Spectral hole burning in thulium-doped glass ceramics

We have used spectral hole burning to measure the homogeneous linewidth of the (3)H(6)(1)- (3)F(3)(1) transition of Tm(3+) ions doped into oxyfluoride glass ceramics consisting of nanocrystals of LaF(3) in an aluminosilicate glass matrix. From the magnitude of the hole width in the nanocrystals and its dependence on temperature, we propose that excitation of tunneling modes in the adjacent glassy phase as well as of confined mechanical modes in the nanocrystals is responsible for the broadening.     

A theoretical study of double-pass thulium-doped fiber amplifiers

An efficient fluoride-based thulium-doped fiber amplifier (TDFA) is theoretically demonstrated using a double-pass scheme. A reflector is incorporated in the double-pass TDFA to allow double propagation of the test signal in the gain medium and thus improve the gain of the TDFA. The small signal gain improvement of more than 15 dB is obtained in the 1465 nm region. A gain as high as 42 dB is obtained in this region with 300 mW of 1050 nm pump using 20 m of thulium-doped fiber. However, a noise figure penalty of approximately 1 dB is also obtained in this wavelength region. Differential equations are solved using the Runge-Kutta method in the theoretical analysis. The theoretical result is in agreement with the experimental result.     

Simulation of the ultimate characteristics of thulium-doped fiber amplifiers

A completely spatially and spectrally resolved model of a thulium-doped fiber amplifier that, unlike existing models, takes into account the radiation mode structure is proposed. A genetic algorithm is used to optimize the pump scheme parameters in order to achieve the maximum gain or the minimum non-uniformity of the gain spectrum. The ultimate information characteristics of the amplifier are determined.     

Systematic investigation of the avalanche effect in highly thulium-doped fiber amplifiers

The avalanche energy transfer in highly thulium doped fiber amplifiers (TDFA) pumped at 1056 nm with laser diodes was investigated. Amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) at 800 nm and 1470 nm as well as the remaining pump power were measured as function of the pump power to explain the efficiency of the energy transfer between thulium ions. As proof of our theory, fiber amplifiers based on self-made fluoride fibers doped with 2000 and 5000 ppm thulium were realized and their gain and noise figure was measured. A gain of more than 25 dB and a noise figure of less than 4 dB was achieved at a pump power of 210 mW in a TDFA using the 5000 ppm thulium fiber, whereas a gain maximum of only 5.6 dB was observed with the 2000 ppm TDF. These investigations are of special importance since until now almost all TDFAs have used 2000 ppm fibers. PACS 83.80.Ab; 32.80.Bx; 42.65.Yj     

Spectral hole burning for pulse repetition frequency analysis

We demonstrate an optical processor based on spectral hole burning (SHB) that maps the carrier frequency into the time domain and the pulse repetition frequency (PRF) into the spatial domain by illuminating an SHB crystal with a signal beam that is scanned by a tilting mirror across a slice of the crystal. This time-to-space mapping makes it possible to measure signal envelopes with a resolution of . A signal with a pulsed envelope engraves a vertical absorption grating with a spatial periodicity given by the product of the PRF and the scan velocity. Reading the grating, which the crystal stores for up to T₁, with a collimated beam yields orders diffracted at angles proportional to the PRF, which are Fourier-transformed to produce spots displaced from the DC position by distances proportional to the PRF. Increasing the PRF increases the grating periodicity, causing the diffracted spots to move away from the DC position.     

Spectral hole burning of photosynthetic antenna of blue-green algae

Photosystem II core antenna of blue-green algae Synechococcus isolated in gel was studied by optical hole burning spectroscopy at 4·2 K. Persistent holes were burned into fluorescence spectra throughout the region 680–696 nm. The hole width extrapolated to zero burning fluence yielded a value 1·0±0·2 cm^–1. A theoretical interpretation of the hole profile in fluorescence is presented. The dependence of saturated hole depth on burning wavelength is related to inhomogeneous site distribution function.Authors would like to thank F. Vácha from the Dept. of Biochemistry, Faculty of Nature Sciences, Charles University, for the preparation of the samples.     

Phase noise measurement of high-power fiber amplifiers

We measure the phase fluctuation in a high-power fiber amplifier using a multi-dithering technique.Its fluctuation property is qualitatively analyzed by the power spectral density and integrated spectral density.Low frequency fluctuations caused by the environment are dominant in the phase fluctuations in an amplifier,whereas the high frequency components related to laser power affect the control bandwidth.The bandwidth requirement of the active phase-locking is calculated to be 300 Hz,670 Hz,1.6 kHz,and 3.9 kHz under the output power of 25,55,125,and 180 W,respectively.The approximately linear relationship between the control bandwidth and laser power needs to be further investigated.     

Spectral hole burning for wideband, high-resolution radio-frequency spectrum analysis

We present experimental results for what is to our knowledge the first spectral-hole-burning based rf spectrum analyzer to cover 10 GHz of rf analysis bandwidth. The rf signal of interest is modulated onto an optical carrier, and the resultant optical sidebands are burned into the inhomogeneously broadened absorption band of a Tm3+:YAG crystal. At the same time a second, frequency-swept laser reads out the absorption profile, which is a double-sideband replica of the rf spectrum, and thus the rf spectrum can be deduced after spectral calibration of the nonlinear readout chirp. This initial demonstration shows spectral analysis covering 10 GHz of bandwidth with >5500 spectral channels and provides 43 dB of dynamic range.     

Single-frequency ytterbium-doped fiber laser stabilized by spatial hole burning

We have exploited spatial hole burning to achieve remarkably stable single-frequency operation and mode-hop-free tuning over 300 free spectral ranges in an ytterbium-doped fiber laser with a sample standing-wave geometry. This approach makes possible stable and narrow-linewidth single-frequency fiber lasers that do not require components such as Faraday isolators, fiber couplers, and Fabry-Perot filters.     

Theoretical modelling of S-band thulium-doped silica fibre amplifiers

A comprehensive numerical model of a thulium-doped silica-based fibre amplifiers is presented. The model is spectrally and spatially resolved and is general in terms of pumping scheme used. The application of the model for predicting the S-band amplifier performance and for optimization of amplifier parameters is shown. For optimized Tm-doped fibre with ³H₄ level lifetime of 45 μs, which is the maximum value in the Tm-doped silica fibres prepared by the authors, above 20 dB of gain with 2000 mW pump power at the 1050 nm pump band can be expected according to the simulations.     

Single-frequency thulium-doped distributed-feedback fiber laser

We have successfully demonstrated a single-frequency distributed-feedback (DFB) thulium-doped silica fiber laser emitting at a wavelength of 1735 nm. The laser cavity is less than 5 cm long and is formed by intracore UV-written Bragg gratings with a phase shift. The laser is pumped at 790 nm from a Ti:sapphire laser and has a threshold pump power of 59 mW. The laser has a maximum output power of 1 mW in a single-frequency, single-polarization radiation mode and is tunable over a few nanometers. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first report of a single-frequency DFB fiber laser that uses thulium as the amplifying medium. The lasing wavelength is the longest demonstrated with DFB fiber lasers and yet is among the shortest obtained for thulium-doped silica fiber lasers.     

Spectral hole burning and fluorescence in femtosecond laser induced Sm-doped glasses

The femtosecond laser was used to irradiate sol-gel derived Sm³⁺-doped Al₂O₃-SiO₂ glasses, in which the Sm³⁺ was reduced into Sm²⁺ ions. The fluorescence line narrowing was applied to investigate the coordination sphere of the Sm²⁺ ion. The spectral hole burning was performed on ⁷F₀→⁵D₀ transition of the Sm²⁺. The depth and width of the burnt holes were ∼27% and ∼4 cm⁻¹ FWHM at 7 K, respectively. Hole spectra were stable up to room temperature. The hole-burning efficiency was superior to that of Sm²⁺ in H₂ treated glasses and comparable to that in X-ray in terms of hole-burning dynamics.     

Q-switched thulium-doped photonic crystal fiber laser

We report a novel, Tm-doped photonic crystal fiber (PCF) actively Q-switched oscillator that provides ~8.9 kW peak power with 435 μJ, 49 ns pulses at 10 kHz repetition rate at 2 μm wavelength. This fiber has a mode-field area >1000 μm2, the largest of any flexible PCF providing diffraction-limited beam quality to the best of our knowledge. As an application, the oscillator is used as pump to generate >350 nm broadening in ~50 m of SMF-28 fiber.     

Spectral hole burning effects initiated by uniform signal intensities in a gain-flattened EDFA

Spectral hole burning (SHB) effects in a gain-flattened erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) are demonstrated to be significant in the presence of large signal power around the 1530-1532-nm wavelength range. These are the first effects reported in a setup employing equivalent power level distribution of 40 channels ranging from 1530 to 1561 nm. To explain this, the introduction of a new local population variable into the laser equation is required to support the original inversion ratio that is determined by the pump lasers. In the analysis section, spectroscopic parameters and high signal powers are considered to be other contributing parameters to the change in the gain characteristics. An improvement to this theoretical basis is suggested by implementing mathematical modeling to validate similarities between the gain shape of simulation to that obtained in the experiment.     

Lasing in thulium-doped polarizing photonic crystal fiber

We describe lasing of a thulium-doped polarizing photonic crystal fiber. A 4 m long fiber with 50 μm diameter core, 250 μm diameter cladding, and d/Λ ratio of 0.18 was pumped with a 793 nm diode and produced a polarized output with a polarization extinction ratio (PER) of 15 dB and an M(2) of <1.15. An intracavity polarizer and half-wave plate minimally increased the PER to 16 dB. The output power had 35% slope efficiency relative to the absorbed pump power. The maximum cw output power was limited to 4 W due to the quantum defect heating of the fiber.     

Spectral hole burning in absorption profiles of metal nanoparticles prepared by laser assisted growth

We have combined two novel methods, i.e. persistent spectral hole burning and laser assisted growth, to measure the decay time T₂ of surface plasmon excitation in metal nanoparticles of different size at constant well defined shape. The measured values of T₂ amount to 6±0.4fs and are independent of size for diameters ranging from 8 to 25nm.     

Resonant fluorescence line narrowing and gain spectral hole burning in erbium-doped fiber amplifier

Gain spectral hole burning and resonant fluorescence line narrowing have been performed at low temperature in standard aluminosilicate erbium-doped fiber amplifier to demonstrate the nature of the line broadening. Comparison of the hole-width measurements with resonant fluorescent line narrowing data shows a good agreement at 77 K, working temperature for which both experiments are feasible and have been performed simultaneously. The FWHM results reported here compare well with the earlier line profile measurements performed on aluminosilicate glass preform of the same chemical composition as the fiber. The pump power dependences are reported and indicate that they influence both the depth and line width, which may induce a limitation for wavelength division multiplexing techniques in the long-haul transmission regime of telecommunications.