Stochastic resonance for modulated gain in a single-mode laser

Stochastic resonance (SR) induced by the signal modulation is investigated, by introducing the signal-modulated gain into a single-mode laser system. Using the linear approximation method, we detailedly calculate the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of a gain-noise model of the single-mode laser, taking the cross-correlation between the quantum noise and pump noise into account. We find that, SR appears in the dependence of the SNR on the intensities of the quantum and the pump noises when the correlation coefficient between both the noises is negative; moreover, when the cross-correlation between the two noises is strongly negative, SR exhibits a resonance and a suppression versus the gain coefficient, meanwhile, the single-peaked SR and multi-peaked SR occur in the behaviors of the SNR as functions of the loss coefficient and the deterministic steady-state intensity. (c) 2005 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.

Photoluminescence degradation in GaN induced by light enhanced surface oxidation

The exponential degradation of the photoluminescence (PL) intensity at the near-band-gap was observed in heavily doped or low-quality GaN with pristine surface under continuous helium-cadmium laser excitation. In doped GaN samples, the degradation speed increased with doping concentration. The oxidation of the surface with laser irradiation was confirmed by x-ray photoemission spectroscopy measurements. The oxidation process introduced many oxygen impurities and made an increase of the surface energy band bending implied by the shift of Ga 3d binding energy. The reason for PL degradation may lie in that these defect states act as nonradiative centers and/or the increase of the surface barrier height reduces the probability of radiative recombination.

Magnetic-field-induced nonthermal occupation of higher subbands in a three-barrier tunneling structure

When injected electrons in a quantum well first experience an intersubband relaxation process before their escaping by tunneling through a double-barrier structure behind, the magnetic suppression of intersubband LO or LA phonon scattering can give rise to a noticeable nonthermal occupation in higher-lying subbands. That is clearly verified by the relative intensity ratio of the interband photoluminescence spectra for E-2-HH1 and E-1-HH1 transitions. The observed phenomenon may provide an effective method for controlling intersubband scattering rate, a central issue in so-called quantum cascade lasers, and facilitating the population inversion between subbands in quantum wells.

High-power and long-lifetime InAs/GaAs quantum-dot laser at 1080 nm

High power and long lifetime have been demonstrated for a semiconductor quantum-dot (QD) laser with five-stacked InAs/GaAs QDs separated by an InGaAs strain-reducing layer (SRL) and a GaAs spacer layer as an active medium. The QD lasers exhibit a peak power of 3.6 W at 1080 nm, a quantum slope efficiency of 84.6%, and an output-power degradation rate of 5.6%/1000 h with continuous-wave constant-current operation at room temperature. A comparative reliability investigation indicates that the lifetime of the InAs/GaAs QD laser with the InGaAs SRL is much longer than that of a QD laser without the InGaAs SRL. This improved lifetime of the QD laser could be explained by the reduction of strain in and around InAs QDs induced by the InGaAs SRL. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.

Thermal induced facet destructive feature of quantum cascade lasers

We present a study on the facet damage profile of quantum cascade lasers (QCLs). Conspicuous cascade half-loop damage strips on front facet are observed when QCLs catastrophically failed. Due to the large difference on thermal conductivities between active region and the substrate, dominant heat is compulsively driven to the substrate. Abundant heat accumulation and dissipation on substrate build large temperature gradient and thermal lattice mismatch. Thermal-induced stress due to sequential mismatch leads to the occurrence of the multistep damages on front facet. Good agreement is achieved between the observed locations of damaged strips and the calculated results.

Effects of shock waves on spatial distribution of proton beams in ultrashort laser-foil interactions

The characteristics of proton beam generated in the interaction of an ultrashort laser pulse with a large prepulse with solid foils are experimentally investigated. It is found that the proton beam emitted from the rear surface is not well collimated, and a "ring-like" structure with some "burst-like" angular modulation is presented in the spatial distribution. The divergence of the proton beam reduces significantly when the laser intensity is decreased. The "burst-like" modulation gradually fades out for the thicker target. It is believed that the large divergence angle and the modulated ring structure are caused by the shock wave induced by the large laser prepulse. A one-dimensional hydrodynamic code, MED103, is used to simulate the behavior of the shock wave produced by the prepulse. The simulation indicates that the rear surface of the foil target is significantly modified by the shock wave, consequently resulting in the experimental observations. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.

Reduce of threshold of laser inducing breakdown in atmosphere by introducing an electric spark

We report laser-generated plasmas in atmosphere with electrical spark generated by a synchronization circuit. The breakdown thresholds under the conditions that the electrical spark is used and not used are compared. The breakdown threshold has a distinct decrease after the electrical spark is used. Breakdown thresholds as a function of atmosphere pressure have also been measured at laser wavelengths 532 nm and 1064 rim for the laser pulse width of 15ns. We also discuss the principle and performances of the ionized atmosphere by Nd:YAG laser under the condition of electrical spark introduction. Multiphoton ionization and cascade ionization play important roles in the whole process of atmosphere ionization. The free electron induced by electrical spark can supply the initialization free electron number for multiphoton ionization and cascade ionization. A model for breakdown in atmosphere, which is in good agreement with the experimental results, is described.

Near-Infrared Femtosecond Laser for Studying the Strain in Si1-xGex Alloy Films via Second-Harmonic Generation

The second-harmonic generation (SHG) from Si1-xGex alloy films has been investigated by near-infrared femtosecond laser. Recognized by s-out polarized SHG intensity versus rotational angle of sample, the crystal symmetry of the fully strained Si0.83Ge0.17 alloy is found changed from the O-h to the C-2 point group due to the inhomogeneity of the strain. Calibrated by double crystal X-ray diffraction, the strain-induced chi((2)) is estimated at 5.7 x 10(-7) esu. According to the analysis on p-in/s-out SHG, the strain-relaxed Si0.10Ge0.90 alloy film is confirmed to be not fully relaxed, and the remaining strain is quantitatively determined to be around 0.1%.

Mechanisms of optical confinement in phase-locked laser arrays

The nature of optical confinement in phase-locked laser arrays (PLLAs) with a mesa-stripe structure (MSS) has been studied. Two main mechanisms are distinguished, which are based on the variation of the waveguide effective refractive index due to MSS formation and on the refractive index modulation induced by the heating of the structure. Stable operation was achieved when either weak or strong optical coupling was realized in the PLLA. A phase-locked regime of radiation was obtained only for laser diodes with strong optical coupling. In the latter case the angle divergency was not greater than 2 degrees for the antisymmetric supermode emission from the PLLA.

High power AlGaInP laser diodes with zinc-diffused window mirror structure

The technology of zinc-diffusion to improve catastrophic optical damage (COD) threshold of compressively strained GaInP/AlGaInP quantum well laser diodes has been introduced. After zinc-diffusion, about 20-μm-long region at each facet of laser diode has been formed to serve as the window of the lasing light. As a result, the COD threshold has been significantly improved due to the enlargement of bandgap by the zinc-diffusion induced quantum well intermixing, compared with that of the conventional non-window structure. 40-mW continuous wave output power with the fundamental transverse mode has been realized under room temperature for the 3.5-μm-wide ridge waveguide diode. The operation current is 84 mA and the slope efficiency is 0.74 W/A at 40 mW. The lasing wavelength is 656 nm.

Cluster assistant generation of C2+ and C3+ ions in nanosecond laser ionization of seeded benzene beam

Cluster assisted photoionization processes of benzene, which was seeded in argon, induced by an intense 25 ns Nd-YAG laser has been studied by means of time-of-flight mass spectrometry. At the laser intensity of 10(11) W/cm(2), multicharged ions Cq+ (q = 2-3) with kinetic energy up to 150 eV were observed in the mass spectra. Strong evidences Support that these ions are formed in the Coulomb explosion of multicharged benzene cluster ions. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Photo-induced reactions in the ion-molecule complex Mg+-OCNC2H5

Ion - molecule complexes of magnesium cation with ethyl isocyanate were produced in a laser- ablation supersonic expansion nozzle source. Photo- induced reactions in the 1: 1 complexes have been studied in the spectral range of 230 - 410 nm. Photodissociation mass spectrometry revealed the persistent product Mg+ from nonreactive quenching throughout the entire wavelength range. As for the reactive channels, the photoproducts, Mg+OCN and C2H5+, were produced only in the blue absorption band of the complex with low yields. The action spectrum of Mg+(OCNC2H5) consists of two pronounced peaks on the red and blue sides of the Mg+ 3(2)P <-- 3(2)S atomic transition. The ground state geometry of Mg+ - OCNC2H5 was fully optimized at B3LYP/6- 31 - G** level by using GAUSSIAN 98 package. The calculated absorption spectrum of the complex using the optimized structure of its ground state agrees well with the observed action spectrum. Photofragment branching fractions of the products are almost independent of the photolysis photon energy for the 3P(x,y,z) excitations. The very low branching ratio of reactive products to nonreactive fragment suggests that evaporation is the main relaxation pathway in the photo- induced reactions of Mg+ (OCNC2H5). (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.

The fragmentation of gold nanoparticles induced by small biomolecules

Spherical gold nanoparticles (3-5 nm) undergo a surprising fragmentation without extra energy imput and are converted into ultrasmall particles (less than 1.5 nm), which is a direct result of electron transfer between gold nanoparticles and cysteine.