Experimental realization of a novel dispersion- compensating optical fiber amplifier for simultaneous compensation of positive dispersion and losses

Erbium-doped dispersion-compensating optical fiber (EDCF) has been theoretically simulated and experimentally fabricated using Modified Chemical Vapor Deposition (MCVD) for optimum operation at 5.0km. It is optimized for both gain as well as negative dispersion. The erbium has been doped into the cladding region while the core of the optical fiber is chosen to be narrow so as to have a high negative dispersion. Measured gain of 3.1 dB at 200 m using 100 mW pumping power (980 nm wavelength) at 1550 nm has been obtained and the gain of 32 dB at 5.0 km using same pumping scheme has been predicted. The chromatic dispersion of this EDCF has been also measured to be –43.5 ps/km-nm at 1550 nm and thus, providing the dispersion of –217.5 ps/nm at 5 km. The bend-induced losses are found to be negligible. We are the first to report the experimental realization of EDCF.     

Classical theory of laser linewidth

The classical theory of light fluctuations rests on the intuitive concept that jumps between atomic states occur at independent times when the optical field has a prescribed value. The statistical properties of phase-noise sources are obtained in the present paper by applying this principle to detuned atoms. Formulae for amplitude and phase fluctuations coincide with quantum-theory results even when non-classical states of light are generated. Theories employing semiclassical or quantum concepts are reviewed. We consider particularly the linewidth of laser oscillators operating below and above threshold when the atomic polarization cannot be adiabatically eliminated. Quantum-theory results by Lax (1966) are recovered from classical theory in a straightforward manner. More general results are given for dispersive loads, applicable to external-cavity lasers and relevant to gain guidance. It is emphasized that the K-factor as calculated by Petermann is applicable only below threshold. When more than one emitting element is present, population rate equations need to be considered and the linewidth decreases when the pump fluctuations are suppressed. The role of gain compression relating to semiconductor lasers is discussed. It is shown that at low and moderate powers gain compression reduces the effective phase-amplitude coupling factor, . But at high power a number of mechanisms contribute to linewidth rebroadening. One of them is the statistical (quasi-thermal equilibrium) fluctuation of the refractive index. General concepts applicable to broadband light are outlined in an appendix.     

Quantum dot photonic devices for lightwave communication

For InAs-GaAs based quantum dot lasers emitting at 1300 nm digital modulation showing an open eye pattern up to 12 Gb/s at room temperature is demonstrated, at 10 Gb/s the bit error rate is below 10^-12 at -2 dBm receiver power. Cut-off frequencies up to 20 GHz are realised for lasers emitting at 1.1 m. Passively mode-locked QD lasers generate optical pulses with repetition frequencies between 5 and 50 GHz, with a minimum Fourier limited pulse length of 3 ps. The uncorrelated jitter is below 1 ps. We use here deeply etched narrow ridge waveguide structures which show excellent performance similar to shallow mesa structures, but a circular far field at a ridge width of 1 m, improving coupling efficiency into fibers. No beam filamentation of the fundamental mode, low -factors and strongly reduced sensitivity to optical feedback is observed. QD lasers are thus superior to QW lasers for any system or network.Quantum dot semiconductor optical amplifiers (QD SOAs) demonstrate gain recovery times of 120–140 fs, 4–7 times faster than bulk/QW SOAs, and a net gain larger than 0.4 dB/(mm*QD layer) providing us with novel types of booster amplifiers and Mach–Zehnder interferometers.These breakthroughs became possible due to systematic development of self-organized growth technologies. PACS 81.07.Ta; 81.16.Dn; 42.55.Px; 42.60.-v     

Messung der Polarisation von Neutronen der9Be(α,n)12C-Reaktion

The angular distribution of the polarization of neutrons from the⁹Be(,n)¹²C reaction leading to the ground state in¹²C has been investigated at -energies of 2.40 and 2.80 MeV. The polarization has been determined by left-right asymmetry measurements of the intensities of neutrons elastically scattered on⁴He nuclei. Values of the analysing power of⁴He have been calculated using the phase shift data of Stammbach and Walter [1]. The degree of polarization observed varies between + 55% and —44%. All results obtained in this experiment are in good agreement with the results of polarization measurements of other authors except the results of Lietz et al. [2].     

Performance of internal-mirror frequency-stabilized He-Ne lasers emitting green,yellow or orange light

A comprehensive control system has been developed for the stabilization of internalmirror He-Ne lasers to their power envelopes. It is designed particularly for use with lasers emitting at 552, 505, or 490 THz (543, 594, 612 nm). The aim has been to combine convenience in routine operation with good day-to-day resettability and minimal frequency drift during a day. The lasers are observed to emit in up to four modes simultaneously and their tuning behaviour is highly alignment-sensitive. They also tend to flip between modes having orthogonal linear planes of polarization. Reliable control of polarization and mode frequency are possible using permanent magnets and active length control through thermal expansion. The stabilized single-frequency outputs have frequency drifts of about 2×10^–8 per year, and powers of between 150 W and 850 W.     

A powerful diode-pumped laser source for micro-machining with ps pulses in the infrared, the visible and the ultraviolet

We report a ps diode-pumped Nd:YVO₄ laser system for micro-machining applications. The system consists of a passively mode-locked oscillator followed by a regenerative amplifier. It provides laser pulses at 1064 nm with a pulse duration of 10.2 ps, a repetition rate of 20 kHz and an average output power of 10.8 W. This average power corresponds to a pulse energy of 0.54 mJ. Second-harmonic generation in LBO and fourth-harmonic generation in BBO provide visible (532-nm) and ultraviolet (266-nm) radiation with pulse energies of 270 J and 75 J, respectively. Amplification in a diode-pumped single-pass Nd:YVO₄ amplifier increases the pulse energy of the fundamental 1064-nm laser pulses to 1 mJ. PACS 42.55.Xi; 42.60.Da; 42.65.Ky; 42.65.Re     

Dynamic Nuclear Polarization of [1-C]pyruvic acid at 4.6 tesla

Dynamic Nuclear Polarization (DNP) of the ¹³C nucleus has been investigated for [1-¹³C]pyruvic acid, doped with the trityl radical OX063Me, at 4.64 T and 1.15 K. The dependence of the polarization on microwave frequency, radical concentration and electron saturation was studied. For optimized conditions, a ¹³C polarization equal to 64 ± 5% was obtained, an increase by more than a factor of two compared with earlier results at 3.35 T of the same system. It was furthermore observed that the addition of gadolinium, which resulted in a twofold polarization increase at 3.35 T, only resulted in a minor improvement at 4.64 T. The dependence of the electron saturation on microwave frequency and microwave power was quantified by first moment measurements which were obtained by nucleus–electron double resonance (NEDOR) experiments. Complete electron saturation was observed for a microwave frequency close to the centre frequency of the ESR line, and by using maximum power of the microwave source. The DNP build-up time at 4.64 T (3000 s) was prolonged by approximately a factor three over the build-up time at 3.35 T (1200 s). However, after approximately 20 min of microwave irradiation the polarization at 4.64 T exceeded the polarization at 3.35 T.     

CW diode pumping and FM mode locking of a Nd: KGW laser

We have demonstrated cw diode end pumping of Nd: KGW, a novel solid-state gain medium, with up to 30% conversion efficiency into near-TEM₀₀ (M² < 1.05) output at = 1.067 µm for a pump level of 2.7 W. The slope efficiency was limited by intracavity reflections to 36%; however, direct comparison to a similar Nd:YAG laser indicates the same intrinsic slope efficiency of 60%. FM mode locking of this laser at 200 MHz has produced 12 ps pulses (compared to 16 ps for Nd: YAG), although an intracavity etalon was required. Considerable reduction in pulse width is possible (the line width limit is 0.5 ps) but different techniques may be necessary. Spatial hole burning was evident in both the 120 GHz free-running spectrum and the etalon-limited mode-locked spectrum.     

Fast Room Temperature Detection of State of Circular Polarization of Terahertz Radiation

We report on a room temperature detector which allows to determine and monitor the state of polarization of terahertz radiation with picosecond temporal resolution. The detector is based on the circular photogalvanic effect recently observed in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells. The circular photogalvanic effect yields in response to elliptically polarized radiation a current signal proportional to the degree of circular polarization. The peak current signal occurs in unbiased samples for circular polarization, vanishes at linear polarization and changes sign by switching the helicity from right-handed to left-handed. The detector consists of a (113)A MBE grown pGaAs/AlGaAs multiple quantum well structure. The response has been measured in the wavelength range between 76 m and 280 m at normal incidence of the radiation on the sample.     

Nucleation process of stacking fault tetrahedra in gold studied by positron lifetime spectroscopy

By component analyses of positron lifetime spectra in quenched gold, it was found that positrons are strongly trapped by stacking fault tetrahedra (SFT) at which the lifetime is about 160 ps remarkably smaller than that for monovacancies (200 ps) or divacancies (220 ps). Positron lifetimes at small vacancy clusters were also estimated in relation to the nucleation process of SFT, with the aid of computer simulation of kinetics of vacancy clustering during quenching and on subsequent isochronal annealing. The results show that large atomic relaxation occurs in small vacancy clusters among which pentavacancies have the largest open-space, thereby having the lifetime of about 230 ps larger than that of trior tetra-vacancies (160ps). It is also suggested that tetra- and penta-vacancies act as prenuclei for stable nuclei of SFT consisting of six or more vacancies.Present situation: Professor Emeritus     

Dynamic polarization of protons in irradiated polymers

Protons were polarized in different types of irradiated polymers by means of the solid effect method. The polarization was measured in fields of 3150 Oe and 19200 Oe in a range of temperatures from 1·65 to 4·2°K. The highest polarization was reached on protons in polycaprolactam of type II in a field of 19200 Oe ( _e =53·5 GHz) at a temperature of 2·1°K. Further, the dependence of the polarization on the microwave power and nuclear relaxation times were measured. The temperature dependence of the distance between positive and negative polarization maxima was observed.     

Microstructural evolution of ZnS during sintering monitored by optical and positron annihilation techniques

Positron lifetime and optical absorption techniques were employed to track the microstructural evolution of polycrystalline ZnS grown by Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD). As grown material and material treated with Hot Isostatic Pressure (HIP) was sintered at temperatures ranging from 400 to 1000°C for 2–18 h. A 290 ps defect lifetime could be resolved in all samples, while an additional longer lifetime (=430 ps) was found only in samples annealed at low temperatures. This component gradually disappeared during annealing at 800°C. Associated with the disappearance of the long-lived component, the apparent bulk lifetime of the material changed from 235 to 215 ps. A 215±2 ps bulk parameter was also found for HIP-treated material annealed at temperatures greater than 400°C and hence is taken to represent the delocalized state of the positrons in ZnS. Optical absorption measurements showed that annealing at 800°C also caused the absorption profiles of the CVD and HIP samples to converge. The rate of the bulk lifetime transition correlates with the absorption changes. The observed sharpening of the absorption profile is attributed to a decrease in scattering from grain boundaries and voids, and a decrease in absorption from point defects. The 430 ps lifetime is believed to be due to trapping at voids and grain boundaries, while the 290 ps lifetime likely is due to a monovacancy stabilized as a small complex.Paper presented at the 132nd WE-Heraeus-Seminr on Positron Studies of Semiconductor Defects, Halle, Germany, 29 August to 2 September 1994     

PMD Characterization of a Dispersion Managed Link up to the Second-order with High Accuracy

We report an algorithm on the characterization up to second-order polarization mode dispersion (PMD). Our algorithm is able to characterize very short link with low PMD coefficient (less than 0.04 ps/ ). The link includes dispersion compensating fiber modules and loss compensating optical amplifiers. The estimation for first- and second-order PMD is successfully performed for dispersion-managed links of 85 and 265 km using the Jones matrix eigen-analysis (JME). The algorithm was developed to detect the evolution of the principal state of polarization (PSP) and subsequent calculation of second-order PMD components such as polarization-dependence, chromatic dispersion (PDCD) and depolarization.     

Subpicosecond pulse generation in synchronously pumped and hybrid ring dye lasers

Subpicosecond pulse generation has been examined in synchronously pumped mode-locked ring dye laser systems. These include hybrid and composite absorber/gain media arrangements as well as a simple synchronous cavity. The shortest pulses recorded were 0.3 ps for the hybrid system, and this has been shown to be critically dependent on the positioning of the absorber jet in the centre of the cavity to better than 50 m. Stable operation for subpicosecond pulse generation has been achieved in the ring configuration with greater wavelength tunability and higher average power conversion efficiency than with conventional cavity arrangements.     

Polarization properties and frequency stabilization of an internal mirror He-Ne laser emitting at 543.5 nm wavelength

Frequency stabilization to the gain profile of an internal mirror He–Ne laser emitting at 543.5 nm wavelength is described. The dependence of the power and polarization on frequency was investigated for multi-mode and two-mode operation. The emitted laser modes are linearly polarized. Two orthogonal eigenpolarizations fixed to the laser tube were observed. Spontaneous switching between these polarizations occurred when the laser frequency was scanning through the gain profile. In two-mode operation, these polarization flips have been suppressed by applying a weak magnetic field transversal to the gas discharge. Under such operation conditions the frequencies of the laser could be stabilized to the gain profile by controlling the power difference of the two modes to zero. The fractional frequency reproducibility is in the region of f/f3×10^–8.     

Plasma effects in picosecond-femtosecond UV laser ablation of polymers

Laser ablation of polyimide (PI) and polymethyl-methacrylate (PMMA) at 248 nm with pulse lengths ranging from 200 fs to 200 ps was investigated. The measured ablation rates show minima for pulse lengths of about 5 ps (PMMA) or 50 ps (PI).The reflected fraction of the ablating laser pulse was measured as a function of the pulse length. In the case of PMMA maximum reflectance corresponds to a minimum ablation rate.This behavior can be explained by a dynamic plasma reflection model: A fast build up of a dense plasma is followed by high obscuration for a brief transition time and a self-regulating opacity for the rest of the pulse. This model of plasma mediated ablation leads to a ^1/4-dependence of the ablation rate at fixed fluence, which fits very well to the measured data, in particular if an extension to nanosecond ablation data of PI and PMMA is considered. PACS 52.50.Jm; 61.80.Ba; 42.65.Re     

Investigation of the parameters of a high-power picosecond feedback controlled chirp pulsed amplified Nd: glass laser with injection seeding

We describe experimental studies to investigate the parameters of a compact high-power Nd: glass laser. The laser consists of a mode-locked oscillator with negative feedback (=1.4ps), a Q-switched pre-amplifier with an amplification factor of 5×10⁸, and multiple stage amplifiers using a chirped pulse amplification compression technique.     

Snowballs of radioactive ions — nuclear spin polarization of core ions

Short-lived ions¹²B (beta-radioactive, T_1/2=20.3 ms) sustaining nuclear spin polarization were introduced into superfluid helium at 1.7 K. It was found that the¹²B ions were transported as charged entities under a static electric field and that the nuclear polarization was maintained throughout the lifetime of¹²B nuclei. Polarization of¹²B was determined through beta-NMR method. Snowball, a singly charged microcluster of helium atoms formed around an impurity ion, is responsible for the behaviour and thus constitutes a suitable environment for preserving nuclear polarization of the core ions¹²B. In a separate experiment snowballs were produced by implanting⁸Li (T_1/2=830 ms) into liquid helium and detected by means of alpha particles from the core ions to guarantee that the snowballs survive longer than the lifetime of¹²B.     

A 44 GHz HEMT amplifier

A 44-GHz amplifier using 0.25-m gate length and double-heterojunction structure HEMT devices is described. Higher gain and power performance have been obtained from the amplifier using this device at millimeter-wave frequencies. A spot gain of 9.4 dB and a 1-dB gain compression point of +7.5 dBm has been achieved at 43.5 GHz.This work was supported by the Air Force Space Division under Contract No. F04701-84-C-0113.     

A fiber-ring laser incorporating dual mode-locking mechanism

A fiber-ring laser incorporating dual mode-locking mechanisms is presented and demonstrated. A multi-quantum well (MQW) semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) acts as active loss modulator, because the external optical signal injection results in gain depletion. In addition, a reflective SOA (RSOA) and a polarization beam splitter (PBS) introduce nonlinear polarization rotation (NPR), and also function as a saturable absorber. With this dual mode-locking mechanism, 10 GHz repetition-rate stable pulses, with pulse width of 16 ps and a root-mean-square timing jitter of 1 ps, was obtained without the use of external compression approaches.