Walk-off and phase-compensated resonantly enhanced frequency-doubling of picosecond pulses using type II nonlinear crystal

We propose enhanced frequency-doubling inside an external ring-cavity using type II nonlinear crystal. A KTP type II twin-crystal device is implemented for compensation of both walk-off and phase-shift between ordinary and extraordinary fundamental waves. Starting from an 850 mW diode-pumped actively mode-locked Nd:YAG laser at 1.064 μm with 100 MHz repetition rate and 25 ps pulse duration, we performed 54% harmonic conversion efficiency in the green. Received: 31 August 1998 / Revised version: 10 February 1999 / Published online: 19 May 1999     

10 GHz passive harmonic mode-locking in Er-Yb double-clad fiber laser

In this paper we report passive harmonic mode-locking of an Erbium/Ytterbium-doped double-clad fiber laser with repetition rates up to 10 GHz. The modes synchronization was obtained using Nonlinear Polarization Rotation mechanism. The stable operation at 634th harmonic of the fundamental (15.8 MHz) repetition frequency was achieved. Soliton pulses with the duration of less than 900 fs and 300 mW average output power were obtained.     

High-flux high harmonic soft X-ray generation up to 10 kHz repetition rate

We report the operation of a Ti:sapphire oscillator-amplifier system with a high, variable repetition rate adjustable between 1 and 15 kHz. The oscillator uses cavity dumping and the multipass amplifier is based on a liquid nitrogen cooled crystal. The system produces pulses with 28 fs duration at 1.1 mJ pulse energy. When pumping the amplifier crystal with 72 W, an average output power of 11 W is obtained at a repetition rate of 10 kHz, resulting in a quantum efficiency of 25%. The output pulses are used to generate high harmonic radiation in argon, neon, and helium, which are detected up to a photon energy of 110 eV, limited by the sensitivity of the toroidal grating employed.     

Harmonic repetition-rate femtosecond optical parametric oscillator

We report on a femtosecond optical parametric oscillator (OPO) with a repetition rate of 1 GHz, which is 12 times that of the pump laser used. We also introduce a novel method for operating an OPO with a high harmonic repetition rate which is not determined by the cavity length of the OPO, but rather the cavity length difference between the OPO and its pump laser. Operation of an OPO at 4-times the harmonic repetition rate has been carried out to show the feasibility of this method. The new approach paves the way for constructing a femtosecond OPO working at repetition rates of 10 GHz, or higher, when the pump laser used has a relatively low repetition rate. Received: 26 October 2001 / Revised version: 11 Januar 2002 / Published online: 14 March 2002     

Phase-matched high-order harmonics by interaction of Ar atoms with high-repetition-rate low-energy femtosecond laser pulses

High-order harmonics are generated by coherent interaction of an intense laser and atoms or molecules[1]. With the development of the intense ultrashort pulse laser, the research of high-order harmonic generation has reached the water-window in spectral region[2] and subfemtosecond in time domain[3]. Especially, the generation and application of subfemtosecond pulse led the study of high-order harmonic generation into a completely new world[4, 5]. It has made the study of ultrafast science fro…     

Time-resolved photo-electron spectroscopy on mass-selected metal clusters using a regenerative femtosecond amplifier up to 100 Hz

A femtosecond photo-electron experiment is described which provides excellent conditions for measuring time-resolved photo-electron spectra of free, monodispersed cluster anions using repetition rates up to 100 Hz. Cluster anions are synthesized in an electric arc and subsequently cooled in a helium carrier gas. A time-of-flight spectrometer is used for mass separation of the negatively charged clusters. The kinetic energy of the photo-electrons is analyzed by a magnetic-bottle time-of-flight spectrometer, which guarantees a maximum collection efficiency. Femtosecond laser pulses are generated by a seeded regenerative Ti:Sa amplifier, which is externally pumped with the second harmonic of a diode-pumped solid-state Nd:YAG laser. A retroreflector mounted on a computer-controlled translation stage serves as a reproducible time delay of the probe pulse. The high energy output of the laser pulses (∼3 mJ) in combination with the variable repetition rate and the high stability of the amplified pulses provide excellent conditions for recording pump-probe photo-electron spectra of mass-separated cluster anions even at the fairly low ion density of pulsed plasma cluster sources. First results on the electron dynamics of the Pt₃ ^- cluster demonstrate the reliability of the whole system. Further experimental investigations will concentrate on electron-relaxation processes in transition- and noble-metal clusters as well as on the nuclear and transition-state dynamics of chemically reacted adsorbate clusters. Received: 7 January 2000 / Published online: 7 August 2000     

Fundamental and harmonic mode-locking in erbium-doped fiber laser based on graphene saturable absorber

Graphene-based passively mode-locked erbium doped fiber laser is presented. Multilayer graphene was obtained by mechanical exfoliation of pure graphitic block and deposited on the fiber ferrule. The mode-locking performance was investigated under various laser pumping conditions. The laser could operate at fundamental repetition rate of 16.34 MHz with 844 fs pulse duration and 30 mW average output power. Also harmonic-mode locking of the laser is demonstrated. 294 and 800 MHz repetition rates were obtained (corresponding to the 18th and 49th harmonic of the fundamental repetition frequency, respectively) with nearly transform-limited pulses.     

Generation of the numerator=2 rational harmonic mode-locked pulses in fiber ring lasers

In conventional rational harmonic mode-locking, optical pulse trains with the repetition rate of(pn + 1)fc are generated when the modulation frequency of the in-cavity modulator is set at fm=(n + 1/p)fc, where n and p are both integers, fc is the fundamental cavity frequency. In this paper, we report that rational harmonic mode locking phenomenon takes place in the fiber lasers when the modulation frequency is set at fm =(n + 2/p)fc. The pulse generations are experimentally demonstrated when the numerator of the rational corresponds to 2 in 5th and 7th order rational harmonic mode-locking.     

Efficient cascaded difference frequency conversion in periodically poled Ti:LiNbO3 waveguides using pulsed and cw pumping

Using an FM-mode-locked Ti:Er:LiNbO₃ waveguide laser as the fundamental source, wavelength conversion by cascaded χ⁽²⁾:χ⁽²⁾-difference frequency generation with a conversion efficiency of up to +3(-4.6) dB was demonstrated at a pulse repetition rate of about 2 (10) GHz. In addition, multi-channel conversion was demonstrated with a fully packaged wavelength converter using a continuous fundamental source. Received: 29 May 2001 / Revised version: 10 August 2001 / Published online: 2 November 2001     

High average power ultra-fast fiber chirped pulse amplification system

We report on a high-gain diode-pumped ytterbium-doped fiber-amplifier system delivering pulse energies in the 100-μJ range at high repetition rates (32 kHz) with nearly-diffraction-limited beam quality (M²∼1.7) at a 1060-nm center wavelength. Femtosecond seed-laser pulses are stretched in a commercially available single-mode fiber and compressed after amplification to subpicosecond pulse duration. In a multimode Yb-doped fiber amplifier we have demonstrated average powers of up to 22 W and single-pulse energies of up to 130 μJ. Received: 16 August 2000 / Revised version: 4 September 2000 / Published online: 8 November 2000     

Passively Q-switched diode-pumped Cr:YAG/Nd:GdVO4 monolithic microchip laser

The realization of high repetition rate passively Q-switched monolithic microlaser is a challenge since a decade. To achieve this goal, we report here on the first passively Q-switched diode-pumped microchip laser based on the association of a Nd:GdVO₄ crystal and a Cr⁴⁺:YAG saturable absorber. The monolithic design consists of 1 mm long 1% doped Nd:GdVO₄ optically contacted on a 0.4 mm long Cr⁴⁺:YAG leading to a plano-plano cavity. A repetition rate as high as 85 kHz is achieved. The average output power is approximately 400 mW for 2.2 W of absorbed pump power and the pulse length is 1.1 ns.     

New organic–inorganic hybrid matrices doped with rhodamine 6G as solid-state dye lasers

We report on the laser action of rhodamine 6G (Rh6G) incorporated into new hybrid organic–inorganic monolithic materials. The synthesis of these materials proceeded via the simultaneous sol-gel process of the inorganic part (tetraethoxysilane or tetramethoxysilane) and the free-radical polymerization of an organic monomer part (2-hydroxypropyl methacrylate, 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate and a 1:1 v/v copolymer of this monomer with methyl methacrylate). The wt. % proportion of the alkoxide was systematically varied in each organic formulation, and the effect of each organic–inorganic composition on the lasing properties of Rh6G was evaluated. The laser samples were transversely pumped and the influence on the laser action of dye concentration, pump wavelength and pump repetition rate was analyzed. Lasing efficiencies of up 26% and good stabilities, with a 90% drop in the initial laser output of up to 12000 pump pulses at 2.5 Hz, were obtained when the samples were pumped at 355 nm with 5.5 mJ/pulse from the third harmonic of a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser. Received: 31 July 2002 / Revised version: 14 October 2002 / Published online: 20 December 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +34-91/564-4853, E-mail: ogarcia@ctp.csic.es     

High repetition rate femtosecond laser nano-machining of thin films

Thin film laser micromachining has been utilized for repairing semiconductor masks, creating solar cells and fabricating MEMS devices. A unique high repetition rate femtosecond fiber laser system capable of variable repetition rates from 200 KHz to 25 MHz along with helium gas assist was used to study the effect of pulse repetition rate and pulse energy on femtosecond laser machining of gold-coated silicon wafer. It was seen that high repetition rates lead to smaller craters with uniform line width. Craters created at 13 MHz pulse repetition rate with 2.042 J/cm² beam energy fluence measured 110 nm in width and had a heat affected zone of 0.79 μm. It was found that pulse repetition rate only played a significant role in the size of the heat affected zone in the lower pulse energy ranges. In the future, a 1 W laser system will be acquired to find the optimal repetition rate that would create the minimal feature size with the least heat affected zone. Using this kind of setup along with techniques such as radial polarization and a different gas assist may enable us to create sub 100 nm feature size with good quality.     

Emission of laser pulses due to transitions from metastable to metastable levels in strontium vapor

Multi-line laser transitions from one metastable triplet state to another at wavelengths of 2.92, 3.01, 2.69 and 2.60 μm have been obtained through high pulse repetition frequency longitudinal discharge in a mixed gas of strontium vapor and helium buffer gas. The intensity ratio of these laser lines was 5:4:4:1. As far as we know, these laser lines have never been reported except for 3.01 μm. Some mechanisms for forming a population inversion are initially discussed on the basis of analyzing features of corresponding energy-level structure and experimental phenomena. It is reasonable to name this kind of laser as an M–M transition laser according to the feature of the lasing process. Received: 15 October 2002 / Published online: 9 April 2003 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +86-0571/8795-1328, E-mail: pbl66@zju.edu.cn     

Tunable, high-power, narrow-band picosecond IR radiation by optical parametric amplification in KTP

We report on an optical parametric amplifier (OPA) based on two potassium titanyl phosphate (KTP) crystals in a walk-off compensating geometry. An Nd:YLF regenerative amplifier at a 1-kHz repetition rate serves as the pump source. The seed beam is delivered by a synchronously pumped frequency-stabilized optical parametric oscillator (OPO) based on periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN). At pump intensities of about 7 GW/cm² large amplification factors of more than 10⁴ were achieved, resulting in pulse energies of more than 450 μJ and 350 μJ for the signal and idler pulses, respectively, at a 1-kHz repetition rate. In the saturation regime the time–bandwidth product increases from two to three times the Fourier limit, with a pulse duration of 105 ps and a bandwidth of 12.7 GHz at the highest intensities employed. Received: 2 November 2001 / Published online: 14 March 2002     

Gigahertz Harmonic Mode-Locked Fiber Laser Based on Tunable SMS Ultrafast Optical Switch

A novel passively gigahertz harmonic mode-locked all-fiber laser based on hybrid fiber structure (single-mode fiber–graded-index multimode fiber–single-mode fiber (SMS)) is proposed SMS, which coils on the paddles of polarization controller (PC), is demonstrated to modulate the temporal intensity for mode-locking. The nonlinear absorption properties of the optical switch are controllable by adjusting the paddles of PC; such an ultrafast optical switch enables the wavelength switchable harmonic mode-locking operation. Ultrafast pulses with 1.9 ps at 1558.41 nm and 0.95 ps at 1563.08 nm are generated. The maximum repetition rate of the laser up to 1.127 GHz harmonic of fundamental repetition mode-locking at 1563.08 nm, corresponding to 880 order, and the output power is 4.2 mW. Considering its superiority in terms of low cost, easy integration, and high reliability, the findings validate that SMS can be used in harmonic mode-locking.     

Comparative laser study of Nd:KGW and Nd:YAG near 1.3 μm

A comparative study of Nd:KGW and Nd:YAG laser crystals pumped by flashlamp has been conducted near 1.3 μm with output energy up to 1 J and at a repetition rate up to 50 Hz. An average power of 23 W for KGW in free-running mode was achieved with a total efficiency better than 2.8 % for the Nd:KGW and 1.8 % for the Nd:YAG. Received: 9 December 1996 / Revised version: 10 February 1997     

Ionization of a hydrogen atom from its ground state by a coherent bichromatic laser field

We study the “coherent phase control” between the three-photon ionization by a fundamental laser field and the one-photon ionization by its third harmonic for a hydrogen atom in its ground state. The relative phase δ of the harmonic field with respect to the fundamental laser radiation “modulates” the interference between the two ionization channels, which is important near the crossing points between the ionization rates of the two individual processes. Numerical results for the total ionization rate and for the angular distribution of the photoelectrons as a function of the phase δ are presented for frequencies located in the vicinity of the atomic resonances corresponding to the absorption of two laser photons. Received 31 August 2000 and Received in final form 6 February 2001     

Critical behavior of a passively mode-locked laser: rational harmonic mode locking

The critical behavior of passive mode locking has been demonstrated in a figure-eight fiber laser that performs rational harmonic mode locking (RHML). On both the repetition rate and the pulse amplitude distribution, the observed pulse trains near the threshold exhibit the same regulations as the rational harmonic mode-locked ones. The theory also shows that there should be a middle status of RHML before achieving normal mode locking. It is important to note that the results provide what we believe to be the first confirmed attempt to address a fundamental question: how does a laser become mode locking with an increase of pump power?     

Multiwatt optically pumped ammonia laser operation in the 12–13 μm

Design and operating caracteristics of high pulse repetition rate NH₃ laser producing up to 20 W of average output power are described. The NH₃ laser, operating in the 12–13 μm region was optically pumped with a high pulse repetition rate TEA CO₂ laser. Dependences of the NH₃ laser output on the pump energy, ammonia and buffer gas pressures and pulse repetition rate have been studied. The conversion efficiency of up to 16% has been received.