High-resolution spectroscopy of the ν8 band of methylene bromide using a quantum cascade laser

A continuous wave cavity ringdown spectrometer with a Fabry-Perot quantum cascade laser has been used to collect a rotationally-resolved infrared spectrum of the ν₈ vibrational band of methylene bromide in a slit nozzle expansion. In our laboratory, previous observations of the vibrational band were limited by spectral coverage to only the P and Q-branches and by the 24 MHz step-size of the laser [1]. The issue of limited spectral coverage has been resolved using a Fresnel rhomb and a wire grid polarizer to protect the laser from the destabilizing effects of back-reflection from the ringdown cavity. The frequency step-size of the spectrometer has been reduced from 24 MHz to 2 MHz. With both of these instrument enhancements, we have been able to record the R-branch of the vibrational band, and can resolve many lines that were previously blended in spectra acquired using a pinhole expansion nozzle. Significant hyperfine splitting was observed for the low-J transitions in the P and R-branches. It was possible to neglect the effects of hyperfine splitting for transitions involving J″ > 2 in the spectral assignment, and simulations using the constants obtained by fitting to Watson’s S-reduced Hamiltonian for CH₂⁷⁹Br⁸¹Br, and the A-reduced form for CH₂⁷⁹Br₂ and CH₂⁸¹Br₂, provide a good match to experimental spectra. A total of 297 transitions have been assigned for all three isotopologues, with a standard deviation of 0.00024 cm⁻¹(∼7 MHz).     

Tunable microwave generation based on a Brillouin fiber ring laser and reflected pump

A simple approach for photonic generation of a tunable microwave signal is proposed and successfully demonstrated. By mixing the output from a single-longitudinal-mode Brillouin fiber ring laser with the reflected laser pump at photodetector, a microwave signal at the Brillouin shift can be obtained. Since the Brillouin shift can be changed by tuning the pump wavelength, tunable microwave can be generated. As a result a microwave signal tunable from 10.39 to 10.67 GHz has been achieved, with linewidth less than 600 KHz.     

Thermal effects in high-power Nd:YAG disk-type solid state laser

An investigation of thermal effects in a high-power Nd:YAG disk-type solid state laser pumped with different pump beam transverse profiles is carried out by numerical simulation based on the finite element method (FEM). Impact of the heat sink on the thermal effects is included in the simulation. The distribution of first principle stress, thermally induced birefringence, including the distribution and variation of the birefringence loss, are studied. The characteristics of the phase variation are analyzed with consideration of the temperature gradient, deformation, strain and thermal stress. Thermal lensing is explored as a function of pump power and of the radius pumped with different pump beam transverse profiles. The non-parabolic part of optical phase distortion is simulated. Furthermore, the characteristics of the bi-focus of the disk laser are also studied. Experiments on the maximum tensile stress distribution and depolarization loss are carried out. The presented calculations are in qualitative agreement with the experimental observations.     

Numerical study of an ion-exchanged glass waveguide using both two-dimensional and three-dimensional models

A numerical study is carried out to compare the two-dimensional (2-D) case and three-dimensional (3-D) case for the modelling of an ion-exchanged glass waveguide. It is shown that different waveguide widths on the photomask correspond to different ion concentration distributions after an annealing process. A numerical example is presented of two waveguide sections with different widths indicates that due to the abrupt change of the waveguide width, a 3-D theoretical model is required for an accurate prediction of the parameters of ion-exchanged glass waveguides. The good agreement between the modelled and measured results proves that the developed 3-D numerical model can be beneficially utilized in the generalized design of optical devices based on ion-exchange waveguides.     

Propagation characteristics of annular laser beams passing through the reflection Bragg grating with deformation

When high-power annular laser beams produced by the unstable resonator pass through the volume Bragg grating (VBG), absorption of light in the VBG will induce a temperature increment, resulting in changes in surface distortion. Considering that the surface distortion of the grating induces index and period differences, the scalar wave equations for the annular laser beams propagating in the VBG have been solved numerically and iteratively using finite-difference and sparse matrix methods. The variation in intensity distributions, the total power reflection coefficient, and the power in the bucket (PIB) for the annular laser beams passing through the reflection VBG with deformation have been analyzed quantitatively. It can be shown that the surface distortion of the VBG and the beam orders of the annular beams affect evidently the intensity distributions, the power reflection coefficient, and the PIB of the output beam. The peak intensity decreases as the deformation of the VBG increases. The total power reflection efficiency decreases significantly with the increase in deformations of the VBG. The PIB of the output beam decreases as the obscuration ratio β and the deformation of the VBG increase. For the given obscuration ratio β, the influence of deformation of reflection VBG on the PIB of the annular beams is more sensitive with increase in distortion of the VBG and decrease in beam order.     

Emission properties of femtosecond (fs) laser fabricated microstructures in Polystyrene (PS)

We fabricated microstructures and micro craters in thin films and bulk of PS. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of the emission from fs laser modified regions of PS when excited at 337, 400, 458, 488 and 514 nm wavelengths with different emission peaks. We systematically studied the emission in context of formation of optical centers and analyzed the spectra of irradiated PS. Change in the excitation wavelength leads to a shift in the emission peak, whereby, we infer that the emission should be due to a myriad of optical centers. Interestingly these optical centers have a similar excitation spectrum. Diphenylbutadiene (DPBD) is probably the main optical center among other optical centers thus formed in the process of fs laser irradiation of PS.     

Full L-band coverage of multiwavelength erbium-doped fiber laser

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a dual-pass unbalanced in-line Sagnac interferometer as a novel comb filter for implements in erbium-doped fiber lasers to obtain wide wavebands of multiwavelength radiations with enhancements of signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). The hybrid combinations of the comb filter with the two schemes of nonlinear polarization rotation and intensity dependent loss have successfully not only enlarged the lasing bandwidth up to 47 nm but also enhanced the SNR up to 40 dB. The simultaneous lasing-wavelengths of 117 channels are also obtained. The multiwavelength lasing spectra with free spectral range of 0.4 nm covering the full L-band are useful for the applications of DWDM and WDM-PON systems.     

Monolithically integrated photonic-crystal devices with photodiodes

In this paper, we demonstrate the monolithic integration of a conventional waveguide, a photonic crystal demultiplexer, a photonic crystal taper coupler, photonic crystal waveguides, and photodiodes in InGaAsP-based material to form a planar nano-optics system. Photonic crystal demultiplexers consist of hexagonally arranged air holes. Finite-difference time-domain method is implemented to investigate the performance of the demultiplexer. The system is fabricated using e-beam lithography and conventional photolithography. The input light at wavelengths of 1530 and 1550 nm can be separated using the demultiplexing system. These can then be detected by photodiodes that exhibit a wide-bandwidth performance of 22 GHz.     

Effects of angle of probe laser and pinhole diameter on the time-resolved optical inspection system

A real-time in-situ time-resolved optical inspection system comprising two He-Ne probe lasers, a digital oscilloscope, and three fast photodetectors is developed. The effects of angle of probe laser and pinhole diameter on the time-resolved optical inspection system are investigated during excimer laser crystallization. The longest melt duration and ablation excimer laser fluence are independent of pinhole size. The pinhole with a diameter of 0.3 mm is recommended to use in the time-resolved optical inspection system. Determination of melt duration and observation of explosive crystallization oscillation are independent of angle of probe laser, but four criteria for the relationship between probe lasers and photodetectors should be followed.     

Photonic generation of microwave signals using dual-wavelength single-longitudinal-mode fiber lasers

Photonic generation of microwave signals is demonstrated with a dual-wavelength single-longitudinal-mode erbium-doped fiber ring laser. Microwave signal with a frequency of 21.07 GHz is obtained by aligning the reflection band of a uniform fiber Bragg grating to the two transmission peaks within a fiber Bragg grating-based Fabry-Perot filter. Stable dual-wavelength single-longitudinal-mode operation is guaranteed by means of the combined filtering effect of a saturable absorber and the Fabry-Perot filter. This approach provides an effective solution to the photonic generation of high-frequency microwave signals.