Quasi-soliton generation in solid-state lasers with semiconductor saturable absorber

Recent advances in ultrafast, ultra-short solid-state lasers have resulted in sub-6 fs pulses generated directly from the cavity of Ti:sapphire lasers. The generation of extremely short pulses is possible due to the formation of a quasi-Schrodinger soliton. Our investigation is directed to the peculiarities of the transition between femtosecond to picosecond generation. We found that the above transition is accompanied by the threshold and hysteresis phenomena. On the basis of soliton perturbation theory, the numerical simulation studying two different experimental situations has been performed, the first situation corresponds to the study of the lasers field's parameters under variation of control parameters (dispersion or pump power), the second one is for continuous variation of control parameter within a single generation session. Physically it corresponds to not repeated laser session but the variation of control parameter when the pulse has formed already.     

Two-dimensional solitons in B-class lasers with saturable absorption

Localized radiation structures under conditions of a semiconductor laser with saturable absorption and a vertical cavity with a large Fresnel number are analyzed numerically and analytically. The boundaries of the region of existence and stability of transversely two-dimensional solitions, the boundary of transition to a moving state, and the boundary of the Andronov-Hopf bifurcation are found. Stable fundamental and vortical (topologically charged) solitons are obtained in a range of relaxation times of the nonlinearities of the media up to 400 lifetimes of a photon in the cavity. These solitons were obtained under the condition that the chosen medium with saturable absorption has a slower response than the active medium of the laser. Otherwise, a rapidly moving solition is formed, which is similar in its properties to a combustion wave. Properties of such a rapid motion along the aperture can be useful for optical data processing.     

Optimization of GaAs semiconductor saturable absorber Q-switched lasers

The expressions of pulse characteristics such as output energy, peak power, and pulse width are obtained by solving the coupled rate equations describing the operation of GaAs semiconductor saturable absorber Q-switched lasers. The key parameters of an optimally coupled GaAs saturable absorber Q-switched laser are determined and several design curves are generated from these expressions for the first time. These key parameters include the optimal normalized coupling parameters and the optimal normalized saturable absorber parameters that maximize the output energy or maximize the peak power, and the corresponding normalized energy, normalized peak power, and normalized pulse width. Using the expressions and design curves, one can predict the pulse characteristics and perform the design of an optimally coupled GaAs saturable absorber Q-switched laser.     

Generation of self-sustained pulsations of radiation in InGaAs/GaAs/InGaP quantum-well lasers

We studied the dynamic characteristics of InGaAs/GaAs/InGaP quantum-well lasers generating at two wavelengths of about 1 μm with a spectral separation of 15–40 nm. We observed experimentally regimes of jumplike switching and self-sustained pulsations of radiation. The influence of ballistic transfer of carriers during intraband absorption on the production of positive feedback in the dynamic system is studied theoretically. __________ Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Spektroskopii, Vol. 74, No. 4, pp. 533–536, July–August, 2007.     

Compression of the self-Q-switching in semiconductor disk lasers with single-layer graphene saturable absorbers

We demonstrate the first use of single layer graphene for compressing self-Q-switching pulses in semiconductor disk lasers. The gain region of the semiconductor disk laser used InGaAs quantum wells with a central wavelength of 1030 nm. Due to self saturable absorption of the quantum wells, the disk laser emitted at the self-Q-switching state with a pulse width of 13 μs. By introducing the single layer graphene as a saturable absorber into the V-shaped laser cavity, the pulse width of the self-pulse was compressed to 2 μs with a lower pump power of 300 mW. As the pump power was increased, multiple pulses with the pulse width of 1.8 μs appeared. The compression factor was about 7.2.     

Xe2Cl fluorescence and absorption in self-sustained discharge XeCl lasers

Fluorescence at 490 nm from the triatomic excimer Xe₂Cl^* has been investigated to determine the 308 nm absorption due to this species in an x-ray preionized, self-sustained gas discharge XeCl laser. The dependence of Xe₂Cl^* density on laser intensity (at 308 nm), buffer gas and Xe and HCl partial pressures has been determined for discharges with a peak electrical power deposition of 2.5 GWl^–1. Xe₂Cl^* absorption is estimated to reach 0.6% cm^–1 under non-lasing conditions but decreases to a non-saturable 0.2% cm^–1 for intracavity laser intensity>1 MW cm^–2. XeCl^* and Xe₂Cl^* fluorescence intensities were found to be a similar for both helium and neon buffer gases but laser output was a factor of two greater with a neon buffer.     

Modulation behavior of semiconductor injection lasers

GaAs double heterostructure semiconductor injection lasers which now exhibit more than 25000 h cw room temperature lifetime are of great interest for future use as directly modulated transmitters for high bit-rate fiber optical communications. The effects limiting this application are modulation distortions, spectral width and additional spectral broadening in the case of modulation and spontaneous fluctuations of the output power. The dynamic and spectral behavior of injection lasers, the methods of high bit-rate modulation and the improvement of the high bit-rate modulation capability by coupling two lasers are discussed.     

Open loop synchronization of semiconductor lasers with periodical injection

In this paper, the influence of fluctuation amplitude and frequency of the injection field on the dynamics and synchronization of semiconductor lasers are studied numerically. The fluctuation amplitude and frequency of the injection field are controlled by external modulation of the master laser. In the simulation, we use a modified correlation coefficient named similarity index to evaluate the synchronization performance. The results show that frequency and fluctuation amplitude of the injection field play important roles on the dynamics and synchronization quality of the system. Large fluctuation amplitude and moderate fluctuation frequency of the injection field will contribute to the synchronization of the two lasers. The results can also be extended to the analysis of chaotic signals.     

Absorptive and dispersive bistability in semiconductor injection lasers

Recent progress in the study of both absorptive and dispersive bistability in semiconductor injection lasers is reported. Inhomogeneously excited semiconductor lasers as an absorptive case, and laser diode optical amplifiers and optical injection locking systems of laser diodes as dispersive cases, are described. Applications of bistable semiconductor lasers, such as optical memories, optical regenerative amplifiers and all-optical switching, are also discussed.     

High-sensitivity intracavity laser absorption spectroscopy with vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting semiconductor lasers

We report the demonstration of high-sensitivity intracavity laser absorption spectroscopy with multiple-quantum-well vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting semiconductor lasers (VECSEL's). A detection limit of 3x10(-10) cm (-1) has been achieved. The spectrotemporal dynamics of a VECSEL in the 1030-nm wavelength region has been studied. The laser was operating cw at room temperature, with a baseline signal-to-noise ratio as high as 400. The laser was optically pumped with a threshold as low as 80 mW and was broadly tunable over a spectral range of ~75 nm .     

New regime of inverse saturable absorption for self-stabilizing passively mode-locked lasers

The reflectivity of a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) is generally expected to increase with increasing pulse energy. However, for higher pulse energies the reflectivity can decrease again; we call this a roll-over of the nonlinear reflectivity curve caused by inverse saturable absorption. We show for several SESAMs that the measured roll-over is consistent with two-photon absorption only for short (femtosecond) pulses, while a stronger (yet unidentified) kind of nonlinear absorption is dominant for longer (picosecond) pulses. These inverse saturable absorption effects have important technological consequences, e.g. for the Q-switching dynamics of passively mode-locked lasers. A simple equation using only measurable SESAM parameters and including inverse saturable absorption is derived for the Q-switched mode-locking threshold. We present various data and discuss the sometimes detrimental effects of this roll-over for femtosecond high repetition rate lasers, as well as the potentially very useful consequences for passively mode-locked multi-GHz lasers. We also discuss strategies to enhance or reduce this induced absorption by using different SESAM designs or semiconductor materials. PACS 42.60.Fc; 42.70.Nq; 78.20.Ci     

Epstein-layer and dielectric-slab electromagnetic models of semiconductor injection lasers

This paper is devoted to a comparison of two electromagnetic models of junction lasers — the dielectric slab and the Epstein layer. The main emphasis is on the discussion of possible methods of matching the parameters appearing in both models. The threshold condition for active layer thickness and mode frequency at a given gain and mode number is solved numerically. It is shown that the discrepancies between both models become reasonably small when a proper method, involving averaging of the dielectric constant over the active and passive regions, is applied. The cases of the three lowest order TE transverse modes of homojunction, single-, and double-heterojunction lasers are considered. The obtained results suggest that the Epstein-layer model can approximate experimental data as well as the dielectricslab model does.     

Characterization of InGaAs and InGaAsN semiconductor saturable absorber mirrors for high-power mode-locked thin-disk lasers

We report a comparative study of carrier dynamics in semiconductor saturable absorber mirrors (SESAMs) containing InGaAs quantum wells and InGaAsN quantum wells (QWs). The static and dynamic reflectivity spectra were measured with a Fourier-transform-infrared-spectrometer and a pump-probe setup, respectively. The influence of rapid thermal annealing (RTA) on carrier dynamics was studied. Due to the reduction of defect states by RTA we observed an increase of the static reflectivity and an increase of the electron–hole recombination time.     

光注入下外光反馈半导体激光器输出自相关特性研究

基于半导体激光器(SL)受到外部扰动(光反馈和光注入)下的速率方程组,研究了反馈系数、延迟时间、注入强度和频率失谐对半导体激光器输出混沌信号自相关特性的影响.研究表明：上述四个参量对SL输出混沌信号的自相关函数曲线的半高全宽(FWHM)以及边峰抑制比都有影响;通过合理选择各参量,可以使SL输出的混沌信号具有尖锐的自相关函数曲线分布,其FWHM可降到0.02 ns,比已有相关报道提高了一个数量级. 关键词： 半导体激光器 光反馈 光注入 自相关函数     

Optical waveguiding in semiconductor injection lasers and integrated optics

Weak perturbations from various refractive index distributions have been introduced into the central layer of the three layered dielectric slab optical waveguide model and solutions of the wave equation in this guide for TE modes have been compared with the results published for the unperturbed mode. The perturbations in general introduce quadrature components in the transverse modes and a mode width dependent amplitude. The mode position within the guide can be shifted and the mode width increased or decreased. With increasing parabolic perturbation there is increasing waveguide discrimination against higher order modes.     

Phase locking and periodic evolution of solitons in passively mode-locked fiber lasers with a semiconductor saturable absorber

Passively mode-locked lasers with intracavity weakly birefringent fiber are theoretically analyzed based on two coupled complex one-dimensional Ginzburg-Landau equations. The model includes fiber birefringence, spectral filtering, saturable gain, and saturable loss. Phase-locked soliton solutions are found for small amounts of birefringence and several types of soliton with periodic polarization evolution for higher amounts of birefringence. Numerical simulations show qualitative agreement with experimental results.     

非线性增益对外部注入半导体激光器动态行为的影响

研究了非线性增益对外部注入半导体激光器动态行为的影响。研究结果表明:非线性增益对外部注入半导体激光器的动力学行为影响极大;随着非线性增益系数的增加,激光器达到锁定时的注入系数减小,产生混沌的注入系数的范围缩小;当非线性增益系数过大时,外部注入激光器表现为混沌;非线性增益还影响外部注入半导体激光器混沌同步系统的性能,非线性增益系数越大,参数失配引起的混沌同步误差越小。