Experimental investigation of the 2.1-μm single-mode Tm-Ho:KYF laser

We report on the development and comprehensive characterization of a room-temperature single-mode 2-m Tm-Ho:KYF laser. A maximum CW output power of 70 mW at the central wavelength of 2.078 m has been obtained. Using a 5-mm long intracavity birefringent filter the single-mode emission wavelength can be tuned over a range of 40 nm. Both frequency and relative intensity noise have been investigated showing a 1-ms emission linewidth of 600 kHz and an intensity noise spectrum that is quantum-noise limited for Fourier frequencies higher than 1 MHz. PACS 42.55Xi; 42.55Rz; 42.60Pk; 42.70Hj; 42.60Lh     

Widely tunable continuous-wave diode-pumped 2-microm Tm-Ho:KYF4 laser

Continuous-wave laser action at approximately 2 microm is demonstrated in a Tm-Ho:KYF4 single crystal at room temperature. Crystal growth, spectroscopic measurements, and laser results are presented. An output power in excess of 250 mW is obtained with a tuning range of 99 nm, the largest ever published, to our knowledge, for Tm-Ho in any crystalline host.     

Sub-100-ps amplitude-modulation mode-locked Tm-Ho:BaY2F8 laser at 2.06 microm

We report the generation of sub-100-ps pulse trains near the 2.06-microm wavelength in an actively mode-locked diode-pumped Tm-Ho:BaYF laser operating at room temperature. Transform-limited, 97-ps Gaussian pulses at a 100-MHz repetition rate with an average power in excess of 20 mW and with a carrier wavelength tunable by approximately 50 nm near 2.066 microm are demonstrated.     

Absolute frequency spectroscopy of CO2 lines at around 2.09 μm by combined use of an Er:fiber comb and a Ho:YLF amplifier

The low-frequency tail of an octave-spanning supercontinuum (SC) generated by an Er:fiber comb is enhanced by a multipass Ho:YLF amplifier and used in a sum-frequency-generation scheme to obtain absolute referencing of a single-mode Tm-Ho:YAG laser tunable around 2.09 μm. By tuning the comb repetition frequency, the probing laser is scanned across the absorption lines of a CO(2) gas sample and highly accurate absorption profiles are measured. This approach can be readily scaled to any wavelength above ~2 μm.     

A binary algorithm with low divergence for modular inversion on SIMD architectures

When performing modular arithmetic the most computationally expensive operation is the modular inversion of an integer. Its cost might be a problem for cryptanalytical applications (like the transformation from projective to affine coordinates within a Pollard rho algorithm implementation to solve the discrete logarithm problem on an elliptic curve) where performances constitute a key aspect. Good platforms for such operations are single-instruction multiple-data architectures, like graphic processing units (GPUs) because of their extremely competitive performance/price ratio. Unfortunately, when a single thread computes a single inversion, the whole computation on GPUs can be significantly slowed down in the presence of divergent threads. In this paper we describe a new algorithm to compute modular inversion on GPUs based on Stein’s Binary GCD. By exploiting the De Bruijn sequences and the Montgomery arithmetic, our version of Stein’s algorithm better fits GPUs, since it reduces the divergence among threads of the original algorithm. The paper includes a brief report on tests of our algorithm in six prime fields with characteristics of size ranging from 109 to 359 bits and in the two prime fields associated to the Mersenne primes \(2^{521} - 1\) and \(2^{607} - 1\).     

Diode-pumped bulk erbium-ytterbium lasers

A comprehensive review of the work done by our group, during the last few years, on diode-pumped cw operating bulk Er : Yb phosphate glass is presented. The high performance of this laser in terms of output power, laser slope efficiency, single longitudinal and transverse mode operation, laser tunability and frequency stability, amplitude noise, and active mode-locking operation, are considered. The combination of this high performance and potential low cost makes these laser devices attractive for a variety of applications including spectroscopy, metrology, optical radars, optical communications, and all optical switching.Prof. F. P. Schäfer on the occasion of his 65th birthday     

Optimization study of a picosecond rotating-mirror autocorrelator

A few geometrical-optic properties of a reflecting dihedron made by a mirror pair are discussed in order to find an optimized configuration for a rotating mirror autocorrelator. It is shown that there does exist such a configuration, which maximizes the scanning range and minimizes the non-linearity error. Based on this scheme, a low-cost, dispersion-free autocorrelator has been made, whose linearity is better than 2% over a scanning range of 500 ps.     

Frequency doubling of a fibre-amplified 1083 nm DBR laser

A good frequency standard is required at 1083 nm for measurements on the fine structure of helium and of the fine structure constant. Several milliwatts of CW frequency-doubled light offers the prospect of stabilisation to a Doppler-free hyperfine transition in molecular iodine. The 1083 nm emission of an extended-cavity DBR diode laser has been amplified using an ytterbium-doped fibre amplifier, and applied to a type-I phase matched Mg:LiNbO₃ crystal in a high-Q fundamental-resonant cavity for frequency doubling. The amplifier gain at 1083 nm under typical operating conditions was 13.8 dB, with a coherent output power up to 63 mW, limited by the maximum signal input power. The doubling cavity Q was , and about 70% of the incident power was coupled in. The maximum 2nd-harmonic conversion efficiency exceeded 20% and provided an output power of 3.7 mW for making continuous frequency scans of up to 600 MHz in the green. An optical spectrum analyser at 541.5 nm showed fringes of 4.6 MHz full width half maximum, close to the instrumental width. Received: 25 February 1998 / Revised and Accepted: 28 May 1998     

Sieve Functions in Arithmetic Bands,II

An arithmetic function f is called a sieve function of range Q if its Eratosthenes transform g = f * μ is supported in [1,Q] ∩ N, where g(q) ? _ε q ^ε (?ε > 0). We continue our study of the distribution of f(n) over short arithmetic bands, n ≡ ar + b (mod q), with n ∈ (N,2N] ∩ N, 1 ≤ a ≤ H = o(N) and r,b ∈ Z such that g:c:d:(r,q) = 1. In particular, the optimality of some results is discussed.     

Observation of dynamic localization in periodically curved waveguide arrays

We report on a direct experimental observation of dynamic localization (DL) of light in sinusoidally-curved lithium-niobate waveguide arrays which provides the optical analog of DL for electrons in periodic potentials subjected to ac electric fields as originally proposed by Dunlap and Kenkre [Phys. Rev. B 34, 3625 (1986)10.1103/PhysRevB.34.3625]. The theoretical condition for DL in a sinusoidal field is experimentally demonstrated.