Generation of 210 fs laser pulses at 1093 nm by a self-starting mode-locked Yb:GYSO laser

We report the first demonstration, to our knowledge, of the femtosecond laser operation by using a new alloyed Yb:GYSO crystal as the gain medium. With a 5 at. % Yb3+-doped sample and chirped mirrors for dispersion compensation, we obtained pulses as short as 210 fs at the center wavelength of 1093 nm. The average mode-locking power is 300 mW, and the pulse repetition frequency is 80 MHz. (C) 2008 Optical Society of America

Newly designed multilayer thin film mirror for dispersion compensation in Ti:sapphire femtosecond lasers

There are two different effects to generate group delay dispersion by multilayer thin film mirrors: chirper effect and Gires-Tournois effect. Both effects are employed to introduce desired dispersion in the designed mirror. Thus the designed mirror provides large dispersion throughout broad waveband. Such mirror can be used for dispersion compensation in Ti:sapphire femtosecond lasers. Most group delay dispersion of a 5-mm Ti:sapphire crystal can be compensated perfectly with only four bounces of the designed mirror.

飞秒脉冲激光器中色散补偿膜的设计

阐述了用光学薄膜进行色散补偿的基本原理，介绍了设计的基本过程．根据Ti：Sapphire飞秒激光器中腔内色散补偿的要求，设定了色散补偿目标，通过计算机优化，得到了一种40层的Ta2O5／SiO2介质膜系．该膜系能在720～870am范围获得大于99．5％的反射率，在510～550nm获得大于90％的透射率，在740～850nm提供较平滑的-40fs^2的群延迟色散．这样的结果经过7次反射后，可以补偿5-mm Ti：sapphire晶体产生的绝大部分群延迟色散。

Laser conditioning of ZrO2 : Y2O3/SiO2 mirror coatings prepared by E-beam evaporation

Laser conditioning effects of the dielectric mirror coatings with different designs were investigated. Simple quarter-wave ZrO2:Y2O3/SiO2 mirrors and half-wave SiO2 over-coated ZrO2:Y2O3/SiO2 mirror coatings were fabricated by E-beam evaporation (EBE). The absorbance of the samples before and after laser conditioning was measured by surface thermal lensing (STL) technology and the defects density was detected under Nomarski microscope. The enhancement of the laser damage resistance was found after laser conditioning. The dependence of the laser conditioning on the coating design was also observed and the over-coated sample obtained greatest enhancement, whereas the absorbance of the samples did not change obviously. During the sub-threshold fluence raster scanning, the minor damage about defects size was found and the assumption of pre-damage mechanism, based on the functional damage concept, was put forward. The improvement of the laser induced damage threshold (LIDT) was attributed to the benign damage of the defects and the dependence on the coating design owed to the damage growth behavior of different coating designs. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Design of anisotropic reflector with birefringent thin films

A novel design for dielectric anisotropic mirrors with birefringent thin films for normal incidence is presented. This mirror consists of a stack of quarter-wave biaxial layers. The biaxial anisotropic layers can be fabricated by oblique deposition. The reflectance is different for two linear polarizations of light incidence on the mirrors. As a numerical example, the design is carried out on glass with TiO2 and ZrO2. These thin films could be applied to anisotropic reflective devices for lasers.

Propagation properties of a hard-edged diffracted beam generated by a Gaussian mirror resonator

Based on the scalar diffraction theory, the propagation and focusing properties of a hard-edged diffracted beam generated by a Gaussian mirror resonator were investigated. Explicit expressions for the field distribution of the truncated beam that propagates through a paraxial optical ABCD system were derived in detail. Numerical examples are given to illustrate our analytical results. (c) 2006 Optical Society of America.

多层介质膜光栅和介质膜反射镜抗激光损伤阈值研究

对多层介质膜光栅以及介质膜反射镜的激光损伤阈值进行了系统的研究。测试方法采用国际测试标准。测试结果表明，介质光栅的损伤阈值远低于未刻蚀的多层介质膜。对样品损伤形貌的扫描电镜照片分析发现，相比于未刻蚀的多层介质膜，介质膜光栅的初始损伤主要发生在光栅槽形的侧壁，且损伤主要是由驻波场的空间分布引起的本征吸收、制备过程中引入的杂质污染以及刻蚀过程中HfO2的化学计量机失衡引起的。

退火对电子束热蒸发193nm Al2O3/MgF2反射膜性能的影响

设计并镀制了193nm Al2O3/MgF2反射膜,对它们在空气中分别进行了250-400℃的高温退火,测量了样品的透射率光谱曲线和绝对反射率光谱曲线.发现样品在高反射区的总的光学损耗随退火温度的升高而下降,而后趋于饱和.采用总积分散射的方法对样品在不同退火温度下的散射损耗进行了分析,发现随着退火温度的升高散射损耗有所增加.因此,总的光学损耗的下降是由于吸收损耗而不是散射损耗起主导作用.对Al2O3材料的单层膜进行了同等条件的退火处理,由它们光学性能的变化推导出它们的折射率和消光系数的变化,从而解释了相应

钛宝石激光器中用优化Gires-Tournois镜产生15fs脉冲

根据飞秒脉冲锁模钛宝石激光器脉冲压缩的要求，介绍了负色散镜补偿色散的基本原理及其特点。详细阐述了优化Gires-Tournois(OG-T)镜的设计过程，并通过计算机优化得到理想设计膜系。采用离子束溅射的方法镀制了优化Gires—Tournois镜。测量了优化Gires-Tournois镜(编号为OGT#1)的透射率和群延迟色散，并与设计值进行了比较，分析了实测值产生偏差的原因，从而对镀膜参量进行了相应的调整，制造了第二批优化Gires—Tournois镜(编号为OGT#2)。将优化Gires—Tourn

Investigation on the properties of high reflective mirror prepared by ion-beam sputtering

The single-sided and dual-sided high reflective mirrors were deposited with ion-beam sputtering (IBS). When the incident light entered with 45 degrees, the reflectance of p-polarized light at 1064 nm exceeded 99.5%. Spectrum was gained by spectrometer and weak absorption of coatings was measured by surface thermal lensing (STL) technique. Laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) was determined and the damage morphology was observed with Lecia-DMRXE microscope simultaneously. The profile of coatings was measured with Mark III-GPI digital interferometer. It was found that the reflectivity of mirror exceeded 99.9% and its absorption was as low as 14 ppm. The reflective bandwidth of the dual-sided sample was about 43 nm wider than that of single-sided sample, and its LIDT was as high as 28 J/cm2, which was 5 J/cm2 higher than that of single-sided sample. Moreover, the profile of dual-sided sample was better than that of substrate without coatings.

Annealing effects on electron-beam evaporated Al2O3 films

The effects of post-deposited annealing on structure and optical properties of electron-beam evaporated Al2O3 single layers were investigated. The films were annealed in air for 1.5 h at different temperatures from 250 to 400 degrees C. The optical constants and cut-off wavelength were deduced. Microstructure of the samples was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD). Profile and surface roughness measurement instrument was used to determine the rms surface roughness. It was found that the cut-off wavelength shifted to short wavelength as the annealing temperature increased and the total optical loss decreased. The film structure remained amorphous even after annealing at 400 degrees C temperature and the samples annealed at higher temperature had the higher rms surface roughness. The decreasing total optical loss with annealing temperature was attributed to the reduction of absorption owing to oxidation of the film by annealing. Guidance to reduce the optical loss of excimer laser mirrors was given. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

高反射率193nm Al2O3／MgF2反射膜的实验研究

用电子束热蒸发方法在熔融石英基底上沉积了Al2O3和MgF2两种材料的单层膜，研究了两种材料的光学特性，采用光度法计算并给出了薄膜材料在180～230nm的折射率n／和消光系数k的色散曲线。以两种材料作为高低折射率材料组合，采用1／4波长规整膜系设计并镀制了193nm的高反射膜，反射膜在退火后的反射率在193nm达到96％以上。结果表明在一定工艺条件下Al2O3和MgF2两种材料能够在193nm获得较好的光学性能，适用于高反射膜的制备。

薄膜材料对TiO2基薄膜激光损伤阈值的影响

abstract {The optical property, structure, surface properties (roughness and defect density) and laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) of TiO₂ films deposited by electronic beam (EB) evaporation of TiO₂ (rutile), TiO₂ (anatase) and TiO₂ + Ta₂O₅ composite materials are comparatively studied. All films show the polycrystalline anatase TiO₂ structure. The loose sintering state and phase transformation during evaporating TiO₂ anatase slice lead to the high surface defect density, roughness and extinction coefficient, and low LIDT of films. The TiO₂ + Ta₂O₅ composite films have the lowest extinction coefficient and the highest LIDT among all samples investigated. Guidance of selecting materials for high LIDT laser mirrors is given.}

真空中有机污染物对TiO2/SiO2介质膜损伤阈值的影响

本文主要研究了真空中有机污染物对薄膜阈值的影响。采用电子枪蒸镀的方式制备了由TiO2/SiO2两种材料组合而成的1064nm高反膜，分别在大气和真空中对其损伤阈值进行了测量。发现在真空中污染物易黏附于光学元件表面，导致损伤；真空中的氧分子会加速损伤过程，根据破斑形貌的分析认为是由于在激光作用下氧分子与有机污染物发生反应造成的；真空中的有机污染物被去除后，真空和大气中的损伤阈值差别不大，破斑形貌相似。结果表明有机污染物是真空中损伤阈值降低的主要原因。

高性能193nm反射膜的制备与误差分析

分析了膜厚控制误差对反射膜设计曲线的影响，发现高低折射率材料厚度反方向变化时（高折射率膜层厚度增加，低折射率膜层厚度减小），反射膜的反射率变化不明显，设计的膜系结构对这种膜厚变化方式的制造误差宽容。在此基础上制备了193nm反射膜，结果表明退火前光学损耗相对较大，实验结果与理论计算结果存在一定差距，并且散射损耗在总的光学损耗中所占比例很小，而吸收损耗占光学损耗的主要部分，起主导作用。退火后光学损耗明显下降，实验结果与理论计算结果更为接近，193nm反射膜的反射率达98％以上。散射损耗增加至接近吸收损耗的水平，不过在总的光学损耗中仍然占比较小的比例。说明当吸收损耗下降到一定程度时，散射损耗所起的作用也是不可忽视的。