Intracavity second-harmonic generation of chemical oxygen-iodine laser emission using a LBO crystal

Intracavity second-harmonic generation of continuous-wave chemical oxygen-iodine laser emission has been studied. A chemical oxygen-iodine laser with a maximum fundamental-wave output power of about 10 W in a concentric cavity was used. Experiments were performed for three types of optical cavities using an 1 cm LBO crystal. Second-harmonic output of 12.4 W, 6.2 W, and 5.2 W, effective extraction efficiencies of 155.0% 65.9%. and 55.3%, and single-pass conversion efficiencies of 0.615%, 0.685%, and 0.655% were obtained for the respective cavities. A comparison of these results of coupling by frequency doubling with the results of fundamental-wave output coupling of this system is also presented.     

Lasing performance of a chemical oxygen iodine laser (COIL) with advanced ejector-nozzle banks

Experimental results have demonstrated that the use of ejector-nozzle concepts can allow to achieve simultaneously high chemical efficiency and high pressure recovery in a chemical oxygen iodine laser. The estimated small-signal gain of the gain medium generated by these nozzle banks was from 0.5 to 0.8 %/cm. In laser experiments with all nozzle banks (NB-1–NB-5), Pitot pressures of the order of 80 Torr and Mach numbers of ∼2 in the cavity-mixing chamber have been achieved. The geometry of a given ejector-nozzle bank and gas-flow conditions affect the power extraction and chemical efficiency. The main factors for high efficiency and high power are small mixing scale, high area for the oxygen flow, dilution of chlorine by helium, and the arrangement of nozzles. A chemical efficiency of 25% at a power level of ∼900 W was obtained for NB-1 having the smallest mixing scale, parallel injection of all flows, and dilution of oxygen by helium. The highest power of ∼1.2 kW with a chemical efficiency of 19.5% and 160 W/cm² of specific output power was achieved with NB-5 having the largest area for the oxygen flow and dilution of oxygen by helium. Received: 7 October 2002 / Accepted: 20 January 2003 / Published online: 28 May 2003 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +7-8462/355-600, E-mail: nikolaev@fian.smr.ru     

A frequency-doubled pulsed chemical oxygen-iodine laser

The intracavity second-harmonic generation of pulsed chemical oxygen-iodine laser radiation was investigated. A pulsed chemical oxygen-iodine laser with a maximum output energy of 6.14 mJ was used. The second-harmonic output of 0.5 mJ was demonstrated using a lithium iodate crystal. The conversion efficiency of 8% was limited by intracavity losses. Numerical simulation predicts that a conversion efficiency of 75% can be obtained with 1% intracavity losses.     

Experiment and modeling of a small-scale,supersonic chemical oxygen-iodine laser

We report on detailed experiment and modeling of a small-scale, supersonic chemical oxygen-iodine laser. The laser has a 5 cm long active medium and utilizes a simple sparger-type O₂(¹ ) chemical generator and a medium-size pumping system. A grid nozzle is used for iodine injection and supersonic expansion. 25 W of cw laser emission at 1.315 µm are obtained in the present experiments. The small size and the simple structure of the laser system and its stable operation for long times make it a convenient tool for studying parameters important for high-power supersonic iodine lasers and for comparison to model calculations. The lasing power is studied as a function of the molar flow rates of the various reagents, and conditions are found for optimal operation. Good agreement is found between the experimental results and calculations based on a simple one-dimensional semi-empirical model, previously developed in our laboratory and modified in the present work. The model is used to predict optimal values for parameters affecting the laser performance that are difficult to examine in the present experimental system.     

Small signal gain measurements in a small scale HF overtone laser

The overtone gain medium of a small-scale HF overtone laser was probed using a sub-Doppler tunable diode laser. Two-dimensional spatially resolved small signal gain and temperature maps were generated for several ro-vibrational transitions in the HF (v=2→v=0) overtone band. Our results compare well with previous measurements of the overtone gain in a similar HF laser device. Received: 7 October 2002 / Accepted: 20 January 2003 / Published online: 28 May 2003 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +1-505/846-4807, E-mail: kevin.hewett@kirtland.af.mil     

Dynamics and correlated performance of a photo-triggered discharge-pumped HF laser using SF6 with hydrogen or ethane

3 , has been performed in Ne/SF₆/H₂ and Ne/SF₆/C₂H₆ mixtures. Parameters involved have been the storage line capacitance and the circuit inductance, the capacitors charging voltage, the RH-molecule type and partial pressure, and the X-ray dose for the preionization. High laser performance has been achieved with C₂H₆: an output energy up to 3 J corresponding to a specific energy of 9.6 J/l at an efficiency of 4.7%, which strengthens the advantage of the photo-triggering technique to energize high-power HF lasers. However the optimum performance achieved with H₂, 5.75 J/l and 3.5%, are lower. It is shown, through a time-resolved study of the electrical discharge and spatial dynamics correlated to laser power and energy measurements, that discharge instabilities are responsible for the poor laser performance of the mixture with H₂. These instabilities, which lead to arc development, are characteristics of the discharge in Ne/SF₆. It is demonstrated for the first time that addition of a heavy hydrocarbon, such as C₂H₆, to that mixture induces the discharge stabilization so that the laser emission arises in a homogeneous active medium. This effect allows us to achieve better laser performance than with H₂. Received: 17 March 1998/Revised version: 13 July 1998     

cw dual-wavelength operation of a diode-end-pumped Nd:YVO4 laser

A dual-wavelength continuous wave (cw) diode-end-pumped Nd:YVO₄ laser that generates simultaneous laser action at the wavelengths 1064 nm and 1342 nm is demonstrated. The optimum oscillation condition for the simultaneous dual-wavelength operation in a diode-end-pumped solid-state laser has been derived. The relationship between the laser cavity and the output stability is also studied. Experimental results show that the stability of the output power at the two wavelengths could be enhanced by use of a three-mirror cavity. Received: 26 August 1999 / Revised version: 11 October 1999 / Published online: 23 February 2000     

Efficient cw sodium dimer Raman laser operation in a high-temperature sapphire cell

cw Raman lasing of Na₂ molecules generated in a heated, sealed-off, all-sapphire cell is demonstrated. Being not damaged by highly corrosive alkaline vapours, this type of cell enables operation without buffer gas in contrast to the normal heatpipe operation of these lasers. This allows us to study Raman lasers in alkaline vapours in new regimes and under ideal conditions. With an argon ion pump laser at 488 nm, Raman laser operation at 525 nm with more than 10% efficiency and thresholds below 0.2 mW for a cell without buffer gas (length 9 cm) have been obtained so far. The low thresholds, being a factor of 10 less than for comparable heatpipe operation, gives us the chance to use low-power diode lasers as pump sources and to realize compact reliable Raman laser systems. Received: 17 May 1999 / Published online: 25 August 1999     

Novel concept of electric discharge oxygen-iodine laser

A novel concept of discharge oxygen-iodine laser (DOIL) is presented. The supersonic DOIL includes a discharge singlet oxygen generator (DSOG) and discharge atomic iodine generator (DAIG). The operation of DSOG is based on a fast mixing of hybrid argon plasma jet of DC electric arc and RF discharge with a neutral molecular oxygen stream. The goal of our effort is achievement of DOIL oscillations by this new discharge technique, which should provide the singlet oxygen yields exceeding 30% at the total pressures higher than 10 torr. The DAIG operation is based on a cw/pulse RF discharge dissociation of iodine donors directly inside a laser iodine injector. This method substitutes the classic dissociation of molecular iodine by energy of singlet oxygen, which saves its energy for laser generation and so can increase the laser efficiency. The laser power could be thus enhanced by up to 25% if this method is employed in a chemical oxygen-iodine laser (COIL) operation, and even 3 times in DOIL without increase in the iodine laser pumping by singlet oxygen.     

Laser operation and Raman self-frequency conversion in Yb:KYW microchip laser

We present a diode-pumped Yb:KYW microchip laser. The passive Q-switchedand CW regimes of operation for the Yb:KYW microchip laser have been investigated. An efficiency for CW operation of up to 10% with regard to incident pump has been obtained. Raman self-frequency conversion in the Q-switched regime has been observed. Received: 27 May 2002 / Revised version: 4 July 2002 / Published online: 15 November 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +375-17/2840-879, E-mail: asg@dragon.bas-net.by     

Self-contained compact pulsed laser based on an auto-wave photon-branched chain reaction

The possible construction of a self-contained and compact pulsed chemical HF-laser based on an auto-wave photon-branched chain reaction initiated in a gaseous disperse medium composed of H₂-F₂-O₂-He and Al particles by focused external IR radiation is theoretically substantiated. It is shown that an autonomous system and minimization of the parameters of the main pulsed HF-laser units are achievable due to both the effect of ignition of the laser-chemical reaction in an auto-wave regime under the condition of external beam focusing and the effect of a huge laser energy gain of 10¹¹. These effects provide strong reduction of the input pulse energy necessary for initiation up to ∼10^-8 J, and make it possible to construct a self-contained laser with kilojoule output energy, which can be initiated by a small submicrojoule master oscillator powered by an accumulator. Due to an increase in the general pressure of working gases up to P=2.3 bar and optimization of the parameters of the dispersed component (Al particles with radius r₀=0.09 μm and concentration N₀=1.4×10⁹ cm^-3) and the composition of the working mixture, the HF-laser system will ensure an output energy up to ∼1.5 kJ in a pulse from the rather small volume of ∼2 L of the active medium. Received: 18 April 2000 / Revised version: 21 August 2000 / Published online: 8 November 2000     

Development of the Chemical Oxygen-Iodine Laser (COIL) with chemical generation of atomic iodine

This article addresses the development of a Chemical Oxygen-Iodine Laser (COIL) with alternative chemical ways of generating atomic iodine. Injection of atomic iodine as opposed to molecular iodine has the potential to improve the COIL efficiency. This paper describes two chemical methods for generating iodine atoms based on the gas phase reactions of hydrogen/deuterium iodide with fluorine or chlorine atoms, which are also produced chemically. Simplified one-dimensional gas dynamic modeling that describes the stream-wise profiles of species concentrations within both reaction systems is used to gain a theoretical understanding of both reaction systems under COIL conditions. The modeling results are used for the design of an experimental device and the interpretation of experimental data. The first experimental investigation studies the production of iodine atoms produced from reactions of Cl with HI. Atomic iodine yields of 70–100% in nitrogen are obtained, and the gain on the I(² P _1/2)–I(² P _3/2) transition in a flow of singlet oxygen is measured. Received: 7 October 2002 / Accepted: 8 February 2003 / Published online: 28 May 2003 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +420-2/8689-0527, E-mail: kodym@fzu.cz     

Single longitudinal mode lasing of coumarin-doped sol-gel silica laser

Homogeneity of sol-gel-derived silica was improved by slowing down the drying and aging rate. Single longitudinal mode lasing was achieved in sol-gel silica doped with coumarin 460 dye. The laser linewidth was 1.58 GHz and the output wavelength was at 467 nm. Received: 2 February 1999 / Published online: 28 April 1999     

Rate-equation theory and experimental research on dual-wavelength operation of a Ti:sapphire laser

Rate-equation analysis and experiments on a pulsed dual-wavelength Ti:sapphire laser are reported in the paper. A four-energy-level system with two lower-energy levels is put forward and numerical calculations are given. A simple optical setup with two sub-resonators is constructed, which yields a total energy from dual-wavelength lasers up to 41.8 mJ. The largest tunable range is over 110 nm. Laser characteristics of dual-wavelength pulses are observed. Experimental results are in accord with rate-equation-theory results. Received: 13 July 2000 / Revised version: 18 October 2000 / Published online: 30 March 2001     

Narrow bandwidth operation of high-power broad-area diode laser using cascaded phase-conjugate injection locking

A broad-area laser is injection-locked by another broad-area laser that is also injection-locked by a single-mode diode laser. Two double-phase conjugate mirrors of photorefractive BaTaO₃ are used to couple the master laser beams to the first slave laser, and the first slave laser output to the second slave laser. One of the double-phase conjugate mirrors is built up with the beams from two broad-area lasers. Two slave lasers are oscillating in single longitudinal mode at 808.5 nm and the spectral width is the same as that of the master laser. Final single-mode output power from the second slave broad-area laser is 840 mW, which is limited by the power of the injection beam. This work verifies the possibility of the multi-stage cascaded injection locking of high-power diode lasers with phase-conjugate injection. Received: 18 November 1998 / Revised version: 29 January 1999 / Published online: 7 April 1999     

Chemically pumped O2(a-X) laser

A theoretical and experimental study was conducted aimed at achieving laser oscillation in the (a-X) electronic transition of oxygen molecules. Although this transition is highly forbidden by rigorous selection rules, it may nevertheless concede stimulated emission, if the population inversion is high enough. The idea is based on a recently developed apparatus, namely, a porous pipe type high-pressure chemical singlet oxygen generator. A numerical model which describes the characteristics of this generator was developed to estimate the population inversion and small-signal gain achievable in a laser cavity using this source. The calculations showed that the small-signal gain ought to be sufficient to achieve laser oscillation. Preliminary experiments were conducted, but lasing was not yet observed. It is shown that the scattering losses caused by water droplet aerosols are mainly responsible for preventing our system from laser oscillation.     

Additive-pulse mode locking of a diode-pumped Nd3+:YVO4 laser

We demonstrate self-starting additive-pulse mode locking of a diode-pumped Nd³⁺:YVO₄ laser. Pulse durations of 2.7 ps are measured at a repetition frequency of 90.7 MHz and at an average output power of 1.1 W. This corresponds to a peak power of 4.5 kW. Received: 27 June 2001 / Revised version: 10 October 2001 / Published online: 29 November 2001     

Self-adaptive Nd:YLF holographic laser with selectable wavelength operation

We demonstrate, for the first time to our knowledge, operation of a self-adaptive holographic laser with wavelength selection, which uses Nd:YLF as the gain medium. The holographic laser was self-starting and, by virtue of the temporal dynamics in writing the gain grating, passively Q-switched the cavity to produce pulses with 20–50 ns duration. A pulse energy of 184 mJ was obtained from the system with beams having a TEM₀₀ spatial profile. Single-longitudinal-mode operation was observed with near-transform-limited bandwidth. Received: 30 July 2002 / Revised version: 1 October 2002 / Published online: 26 February 2003 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +44-20/7594-7744, E-mail: s.y.lam@ic.ac.uk     

Heavy-water-based solutions of rhodamine dyes: photophysical properties and laser operation

Photophysical properties of heavy-water-based rhodamine dye solutions have been investigated, with a view to assess the suitability of heavy water as a solvent for high-power, high-repetition-rate dye lasers and amplifiers. We have measured the quantum yield of fluorescence of the commonly used dyes rhodamine-6G, rhodamine-B and kiton-red, dissolved in heavy water, ethanol and normal water. The performance of a heavy-water-based pulsed rhodamine-6G dye laser has been investigated in broadband, as well as in narrowband wavelength-tunable resonator configurations, yielding laser efficiencies comparable to those achieved with ethanolic solutions of the same dye. We have also studied the thermo-optic properties of normal and heavy water, using the Z-scan technique. Finally, photodegradation rates for laser dyes have been compared in heavy water, normal water and ethanol. Our results establish heavy water as a solvent superior to both ethanol and normal water, on account of the lower thermo-optic effects and the higher photostability of rhodamine dyes when dissolved in heavy water. Received: 8 February 2002 / Published online: 8 August 2002     

Oxygen-distribution imaging with a novel two-tracer laser-induced fluorescence technique

We introduce a new technique for imaging oxygen concentrations in fuel/air mixtures that takes advantage of the different responses of toluene and 3-pentanone to collisional quenching by molecular oxygen. Since laser-induced fluorescence signals from both tracers upon excitation at 248 nm are spectrally well separated, simultaneous detection is possible. The technique is first applied to instantaneous imaging in turbulent mixing processes of interacting seeded air and nitrogen flows. Received: 1 August 2001 / Revised version: 29 October 2001 / Published online: 29 November 2001