Development of high-power OPCPA laser at 1064 and 780 nm

A compact 10-TW/100-fs level ultrashort-pulse and ultra-intense laser system at 1064 nm based on optical parametric chirped pulse amplification (OPCPA) scheme is described, at which the pump and seed for the optical parametric amplification (OPA) process is optically synchronized. We investigated the output stability and the conversion efficiency of the system. Moreover, a design toward higher peak power output is given and an optically synchronized amplifier based on the concept of OPCPA at 800 nm is preliminarily explored.

Parasitic lasing suppression in high gain femtosecond petawatt Ti: sapphire amplifier

New parasitic lasing suppression techniques are developed and high gain amplification is demonstrated in a petawatt level Ti:sapphire amplifier based on the chirped pulse amplification (CPA) scheme. Cladding the large aperture Ti: sapphire with refractive-index matched liquid doped with absorber suppresses the transverse lasing. The acousto-optic programmable dispersive filter (AOPDF) is used to realize side-lobe suppression in the temporal profile of the compressed pulse. The 800 nm laser output with peak power of 0.89 PW and pulse width of 29.0 fs is demonstrated. (c) 2007 Optical Society of America.

Magnetic field and pressure effects in a saturated gas laser amplifier

Theoretical and experimental studies of a gas laser amplifier are presented, assuming the amplifier is operating with a saturating optical frequency signal. The analysis is primarily concerned with the effects of the gas pressure and the presence of an axial magnetic field on the characteristics of the amplifying medium. Semiclassical radiation theory is used, along with a density matrix description of the atomic medium which relates the motion of single atoms to the macroscopic observables. A two-level description of the atom, using phenomenological source rates and decay rates, forms the basis of our analysis of the gas laser medium. Pressure effects are taken into account to a large extent through suitable choices of decay rate parameters.

Two methods for calculating the induced polarization of the atomic medium are used. The first method utilizes a perturbation expansion which is valid for signal intensities which barely reach saturation strength, and it is quite general in applicability. The second method is valid for arbitrarily strong signals, but it yields tractable solutions only for zero magnetic field or for axial magnetic fields large enough such that the Zeeman splitting is much larger than the power broadened homogeneous linewidth of the laser transition. The effects of pressure broadening of the homogeneous spectral linewidth are included in both the weak-signal and strong-signal theories; however the effects of Zeeman sublevel-mixing collisions are taken into account only in the weak-signal theory.

The behavior of a He-Ne gas laser amplifier in the presence of an axial magnetic field has been studied experimentally by measuring gain and Faraday rotation of linearly polarized resonant laser signals for various values of input signal intensity, and by measuring nonlinearity - induced anisotropy for elliptically polarized resonant laser signals of various input intensities. Two high-gain transitions in the 3.39-μ region were used for study: a J = 1 to J = 2 (3s₂ → 3p₄) transition and a J = 1 to J = 1 (3s₂ → 3p₂) transition. The input signals were tuned to the centers of their respective resonant gain lines.

The experimental results agree quite well with corresponding theoretical expressions which have been developed to include the nonlinear effects of saturation strength signals. The experimental results clearly show saturation of Faraday rotation, and for the J = 1 t o J = 1 transition a Faraday rotation reversal and a traveling wave gain dip are seen for small values of axial magnetic field. The nonlinearity induced anisotropy shows a marked dependence on the gas pressure in the amplifier tube for the J = 1 to J = 2 transition; this dependence agrees with the predictions of the general perturbational or weak signal theory when allowances are made for the effects of Zeeman sublevel-mixing collisions. The results provide a method for measuring the upper (neon 3s₂) level quadrupole moment decay rate, the dipole moment decay rates for the 3s₂ → 3p₄ and 3s₂ → 3p₂ transitions, and the effects of various types of collision processes on these decay rates.

Gain and noise figure of a double-pass waveguide amplifier based on Er/Yb-doped phosphate glass

A waveguide amplifier is fabricated by Ag+-Na+ two-step ion exchange on Er/Yb-doped phosphate glass. The spectroscopic performance of glass and the properties of channel waveguide are characterized. A double-pass configuration is adopted to measure the gain and noise figure (NF) of the waveguide amplifier, and the comparison of gain and NF for the single and double-pass configuration of the waveguide amplifier is presented. The results show that the double-pass configuration can make the gain increase from 8.8dB (net gain 2.2dB/cm) of the single-pass one to 14.6 dB (net gain 3.65 dB/cm) for small input power at 1534 nm, and the NF are all lower than 5.5dB for both the configurations.

7.3 W of single-frequency output power at 2.09 μm from an Ho:YAG monolithic nonplanar ring laser

Single-frequency output power of 7.3 W at 2.09 mu m from a monolithic Ho:YAG nonplanar ring oscillator (NPRO) is demonstrated. Resonantly pumped by a Tm-doped fiber laser at 1.91 mu m, the Ho:YAG NPRO produces 71% of slope efficiency with respect to absorbed pump power and nearly diffraction-limited output with a beam quality parameter of M-2 approximate to 1.1. (c) 2008 Optical Society of America

Ultrafast all-optical wavelength conversion using an integrated amplifier/DFB laser

Wavelength conversion in the 1550 nm regime was achieved in an integrated semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA)/DFB laser by modulating the output power of the laser with a light beam of a different wavelength externally injected into the SOA section. A 12 dB output extinction ratio was obtained for an average coupled input power of 75 μW with the laser section driven at 65 mA and the amplifier section at 180 mA. The response time achieved was as low as 13 ps with the laser biased at 175 mA even with low extinction ratios. The laser exhibits a similar recovery time allowing potentially very high bit-rate operation.

High speed wavelength conversion utilising an integrated amplifier/DFB laser

Wavelength conversion in the 1.55-μm regime was achieved for the first time in an integrated SOA/DFB laser by modulating the output power of the laser with a light beam of a different wavelength externally injected into the SOA section. In terms of speed, response times as low as 13ps were observed, though at the expense of reduced extinction ratio. Generally, these results indicate that operation in the 10s of GB/s should be possible.

On the percussion drilling of SI using a 20W MOPA based YB fiber laser

A study on the nanosecond fiber laser interaction with silicon was performed experimentally for the generation of percussion drilled holes. Single pulse ablation experiments were carried out on mono crystalline 650μm thick Si wafers. Changes of the mass removal mechanism were investigated by varying laser fluence up to 68 J/cm2 and pulse duration from 50 ns to 200 ns. Hole width and depth were measured and surface morphology were studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and optical interferometric profilometry (Veeco NT3300). High speed photography was also used to examine laser generated plasma expansion rates. The material removal rate was found to be influenced by the pulse energy, full pulse duration and pulse peak power. Single pulse ablation depth of 4.42 μm was achieved using a 200 ns pulse of 13.3 J/cm 2, giving a maximum machining efficiency of 31.86 μm per mJ. Holes drilled with an increased fluence but fixed pulse length were deeper, exhibited low recast, but were less efficient than those produced at a lower fluence. The increased peak power in this case led to high levels of plasma and vapour production. The expansion of which, results in a strong driving recoil force, an increase in the rate and volume of melt ejection, and cleaner hole formation. The experimental findings show that for efficient drilling at a given energy, a longer, lower peak power pulse is more desirable than a high peak power short pulse.

Variable repetition rate monolithically integrated mode-locked-laser- modulator-MOPA device

A monolithically integrated MLLD-modulator-MOPA is presented generating 12.5 ps pulses. The Mach-Zehnder modulator allows tunable repetition rates from 14 GHz to 109 MHz, and the MOPA boosts the peak power by 3.2 dB. © 2012 IEEE.

Modeling nonlinearities in MEMS oscillators

We present a mathematical model of a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) oscillator that integrates the nonlinearities of the MEMS resonator and the oscillator circuitry in a single numerical modeling environment. This is achieved by transforming the conventional nonlinear mechanical model into the electrical domain while simultaneously considering the prominent nonlinearities of the resonator. The proposed nonlinear electrical model is validated by comparing the simulated amplitude¿frequency response with measurements on an open-loop electrically addressed flexural silicon MEMS resonator driven to large motional amplitudes. Next, the essential nonlinearities in the oscillator circuit are investigated and a mathematical model of a MEMS oscillator is proposed that integrates the nonlinearities of the resonator. The concept is illustrated for MEMS transimpedance-amplifier-based square-wave and sine-wave oscillators. Closed-form expressions of steady-state output power and output frequency are derived for both oscillator models and compared with experimental and simulation results, with a good match in the predicted trends in all three cases. © 1986-2012 IEEE.

Theory of high-power mode-locked lasers with a slow absorber

We develop an analytical theory of high-power passively mode-locked lasers with a slow absorber; the theory is valid at pulse energies well exceeding the saturation energy. We analyze the Haus modelocking master equation in the pulse-energy-domain representation, approximating the intensity profile function by a series in the vicinity of its peak value. We consider the high-power operation regime of subpicosecond blue-violet GaN mode-locked diode lasers, using the approach developed. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.

MEMS-based mechanical AGC for oscillator circuits

This paper investigates a nonlinear amplitude saturation behavior in an electrostatically transduced, silicon MEMS disk resonator operating in its secondary elliptical bulk-mode (SEBM) at 3.932 MHz towards its implementation as an all-mechanical automatic gain control (AGC) element. The nonlinear vibration behavior of the SEBM mode is experimentally observed in open-loop testing such that above a threshold small signal drive voltage at a given polarization voltage, the vibration amplitude of the SEBM mode saturates. We also study this nonlinearity in an oscillator circuit designed such that the driving power level at the resonator input can be manually tuned as the circuit operates. The measurements of the voltage amplitudes show a clear transition from the linear to the nonlinear saturation region as the driving power is increased. Short-term frequency stability measurements were also conducted for different v ac and the resulting Allan deviation plots show an improvement in the short-term stability from 1.4 ppb in the linear region to 0.4 ppb in the amplitude saturation region. © 2013 IEEE.

An ultra-low power CMOS random number generator

This paper proposes an ultra-low power CMOS random number generator (RING), which is based on an oscillator-sampling architecture. The noisy oscillator consists of a dual-drain MOS transistor, a noise generator and a voltage control oscillator. The dual-drain MOS transistor can bring extra-noise to the drain current or the output voltage so that the jitter of the oscillator is much larger than the normal oscillator. The frequency division ratio of the high-frequency sampling oscillator and the noisy oscillator is small. The RNG has been fabricated in a 0.35 mu m CMOS process. It can produce good quality bit streams without any post-processing. The bit rate of this RNG could be as high as 100 kbps. It has a typical ultra-low power dissipation of 0.91 mu W. This novel circuit is a promising unit for low power system and communication applications. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Detailed model and investigation of gain saturation and carrier spatial hole burning for a semiconductor optical amplifier with gain clamping by a vertical laser field

A detailed model for semiconductor linear optical amplifiers (LOAs) with gain clamping by a vertical laser field is presented, which accounts the carrier and photon density distribution in the longitudinal direction as well as the facet reflectivity. The photon iterative method is used in the simulation with output amplified spontaneous emission spectrum in the wide band as iterative variables. The gain saturation behaviors and the noise figure are numerically simulated, and the variation of longitudinal carrier density with the input power is presented which is associated with the ON-OFF state of the vertical lasers. The results show that the LOA can have a gain spectrum clamped in a wide wavelength range and have almost the same value of noise figure as that of conventional semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs). Numerical results also show that an LOA can have a noise figure about 2 dB less than that of the SOA gain clamped by a distributed Bragg reflector laser.