The optimum configuration for the third-harmonic generation of 1.064 μm in a YCOB crystal

A method of determining the spatial configuration of a YCa₄O(BO₃)₃ (YCOB) crystal is introduced. The type-I phase-matching points for the sum-frequency of 1.064 μm and 0.532 μm, as well as the conversion efficiency for YCOB samples cut in different directions, have been measured. When the input intensity is 0.76 GW/cm², the third-harmonic generation (THG) conversion efficiency for the (106°, 77.2°)-cut YCOB crystal reaches 26.2%, which is the highest that we know so far. Both the calculations and the experiments show that the optimum THG configuration for a YCOB crystal is near (106°, 77.2°), or other equivalent directions in space. Received: 11 September 2000 / Revised version: 25 January 2001 / Published online: 27 April 2001     

Efficient 1.06 μm laser operation in an unprocessed Nd3+:BaGd2(MoO4)4 cleavage microchip

A 1.2 mm thick microchip cleaved from a 1.2 at.% Nd³⁺: BaGd₂(MoO₄)₄ crystal was used as the laser gain medium directly. The laser cavity mirrors were coated on the microchip without cutting and polishing. In the 1.06 μm quasi-CW laser operation, the microchip was pumped by a Ti:sapphire laser with a duty cycle of 10%, the threshold is 10 mW, and the slope efficiency is 50%. In the CW laser operation pumped by a diode laser, the threshold and slope efficiency are 140 mW and 33%, respectively. The results demonstrate that the unprocessed surfaces of the cleaved microchip have good enough flatness and parallelism for laser operation.     

Performance of a diode-pumped 5 W Nd3+:GdVO4 microchip laser at 1.06 μm

4 as a host for neodymium has several advantages for diode pumping in comparison with other crystals. The absorption cross section of neodymium in GdVO₄ is considerably stronger and broader than in YAG. This allows for the construction of very compact monolithical microchip lasers. In our paper, we report for the first time on a diode-pumped monolithical Nd³⁺([%at.]1.3):GdVO₄ microchip laser at 1.06 μm. A maximum output power of 5 W is achieved. The temporal and the spectral emission properties are described. The beam propagation properties are studied in detail. Received: 23 July 1998 / Revised version: 9 November 1998 / Published online: 24 February 1999     

Broadband-cascaded four-wave mixing in a photonic crystal fiber around 1 μm

To our knowledge, efficient generation of broadband four-wave mixing cascades centered at 1 μm and spanning 600 nm is experimentally demonstrated for the first time. This frequency comb is generated from a two-tone seed with a maximum peak power of 25 W in a low-dispersion photonic crystal fiber. It consists of up to 44 new idler waves generated symmetrically around the seed.     

Efficient Cr3+ sensitized Nd3+: GdScGa-garnet laser at 1.06 μm

Room-temperature cw lasing at 1.061 m has been obtained in Cr,Nd: GdScGa-garnet. Threshold powers as low as 7 mW and slope efficiencies up to 41% have been measured. Cross pumping of Nd³⁺ via Cr³⁺ is nearly as efficient as direct pumping. Time-resolved measurements of the transfer rate yield a transfer efficiency of 0.86 and an average transfer time of 17 s. An improvement in pulsed broad band pumping can also be expected.     

Diode-pumped passively Q-switched Nd:GdVO4 lasers operating at 1.06 μm wavelength

With a 10-W diode laser to pump Nd:GdVO₄ crystal in a folded cavity, we demonstrated Cr⁴⁺:YAG passively Q-switched Nd:GdVO₄ lasers at 1.06 μm. The maximum average output power of 2.1 W and the highest peak power of 625 W were, respectively, obtained when the initial transmissions of the Cr⁴⁺:YAG crystals were 90% and 80%. Received: 8 September 1999 / Revised version: 30 December 1999 / Published online: 8 March 2000     

Sum-frequency generation in a cooledβ-BaB2O4 crystal

Sum-frequency generation in -BaB₂O₄ has been studied by mixing the unpolarized output of an excimer laser pumped dye laser with its second harmonic. The shortest wavelength obtained at 95 K is 195.3 nm. A lower limit of 194.4±0.2 nm at the temperature of liquid helium can be expected.     

High efficiency lasing of a dye-doped polymer laser with 1.06 μm pumping

For the first time, tunable lasing from a dye laser with an active polymer medium has been obtained using 1.06 μm pumping. The conversion efficiency of 43% and the tunable range of Δλ=63 nm have been reached with the use of polymethine dye in a polyurethane matrix. Received: 20 April 2001 / Revised version: 16 July 2001 / Published online: 19 September 2001     

High-average-power, carrier-envelope phase-stable, few-cycle pulses at 2.1 μm from a collinear BiB3O6 optical parametric amplifier

We generate self-carrier-to-envelope phase-stable, 630 μJ pulses, centered at 2.1 μm, with 42 fs (6 cycle) duration based on collinear optical parametric amplification in BiB(3)O(6) at 3 kHz. These pulses are generated through a traveling wave amplifier scheme, and the bandwidth supports 28 fs (4 cycle) pulse duration. Carrier-to-envelope phase stability was measured to be 410 mrad over 10 min or 260 mrad over 35 s.     

Difference-frequency generation in PPLN at 4.25 μm: an analysis of sensitivity limits for DFG spectrometers

We report difference-frequency generation (DFG) in periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) around 4.25 μm using a cw Nd:YAG and an injection-locked diode laser. This system provides a narrow linewidth source at 4.25 μm with near-shot-noise-limited operation. A conversion efficiency close to the theoretical limit is obtained. Detection of CO₂ absorption spectra is demonstrated and further improvements and applications to high sensitivity spectroscopy are discussed. Received: 12 August 1999 / Revised version: 21 January 2000 / Published online: 24 March 2000     

Diode-laser-array end-pumped 14.3-W CW Nd:GdVO4 solid-state laser at 1.06 μm

A diode-laser-array end-pumped efficient CW Nd:GdVO₄ laser at 1.06 μm has been developed. A low-order-mode output power of 14.3 W was obtained at the maximum available pump power of 26 W, giving an optical conversion efficiency of 55% and an average slope efficiency of 62%. The laser output beam quality factor at full pump power was determined to be M²<1.8. It is also shown that only lightly doped Nd:GdVO₄ crystals are suitable for high-power end-pumped lasers. Received: 4 May 1999 / Published online: 29 July 1999     

Blue light generation in photonic crystal fibers with 1-μm femtosecond laser pulses

Using 300-fs 1039-nm Yb-doped fiber laser, we experimentally demonstrate blue light generation in a high-△ and high nonlinear photonic crystal fiber (PCF). The zero dispersion wavelength of PCF is 793 nm, detuning 245.8 nm from the pump wavelength. PCF allows a frequency conversion exceeding the octave of pump wavelength. The visible component of the measured output spectrum occurs in the fundamental mode and spans from 391.3 to 492.3 nm. The peak wavelength of 441.8 nm has a frequency detuning of 390 THz from the pump wavelength of 1039 nm.     

Supercontinuum generation at 1.55μm using highly nonlinear photonic crystal fiber for telecommunication and medical applications

In this paper, we present a theoretical calculation of a highly nonlinear germanium (Ge) doped photonic crystal fiber with all-normal group velocity dispersion to design a supercontinuum (SC) light source at 1.55 μm. By doping 3% higher refractive index Ge inside the host silica, the nonlinear coefficient is increased to a value as large as 60.5 W^?1 km^?1 at 1.55 μm. A 10 dB bandwidth of a 120 nm SC spectrum for a 2.5 ps input optical pulse and a 10 dB bandwidth of a 190 nm SC spectrum for a 1.0 ps input optical pulse have been found using the same fiber length of 200m and input optical power of 18 W. The coherent lengths of the generated SC light sources are found to be 8.8 μm for a 2.5 ps input optical pulse and 5.6 μm for a 1.0 ps input optical pulse. Therefore, the highest longitudinal resolution at 1.55 μm is found to be about 4.0 μm for biological tissues.     

Raman continuum generation at 1.0–1.3 μm in passively mode-locked fiber laser based on nonlinear polarization rotation

We experimentally demonstrate cascaded Raman scattering continuum generation at 1.0–1.3 μm with pulse energy of 47 nJ by utilizing a commercially available all-normal-dispersion single-mode fiber (SMF) with a low threshold pump power. We achieve passively mode-locked all-fiber lasing by nonlinear polarization rotation technique. Continuous Raman gain is obtained by the same SMF in every roundtrip because of the ring-cavity configuration, which makes it possible to achieve high-order Raman Stokes waves by a short fiber length. Limited by the pump power, the maximum output average power and peak power are 87.4 and 339 mW, but it has great potential to be improved. These make it an ideal continuum source for many applications, such as optical coherence tomography.     

Supercontinuum generation with femtosecond optical pulse compression in silicon photonic crystal fibers at 2500 nm

In this paper, femtosecond optical pulses compression and supercontinuum generation in a triangular silicon photonic crystal fiber at 2500 nm are investigated. A region of large minimum anomalous group velocity dispersion, negligible higher order dispersions and unique nonlinearity of silicon are used to demonstrate compression of 100 fs initial input optical pulses to 2.5 fs and ultra-broadband supercontinuum generation with very low input pulse energy over short distances of the fiber.     

Generation of picoseconds stimulated Raman scattering in a BaWO4 crystal and frequency up-conversion by difference-frequency generation in BBO

The characters of stimulated Raman scattering of BaWO₄ crystal excited by a picoseconds laser at 1064 nm are studied based on optical parametric amplification (OPA). Up to six-order Stokes components and five-order anti-Stokes components are observed. The SRS components are amplified by an OPA and the wavelength tunable range from 411 to 2594 nm is achieved with a maximum conversion efficiency of 38% using the OPA stage.     

The 2-μm to 6-μm mid-infrared supercontinuum generation in cascaded ZBLAN and As_2Se_3 step-index fibers

Fiber-based mid-infrared(MIR) supercontinuum(SC) sources benefit from their spectral brightness and spatial coherence that are needed for many applications, such as spectroscopy and metrology. In this paper, an SC spanning from 2 μm to 6 μm is demonstrated in cascaded ZrF_4–BaF_2–LaF_3–AlF_3–NaF(ZBLAN) and As_2Se_3 step-index fibers. The pump source is a ZBLAN fiber-based MIR SC laser with abundant high-peak-power soliton pulses between 3000 nm and 4200 nm. By concatenating the ZBLAN fiber and the As_2 Se_3 fiber, efficient cascading red-shifts are obtained in the normal dispersion region of the As_2 Se_3 fiber. The spectral behavior of cascaded SC generation shows that the long-wavelength proportion of MIR SC generated in the ZBLAN fiber plays a critical role for further spectral extension in the As_2 Se_3 fiber.     

Bulk Nd3+-doped tellurite glass laser at 1.37 μm

We have demonstrated, for the first time to our knowledge, lasing at 1.37 μm in a tellurite-based glass host doped with 0.5 mol.% neodymium: Nd³⁺:(0.8)TeO₂–(0.2)WO₃. The gain-switched laser could be operated with 59 μJ threshold pulse energy as well as 5.5% slope efficiency. As high as 6 μJ-pulses with a duration of 1.74 μs were obtained. The pulse repetition rate was 1 kHz. The emission cross section from the threshold analysis turned out to be 1.57×10^?20 cm² at 1370 nm by taking into account excited-state absorption from ⁴F_3/2 to ⁴G_7/2 energy level. Furthermore, the ratio of excited-state absorption to the emission cross section was found out to be 0.78 by using the slope efficiency value.