Thermal effects investigation and cavity design in passively mode-locked Nd:YVO4 laser with a SESAM

A diode-pumped passively mode-locked Nd YVO4 laser with a five-mirror folded cavity is presented by using a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM). The temperature distribution and thermal lensing in laser medium are numerically analyzed to design a special cavity which can keep the power density on SESAM under its damage threshold. Both the Q-switched and continuous-wave mode-locked operation are experimentally realized. The maximum average output power of 8.94 W with a 9.3 ps pulse width at a repetition rate of 111 MHz is obtained under a pump power of 24 W, correspondingly the optical slope efficiency is 39.2%. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Microwave generation in an electro-absorption modulator integrated with a DFB laser subject to optical injection

This paper presents a new technique to generate microwave signal using an electro-absorption modulator (EAM) integrated with a distributed feedback (DFB) laser subject to optical injection. Experiments show that the frequency of the generated microwave can be tuned by changing the wavelength of the external laser or adjusting the bias voltage of the EAM. The frequency response of the EAM is studied and found to be unsmooth due to packaging parasitic effects and four-wave mixing effect occurring in the active layer of the DFB laser. It is also demonstrated that an EA modulator integrated in between two DFB lasers can be used instead of the EML under optical injection. This integrated chip can be used to realize a monolithically integrated tunable microwave source. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America

Analysis on the high luminous flux white light from GaN-based laser diode

We fabricated a phosphor-conversion white light using an InGaN laser diode that emits 445 nm and phosphor that emits in the yellow region when excited by the blue laser light. At 500 mA injection current the luminous flux and the luminous efficacy were 113 lm and 44 lm/W, respectively. The relationship of the luminous flux and the luminous efficacy of the white light with an injection current were discussed. Based on the evaluation method for luminous efficacy of light sources established by the Commission International de I'Eclairage (CIE) and the phosphor used in this experiment, a theoretical analysis of the experiment results and the maximum luminous efficacy of this white light fabrication method were also presented.

Holographic fabricated photonic-crystal distributed-feedback quantum cascade laser with near-diffraction-limited beam quality

We demonstrate the fabrication and characterization of photonic-crystal distributed-feedback quantum cascade laser emitting at 4.7 mu m. The tilted rectangular-lattice PCDFB structure was defined using a multi-exposure of two-beam holographic lithography. The devices exhibit the near-diffraction-limited beam emission with the full width at half maximum of the far-field divergence angles about 4.5 degrees and 2.5 degrees for stripe widths of 55 mu m and 95 mu m, respectively. Single-mode emission with a side mode suppression ratio of approximate to 20 dB is achieved in the temperature range (80-210 K). The single-facet output power is above 1 W for a 95 mu m x 2.5 mm laser bar at 85 K in pulsed operation. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America

4-ps passively mode-locked Nd : Gd0.5Y0.5VO4 laser with a semiconductor saturable-absorber mirror

We have demonstrated a passively mode-locked diode end-pumped all-solid-state laser, which is composed of a Nd:Gd0.5Y0.5VO4 crystal and a folded cavity with a semiconductor saturable-absorber mirror grown by metal-organic chemical-vapor deposition. Stable cw mode locking with a 3.8-ps pulse duration at a repetition rate of 112 MHz was obtained. At 13.6 W of the incident pump power, a clean mode-locked fundamental-mode average output power of 3.9 W was achieved with an overall optical-to-optical efficiency of 29.0%, and the slope efficiency was 38.1%. (C) 2004 Optical Society of America.

Observation of antiphase states in a passively Q-switched multimode microchip Yb : YAG laser with a GaAs saturable absorber

Antiphase dynamics has been observed experimentally for the laser modes operation in a laser-diode-pumped Q-switched microchip Yb:YAG laser with GaAs as a saturable absorber in the presence of spatial hole-burning. The Q-switched pulses sequences of two modes at different pump power have been obtained. The experimental results have shown that the pulses sequences displayed classic antiphase dynamics. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1ps passively mode-locked laser operation of Na, Yb : CaF2 crystal

Diode-pumped passively mode-locked laser operation of Yb3+,Na+:CaF2 single crystal has been demonstrated for the first time. By using a SESAM ( semiconductor saturable mirror), simultaneous transform-limited 1-ps passively mode-locked pulses, with the repetition rate of 183MHz, were obtained under the self-Q-switched envelope induced by the laser medium. The average output power of 360mW was attained at 1047nm for 3.34W of absorbed power at 976nm, and the corresponding pulse peak power arrived at 27kW, indicating the promising application of Yb3+,Na+-codoped CaF2 crystals in achieving ultra-short pulses and high pulse peak power. (c) 2005 Optical Society of America.

Passively mode-locking Nd : Gd0.5Y0.5VO4 laser with an In(0.25)Ga(0.75)Aa absorber grown at low temperature

We have demonstrated stable self-starting passive mode locking in a diode-end-pumped Nd:Gd-0.8-Y0.5VO4 laser by using an In0.25Ga0.75As absorber grown at low temperature (LT In0.25Ga0.75As absorber). An In0.25Ga0.75As single-quantum-well absorber, which was grown directly on the GaAs buffer by use of the metal-organic chemical-vapor deposition technique, acts simultaneously as a passive mode-locking device and as an output coupler. Continuous-wave mode-locked pulses were obtained at 1063.5 nm. We achieved a pulse duration of 2.6 ps and an average output power of 2.15 W at a repetition rate of 96.4 MHz. (c) 2005 Optical Society of America.

Diode-end-pumped passively mode-locked ceramic Nd : YAG Laser with a semiconductor saturable mirror

We report on a diode- pumped CW passively mode locked ceramic Nd: YAG laser with SESAM ( semiconductor saturable absorber mirror), wavelength 1064nm. At a pump power of 7.6w, the pulse width was estimated to be similar to 8.3ps with repetition rate similar to 130MHz and the average output power was 1.59w. To our knowledge, this was the first demonstration that ceramic Nd: YAG was used for diode pumped CW passively mode locking. (C) 2005 Optical Society of America.

Passive mode locking of diode-end-pumped Nd : GdVO4 laser with an In0.25Ga0.75As output coupler

Passive mode locking of a diode-pumped Nd:GdVO4 laser was demonstrated using In0.25Ga0.75As as saturable absorber as well as output coupler. The pulse width was measured to be about 16 ps with a repetition rate of 146 MHz. The average output power was 120 mW with pump power of 6 W. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration on a passively mode-locked Nd:GdVO4 laser by using an In0.25Ga0.75As output coupler. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Q-switched and mode-locked diode-pumped Nd : YVO4 laser with an intracavity composite semiconductor saturable absorber

We have demonstrated a passively Q-switched and mode-locked Nd:YVO4 laser with an intracavity composite semiconductor saturable absorber (ICSSA). Stable Q-switched and mode-locked pulses with Q-switched envelope pulse duration of 180 ns and pulse repetition rate of 72KHz have been obtained. The maximum average output power was 1.45W at 8W incident pump power. The repetition rate of the mode-locked pulses inside the Q-switched envelope was 154 MHz. Experimental results revealed that this ICSSA was suitable for Q-switched and mode-locked solid-state lasers. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

High-average-power and high-conversion-efficiency continuous wave mode-locked Nd : YVO4 laser with a semiconductor absorber mirror

A high-power continuous wave (cw) mode-locked Nd:YVO4 solid-state laser was demonstrated by use of a semiconductor absorber mirror (SAM). The maximum average output power was 8.1 W and the optic-to-optic conversion efficiency was about 41 %. At the maximum incident pump power, the pulse width was about 8.6 ps and the repetition rate was 130 MHz. Experimental results indicated that this absorber was suitable for high power mode-locked solid-state lasers. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Passively Q-switched Nd : GdVO4 laser with In0.25Ga0.75As being an output coupler

We report a diode-end-pumped passively Q-switched Nd:GdVO4 laser operating at 1.06 mu m with In0.25Ga0.75As being the saturable absorber as well as an output coupler. Q-switched pulses with a pulse duration of 20 ns, pulse energy 4.2 mu J and pulse repetition rate 200 kHz were produced, corresponding to peak power of 210 W. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

High-repetition rate Q-switched Nd : YVO4 laser with a composite semiconductor absorber

A diode-pumped Nd:YVO4 laser passively Q switched by a semiconductor absorber is demonstrated. The Q-switched operation of the laser has an average output power of 135 mW with a 1.6 W incident pump power. The minimum pulse width is measured to be about 8.3 ns with a repetition rate of 2 MHz. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of a solid-state laser passively Q-switched by such a composite semiconductor absorber. (c) 2006 Optical Society of America.

Passively Q-switched and mode-locked diode-pumped Nd : YVO4 laser with LT-GaAs output coupler

We have demonstrated an efficient and compact passively Q-switched and mode-locked (QML) 1064 nm Nd:YVO4 laser by using a low temperature grown GaAs (LT-GaAs) saturable absorber as well as an output coupler. Stable QML with envelope duration as short as 10 ns and Q-switched repetition rate of 36 kHz was obtained. It is the shortest envelope duration as far as we know, and it is so short that it can be used as Q-switching pulses directly. At 6.9 W of the incident pump power, average output power of 1.24 W was achieved and the corresponding peak power and energy of a single Q-switched pulse were 3.44 kW and 34.4 mu J, respectively. The mode-locked pulses inside the Q-switched pulse envelope had a repetition rate of 780 MHz. (C) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.