Relative carrier-envelope phase dynamics between passively synchronized Ti:sapphire and Cr:forsterite lasers

We observed and measured the relative carrier-envelope phase difference per round trip between synchronized femtosecond Ti:sapphire and Cr:forsterite mode-locked lasers. The relative carrier-envelope phase slip was directly recorded by heterodyning of the Cr:forsterite laser with the supercontinuum from the Ti:sapphire laser. We also obtained another phase relation by superimposing the third harmonic of the Cr:forsterite laser with the second harmonic of the Ti:sapphire laser. In the latter case we obtained a stable beat signal with a signal-to-noise ratio larger than 30 dB and found a dependence of the beat frequency on the cavity length.     

Effect of Self-Pumped Phase Conjugation Feedback from a Ce:BaTiO3 Crystal on Lasing Spectrum of a Laser Diode

The effect of self-pumped phase conjugation (SPPC) feedback from a Ce:BaTiO₃ crystal on the lasing spectrum of a commercial laser diode was experimentally investigated, and dependence of the spectrum on the length and reflectivity of the external SPPC cavity was studied. Experimental results showed the optimum reflectivity of the external cavity to be 0.2% for our experimental setup.     

基于NICE-OHMS技术进行大气压气样直接检测的理论分析

噪声免疫腔增强光外差分子光谱技术(NICE-OHMS)是目前世界上最灵敏的激光吸收光谱技术,其在低压环境中具有极高的探测灵敏度。然而当测量样品处于大气压时,NICE-OHMS系统的探测灵敏度会大幅下降。主要原因之一是大气压下获取最大NICE-OHMS信号幅度的条件与低气压下不同。通过对大气压NICE-OHMS理论进行分析,分析了影响信号幅度的参数,并通过数值模拟来寻找最佳的实验条件。本文着重讨论影响信号的主要参数包括光学腔腔长L,调制系数β,探测相位θ。其中,由于在NICE-OHMS中使用DeVoe-Brewer技术将调制频率ν_m锁定到Fabry-Parot(FP)腔的自由光谱区(FSR)。因此FP腔的腔长决定了ν_m,同时还作用于信号幅度S■。模拟结果显示,当腔长增大时,由于ν_m随之减小,载波和边带的光谱成分相互重叠部分增大,因此线型函数的幅度逐渐减小。而吸收信号幅度随着腔长的增加而逐渐增加,色散信号幅度先增大后减小,并且在腔长等于8 cm时达到最大值。调制系数β会影响频率调制后激光载波和边带的幅度大小,并且影响信号线型。随着腔长的增加,最大信号幅度对应的β值也随之增加。在相同腔长下,色散信号的最佳β值小于吸收信号,更容易使用电光调制器实现。最后分析了参数的可实现性,分析了不同种类激光器的频率调谐能力,压电陶瓷的扫描宽度等。以乙炔气体为例,大气压下NICE-OHMS的谱线半宽达到~3 GHz,而光谱覆盖范围大于10 GHz。分布反馈式半导体激光器(DFB)与外腔二极管激光器(ECDL)的频率调谐范围可以达到30 GHz以上,但是由于激光线宽宽,得到的PDH锁定性能欠佳。回音壁模式激光器(WGM)和掺饵光纤激光器(EDFL)线宽为百Hz量级,是目前高灵敏NICE-OHMS系统中常用的光源。但是WGM目前可以实现了5 GHz的激光频率调谐范围,而EDFL的外部电压可控制的调谐范围仅为3 GHz。使用精细度为55000的腔进行模拟,调制系数β=1,腔长大于8 cm时,可使用WGM激光器实现,腔长大于25 cm时,可以使用EDFL激光器实现。而对于在设计光学腔中常用的伸缩长度为25μm的PZT,随着腔长的增加,对应的腔模频移范围逐渐减小,在腔长为典型的40 cm时,扫描范围大于12 GHz。     

Measurement of the comb dynamics for feedback control of an etalon-based coupled optoelectronic oscillator

The response of an optical frequency comb from an etalon-based coupled optoelectronic oscillator to changes in drive current, optoelectronic loop phase, modulator bias, and laser cavity length has been measured. It is found that controlling the phase of the optoelectronic loop is best suited for control of the pulse repetition rate, whereas controlling the laser cavity length is best for stabilization of the optical carrier frequency. Moreover, by measuring the instabilities of the carrier frequency at the fixed-point frequency of the optoelectronic phase, changes to the optoelectronic phase can be decoupled from changes to the laser cavity.     

Experimental study on injection-locked Ti:sapphire lasers

An injection-locked Ti:sapphire laser is developed,with injection locking achieved using the Pound-DreverHall technique.By measuring the dependence of output power on the pump power with various Ti:sapphire laser parameters,we experimentally studied the influences of the ring cavity length,the focal length of the pump-laser mode-matching lens,and the output-coupler transmission on the threshold and slope efficiency.The dependence of the output power on the master laser power is also investigated.The present study provides a guideline for developing a Ti:sapphire laser with high slope efficiency and low threshold.     

自锁模钛宝石激光器谐振腔特性分析

研究了自锁模钛宝石激光器对谐振腔参数对于自锁模运转的影响，得到了腔的对称性，内腔曲率半径以及总腔长等参数对自锁模运转的影响关系，与实验相符。     

Laser statistics and cavity length

The effect on the optical field of changing the cavity length of a laser, while keeping the resonance frequency constant, is examined. It is shown that the fully quantized laser theory gives explicit expressions for the length dependence of the light intensity distribution, that are not shared by the semiclassical theory, and are quite different above, at, and below threshold. Some possible experiments are suggested.     

The effect of external cavity reflectivity on the dynamic behaviors of quantum cascade laser

The effect of external reflectivity on the dynamic behaviors of quantum cascade laser coupled to external cavity is theoretically investigated. Our model is based on three-level rate equations including the dependence of the loss on external cavity parameters. We find in particular that the effective reflectivity, photon lifetime and threshold current are strongly influenced by the external cavity length and external reflectivity. The optimum external cavity length (L_ext) is about 4?cm. We also show that the external cavity reflectivity influences significantly the dynamics of the electron number in the upper and lower laser levels, population inversion, and photon numbers in the Fabry Perot and in the external cavities. In addition, the external cavity reflectivity dependences of turn-on delay time (t_th) is also studied and discussed.     

激光器内腔频差对双折射外腔激光回馈系统输出影响的理论及实验研究

玻璃材料的内应力关系及所在系统的稳定性、安全性和可靠性,是精密加工领域的重要问题.基于双折射外腔激光回馈效应的应力测量技术以其先进新颖的测量原理受到普遍关注.传统理论普遍认为双折射回馈系统中激光器的输出相位仅由外腔相位延迟决定,而将测量误差归因于外腔镜的非线性运动.本文结合正交偏振激光原理和三镜腔等效模型,测量了激光器的内腔双折射引起的频差大小,进行了频率调谐回馈实验,并根据结论计算了内腔频差对外腔相位延迟测量结果的影响,发现激光器的输出相位由外腔相位延迟、内腔频差、外腔长度共同决定.本文总结了内腔和外腔各向异性共同作用下激光器正交偏振态的相位特性,补充了激光回馈的物理内容,对于应力-双折射、位移、距离等重要参量的精确测量,都具有重要指导意义.     

Fundamental frequency noise properties of extended cavity erbium fiber lasers

A multimode linear cavity and a single-mode unidirectional ring cavity fiber laser with meter-long cavity lengths are shown to exhibit frequency noise limited by fundamental thermodynamic noise from 100?Hz to 100?kHz. Their measured spectra agree closely with theoretically derived thermodynamic noise and the characteristic dependence of the frequency noise power spectrum on the inverse of the cavity length is observed. The unidirectional ring laser exhibits a frequency noise of 2?Hz/Hz(1/2) at 1?kHz, one of the lowest published values to date from a free-running laser. The multimode linear cavity laser is shown to be a suitable candidate for thermal-noise-limited, meter-long fiber laser strain sensors with a strain resolution of 14?f?/Hz(1/2) at 1?kHz.     

Emission Dependence on Length in a 1.48-mum Pumped Erbium-Doped Laser with an All-Fiber Configuration

We report a study on the main features of a 1.48-mum pumped erbium-doped fiber laser, such as threshold pump power, output power, and slope efficiency. In particular we have focused on its dependence on active fiber length. We employed an all-fiber laser configuration, which included mirrors directly coated onto the polished fiber endfaces. Launched pump power and laser output power were introduced and extracted, respectively, from the laser cavity by means of couplers. Our measure ments show the existence of an optimum erbium-doped fiber length, where threshold power reaches minimum and output power maximum.     

Diffraction loss analysis of a plane-parallel optical cavity with a phase step and a slit aperture

A model for calculating the round trip diffraction loss in a plane-mirror cavity with an intracavity phase step and an infinite slit aperture is developed. The round trip remaining intensity fraction for the low order transverse cavity modes can be calculated for any given location of the slit aperture and the phase step along the cavity and for any given phase delay on the phase step. The diffraction loss on the slit aperture is found to be a periodic function of the phase delay on the phase step. Transformation of the lasing spectrum emitted from a broadband pulsed dye laser on moving the phase step along the oscillator cavity is reproduced theoretically. The lasing spectrum affected by the phase step is interpreted as the wavelength dependence of the remaining intensity fraction for the principal transverse mode.     

Phase-dependent ionization in the barrier suppression regime

Here the dependence of atomic ionization on the absolute phase of sub-10-fs pulses in the barrier suppression regime is investigated. The results obtained show that it is possible to find a parameter range for the laser pulse where the phase dependence of the ionization after the pulse is a nonoscillating curve with a well defined minimum (or maximum). This effect is explained by a simple model based on the assumption that in this regime the ionization is dominated by the electrons ejected when the field exceeds the critical value for suppression of the Coulomb barrier. These findings can be used to design phase-dependent absorbers with a potential application to stabilize the absolute phase into the cavity of a femtosecond laser, which is of major importance for extreme nonlinear optics.     

外反馈He—Ne激光器的非稳特性研究

报道了平面镜和自泵浦相位共轭镜反馈Ｈｅ－Ｎｅ激光器的非稳特性，观测了反馈镜位置对激光光强起伏及波动频率的影响，即在半腔长的整数倍附近，激光光强具有较大的起伏和秒量级的准周期振荡，并对其产生机理进行了分析。     

Phase-dependent loss due to nonadiabatic ionization by sub-10-fs pulses

For the first time to the author's knowledge, the effect of phase-dependent loss that can be used to stabilize the phase of a sub-10-fs laser pulse with respect to the envelope is shown. This loss is caused by the nonadiabatic response of an atom illuminated by a short pulse, which leads to the dependence of the tunneling ionization on the absolute phase of the pulse. The phase selectivity can be employed as a phase-dependent filter within the laser cavity with important applications in nonlinear optics in the single-cycle regime.     

抑制相位噪声实现主动锁模光纤激光器稳定工作

腔长漂移是引起主动锁模光纤激光器不稳定的一个主要原因。通过理论分析得出了主动锁模光纤激光器输出脉冲相位噪声和腔长漂移的关系，并采用抑制相位噪声的方法实现了主动锁模光纤激光器长达８小时的稳定工作。     

Carrier-envelope phase slip of ultrashort dispersion-managed solitons

The carrier-envelope phase slip of an ultrashort pulse circulating in a mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser is analyzed. The laser cavity is modeled by a dispersion- and nonlinearity-managed nonlinear Schr?dinger equation. The combined contributions to the phase slip induced by nonlinear phase and nonlinear dispersion are found to approach zero for strong dispersion maps. The dependence of the slip on third-order dispersion is found as well. The analytical results are verified using numerical simulations.     

Generation and Modulation of Phase Difference of Output Intensities in a Feedback Nd:YAG Laser with an Extracavity Waveplate Rotated

External anisotropic feedback effects on the phase difference behaviour of output intensities in a microchip Nd：YAG laser are presented. By rotating a quarter wave plate placed in the external cavity, the angle between laser initial polarization direction and o-axis of the wave plate is tuned from -45°to 45°, which results in variable extra-cavity birefringence along two orthogonal detection directions. With only one optical path and one wave plate, laser intensities of the two orthogonal directions, both modulated by the external cavity length, are output with a tunable phase difference, which can be continuously changed from zero to twice as large as that of the waveplate. Experimental results as well as a theoretical analysis based on Fabry-Perot cavity equivalent model and the refractive index ellipsoid, are presented. The potential applications of this phenomenon are also discussed.     

Optimal output mirrors for laser resonators

To minimize the angular divergence of a laser output beam, the lens effect of the output mirror must be taken into account. The optimum focal length is given for symmetric and half-symmetric resonators, and the dependence of the minimum beam divergence on cavity parameters is shown.     

Influences of cavity dispersion distribution on the output pulse properties of an all-normal-dispersion fiber laser

In this paper, the influences of the dispersion distribution in the cavity on the output pulse properties of the all-normaldispersion(ANDi) fiber laser are investigated. Our simulations show that, as the relative length of the dispersion fiber increases, the temporal width and the spectral bandwidth of the output pulse for an ANDi fiber laser with fixed total cavity dispersion or fiber length are decreased, while the pulse energy is enhanced and the compressed pulse width is increased.These simulation predictions have been proved by our experimental results. The reason may be that the nonlinear phase shift accumulated in the nonlinear fiber is more than that in the dispersion fiber if they have the same length.