Optical Gain of 1550-nm Range Multiple-Quantum-Well Heterostructures and Limiting Modulation Frequencies of Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers Based on Them

Results of investigation of 1550 nm range stripe semiconductor lasers fabricated from heterostructures with different designs of the gain medium are presented. It is shown that the proposed designs of the gain medium allow obtaining the effective lasing at high level of total optical losses, comparable with the typical optical losses in the vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers. The evaluation of modal gain in different types of the gain mediummade it possible to estimate the possible frequencies of the small-signal modulation of vertically emitting lasers and proposed the ways to increase them up to 20 GHz or more.     

Laser intracavity absorption spectroscopy

Emission spectra of multimode lasers are very sensitive to spectrally selective extinction in their cavity. This phenomenon allows the quantitative measurement of absorption. The sensitivity of measurements of intracavity absorption grows with the laser pulse duration. The ultimate sensitivity obtained with a cw laser is set by various perturbations of the light coherence, such as quantum noise, Rayleigh scattering, four-wave mixing by population pulsations, and stimulated Brillouin scattering. It depends on the particular laser type used, and on its operative parameters, for example pump power, cavity loss, cavity length, and length of the gain medium. Nonlinear mode-coupling dominates the dynamics of lasers that feature a thin gain medium, such as dye lasers, whereas Rayleigh scattering is more important in lasers with a long gain medium, such as doped fibre lasers, or the Ti:sapphire laser. The highest sensitivity so far has been obtained with a cw dye laser. It corresponds to 70000 km effective length of the absorption path. The ultimate spectral resolution is determined by the spectral width of mode emission, which is 0.7 Hz in this dye laser. High sensitivity and high temporal and spectral resolution allow various practical applications of laser intracavity spectroscopy, such as measurements and simulations of atmospheric absorption, molecular and atomic spectroscopy, process control, isotope separation, study of free radicals and chemical reactions, combustion diagnostics, spectroscopy of excited states and nonlinear processes, measurements of gain and of spectrally narrow light emission. Intracavity absorption in single-mode lasers shows enhanced sensitivity as well, although not as high as in multimode lasers. Received: 10 May 1999 / Published online: 29 July 1999     

Analysis of Transverse Mode Formation in Quasi-Three-Level Microchip Lasers

The effects of gain guiding and thermal guiding on the cavity mode formation for quasi-three-level microchip lasers are investigated. A parameter describing the dominant guiding mechanisms at the lasing threshold is defined. Paraxial wave propagation equation for the field envelope in the gain medium with thermal-induced refractive index profile and gain profile is derived. A comparison between the calculated results and those of experiments reveals that this model is quite reasonable and applicable not only to the Yb:YAG microchip laser, but also to other quasi-three-level microchip lasers.     

二极管泵浦Nd:YAG圆片激光技术研究

介绍了热容激光技术的发展历史及现状,介绍了固体激光器热容方式工作的基本原理,报道了二极管泵浦NdYAG圆片激光器热容方式工作的实验结果.用热像仪测量了激光器工作时增益介质通光面上的温度分布特性;采用干涉测量的方法测量了工作中的增益介质的与光束传输方向相垂直的方向上的折射率分布特性;结果表明片状固体增益介质热容方式工作对振荡光束波前畸变影响很小.给出了与光束传输方向相垂直的截面上增益介质的荧光分布.得到输出平均功率达47.5 W,此时的光-光转换效率为17%.     

Parametric study of plasma active medium and gain saturation region in a Ne-like soft X-ray laser

Plasmas created by the interaction of high power optical laser with a target surface can be used as a source of soft X-ray lasers. Plasma and pump laser characteristics play significant role in achieving high gain coefficient for such plasma based on soft X-ray lasers. In the present work, the plasma active medium parameters for germanium element at a wavelength of 19.6 nm irradiated by a double-pulse pump laser have been studied using MED103 hydrodynamic code. For this purpose, first, the effects of laser intensity, pulse width and delay time of two pulses on the gain coefficient have been investigated and the optimum conditions for the maximum gain extent of Ne-like germanium soft X-ray laser are obtained. Then, in order to calculate the intensity of such high gain lasers in which Linford equation is invalid, we have adopted the general formula of amplified spontaneous emission intensity, which is valid in all range of intensities even at much higher intensities than saturation intensity. Finally, the soft X-ray laser intensities in the saturated areas for different plasma lengths have been calculated. The results show that the output of soft X-ray laser intensity with 294 cm⁻¹ gain coefficient can reach to about several times saturated intensity by applying a 1–2 mm plasma length as the active medium.     

Numerical study of converting beat-note signals of dual-frequency lasers to optical frequency combs by optical injection locking of semiconductor lasers

The optical injection locking of semiconductor lasers to dual-frequency lasers is studied by numerical simulations. The beat-note signals can be effectively transformed to optical frequency combs due to the effective four wave-mixing in the active semiconductor gain medium. The low-noise Gaussian-like pulse can be obtained by locking the relaxation oscillation and compensating the gain asymmetry. The simulations suggest that pulse trains of width below 30 ps and repetition rate in GHz frequency can be generated simply by the optical injection locking of semiconductor lasers. Since the optical injection locking can broaden the spectrum and amplify the optical power simultaneously, it can be a good initial stage for generating optical frequency combs from dual-frequency lasers by multi-stage of spectral broadening in nonlinear waveguides.     

光束变换环形孔径有源激光谐振腔模式的数值模拟

建立了燃烧驱动环柱型高能化学激光器环形增益介质的五种分布模型,使用差分和积分相结合的方法计算了束变换环孔腔在不同增益分布和折射率分布时的模式特征,研究了增益分布和折射率分布对束变换环孔腔输出性能的影响,结果表明束变换环孔腔在不同的增益介质及折射率分布情况下,仍然可以保持良好的输出光束质量,很高的提取效率,在化学激光器增益流存在激波扰动的情况下,输出光场的施特雷尔比仍达到0．8991,同时腔镜上光强分布较为均匀,可以避免镜面因热应力分布不均匀而造成镜面变形和破坏。该腔不但适用于高能化学激光器,也可以用于高能固体激光器,起到克服固体增益介质热畸变与热应力的作用,可获得优良的输出光束质量。     

Continuous-wave mode-locked solid-state lasers with enhanced spatial hole burning

In Part I of this paper [1] experimental results were presented and discussed. In this part, we investigate theoretically the dynamics of end-pumped solid-state lasers due to enhanced spatial hole burning. This becomes possible by a fast numerical implementation of the saturated gain in the presence of strong spatial hole burning that allows to treat the multimode case for an arbitrary pumping level. We find for a wide range of laser parameters that the mode spacing of the cw running modes is essentially determined by the length of the gain medium and only weakly depends on the absorption depth of the pump transition. It is shown that spatial hole burning can lead to a completely flat saturated gain profile over half of the gain bandwidth. In mode-locked lasers, the flat gain due to spatial hole burning results in shorter pulses. But the pulses are neither Gaussian-nor sech-shaped as they are in actively or passively mode-locked lasers without spatial hole burning. Further, we show that soliton-like pulse shaping can be used to restore a transform-limited sech-shaped pulse in an end-pumped solid-state laser while exploiting the full gain bandwidth of the laser material.     

自注入式固体Ce~(3+)∶LuLiF_4激光器中紫外亚纳秒脉冲序列的产生

提出一个注入式结构，它可以用在各种脉冲激光器中产生短脉冲序列。在这个结构中，从短腔种子激光器产生单一的亚纳秒脉冲，这个种子脉冲在同一增益介质中被再生放大，直到增益衰减到最小。用一个１０ｎｓ脉冲激光器泵浦固体激光介质Ｃｅ３＋∶ＬｕＬｉＦ４，直接地，被动地产生了紫外亚纳秒脉冲序列。     

Stabilization of intracavity frequency-doubled lasers with type I phase matching

We report a new method for stabilizing the power of intracavity frequency-doubled multimode lasers with type I phase matching. Such lasers usually show strong fluctuations of the output power caused by coupling of longitudinal laser modes in the nonlinear crystal. We eliminate these fluctuations by placing the gain medium and nonlinear crystal in specific locations in the laser cavity where the nonlinear coupling of different longitudinal modes is strongly reduced.     

铅卤钙钛矿法布里-帕罗谐振腔激光器

随着后摩尔时代的到来,对大容量、高速度信息处理的需求使得半导体器件应用由电子集成转向光子集成,高性能微纳激光器是实现光子集成的重要环节.种类丰富的半导体材料促进了半导体微纳激光器的快速发展,近年来,随着大量新型半导体材料(如二维半导体、铅卤钙钛矿等)的涌现,有望实现半导体微纳激光器性能的进一步提升.由于钙钛矿材料具有高光吸收、缺陷高容忍、激子结合能大等优异光学性质,使其成为高增益、低阈值半导体微纳激光器的优秀候选材料.法布里-珀罗(F-P)谐振腔激光器是钙钛矿激光器中研究广泛、结构简单、应用价值较高的一类激光器.本文以铅卤钙钛矿F-P谐振腔激光器为例,对其工作机理以及近年来的研究成果进行综述,从激子与光子弱耦合的光子激光和强耦合的极化子激光两个方面出发,详细介绍了钙钛矿材料既作为增益介质又作为谐振腔的F-P结构激光器以及仅作为增益介质的F-P腔激光器的激光的产生原理和影响因素,最后总结了钙钛矿F-P谐振腔激光器当前面临的挑战,展望了其进一步发展可能具备的前景.     

Yb:CNGG有源反射镜的多程放大特性研究

高效、高平均功率固体纳秒脉冲激光器在光电对抗、激光雷达、材料改性、激光加工等诸多领域发挥着越来越重要的作用,然而目前大多数纳秒级高平均功率激光器采用Yb:YAG或掺Nd材料作为增益介质,材料的高饱和通量或低储能密度会导致激光器放大链路复杂,体积庞大。研究比较了一种更适合作为高平均功率、高脉冲能量激光器增益介质的无序石榴石晶体Yb:CNGG,研究了有源反射镜结构中Yb:CNGG的多程增益特性,分析了放大过程并建立了多程放大模型,在一定的泵浦条件下优化了晶体参数以实现更好的储能。开展了双程放大实验,在15 kW/cm²的泵浦功率密度下得到了1.53倍的增益。对比Yb:CNGG晶体与Yb:YAG晶体的多程放大能力,在相同的晶体参数和泵浦条件下,在入射能量1 mJ时Yb:CNGG可实现2.11 J的脉冲能量输出,优于Yb:YAG晶体1.41 J的能量输出。     

二极管泵浦准三能级板条固体激光器的优化设计

基于最大激光增益条件，分析和优化了二极管泵浦准三能级Yb∶YAG固体板条激光器的激光增益、板条的最佳光学长度和最佳宽度参数。结果表明：在低功率侧面泵浦条件下，板条增益介质的掺杂浓度和板条宽度满足一定的关系，这为研究该类激光器提供了一条有效途径，其结果可应用于其他准三能级固体激光器设计。     

Coherence properties of an amplified spontaneous emission laser: experiments on a 10 Hz vacuum–ultraviolet H2-laser

Spatial coherence properties of a mirrorless laser, namely a 10 Hz Lyman-band molecular hydrogen laser pumped by femtosecond pulses of only 200 mJ, are studied. Assuming a Gaussian Schell-model source and using the generalized van Cittert–Zernike theorem we are able to measure both the coherence length arising from free-space propagation and the coherence length at the source plane. This analysis is particularly suitable to the study of the coherence properties of lasers operating in the amplified spontaneous emission regime and is particularly indicated for x-ray lasers. Measurements at various target lengths show a monotonic increase in the degree of spatial coherence and decrease in the source size versus length of the gain column. As a consequence, a monotonic decrease in the number of sustained transverse modes with length of the gain medium is observed, demonstrating the effects of gain guiding and refractive antiguiding.     

Stability performance of short cavity Er-doped fiber lasers

An experimental study of stability between two types of short-cavity laser configurations is carried out. The short-cavity lasers are comprised of one or two pairs of wavelength-matched FBGs, encompassing a short length of highly-doped Er-fiber, to create effectively single- or dual-wavelength fiber lasers. The laser performance in terms of the laser output power and laser stability in relation to the gain medium length was investigated experimentally, analyzed and reported in this letter.     

非平衡气流与化学激光的增益饱和效应

提出气流与化学激光的“对流-非平衡交叉弛豫”的理论。对于气流介质的湍流和层流混合两类流动模型,分别导出了增益系数和饱和增益谱的表示式;得到了一些新的饱和规律;非饱和增益和饱和增益均与流向距离有关。具有Doppler加宽的饱和放大器的增益线形,呈现非均匀和均匀加宽并存的“反常”现象。本理论与实验结果相符合。 关键词：     

Waveguiding in an exponentially decaying gain medium

The propagating mode solutions for a medium with an exponentially decaying gain profile are obtained. The mode profiles and the wavefronts were calculated numerically. The result explains satisfactorily the far field distribution observed in some of our new lasers.     

正色散激光器中的增益导引孤子

采用非线性薛定谔方程模拟了全正色散介质激光器中实现脉冲锁模输出的动态过程,理论表明,不同于工作于净色散为负的孤子锁模激光器以及腔内具有色散延迟线净色散为正的色散管理孤子和自相似脉冲锁模激光器,在纯正色散介质构成的锁模激光器中,增益饱和和增益窄化对形成稳定的锁模脉冲起重要的作用,在两者的作用下脉冲形成增益导引孤子.采用不同的锁模方式在纯正色散光纤锁模激光器中得到了稳定的增益导引孤子锁模,实验结果与理论模拟一致. 关键词： 锁模 正色散 增益导引孤子     

Simple ABCD matrix treatment for transversely varying saturable gain

We have developed an ABCD matrix that, for the first time to our knowledge, accurately describes the transformation of a Gaussian beam by a medium with transversely varying saturable gain. In contrast with the conventional ABCD matrix, the newly developed matrix is shown to be in excellent agreement with a full beam propagation code over a wide parameter range. Accurate treatment of transversely varying saturable gain in laser resonators is important for the optimization of end-pumped lasers, particularly for efficient diode-pumped solid-state and Kerr-lens mode-locked systems.