Windowed Fourier transform applied in the wavelength domain to process the spectral interference signals

We report on processing the spectral interference signals by a new method based on a windowed Fourier transform applied in the wavelength domain. First, the numerical simulations are performed to demonstrate high precision of the phase retrieval from the spectral signal. Second, the feasibility of the method is confirmed in processing experimental data from a dispersive Michelson interferometer comprising a cube beamsplitter made of BK7 glass. From the retrieved spectral phase difference, the effective thickness of the beamsplitter is determined precisely.     

Protection of phosphate glass by BK7 glass film in ion-exchange processing

Surface corrosion of phosphate glass during ion-exchange processing for optical waveguide fabrication is studied, and a protection method by using BK7 glass film is proposed and demonstrated in this paper. The protection coating processing is described and optical microscope and atomic force microscope observations are presented. Characteristics of the planar waveguide were measured also to show the protection coating would not introduce influence to waveguide formation in the phosphate glass. Experimental results show that the method can serve an effective protection, and will improve the performance of rare-earth-doped active phosphate glass optical waveguides.     

Dispersive white-light spectral interferometry including the effect of thin-film for distance measurement

A spectral-domain white-light interferometric technique is used for measuring distances in a Michelson interferometer with a mirror represented by a thin-film structure (TFS) on a substrate. A fibre-optic spectrometer is employed for recording spectral interferograms that include wide wavelength range effects of dispersion in a cube beam splitter and multiple reflection within the TFS. Knowing the effective thickness of the beam splitter, its dispersion and parameters of the TFS and substrate, the positions of the second interferometer mirror are determined precisely by a least-squares fitting of the theoretical spectral interferograms to the recorded ones. We apply the technique to the beam splitter made of BK7 optical glass and to a uniform SiO₂ thin film on a silicon wafer. We compare the results of the processing that include and do not include the effect of the TFS.     

利用白光干涉技术测量块状材料的群折射率

对群折射率的精确而快速测量是光学工程领域一个基础而又亟需解决的难题,本文提出了一套光谱型迈克尔逊白光干涉系统的解决方案.该系统充分利用了微型光纤光谱仪一次测量便可获得所有干涉信息的特点,无需机械扫描装置,具有结构简单和测量快速的优点.与传统的窗口傅里叶变换算法相比,本文采用小波变换直接从干涉信号的小波脊中提取群延迟,减小了由相位求导得到群延迟过程中引入的误差放大效应,进而提高了群折射率的测量精度.基于此迈克尔逊白光干涉系统,在不同干涉位置处对两块不同厚度的石英和BK7玻璃进行了测量,实验结果表明此方法在宽 关键词： 白光干涉 群折射率 小波变换 傅里叶变换     

改进型零附加相位光谱相位相干电场重构系统对啁啾脉冲的测量

现有的基于光谱相位相干电场重构法(SPIDER)的脉冲测量系统,在测量啁啾脉冲时容易出现误差.本文提出一个改进型零附加相位光谱相位相干电场重构系统(MZAP-SPIDER),来解决上述问题.在实验上,利用改进后的SPIDER系统测量了钛宝石飞秒激光器输出的脉冲及其经80mm长的BK7玻璃块展宽得到的啁啾脉冲.结果表明,该系统能胜任啁啾脉冲的相位测量.     

不同波长飞秒脉冲的相位测量

飞秒脉冲技术的不断发展能够较方便地产生不同波段和结构特性的飞秒脉冲. 对已有的改进型零附加相位光谱相位相干电场重构系统进行优化整合,使之胜任不同特性飞秒脉冲的测量. 利用该系统测量了两台飞秒激光系统输出不同波长的脉冲及其通过厚度为80 mm的BK7玻璃块而得到的啁啾脉冲. 实验结果表明,该系统的适用范围较宽. 关键词： 光谱相位相干直接电场重构法 飞秒脉冲测量 波长     

非线性光栅的自适应光限幅

首次采用液晶为自聚焦媒质,夹在内表面刻有光栅的两玻璃片间,以Ar离子激光514.5nm波长的激光束垂直入射到光栅上,实验验证了该光栅的自适应光限幅特征。     

热透镜技术中反射和透射两种探测方式的比较分析

热透镜技术按照测量方式的不同可以分为反射式和透射式两种。这两种方式的灵敏度强烈地依赖于样品的热物理性质,对于不同的样品,选择合适的测量构型尤为重要。采用高斯激光束作为加热光源,分别从理论和实验上比较分析了模式不匹配的反射式和透射式两种热透镜探测构型在测量以BK7玻璃和石英为基底的高反射光学薄膜弱吸收中的应用,结果表明,对以BK7玻璃为基底的样品,采用反射式探测构型具有较高的灵敏度,而对以石英为基底的样品而言,采用透射式探测构型则具有更高的灵敏度,为实际光学薄膜吸收损耗测试灵敏度的提高提供了理论和实验依据。     

BK7玻璃保护层掺钕磷酸盐玻璃波导特性

实验研究了基于KNO3稀释AgNO3混合熔盐离子交换法制备的镀有BK7玻璃保护层的N31型掺钕磷酸玻璃平面波导。采用棱镜耦合技术测试了其波导的有效折射率,应用IWBK方法拟合了其折射率分布。实验结果表明:在一定的扩散时间(5～7h)和交换温度(360～380℃)范围内,KNO3与AgNO3混合熔盐比对波导制备的影响起主导作用,引起的表面折射率的变化可达到0.025;BK7玻璃保护层对热离子交换掺钕磷酸盐玻璃表面起到了很好的保护作用,获得了良好的导模传输特性,其光传输损耗约为0.9dB/cm。     

圆偏振光和线偏振光在正常色散材料中的时空自压缩

实验研究了圆偏振和线偏振高强度飞秒激光脉冲在正常色散材料中传输时的时空自压缩现象。实验中利用BK7玻璃作为正色散材料,比较研究了不同偏振入射情况下脉冲波形及频谱的变化规律。圆偏振光入射时,可以获得更短脉冲宽度的压缩脉冲和更窄的光谱宽度。在圆偏振光入射条件下,50 fs入射脉冲成功地自压缩到了19 fs,获得了大于2.5倍的压缩倍率。所以利用圆偏振光可以获得更短压缩脉冲,更大能量,更好光束质量的激光。     

ALD氧化铝单层膜1 064 nm激光损伤特性研究

 采用原子层沉积技术(atomic layer deposition,ALD)在熔石英和BK7玻璃基底上镀制Al2O3单层膜。利用小口径损伤在线测试平台对膜层的1 064 nm激光损伤特性进行了实验测量,获得膜层损伤阈值约为10.3 J/cm2,对比了其与BK7基底损伤阈值之间的差异;利用Nomarski显微镜和原子力显微镜分析讨论了损伤形态的特点,结果表明损伤主要表现为膜层脱落和基片小孔烧蚀,其中小孔深度集中在70 nm～95 nm范围;讨论了损伤发生的诱因,得出膜基界面可能存在吸收源先驱的推断。     

High order dispersion control for femtosecond CPA lasers

Taking advantage of the temperature dependence of the refractive index, an arrangement is proposed for thermal control of dispersion of a chirped pulse amplification (CPA) laser. A glass slab, inserted into the Fourier plane of a stretcher or a compressor, having a spatially varying temperature profile across the beam ensures continuous variation of the spectral phase shift of the pulses. Model calculations are carried out to investigate the feasibility of the arrangement. As a demonstration, simple temperature profiles are created which compensate for the material dispersion of the thermal slab. In a proof of principle experiment it is proved that changes of spectral phase of femtosecond pulses follow the spatially varying temperature profile of a BK7 slab inserted into the compressor of a CPA system. Such a thermal slab is lossless, has a large spectral range, introduces no pixellation and exhibits a high damage threshold. Since it is easy to build into either the stretcher or the compressor of existing CPA lasers, it may become a promising candidate for high order dispersion compensation of high-power femtosecond laser systems. PACS 42.65.Re; 42.79.-e; 42.60.By     

Wavelength Sweep Interferometry for Measuring the Refractive Index and Physical Thickness

A method combining wavelength sweep interferometry with the Fourior transform technique to perform the separate measurements of the physical thickness and the refractive index is proposed. By converting the optical path difference of the interferometer to the beat frequency of the interference signal we realize the depth scanning without mechanical moving parts. The effect of specimen dispersion is avoided by using a narrow tuning laser diode. For demonstrating this method we measure the physical thickness and the refractive index of an x-cut LiNbO3, BK9 and BK7 glass, and the results consist with the reported values.     

3D reconstruction of the complex dielectric function of glass during femtosecond laser micro-fabrication

We report on a new technique to reconstruct the 3D dielectric function change in transparent dielectric materials and the application of the technique for on-line monitoring of refractive index modification in BK7 glass during direct femtosecond laser microfabrication. The complex optical field scattered from the modified region is measured using two-beam, single-shot interferogram and the distribution of the modified refractive index is reconstructed by numerically solving the inverse scattering problem in Born approximation. The optical configuration suggested is further development of digital holographic microscopy. It takes advantage of high spatial resolution and almost the same optical paths for both interfering beams, and allows ultrafast time resolution.     

Wavelength Sweep Interferometry for Measuring the Refractive Index and Physical Thickness

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Thickness of SiO2 thin film on silicon wafer measured by dispersive white-light spectral interferometry

We present a white-light spectral interferometric technique for measuring the thickness of SiO₂ thin film on a silicon wafer. The technique utilizes a slightly dispersive Michelson interferometer with a cube beam splitter and a fibre-optic spectrometer to record channelled spectra in two configurations. In the first, a standard configuration with two identical metallic mirrors, the recorded channelled spectrum is fitted to the theoretical one to determine the effective thickness of the beam splitter made of BK7 optical glass. In the second configuration one of the mirrors is replaced by SiO₂ thin film on the silicon wafer and the recorded channelled spectrum is fitted to the theoretical one to determine the thin-film thickness. We consider multiple reflection within the thin-film structure, use the optical constants for all the materials involved in the set-up, and confirm very good agreement between theory and experiment. The technique is applied to four samples with various SiO₂ film thicknesses. PACS 07.60.Ly; 68.55.Jk; 78.20     

Influences of Y2O3 dopant content on residual stress,structure, and optical properties of ZrO2 thin films

Four kinds of Y2O3 stabilized ZrO2 （YSZ） thin films with different Y2O3 contents （from 0 to 12 mol%） are deposited on BK7 glass substrates by electron-beam evaporation method. The effects of different Y2O3 dopant contents on residual stress, structure, and optical properties of ZrO2 thin films are investigated. The results show that residual stress in YSZ thin films varies from tensile to compressive with the increase of Y2O3 molar content. The addition of Y2O3 is beneficial to the crystallization of YSZ thin film and transformation from amorphous to high temperature phase, and the refractive index decreases with the increase of Y2O3 molar content. Moreover, the variations of residual stress and the shifts of refractive index correspond to the evolution of structures induced by the addition of Y2O3.     

Integrated Nd-doped borosilicate glass microsphere laser

A neodymium-doped BK7 glass microsphere laser integrated with a planar ion-exchanged waveguide pumped at 0.8 μm has been demonstrated. The pump radiation was launched by evanescent coupling from the waveguide, and the signal radiation was coupled out through the same waveguide, offering the potential for robustly assembled fully integrated active optical circuits. The dependence of the lasing spectra on pump power and wavelength were studied in detail to clarify the whispering-gallery-mode behavior at the pump and lasing wavelengths.     

High-quality drilling with copper vapour lasers

High-quality materials processing on transparent substrates of BK7 glass, fused silica, corundum and ruby using a copper vapour laser (CVL) is described and discussed. The driling process using the radiation emitted by a small diffraction-limited CVL is described and investigated by optical diagnostic methods allowed by the transparency of the materials. In particular the hole making was entirely monitored in real time through a video camera. Images achieved in this way are reported to illustrate the morphology of the hole and of the ejected materials via the time-resolved fluorescence. This investigation provides the evaluation of the plume expansion speed, while the imaging supplies the quantitative evaluations of the drilling speed and threshold. The high quality of the hole in terms of wall smoothness and elevated aspect ratio is described in detail. We report according to our findings an interpretation of the peculiar combination of physical processes involved.     

Photoacoustic detection of microcracks induced in BK7 glass by focused laser pulses

An experimental investigation on the induced damage by accumulative pulses generated by a Nd:YAG laser beam focused into the bulk of the BK7 glass is reported in this work. The laser was operated at the single-pulse damage energy threshold of the sample. The optical detonation generates a shock wave emission and microcrack formation. The induced photoacoustic wave emerging from the sample was monitored by piezoelectric detection. These signals provide a simple, reliable and highly sensitive indication of damage, processes involved, and the most appropriate laser parameters for two- and three-dimensional engraving.