Tunable sub-100 femtosecond dye-laser pulses generated with a nanosecond pulsed pumping

Subpicosecond pulses at a fixed wavelength produced with a low-Q cavity dye laser pumped by a single, nanosecond laser (Q-switched Nd:YAG) are converted into tunable high-power sub-100 femtosecond pulses by generation, spectral selection, amplification and compression of a supercontinuum. The tunable, chirped, high-energy pulses obtained are compressed with a prism pair. Energies up to 50 J in sub-100 fs pulses were obtained in the 540 to 650 nm range using 40 mJ of the Nd: YAG-laser pumping pulses at 532 nm. The whole sub-100 fs system including the low-Q dye laser uses only one Nd:YAG laser as a pump source.     

Passive mode-locking of the Yb:CNGG laser

Passive mode-locking using a SESAM is demonstrated for the Yb-doped cubic non-stoichiometric crystal CNGG which exhibits local disorder. The pulse duration of 73 fs obtained is the shortest for an isotropic Yb-doped laser crystal while larger output coupling resulted in average output powers of 750 mW with 66% efficiency in the mode-locked regime.     

Offset frequency locking for nanosecond laser pulses

A method of multi-pulse discriminating frequency and high probability average value filtering is presented for offset frequency locking with ns laser pulses. In the experiment, the frequency locking for cavity-dumped CO₂ laser with 100 ns pulse width and the repetition rate of 10 kHz was studied. The precision was up to ±2 MHz at the heterodyne frequency 90 MHz. However, it is more than ±10 MHz for the single pulse discriminating frequency. This method can also be applied to laser offset frequency locking for many kinds of short pulse lasers.     

Simplified technique for subnanosecond pulse generation and injection mode-locking of a XeCl laser

A line narrowed XeCl oscillator/amplifier has been used to generate pulses of 100 ps duration by a combination of stimulated Brillouin scattering and optical breakdown. In addition, a Brillouin mirror has been used to control the amplified spontaneous emission in an injection mode-locked XeCl oscillator.     

Combined self-phase modulation and amplification of femtosecond light pulses

The influence of depletable amplification, group velocity dispersion and self-phase modulation due to Kerr-type nonlinearity on pulse shaping in femtosecond pulse amplification has been calculated. With gain depletion which is typical for the last stage of multi-stage amplifiers, spectral broadening occurs which, under certain conditions, can be utilized for pulse compression. This spectral broadening as well as a predicted spectral shift is compared with experimental results.     

Passive Q-switching of short-length Tm-doped silica fiber lasers by polycrystalline Cr:ZnSe microchips

We demonstrate passive Q-switching of short-length double-clad Tm³⁺-doped silica fiber lasers near 2 μm pumped by a laser diode array (LDA) at 790 nm. Polycrystalline Cr²⁺:ZnSe microchips with thickness from 0.3 to 1 mm are adopted as the Q-switching elements. Pulse duration of 120 ns, pulse energy over 14 μJ and repetition rate of 53 kHz are obtained from a 5-cm long fiber laser. As high as 530 kHz repetition rate is achieved from a 50-cm long fiber laser at ∼10-W pump power. The performance of the Q-switched fiber lasers as a function of fiber length is also analyzed.     

Second-harmonic generation with traveling-wave pulses

We experimentally studied properties of traveling-wave excitation and traveling-wave pulse compression for a Nd : glass laser system with a streak camera. These properties were extended to second-harmonic generation with a type-11 KDP crystal. We found that the second-harmonic pulse generated from the chirped-fundamental pulse also has a good chirp linearity, but the spectral bandwidth and temporal duration were reduced. We demonstrated the effective subpulse suppression in the compressed pulse with the second-harmonic generation. The pulse with tilted wave front, short wavelength and high contrast ratio can be obtained by the second-harmonic generation of traveling-wave pulse.     

Single picosecond UV pulse generation by mode-locking of an excimer laser-pumped dye laser

A single picosecond ultraviolet pulse has been generated based on mode-locking of a dye laser pumped by a long pulse XeCl laser to serve as the input source for a high-power ps KrF laser system. A short-pulse uv dye laser (BBQ) pumped by an additional XeCl laser was used to selectively amplify a single pulse from a mode-locked pulse train with the pulse separation of 3.2 ns. The amplified single pulse was frequency-doubled to 248 nm with the pulse duration of 20 ps.     

Effect of melting on the excitation of surface acoustic wave pulses by UV nanosecond laser pulses in silicon

The influence of melting on the excitation of Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) pulses in silicon is studied both theoretically and experimentally. The developed theory of Rayleigh-type SAW laser-induced thermoelastic excitation in a structure composed of a liquid layer on a solid substrate predicts that the SAW is predominantly generated in the solid phase due to the absence of shear rigidity in a liquid. The characteristic changes in the SAW pulse shape as well as the saturation and even the decrease of the SAW pulse amplitude observed above the melting threshold are explained theoretically to be a result of the decrease of the heat flux into the solid phase as well as due to the decrease of the volume of the solid phase caused by melting. Although the heat flux into the solid phase is decreased both as a consequence of the reflectivity increase and the additional energy losses (latent heat of melting) at the phase transition, it is demonstrated that the influence of reflectivity changes on the SAW pulse is negligible in comparison with the effect of melt-front motion. For laser pulses of 7 ns duration at 355 nm, the threshold value of laser fluence for meltingF _m=0.23±0.04 J/cm² and for the ablationF _a=1.3±0.2 J/cm² were determined experimentally as the points of characteristic changes in the observed SAW pulses.     

Negative feedback using a nonlinear mirror for the generation of a long train of short light pulses

A nonlinear mirror is used to provide a passive negative feedback in an actively mode-locked pulsed Nd:YAG laser. Trains of 250 ps pulses with a total length of up to 50 microseconds were generated. The train duration is limited only by the flashlamp pump pulse length.On leave from Department of Physics, University of Sofia, BG-1126 Sofia, Bulgaria     

Laser ablation of silicon in water with nanosecond and femtosecond pulses

We describe laser ablation of Si under water by 5 ns, 355 nm and 100 fs, 800 nm pulses. Compared to that in air, an approximately twofold improvement in the ablation rate is found in water for femtosecond and nanosecond pulses. For higher laser irradiances, the plasma that forms at the water-air interface hampers further improvement of the ablation rate. We investigated the enhanced ablation process in water and found that the cavity-confinement geometry that increases the laser energy coupling to the target and allows more energy to be transferred to the cavity sidewalls plays an important role in the escalated material removal process. In addition, we show that the water layer that effectively reduces the oxidation and redeposition of the ablated debris is also responsible for improvements in the ablation process.     

飞秒纳秒脉冲激光微构造和掺杂单晶硅

在SF6气氛下,分别利用钛宝石飞秒脉冲激光与掺钕钇铝石榴石纳秒脉冲激光对单晶硅表面进行了微构造和重掺杂,以用于光伏材料。对制备的单晶硅表面微结构的形貌、结晶性和硫元素杂质含量与分布进行了研究。实验结果表明纳秒脉冲激光制备的单晶硅表面微结构的薄层电阻较小,缺陷密度较低（结晶性高）,硫元素杂质含量较高且在表面分布的范围较广,深度较大（约1 m）。此外,材料的可见-近红外波段吸收率可接近80%。基于纳秒脉冲激光微构造的单晶硅的优异性能,在样品表面制备了有效光照面积达8 cm2的太阳能电池。其中,最佳太阳能电池的串联电阻、开路电压、短路电流密度分别为0.5 , 503 mV, 35 mA/cm2,转换效率约12%。上述太阳能电池性能还可通过优化制备工艺进一步提高。     

Enhanced ablation of silica by the superposition of femtosecond and nanosecond laser pulses

We investigate the ablation process in SiO₂ by the superposition of 180 fs laser pulse (_center=800 nm) with a 15 ns laser pulse (_center=532 nm). Compared to femtosecond laser pulses alone, we measured an increase of 270±30% in volume of the ejected material with only a total increase of 40% of lasers fluences. This increase of ablation is the result of thermal and incubation effects generated by the femtosecond laser pulse. PACS 78.20.Nv; 61.80.Ba     

飞秒纳秒脉冲激光微构造和掺杂单晶硅

在SF6气氛下,分别利用钛宝石飞秒脉冲激光与掺钕钇铝石榴石纳秒脉冲激光对单晶硅表面进行了微构造和重掺杂,以用于光伏材料。对制备的单晶硅表面微结构的形貌、结晶性和硫元素杂质含量与分布进行了研究。实验结果表明纳秒脉冲激光制备的单晶硅表面微结构的薄层电阻较小,缺陷密度较低（结晶性高）,硫元素杂质含量较高且在表面分布的范围较广,深度较大（约1 m）。此外,材料的可见-近红外波段吸收率可接近80%。基于纳秒脉冲激光微构造的单晶硅的优异性能,在样品表面制备了有效光照面积达8 cm2的太阳能电池。其中,最佳太阳能电池的串联电阻、开路电压、短路电流密度分别为0.5 , 503 mV, 35 mA/cm2,转换效率约12%。上述太阳能电池性能还可通过优化制备工艺进一步提高。     

Phase-coherent generation of tunable visible femtosecond pulses

Stable interference between the outputs of two noncollinearly phase-matched optical parametric amplifiers seeded by separate white-light continua has been observed. This means that the tunable visible pulses have a well-defined relative phase and that the temporal jitter between them is less than 1 fs. The residual phase variations are due to fluctuations of the pump power.     

Supercontinuum generation with femtosecond self-healing Airy pulses

We report experiments and numerical simulations on supercontinuum generation with femtosecond Airy pulses in a highly nonlinear optical fiber. The ability of the Airy waveform to regenerate its dominant intensity peak results in the generation of distinct spectral features. Airy pulses and other self-healing temporal waveforms may be useful for the generation of spectra with desired properties.     

Simulation of third-harmonic and supercontinuum generation for femtosecond pulses in air

Numerical simulations of third-harmonic and supercontinuum generation for femtosecond pulses propagating in air are presented which, for the first time to the best of our knowledge, do not rely on the decomposition of the total field into slowly-varying fields centered around the fundamental and third-harmonic. The simulation results are interpreted using an effective three-wave mixing approach, and together they provide new insights into the relation between third-harmonic and supercontinuum radiation. PACS 42.65.Jx; 42.65.Ky; 52.35.Mw     

Infrared fluorescence and laser action of fast mode-locking dyes

Fluorescence spectra in the near infrared are observed of the dye Eastman 9860 and of new, faster mode-locking dyes. The quantum efficiencies are determined to be small with η≃10⁻³. The short fluorescence lifetimes are deduced from optical gain measurements. The fluorescence time-constants are found to have the same value as the corresponding absorption recovery times. Even laser action is observed in these fast saturable absorbers previously belieyed to be non-fluorescent.     

Repetitive passive Q-switching and bistability in lasers with saturable absorbers

We report detailed experimental data on the passive Q-switching operation in a CO₂ laser with CH₃I saturable absorber, and on the transient behaviour in the near-Q-switching situation. Under suitable operating conditions, we found bistability in the output power. In some cases, we observed the simultaneous presence of bistability and passive Q-switching. The theoretical part of the paper starts from the four-level model of laser with saturable absorber, as formulated by other authors. By adiabatically eliminating the variables of the resonant levels, we reduce the problem to a set of three differential equations, from which we derive explicit analytical conditions for the rise of passive Q-switching. These conditions turn out to be in good qualitative and partially quantitative agreement with our experimental findings as well as with other experimental data previously obtained by other authors. Finally we classify the possible combinations of passive Q-switching and bistability that one can find in this type of experiments.