Efficient 266nm Ultraviolet Beam Generation in K2Al2B2O7 Crystal

The ultraviolet beam at 266nm was obtained by fourth harmonic generation of 1064nm Nd:YAG laser radiation through a nonlinear crystal K2Al2B2O7 (KABO).The fundamental frequency of a flash-lamp pumped Nd:YAG laser was doubled in a β-Ba2B2O4 crystal to generate a second harmonic output at the wavelength of 532nm,and then doubled again in the KABO crystal to generate the fourth harmonic output at 266nm.The optical conversion efficiency from 532 to 266 nm was investigated for the first time,and 13% was achieved.     

Energy transfer in solid-state dye lasers based on methyl methacrylate co-doped with sulforhodamine B and crystal violet

Laser action in methyl methacrylate(MMA)co-doped with sulforhodamine B and crystal violet dyes was investigated.The dye mixture was incorporated into a solid polymeric matrix and was pumped by a 532-nm Nd:YAG laser.Distributed feedback dye laser(DFDL)action was induced in the dye mixture using a prism arrangement both in the donor and acceptor regions by an energy transfer mechanism.Theoretically,the characteristics of acceptor and donor DFDLs,and the dependence of their pulse widths and output powers on acceptor–donor concentrations and pump power,were studied.Experimentally,the output energy of DFDL was measured at the emission peaks of donor and acceptor dyes for different pump powers and different acceptor–donor concentrations.Tuning of the output wavelength was achieved by varying the period of the gain modulation of the laser medium.The laser wavelength showed continuous tunability from 563 nm to648 nm.     

Broad and ultra-flattened supercontinuum generation in the visible wavelengths based on the fundamental mode of photonic crystal fibre with central holes

By coupling a train of femtosecond pulses with 100 fs pulse width at a repetition rate of 76 MHz generated by a mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser into the fundamental mode of photonic crystal fibre(PCF) with central holes fabricated through extracting air from the central hole,the broad and ultra-flattened supercontinuum(SC) in the visible wavelengths is generated.When the fundamental mode experiences an anomalous dispersion regime,three phases in the SC generation process are primarily presented.The SC generation(SCG) in the wavelength range from 470 nm to 805 nm does not emerge significant ripples due to a higher pump peak power and the corresponding mode fields at different wavelengths are observed using Bragg gratings.The relative intensity fluctuations of output spectrum in the wavelength ranges of 530 nm to 640 nm and 543 nm to 590 nm are only 0.028 and 0.0071,respectively.     

Efficient and high-power laser-diode single-end-pumped Nd：YVO4 continuous wave laser at 1342nm

A compact, efficient and high-power laser diode （LD） single-end-pumped Nd：YVO4 laser with continuous-wave emission at 1342 nm is reported. With a single crystal single-end-pumped by fibre-coupled LD array, an output power of 7.36W is obtained from the laser cavity of concave-convex shape, corresponding to an optical-to-optical efficiency of 32.8%. The laser is operated in TEM00 mode with small rms amplitude noise of 0.3%. The influences of the Nd concentration, transmissivity of the output mirror and the cavity length on the output power have been studied experimentally.     

High power doubly resonant all-intracavity deep blue laser at 447 nm based on sum-frequency-mixing technology

A high power continuous-wave deep blue laser at 447 nm is obtained by using a doubly cavity and a type H critical phase matching KTP crystal for intracavity sum-frequency-mixing. With the incident pump power of 240 W for the Nd：YAP crystal and 120 W for the other Nd：YAP crystal, the deep blue laser output of 5.7 W at 447 nm with near fundamental mode is obtained, and the beam quality M^2 value equals 2.53 in both horizontal and vertical directions at the maximum output power. The power stability is better than 2% at the maximum output power during half an hour. The experimental results show that the intracavity sum-frequency mixing by doubly resonant is an effective method for high power blue laser.     

All-Solid-State Near-Infrared and Blue Femtosecond Laser System

We investigate an all-solid-state continuous wave(cw) green (532nm),femtosecond near-infrared (823.1nm) and blue (402nm) laser system which is pumped by a diode-laser-pumped intracavity frequency-doubled and all-self-structuring cw Nd:YVO4/KTP 532nm green laser.The cavity parameters of the Nd:YVO4/KTP laser have been optimized and the maximum 5.6W TEM00 green laser is obtained at a 22W pump power with an optical-optical conversion efficiency of 25.5%.A Ti:Sapphire laser and nonlinear second-harmonic generation by a crystal BBO is used to obtain different wavelengths.A femtosecond laser with an average output power of 300mW at 823.1nm and 73mW at 402nm is obtained when the green pump power is 2.5W.The spectral full width at half maximum are 32.3 nm and 5.1 nm,which can sustain the pulses of 22 fs and 33.3 fs,respectively.     

A tunable corner-pumped Nd:YAG/YAG composite slab CW laser

A corner-pumped Nd:YAG/YAG composite slab continuous-wave laser operating at 1064 nm,1074 nm,1112 nm,1116 nm,and 1123 nm simultaneously and a laser that is tunable at these wavelengths are reported for the first time.The maximum output power of the five-wavelength laser is 5.66 W with an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 11.3%.After a birefringent filter is inserted in the cavity,the five wavelengths can be separated successfully by rotating the filter.The maximum output powers of the 1064 nm,1074 nm,1112 nm,1116 nm,and 1123 nm lasers are 1.51 W,1.3 W,1.27 W,0.86 W,and 0.72 W,respectively.     

Performance of a liquid-nitrogen-cooled CW Tm, HorYLF laser

A liquid-nitrogen-cooled Tm, Ho:YLF laser is constructed with a 10-mm-long Tm(6%) and Ho(0.5%) co-doped yttrium lithium fluoride crystal pumped by a laser diode operating at 792 nm. The laser output power is improved by cooling the Tm, Ho:YLF crystal from 300 to 77 K. When the crystal is kept at 77 K, the laser threshold pump power is 230 mW, the slope efficiency is 27.4%, and the maximum optical-to-optical efficiency is 19.9%. At the same time, the relation between the input power and the output power at different temperatures is obtained.     

Watt-level Pr~(3+):YLF deep red laser pumped by a fiber-coupled blue LD module or a single-emitter blue LD

A power-scaled laser operation of Pr:YLi F4(YLF)crystal at 720.9 nm pumped by a 443.6 nm laser diode(LD)module was demonstrated.The 20 W module was used to pump the Pr:YLF crystal,and a maximum output power of 3.03 W with slope efficiency of 30.04%was obtained.In addition,a 5 W blue LD was also used to pump the Pr:YLF laser,and a maximum output power of 0.72 W was obtained at room temperature.The output power was limited by the wavelength mismatch between the single-emitter LD and the absorption peak of the crystal.     

High-efficiency 1598.5-nm third Stokes Raman laser based on barium nitrate crystal

A high-efficiency eye-safe Raman laser was demonstrated by use of the third Stokes radiation in a Ba(NO_3)_2 crystal pumped by a 1064-nm Nd:YAG laser. The output wavelength of the Raman laser was 1598.5 nm with a full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of 1.5 nm. With an incident pump energy of 140 mJ, a maximum of 18-mJ Raman output energy was generated at a repetition rate of 30 Hz, corresponding to an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 12.9%. The Raman pulse duration was shortened to 2.9 ns compared with that of the pump pulse of 19.3 ns. The eye-safe solid-state Raman laser is expected to have wide applications in range-finding, telemetry, laser radar, and other aspects.     

High-efficiency 1598.5-nm third Stokes Raman laser based on barium nitrate crystal

A high-efficiency eye-safe Raman laser was demonstrated by use of the third Stokes radiation in a Ba(NO3)2 crystal pumped by a 1064-nm Nd:YAG laser. The output wavelength of the Raman laser was 1598.5 nm with a full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of 1.5 nm. With an incident pump energy of 140 Mj, a maximum of 18-Mj Raman output energy was generated at a repetition rate of 30 Hz, corresponding to an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 12.9%. The Raman pulse duration was shortened to 2.9 ns compared with that of the pump pulse of 19.3 ns. The eye-safe solid-state Raman laser is expected to have wide applications in range-finding, telemetry, laser radar, and other aspects.     

Tunable Direct Writing of FBGs into a Non-Photosensitive Tm-Doped Fiber Core with an fs Laser and Phase Mask

Fiber Bragg gratings （FBGs） are successfully written in a non-photosensitive Tin-doped single-mode fiber by a 800 nm fs laser and a 2.7μm period phase mask. The intra-core FBGs are written using the phase mask ±1 order interference, and have a period of 1.35 μm, which responds to the second-order reflective central wavelength at 1946.4nm. Based on the magnification tuning writing technology, the tunable writing technology is also experimentally investigated. The distance between the phase mask and the fiber, between the phase mask and the tuning lens, and the focal length of the tuning lens all have an influence on the tunable characteristics. Four different FBGs tuning reflective central wavelengths located at 1958.7nm, 1970.8nm, 1882.5nm and 1899.7nm are obtained.     

A Laser-Diode-Pumped 7.36 W Continuous-Wave Nd：YVO4 Laser At 1342 nm

An efficient and high-power diode-laser single-end-pumped Nd：YVO4 laser with cw emission at 1342nm is presented. With a crystal single-end-pumped by a fibre-coupled diode laser, an output power of 7.36 W is obtained from the laser cavity of concave-convex, eorresponding to an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 32.8%. The laser is operated in TEM00 mode with small rms noise amplitude of 0.3%. This represents, to the best of our knowledge, the highest power obtained from a diode-laser single-end-pumped Nd：YVO4 cw laser at 1342nm 80 far.     

Broadband Optical Active Waveguides Written by Femtosecond Laser Pulses in Lithium Fluoride

Broadband waveguiding through light-emitting strips directly written in a blank lithium fluoride crystal with a femtosecond laser is reported. Light guiding was observed at several optical wavelengths, from blue, 458 nm, to near-infrared, at 155nm. Visible photoluminescence spectra of the optically active F2 and F33 color centers produced by the fs laser writing process were measured. The wavelength-dependent refractive index increase was estimated to be in the order of 10-3-10-4 in the visible and near-infrared spectral intervals, which is consistent with the stable formation of point defects in LiF.     

Laser Diode Pumped 1.54μm Er：Yb：Phosphate Glass Continuous Wave Compact Laser

We report a cw Er^3 :Yb^3 co-doped phosphate glass laser pumped by a laser diode. The maximum output power of 78.3mW and a slope efficiency of 15.25% were achieved. The laser spectral region was from 1532nm to 1535nm, with the peak laser wavelength at 1534nm. The laser modes and time stabillty were also measured.The thermal effect had little influence on the output in our experiment.     

Solitons with Periodic Behavior in an SBN：75 Photorefractive Crystat

We study the formation of spatial solitons in an SBN： 75 photorefractive crystal by a 532 nm continuous-wave laser beam. The output beam from the crystal cannot be compressed proportionally to the voltage of the applied electric field. Quasi-steady-state spatial solitons are formed instantaneously at a voltage of 900 V. Interestingly, the quasi- steady-state solitons exhibit a periodic behavior consisting of formation/broken/reformation cycles. If we increase the input intensity of the soliton beam but keep the same signal-to-background intensity ratio, the solitons stay for a longer time in the quasi-steady state and a longer period of soliton formation/broken/reformation cycle is also observed.     

A Gain-Switched Fe:ZnSe Laser Pumped by a Pulsed Ho,Pr:LLF Laser

We demonstrate a gain-switched Fe:ZnSe laser pumped by a 2958 nm pulsed Ho,Pr:LLF laser. The maximum single pulse energy is 16.4uJ with a minimum pulse duration of 13.9 ns at the pulse repetition frequency of1 Hz when the Fe:ZnSe crystal is cooled to 77 K by liquid nitrogen, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 22.9%.The central wavelength and FWHM linewidth are 3957.4 nm and 23.2 nm, respectively. The output energy monotonically decreases as the crystal temperature increases in the range 77–293 K.     

Simultaneous all-solid-state multi-wavelength lasers --- a promising pump source for generating highly coherent terahertz waves

A diode-end-pumped Nd:YAG dual-wavelength laser operating at 1319 and 1338 nm is demonstrated. The maximum average output power of the quasi-continuous wave linearly polarized dual-wavelength laser is obtained to be 2.1 W at a repetition rate of 50 kHz with an output power instability of less than 0.38% and beam quality factor M² of 1.45. Using the two lines, the highly coherent and narrow linewidth terahertz radiation of 3.23 THz can be generated in an organic 4-N, N-dimethylamino--methyl-stilbazolium tosylate (DAST) crystal. Meanwhile, the multi-wavelength red laser at 659.5, 664 and 669 nm is generated by frequency doubling and sum frequency processes in a lithium triborate (LBO) crystal. The average red laser output power is enhanced up to 1.625 W at a repetition rate of 15 kHz with an output power instability of better than 0.53% and beam quality factor M² of 6.05. Using the three lines, it is possible to generate the multi-wavelength THz radiation of 3.3, 3.43 and 6.73 THz in an appropriate difference frequency crystal.     

Dual-Wavelength Holmium-Doped Fiber Laser Pumped by Thulium-Ytterbium Co-Doped Fiber Laser

We present an all-fiber dual-wavelength holmium-doped fiber laser operating in 2 μm region using a newly developed holmium-doped fiber(HDF) as a gain medium.The proposed fiber laser is constructed by using a hybrid gain medium,i.e.,a thulium-ytterbium co-doped fiber(TYDF) and an HDF in conjunction with a simple half-opened linear cavity,which is formed by a broadband mirror and an output coupler reflector.Without the HDF,the TYDF laser operates at wavelengths of 1991 and 1999 nm with a signal-to-noise ratio of more than 34 dB and the slope efficiency of 26.16%.With the HDF,dual-wavelength output lines are obtained at 2075 and 2083 nm with signal-to-noise ratios of more than 17 dB,3dB bandwidth of less than 0.2 nm and the power difference between the two peaks of less than 1 dB at the TYDF laser pump power of 320 mW.     

Temperature-tunable lasing in negative dielectric chiral nematic liquid crystal

In this work, negative dielectric nematic liquid crystal SLC12V620-400, chiral dopant S811, and laser dye DCM are used to prepare dye-doped chiral nematic liquid crystal laser sample. In order to investigate temperature-tunable lasing in negative dielectric chiral nematic liquid crystal, we measure the transmission and lasing spectrum of this sample. The photonic band gap(PBG) is observed to red shift with its width reducing from 71.2 nm to 40.2 nm, and its short-wavelength band edge moves 55.3 nm while the long-wavelength band edge only moves 24.9 nm. The wavelength of output laser is found to red shift from 614.4 nm at 20°C to 662.8 nm at 67°C, which is very different from the previous experimental phenomena. The refractive indices, parallel and perpendicular to the director in chiral nematic liquid crystal have different dependencies on temperature. The experiment shows that the pitch of this chiral nematic liquid crystal increases with the increase of temperature. The decrease in the PBG width, different shifts of band edges, and the red shift of laser wavelength are the results of refractive indices change and pitch thermal elongation.