Broadband infrared luminescence from transparent glass-ceramics containing Ni2+-doped beta-Ga2O3 nanocrystals

Transparent Ni2+-doped beta-Ga2O3 glass-ceramics were synthesized. The nanocrystal phase in the glass-ceramics was identified to be beta-Ga2O3 and its size was about 3.6 nm. It was confirmed from the absorption spectra that the ligand environment of Ni2+ ions changed from the trigonal bi-pyramid fivefold sites in the as-cast glass to the octahedral sites in the glass-ceramics. The broadband infrared emission centering at 1270 nm with full width at half maximum (FWHM) of more than 250 nm was observed. The fluorescence lifetime was about 1.1 mu s at room temperature. The observed infrared emission could be attributed to the T-3 (2g) (F-3) -> (3)A (2g) (F-3) transition of octahedral Ni2+ ions. It is suggested that the Ni2+-doped transparent beta-Ga2O3 glass-ceramics with broad bandwidth and long lifetime have a potential as a broadband amplification medium.

Transparent Ni2+-doped ZnO-Al2O3-SiO2 system glass-ceramics with broadband infrared luminescence

We report transparent Ni2+-doped ZnO-Al2O3-SiO2 system glass-ceramics with broadband infrared luminescence. After heat-treatment, ZnAl2O4 crystallite was precipitated in the glasses, and its average size increased with increasing heat-treatment temperature. No infrared emission was detected in the as-prepared glass samples, while broadband infrared luminescence centered at 1310 nm with full width at half maximum (FWHM) of about 300 nm was observed from the glass-ceramics. The peak position of the infrared luminescence showed a blue-shift with increasing heat-treatment temperature, but a red-shift with an increase in NiO concentration. The mechanisms of the observed phenomena were discussed. These glass-ceramics are promising as materials for super broadband optical amplifier and tunable laser. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Coherent enhancement of broadband frequency up-conversion in BBO crystal by shaping femtosecond laser pulses

An optimal feedback control of broadband frequency up-conversion in BBO crystal is experimentally demonstrated by shaping femto-second laser pulses based on genetic algorithm, and the frequency up-conversion efficiency can be enhanced by similar to 16%. SPIDER results show that the optimal laser pulses have shorter pulse-width with the little negative chirp than the original pulse with the little positive chirp. By modulating the fundamental spectral phase with periodic square distribution on SLM-256, the frequency up-conversion can be effectively controlled by the factor of about 17%. The experimental results indicate that the broadband frequency up-conversion efficiency is related to both of second harmonic generation (SHG) and sum frequency generation (SFG), where the former depends on the fundamental pulse intensity, and the latter depends on not only the fundamental pulse intensity but also the fundamental pulse spectral phase. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Transverse intensity distributions of a broadband laser modulated by a hard-edged aperture

By means of the Huygens-Fresnel diffraction integral, the field representation of a laser beam modulated by a hard-edged aperture is derived. The near-field and far-field transverse intensity distributions of the beams with different bandwidths are analyzed by using the representation. The numerical calculation results indicate that the amplitudes and numbers of the intensity spikes decrease with increasing bandwidth, and beam smoothing is achieved when the bandwidth takes a certain value in the near field. In the far field, the radius of the transverse intensity distribution decreases as the bandwidth increases, and the physical explanation of this fact is also given. (c) 2005 Optical Society of America.

Smoothing effect in the broadband laser through a dispersive wedge

The propagation expression of a broadband laser passing through a dispersive wedge is derived on the basis of the Huygens-Fresnel diffraction integral, Smoothing effects caused by the phase perturbation of the dispersive wedge on the intensity profiles are investigated in detail. The phase perturbation of the dispersive wedge induces a relative transverse position shift between the diffraction patterns of different frequency components. The relative transverse position shift is of great benefit to the fill of the intensity peaks of some patterns in the valleys of others when these patterns are overlapped and thus the smoothing effect is achieved. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.