Determination of some optical constants of LiNbO3 by backward stimulated Raman Scattering

A study of the 2 lowest-frequency A₁ phonon modes is performed in various LiNbO₃ samples using backward stimulated Raman Scattering. The measured values of the damping constant are smaller than those previously reported in literature. Moreover, the nonlinear coefficient present in the Raman Scattering intensity expression is shown to be very sensitive to the crystal composition. This composition, and the homogeneity of the sample are characterized from second harmonic generation experiments.     

Relation of pump-beam quality and conversion efficiency in the Raman downward conversion

To investigate the full conversion of pump power to the Stokes waves in stimulated Raman scattering with a single-pass cell, unconverted pump energies have been analyzed in detail in relation to the first Stokes, second Stokes and first anti-Stokes energies. Adoption of a long focusing configuration with a high-pressure cell was found to be effective but insufficient to suppress the four-wave mixing effect, because a small amount of pump energy always remained undepleted. Comparison of the results using pump beams of various spectral and spatial mode characteristics from alexandrite and Nd:YAG lasers revealed that the spatial mode quality was the most critical parameter for full depletion of a pump pulse.     

Two-stage Raman converter covering the whole infrared spectrum with tunable solid-state lasers

A two-stage Raman-conversion system pumped with a Q-switched alexandrite laser is proposed for the generation of broadly tunable infrared radiation. The first stage is a high-pressure Raman cell which accepts a pump beam in long-focusing or parallel-beam geometry, while the successive second one is made of a multi-pass Raman cell with repeated focusing. Using a selected combination of vibrational or rotational Raman shifting by H₂, a spectrum ranging from 0.75 m to 15 m can be covered by this system.     

Design of a compact blue-green stimulated hydrogen Raman shifter

A design of a compact blue-green stimulated Raman shifter pumped by the third harmonic of a Nd:YAG laser is presented. Design parameters given here are based on our experimental investigation of various optimization techniques involving parametric studies. Blue-green energy conversion of up to 66% is achieved. The problem of optical breakdown is addressed.     

Propagation of Gaussian beams in negative-index metamaterials with cubic nonlinearity

Propagation of Gaussian beams in the negative-index metamaterials (NIMs) with cubic nonlinearities is investigated, both theoretically and numerically. The role of the status of the incident Gaussian beam, which is scaled by a converging parameter in this paper, in beam self-focusing and self-defocusing in NIMs is specially identified. The expressions for beam self-focusing and self-defocusing for different converging parameter cases, and the dependence of the critical power and the focus location of self-focusing in NIMs on the converging parameter are obtained. It is found that it is the divergent rather than convergent incident beams which are self-focused more quickly in NIMs with defocusing nonlinearities, in sharp contrast with the propagation property of Gaussian beams in conventional Kerr media, in which beam self-focusing only occurs in the media with focusing nonlinearities and a convergent incident beam self-focuses more quickly than a divergent one. By adjusting the converging parameter of incident Gaussian beam or the controllable magnetic permeability of NIM, or both, one can manipulate the beam self-focusing in NIMs at will.     

Trigonal Na3Li(SeO4)2·6H2O crystal – a novel SRS‐active material with high Raman gain coefficient

We discovered and characterized the χ ⁽³⁾‐active Na₃Li(SeO₄)₂·6H₂O crystal with considerably high Raman gain coefficients for laser physics and nonlinear optics. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

     

Raman spectroscopy of carbonization films and carbonaceous limiters in fusion vessels

The Raman signal of hydrogenated and deuterated amorphous carbon-films, respectively, is dominated by the resonance Raman spectrum of clusters. Loss of H and D by thermal annealing sharpens and shifts Raman bands analogous to the case of annealing of amorphous carbon and ion bombarded graphite. H ₂ ⁺ and D ₂ ⁺ bombarded graphite displays a weak signal assigned to diamond clusters.     

Rotational Raman scattering dependence on pump polarization

The influence of the ellipticity degree of the pump radiation polarization on threshold energies and energy conversion efficiencies of stimulated rotational Raman scattering (SRRS) are investigated in H₂ with a XeCl excimer laser, by using different focusing geometries. For the first time, it is shown that the dependence of SRRS on pump radiation polarization is also affected by the focusing geometry, i.e. whether low- or high-angle focusing is applied. The experimentally determined threshold energies as a function of the pump radiation polarization are in accordance with theory mainly at high-angle focusing geometries. It is also shown for the first time that gain suppression effects on vibrational Raman scattering have to be considered in understanding the experimental results. Received: 5 January 1999 / Final version: 10 September 1999 / Published online: 8 March 2000     

A comparative study of microstructure of RuO2 nanorods via Raman scattering and field emission scanning electron microscopy

Raman scattering (RS) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) have been used to extract microstructural information of RuO₂ nanorods (NRs) and a two-phase system comprising NRs embedded in polycrystalline matrix deposited on different substrates by the metal-organic chemical vapor deposition method. The red shifts and asymmetric broadening of the Raman line shape for the NRs are analyzed by the spatial correlation model. The deduced spatial correlation length l is found to be much smaller than that of the average size L₀ estimated from the FESEM images. The Raman features for the two-phase system can be resolved into two parts: a Lorentzian line shape feature corresponding to the polycrystallite at higher frequency side and an asymmetrically broadened NRs' signature located at lower frequency end. The volume fraction of NRs in the two-phase system can be determined from the analysis. These results demonstrate the significance of RS as a structural characterization method when used in conjunction with FESEM.     

Generation of multi-color stimulated raman emission from two-color linearly or circularly polarized pump beams

A laser beam at two different frequencies separated by 587 cm^–1 is focused into pressurized hydrogen (rotational transition energy, 587 cm^–1) to generate multi-color stimulated Raman emission. The polarization state and the pulse energy are measured for each generated emission line using linearly and circularly polarized pump beams. The effect of the polarization is discussed by using a parameter characterizing the polarizability of hydrogen and a conservation rule for the angular momentum in four-wave mixing. Many rotational lines are generated with linearly polarized pump beams through a four-wave mixing process. This is in striking contrast to the results obtained by using a single-color circularly polarized pump beam which generates only one rotational line through a conventional stimulated Raman process.     

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.     

A study of CARS nitrogen thermometry at high pressure

The accuracy of CARS N₂ thermometry has been assessed using carefully measured experimental data at high pressures for the temperature range 295 to 870 K and pressure range 1–20 bar. Excellent agreement between calculated and experimental spectra was achieved using statistically based fitting laws to model rotational relaxation. Temperature errors of within ±60 K were achieved using the MEG fitting law, and within ±30 K using an extension to the model (XMEG). Results of separate ab initio IOS calculations with ECS corrections for rotational relaxation gave good overall agreement but did not model the structure of the motionally narrowed spectra as well as the empirical models. The various models were also compared with some complementary data measured by DLR, Stuttgart in their high pressure burner for pressures up to 40 bar. This study also investigated the sensitivity of CARS thermometry to pressure; in certain regions a significant reduction in sensitivity was found. Other key factors investigated include nonlinearities in the intensified diode array detector.Work supported by the CEC Project Turbulent Combustion and Diagnostics and by AEA Technology Underlying Programme     

Four-photon processes stimulated by a fluctuating pump

Four-photon parametric light amplification stimulated by noisy pump in a dispersive medium, is theoretically analyzed. The model of the fluctuating phase is used. The increments in case of temporal as well as of spatial laser pump modulation are considered. It is shown that the efficiency of the four-photon process due to a broad-band pump is comparable to that of monochromatic pump. Quantitative estimates for the medium of metal vapor are given, too.     

Analytical functions for the optimization of second-harmonic generation and parametric generation by focused Gaussian beams

An analytical function involving four parameters is proposed to express the second-harmonic generation efficiency as well as the parametric generation gain coefficient in the Boyd–Kleinman theory. The analytical function clearly reveals the dependence of conversion efficiency on the focusing parameter and the walk-off parameter. Moreover, the optimum focusing parameter and its corresponding maximum efficiency are explicitly given in the analytical function, leading to a straightforward evaluation of a given crystal performance. Received: 20 January 2003 / Published online: 22 May 2003 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +886-35/7291-34, E-mail: yfchen@cc.nctu.edu.tw     

An evaluation of precision and systematic errors in vibrational CARS thermometry

The extraction of temperatures from experimental CARS spectra is discussed and demonstrated in an electrically heated over and a low-pressure flame. The present work is focused, in particular, on how the precision of CARS thermometry is limited by the accuracy with which the experimental parameters are known, on characteristics of the diode-array detector, on saturation effects due to stimulated Raman scattering and on the influence of spectral resolution on precision and accuracy.     

Vector phase conjugation in Cr4+:YAG by four-wave mixing with linearly-polarized pump beams

We experimentally demonstrate vector phase conjugation in Cr⁴⁺:YAG saturable absorber at 1.06m with nanosecond pulses using degenerate four-wave mixing with linearly-polarized pump beams of arbitrary strengths. The experimental results show that the phase conjugate wave produced by this method can correct depolarisation induced by a birefringent medium.     

Raman scattering characterization of vertical aligned 1D IrO2 nanocrystals grown on single crystal oxide substrates

Raman scattering (RS) has been used as a technique for characterization of IrO₂ one dimensional (1D) nanocrystals (NCs) deposited on sapphire(100) and LiNbO₃(100) substrates under various conditions. The IrO₂ NCs were grown via metalorganic chemical vapor deposition method using (MeCp)(COD)Ir as the precursor and reactive magnetron sputtering using Ir metal target. The red-shifts and asymmetric broadening of the Raman lineshape for the NCs were analyzed by a modified spatial correlation (MSC) model, which includes the factor of stress induced shift. The proposed MSC model showed that the effects of stress and nanometric size can be separated in analyzing the observed Raman features. The usefulness of the experimental RS together with the MSC model analysis as a residual stress and structural characterization technique for 1D NCs has been demonstrated.     

Generation of 6.8–7.7 µm radiation in lithium iodate

Generation of infrared radiation in ts-infrared transmission window (6.8–7.7 µm) is reported for the first time by non-collinear difference-frequency mixing of the Nd: YAG second harmonic and the same-pumped dye (Rh-610) laser radiation in a lithium-iodate crystal. The spectrum of polythene sheets was run with the generated radiation.