Experimental investigation of the effect of pump incoherence on nonlinear pump spectral broadening and continuous-wave supercontinuum generation

The development of high-power cw fiber lasers has triggered a great interest in the phenomena of nonlinear pump spectral broadening and cw supercontinuum generation. These effects have very convenient applications in Raman amplification, optical fiber metrology, and fiber sensing. In particular, it was recently shown that pump incoherence has a strong impact in these processes. We study experimentally the effect of pump incoherence in nonlinear pump spectral broadening and cw supercontinuum generation in optical fibers. We show that under certain experimental conditions an optimum degree of pump incoherence yields the best performance in the broadening process. We qualitatively explain these results, and we point out that these results may have important implications in cw supercontinuum optimization.     

Multistep quadratic cascading in broadband optical parametric generation

We theoretically and experimentally investigate multistep parametric processes in broadband optical parametric generators (OPGs) based on periodically poled 1 mol. % MgO-doped stoichiometric LiTaO3. We demonstrate that parametric collateral processes may deplete or enhance spectral portions of the OPG output, depending on pump pulse duration.     

Controlling the optical bistability in a Λ-type atomic system via incoherent pump field

We investigated optical bistability (OB) and the absorption properties of a weak probe field in a three-level Λ-type atomic system confined in a unidirectional ring cavity via incoherent pump field. We found that the threshold of OB and the probe field absorption can be controlled by the rate of incoherent pump field. No laser field was used in the pumping processes.     

Efficient multiwave mixing in the ultraslow propagation regime and the role of multiphoton quantum destructive interference

We analyze a lifetime-broadened four-state four-wave-mixing (FWM) scheme in the ultraslow propagation regime and show that the generated FWM field can acquire the same group velocity and pulse shape as those of an ultraslow pump field. We show that a new type of induced transparency resulted from multiphoton destructive interference that significantly reduced the pump field loss. Such induced transparency based on multphoton destructive interference may have important applications in other nonlinear optical processes.     

Polariton parametric amplifier pump dynamics in the coherent regime

We studied the pump coherent dynamics in a II-VI microcavity parametric amplifier, using angle-resolved four-wave mixing. The polariton parametric amplification is found to result in a strong quenching and saturation of the pump coherence lifetime above the threshold. For the polariton scattering processes that remain below the amplification threshold, we find an angle-dependent collision broadening associated with the efficiency of the polariton scattering towards the excitonic reservoir.     

Saturation of transient resonant nonlinear processes in sodium vapor

We present direct observation of the saturation of resonant optical processes in atomic systems, using a picosecond laser pump. Analysis requires the accounting of some new factors such as self-action and self-induced transparency.     

Nonlinear selective reflection spectroscopy of V‐type atomic system at the gas‐solid interface

We theoretically present the nonlinear selective reflection spectroscopy of V‐type atomic system at gas‐solid interface in a pump‐probe scheme. The saturation and coherence effects are distinguished by solving Liouville equation in the absence and presence of reduced density matrix element between the two excited levels. When the coherence effect exists, two peaks appear in reflection spectroscopy with asymmetry lineshape. We investigate the dependence of reflection spectroscopy on pump field intensity, frequency detuning and coherent decay rate induced by collision between atoms. The lineshape can be explained based on reflection spectroscopy contributed from atoms with negative (before collision) and positive (after collision) velocities, single‐photon and two‐photon processes. This study is helpful for investigating quantum coherence and dynamic processes of atoms at gas‐solid interface.     

Generation of multiorder Stokes and anti-Stokes lines in a Brillouin erbium-fiber laser with a Sagnac loop mirror

We have demonstrated a novel multiwavelength lasing scheme in which a Brillouin erbium-fiber laser with a Sagnac loop mirror and a metal-coated planar mirror were used. The Sagnac loop permitted the simultaneous presence of a stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) pump and Stokes lines within the loop and thus generated high-order Stokes and anti-Stokes waves through a four-wave mixing (FWM) process. A total of 34 lines of Stokes and anti-Stokes waves with 0.08-nm line spacing was generated through the SBS and FWM processes with 1.5-mW SBS pump power at 1561 nm and 80-mW erbium-doped-fiber pump power.     

Bright source of spectrally uncorrelated polarization-entangled photons with nearly single-mode emission

We present results of a bright polarization-entangled photon source operating at 1552 nm via type-II collinear degenerate spontaneous parametric down-conversion in a periodically poled potassium titanyl phosphate crystal. We report a conservative inferred pair generation rate of 123,000 pairs/s/mW into collection modes. Minimization of spectral and spatial entanglement was achieved by group velocity matching the pump, signal, and idler modes and through properly focusing the pump beam. By utilizing a pair of calcite beam displacers, we are able to overlap photons from adjacent down-conversion processes to obtain polarization-entanglement visibility of 94.7+/-1.1% with accidentals subtracted.     

Backward second-harmonic and third-harmonic generation in a periodically poled potassium titanyl phosphate waveguide

We observed backward second-harmonic and backward third-harmonic generation in a periodically poled KTiOPO(4) waveguide using nanosecond laser pulses. The highest conversion efficiency achieved for the backward second-harmonic generation, occurring at the 25th-order grating, was ~0.6% . The backward third-harmonic generation was the result of mixing the pump beam with the forward or the backward second-harmonic beam. Conversion efficiency of ~0.4% was achieved at a pump wavelength of 1233.7 nm, where the two constituent nonlinear processes are both quasi-phase matched.     

Multiple, polarization diverse, idler wave generation in fibers from competing four-wave mixing processes

We report on a theoretical and experimental characterization of polarization-dependent four-wave mixing processes in highly nonlinear optical fibers. Two or three idler waves at different polarizations are experimentally generated in an optical fiber from the propagation of two wavelength-detuned, orthogonally-polarized pumps and a signal. Each idler wave results from a different four-wave mixing process involving the signal and one or both pumps. Orthogonally-polarized idler waves are demultiplexed in a polarization beam splitter with a cross-polarization suppression of over 17 dB. The parametric process equations for this system are analytically solved and the efficiencies of the competing processes analyzed for the small pump detunings and identical pump powers. This experimental setup can be used in telecommunication systems for producing and selectively rerouting various copies of a data signal.     

Frequency-domain streak camera for ultrafast imaging of evolving light-velocity objects

We demonstrate a frequency-domain streak camera (FDSC) that captures the picosecond time evolution of luminal-velocity refractive index structures in a single shot. In our prototype FDSC, a probe-reference pulse pair propagates obliquely to a subpicosecond pump pulse that creates an evolving nonlinear index structure in glass, supplementing a conventional frequency-domain holographic probe-reference pair that copropagates with the pump. A single spectrometer acquires data from both pairs via spatial or temporal multiplexing, demonstrating the feasibility of a compact frequency-domain tomographic system in which a single spectrometer processes data from multiple probing angles.     

Attosecond pump probe: exploring ultrafast electron motion inside an atom

The attosecond pump probe, in close analogy to the standard femtosecond probing technique, has been proposed and theoretically demonstrated with its application to explore ultrafast electron motions inside atoms. We have performed realistic modeling for the full dynamics of both the femtosecond pumping and the attosecond probing processes. Our simulations have illustrated that an ultrashort oscillation period of 2.0 fs can be mapped out for a wave packet in low-lying excited states of the helium atom. This opens the prospect of a wealth of similar pump probe experiments to examine ultrafast electronic or atomic motions.     

Tunable nonadiabatic excitation in a single-electron quantum dot

We report the observation of nonadiabatic excitations of single electrons in a quantum dot. Using a tunable-barrier single-electron pump, we have developed a way of reading out the excitation spectrum and level population of the dot by using the pump current as a probe. When the potential well is deformed at subnanosecond time scales, electrons are excited to higher levels. In the presence of a perpendicular magnetic field, the excited states follow a Fock-Darwin spectrum. Our experiments provide a simple model system to study nonadiabatic processes of quantum particles.     

Phase-matched light-induced scattering,mirrorless self-oscillation,and generation of nearly retropropagating waves in LiNbO3:Fe in “forbidden” interaction geometry

Two mutually incoherent pump waves impinging symmetrically on a LiNbO₃:Fe crystal from different faces in a plane normal to the C-axis produce chartacteristic patterns of light-induced scattering (lines and rings) and a pair of collimated waves propagating roughly in backward directions with respect to the pump waves. We show that the bright line of scattered light is in fact the mirrorless oscillation due to backward-wave four-wave mixing in the crystal with local (photovoltaic) response, while the retropropagating waves appear only because of high-order diffraction processes.     

Green Er(3+):YLiF(4) upconversion laser at 551nm with Yb(3+) codoping: a novel pumping scheme

We report room-temperature continuous-wave upconversion laser emission on the green transition (4)S(3/2)?(4)I(15/2) in Er(1%), Yb(3%):YLiF(4) at 551nm. Green laser operation was obtained for titanium-sapphire pump wavelengths continuously tunable between 955 and 974.5nm. Codoping with Yb(3+) resulted in a more efficient excitation of the upper laser level by upconversion processes. The maximum green laser output power was 37mW at an incident titanium-sapphire pump power level of 1580mW at 966nm.     

Nonlinear optics in radiatively cooled vapors

We consider the use of a radiatively cooled resonant vapor as a media for 3rd order nonlinear optics processes. The 3rd order nonlinear refractive index coefficient due to both steady state saturation of the atomic polarizability and electrostrictive induced density changes are computed for a radiatively cooled vapor with sodium as an example. For pump detuning on the order of the natural linewidth the electrostrictive and saturation induced nonlinear refractive index coefficients are comparable and several orders of magnitude greater than the highest values yet reported. At pump detunings larger than the natural linewidth the electrostrictive mechanism is shown to dominate in the steady state.     

Four-wave mixing and biphoton generation in a two-level system

We find that in a two-level system there are two kinds of four-wave mixing processes which destructively contribute to the third-order nonlinear susceptibility. In a paired-photon generation scheme by using a single retroreflected pump beam, these two processes occur with definite time orders. The biphoton temporal correlation, which is measured with a back-to-back geometry in a laser-cooled two-level atomic ensemble, shows a damped Rabi oscillation and photon antibunching. Without suppressing the background of Rayleigh scattering, the upper limit of Cauchy criteria is estimated.     

Thermal focusing effect in solid-state microchip lasers connected directly with vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser diodes

In this paper, we model and analyze thermal focusing effect in the microchip lasers pumped by vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) for a special pump scheme, in which the microchip is axially connected with the VCSEL pump source without a gap between them to form a sort of ultra-compact monolithic micro-lasers. Thus, the thermal effects are related to twofold heating processes in the microchip. One is the common pump beam heating. The other is the heat flux diffusion from VCSEL to microchip through the contact interface between both, the latter leads to different thermo-optic characteristics from that generated only by the pump beam heating in the microchip. The temperature-, the stress- and the expansion-related phase variations and thus the thermal focusing properties of the microchip regarding the twofold heating processes are calculated and discussed for various pump power densities and temperatures of the VCSEL using analytical models. The results show that both heating processes in such a pump configuration can produce comparable thermal effects to each other. The influence of the heat transfer from the VCSEL to the microchip laser performance is discussed as well.