynamic characteristics in an external-cavity multi-quantum-well laser with delay optical feedback. The bistable state of the laser is predicted by finding theoretically that the gain shifts abruptly between two values due to the feedback. We make a linear stability analysis of the dynamic behavior of the laser. We predict the stability scenario by using the characteristic equation while we make an approximate analysis of the stability of the equilibrium point and discuss the quantitative criteria of bifurcation. We deduce a formula for the relaxation oscillation frequency and prove theoretically that this formula function relates to the loss of carriers transferring between well regime and barrier regime, the feedback level, the delayed time and the other intrinsic parameters. We demonstrate the dynamic distribution and double relaxation oscillation frequency abruptly changing in periodic states and find the multi-frequency characteristic in a chaotic state. We illustrate a road to chaos from a stable state to quasi-periodic states by increasing the feedback level. The effects of the transfers of carriers and the escaping of carriers on dynamic behavior are analyzed, showing that they are contrary to each other via the bifurcation diagram. Also,we show another road to chaos after bifurcation through changing the linewidth enhancement factor, the photon loss rate and the transfer rate of carriers.     

半导体泵浦铷蒸气激光器国内首次出光北大核心CSCD

采用体光栅对商用线阵半导体激光器进行线宽压缩,得到线宽0.1nm、中心波长780.2nm、最高连续输出功率80W的泵浦激光输出。为了降低热效应,通过外加斩波器将泵浦光转化为脉冲模式,脉宽440μs,占空比为1∶5。采用长度为5mm的铷金属饱和蒸气作为增益介质,并在常温下充入33kPa乙烷和47kPa氦气,进行了出光实验。在泵浦峰值功率35.4W,铷吸收池温度120℃时,得到峰值功率600mW的795nm铷激光输出,斜率效率为1.7%。     

Simple high-coherence rapidly tunable external-cavity diode laser

We describe a simple electro-optically activated external-cavity diode laser designed to provide high-speed, high-coherence tuning over gigahertz frequency ranges. Tuning as fast as 23 GHz/ micros is demonstrated. Coherence measurements indicate transform-limited quiescent laser linewidth in observation windows as wide as ~100 micros and transform-limited chirps. A self-heterodyne, cross-correlation-based coherence diagnostic is developed for characterizing phase coherence during high-speed chirps.     

双波长外腔半导体激光器的研究

提出了电流调制型的双波长外腔半导体激光器方案。外腔半导体激光器具有窄线宽输出以及独特的阶越型电流调制特性,采用正弦调制的方式,以延时光纤作为辅助结构,得到了具有良好相干特性和稳定波长间隔的双波长激光输出。与多种已有的双波长激光器设计方案相比,这种多波长工作方式结构简单,调谐范围宽,在波分复用光通信系统、高精度光纤传感测量以及外差、双(多)波长合成波长干涉测量等技术中具有很好的应用前景。     

Investigation of single-frequency stability of external-cavity injection laser

The single-frequency stability of an external-cavity injection laser with weak optical feedback is analyzed. It is shown that an increase in the line-narrowing factor in such a system reduces the frequency range in which stable single-mode operation is ensured. Experimental studies show good agreement with the obtained formulas.Nizhegorod State University. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Radiofizika, Vol. 36, No. 2, pp. 126–134, February, 1993.     

Self modulation phenomena in an external-cavity semiconductor laser

We report the observed self-modulation phenomena in an external-cavity semiconductor laser, in which a slant ridge-loading waveguide was formed for the gain medium. A region beside the ridge at a cleaved end of the waveguide served as a saturable absorber for self-modulation. Under different conditions of injection current and cavity alignment, we observed three laser operation regimes, including pure cw oscillation, constant-amplitude pulse-like signal on the top of a cw component, and amplitude-modulated pulse-like signal coexistent with a cw component. The amplitude modulation phenomenon is different from the previously reported concurrence of mode-locking and self-pulsation. A model was proposed to explain the observed results.     

2.1-W picosecond passively mode-locked external-cavity semiconductor laser

We demonstrate an optically pumped passively mode-locked external-cavity semiconductor laser generating 4.7-ps pulses at 957 nm with as much as 2.1 W of average output power and a 4-GHz repetition rate. Compared with earlier results, the chirp of the pulses has been greatly reduced by use of an intracavity etalon. Apart from restricting the bandwidth, the etalon also helps optimize wavelength-dependent gain parameters and dispersion.     

Optical pumping of the Zeeman components in the rubidium vapor

We investigated the optical pumping of the Zeeman components of rubidium atoms, in the presence of the external magnetic field ranging from the geomagnetic up to 130 Gauss. Using the saturated absorption spectroscopy with linearly polarized pump and probe laser beams, the rubidium Doppler-free spectra at different magnetic field strengths were measured. The dips (negative intensity signals) in the saturated absorption spectra of the ⁸⁷Rb hyperfine transition lines were observed. They come as a result of the alignment process induced by the incoherent population transfer due to the hyperfine optical pumping. By inspection of the dips for different magnetic field strengths we were able to conclude about the dynamics of the alignment process in the external magnetic field. Present work is a part of the investigations concerning the influence of the magnetic field on the velocity selective optical pumping of the rubidium atoms induced by femtosecond frequency comb [D. Aumiler, T. Ban, H. Skenderovi?, G. Pichler, Phys. Rev. Lett. 95 (2005) 233001; T. Ban, D. Aumiler, H. Skenderovi?, G. Pichler, Phys. Rev. A 73 (2006) 043407].     

Continuous tuning of an electrically tunable external-cavity semiconductor laser

We propose and demonstrate a novel approach to achieving rapid and phase-coherent continuous broadband tuning of a single-mode external-cavity semiconductor laser. Two internal acousto-optic devices control the angle of incident light on a diffraction grating and the effective round-trip phase electronically. Although the present implementation derives the phase from a long delay line and is not yet mode-hop free, the new approach lends itself to fully electronic control.     

Continuously tunable external-cavity diode laser with a double-grating arrangement

A new external-cavity diode laser system based on an extended version of the Littman configuration is investigated. In our laser system the tuning mirror is replaced with a second grating mounted at the Littrow angle. This double-grating design provides a smaller passive bandwidth than the grating-mirror configuration, which is used to compensate for the large angle-of-incidence-dependent losses of the grazing-incidence grating. This results in a broader continuous tuning range with an improved mode stability. Because two laser diodes, emitting at 820 and 775 nm, respectively, are used, the external-cavity laser is continuously tunable without mode hops across 35 nm at 820 nm and 27 nm at 775 nm. Such a laser was used to measure the absorption lines of the oxygen A band around 762 nm. The complete R - and P -rotational branches of the b summation operator(g)(1) (+)(nu(??)=0)?X (3) summation operator(g)(-)(nu (?)=0) transition were recorded in a single-wavelength scan.     

Resonance transition 795-nm rubidium laser

Population inversion of the 2P 1/2 and 2S 1/2 levels and continuous-wave, three-level laser oscillation at 795 nm on the D1 transition of the rubidium atom has been demonstrated. Using a titanium sapphire laser as a pump source, we obtained a slope power efficiency of 54% relative to absorbed pump power, consistent with homogeneous broadening of the rubidium pump and laser transitions. The end-pumped rubidium laser performance was well described by use of literature spectroscopic and kinetic data in a model that takes into account ground-level depletion and a pump spectral bandwidth that is substantially larger than the collisionally broadened pump transition spectral width.     

Room-temperature continuous-wave operation of an external-cavity quantum cascade laser

Room-temperature, continuous-wave operation of an external-cavity quantum cascade laser (EC-QCL) is reported. Single-mode tuning range of 120 cm(-1) was achieved, from 7.96 to 8.84 microm. The gain chips utilized are based on the bound to continuum design and were fabricated as buried heterostructure lasers. Gap-free tuning (mode hops only on the external-cavity modes) is demonstrated for an antireflection-coated laser, just by grating rotation. The EC-QCL was implemented in a Littrow setup and an average power of 1.5 mW was obtained at 20 degrees C, while a peak power of 20 mW was obtained for a modified Littrow setup with the back extraction of light.