Gain clamping in double-pass L-band EDFA using a broadband FBG

A highly efficient gain-clamped L-band EDFA with improved noise figure characteristic is demonstrated by simply adding a broadband C-band FBG in double-pass system. The combination of the FBG and optical circulator has created laser in the cavity for gain clamping. By adjusting the power combination of pumps 1 and 2, the clamped gain level can be controlled. The amplifier gain is clamped at 28.1 dB from −40 to −25 dBm with a gain variation of less than 0.5 dB by setting the pumps 1 and 2 at 59.5 and 50.6 mW, respectively. The gain is also flat from 1574 nm to 1604 nm with a gain variation of less than 3 dB. The corresponding noise figure varies from 5.6 to 7.6 dB, which is 0.8 to 2.6 dB less than those of unclamped amplifier.     

Wavefront measurement with a phase-shifting lateral-shearing Sagnac interferometer operating in broadband light

A phase-stepping lateral shearing Sagnac interferometer for wavefront measurement is described. Phase shifting is implemented using a polarisation modulator operating on the wavelength independent Pancharatnam's phase allowing accurate measurement of phase maps even with broadband light. We demonstrate the interferometer by measuring a range of different wavefront shapes using both laser and white light.     

Incoherent combination of fiber lasers using a collimating and focusing optical system in fiber-based laser fusion

The incoherent combination of fiber laser beams using a collimating and focusing optical system in fiber-based laser fusion is theoretically and numerically studied. The propagation of the fiber lasers passing through the optical system is analyzed by the ABCD law. The super-Gaussian fitting is performed to study the synthetic intensity profile near the focal spot quantitatively. The intensity profile of the combination beam is dependant on the defocusing distance, the number of the fibers, the separation of the fibers, and the beam expansion ratio of the collimating system.     

Soft X-ray enhancement from porous target irradiated by high power sub-nanosecond laser beam and the effect of plasma opacity

In this paper, we investigate numerically the enhancement of the soft continuum X-ray yield emitted from porous aluminum targets irradiated by sub-nanosecond high power pulsed laser beam. The calculations were conducted for two different conditions: (i) ignoring plasma opacity, and (ii) including it in the calculations; and finally the results were compared. In the calculations, the main emission mechanisms were assumed to be the free–bound and free–free (bremsstrahlung) transitions at water windows wavelengths ranges 2.3–4.4 nm and also 12.6–14.6 nm, which is useful for lithography applications. The free–free and bound–free transitions were also considered for calculating the opacity. The results show that for both conditions, the X-ray yield rises with increasing the porosity and the increase rate is almost equal in both cases; however, the calculations are not appropriate for estimating the absolute values of the X-ray yield when the plasma opacity is ignored.     

The temperature profile in the molten layer of a semi-infinite target induced by irradiation using a pulsed laser

The two-dimensional Laplace integral transform technique has been used to compute the temperature profile of the molten layer on the surface of a semi-infinite target when irradiated by a pulsed laser. Mathematical expressions for the temperature distribution in the molten layer thickness and the solid part of the target, taking cooling and the temperature-dependent absorption coefficient of the irradiated surface into account, were obtained. As an illustrative example computations were carried out on a semi-infinite aluminum (Al) target.     

Analysis of the fringes visibility generated by a lateral cyclic shear interferometer in the retrieval of the three-dimensional surface information of an object

We report the evaluation of the topography of an object with projected fringes generated with a lateral cyclic shear interferometer (CSI) and we then compare the topography recovery obtained with the proposed method with the one obtained from a coordinate measuring machine (CMM). We also study how the fringes visibility along the z axis affects the retrieval. Finally, we discuss the advantages and drawbacks of this profilometry system.     

Radial variation of pump and signal intensities in EDFA; accurate prediction by a novel approximation of the fundamental modal field

The doped fiber amplifier has already emerged as the indispensable potential candidate for repeaterless transmission of information processed through single mode. Therefore the fundamental modal field in the doped single-mode fiber needs to be accurately prescribed both in the pump as well as the signal to facilitate further study of their variation with distance. Based on the novel approximation of the fundamental modal field in graded-index fiber, we formulate analytical expression as regards the variation of modal intensity with radial distance from the axis of the fiber both for the pump and the signal fields and estimate such variation for step-index fiber of some typical V values as example. We find that our estimation matches excellently with the available exact results in case of both the pump and the signal and is shown to be much superior to one-parameter Gaussian approximation. In addition, our methodology involves less computation compared to the exact analysis involving cumbersome computation.     

Fabrication of planar gratings by direct ablation using an ultrashort pulse laser in a common optical path configuration

Planar gratings have wide applications and to date, many methods for the fabrication of gratings have been reported. Ultrashort pulse lasers have been used for the machining of gratings primarily because they allow direct ablation and the manufacturing of sub-wavelength structures. In this paper, we present a novel direct ablation technique for the fabrication of planar gratings which makes use of the interference of ultrashort pulses in a common optical path configuration. This technique of grating fabrication not only simplifies the optical setup, but also immunizes the system to extraneous and inherent vibrations, thus enabling the manufacturing of planar gratings of good edge acuity. We have successfully fabricated planar gratings on a copper substrate. Received: 6 November 2001 / Accepted: 4 March 2002 / Published online: 10 September 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +65/77-904-674, E-mail: mvenkata@ntu.edu.sg