Morphological characteristics of amorphous Ge2Sb2Te5 films after a single femtosecond laser pulse irradiation

The morphology of materials resulting from laser irradiation of the single-layer and the multilayer amorphous Ge2Sb2Te5 films using 120 fs pulses at 800 nm was observed using scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. For the single-layer film, the center of the irradiated spot is depression and the border is protrusion, however, for the multilayer film, the center morphology changes from a depression to a protrusion as the increase of the energy. The crystallization threshold fluence of the single-layer and the multilayer film is 22 and 23 mJ/cm(2), respectively. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A Q-swicthed all-solid-state single-longitudinal-mode laser with adjustable pulse-width and high repetition rate

A single-longitudinal-mode (SLM) laser-diode pumped Nd: YAG laser with adjustable pulse width is developed by using the techniques of pre-lasing and changing polarization of birefingent crystal. The Q-switching voltage is triggered by the peak of the pre-lasing pulse to achieve the higher stability of output pulse energy. The output energy of more than 1 mJ is obtained with output energy stability of 3% (rms) at 100 Hz. The pulse-width can be adjusted from 30 ns to 300 ns by changing the Q-switching voltage. The probability of putting out single-longitudinal-mode pulses is almost 100%. The laser can be run over four hours continually without mode hopping.

A kilowatt diode-pumped solid-state heat-capacity double-slab laser

A kilowatt diode-pumped solid state heat capacity laser is fabricated with a double-slab Nd:YAG. Using the theoretical model of heat capacity laser output laser characteristics, the relationships between the output power, temperature and time are obtained. The slab is 59 x 40 4.5mm(3) in size. The average pump power is 11.2kW, the repetition rate is 1kHz, and the duty cycle 20%. During the running time of 1s, the output energy of the laser has a fluctuation with the maximal output energy at 2.06J, and the maximal output average power is 2.06kW. At the end of the second, the output energy declines to about 50% compared to the beginning. The thermal effects can be improved with one slab cooled by water. The experimental results are consistent with calculation data.

A compact diode-pumped injection seeded Nd : YAG laser with resonance-detection technique

A diode pumped injection seeded single-longitudinal-mode (SLM) Nd:YAG laser is achieved by using the resonance-detection technique in Q-switching operation. The pulsed oscillator laser uses a folded cavity to achieve compact construction. This system operates at 100 Hz and provides over 20 mJ/pulse of single-frequency 1064 nm output. The M-2 values of horizontal and vertical axes are 1.58 and 1.41, respectively. The probability of putting out single-longitudinal-mode pulses is 100%. The 355 nm laser output produced by frequency tripling has a linewidth less than 200 MHz. The laser can run over eight hours continually without mode hopping.

Stable pulse-compressed acousto-optic Q-switched fiber laser

A novel acousto-optic switch operation by a simple laser-diode pumped acousto-optic, Q-switched, ytterbium-doped, double-clad fiber laser is reported. Stable compressed Q-switched sub-40 ns pulses with a beam quality factor (M-2 = 2) are achieved at the repetition rate of 1-50 kHz. Q-switched pulses of similar to 20 mu J pulse energy and 35 as pulse width are obtained at the repetition rate of 50 kHz. Finally, a reasonable explanation of the novel Q-switched operation is presented. (c) 2007 Optical Society of America.

High-repetition-rate MHz acoustooptic Q-switched fiber laser

A simple actively Q-switched double-clad fiber laser combining an amplifying cavity is reported by using a dynamic acoustooptic Q-switching as a beam splitter. Sub-100-ns. pulses independence of the repetition rate of acoustooptic modulator are almost changeless with repetition rate varied from 50 kHz to 1.5 MHz. With 4.5-W absorbed power, 9.4-W peak-power pulses at 1.5-MHz repetition rate with 75-ns pulse duration are generated.

A study of a Q-switched double-clad ytterbium-doped fiber laser with amplifying effect

A high repetition rate ytterbium-doped double-clad (YDDC) fiber laser with amplifying effect is described by using acousto-optic modulator. The characteristic of Q-switched pulses are studied with accurate control of opening gate time of modulator. The stable Q-switched pulses with tens of nanoseconds width can be observed at high repetition rate varied from 50 kHz to 500 kHz using this laser. The stable operation area of the Q-switched fiber laser is discussed and the analysis results agree well with that of the experiment. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Welding of Al alloy plates using a novel high-average-power pulsed CO2 laser

A novel high-average-power pulsed CO2 laser with a unique electrode structure is presented. The operation of a 5-kW transverse-flow CO2 laser with the preionized pulse-train switched technique results in pulsation of the laser power, and the average laser power is about 5 kW. The characteristic of this technique is switching the preionized pulses into pulse trains so as to use the small preionized power (hundreds of watts) to control the large main-discharge power (tens of kilowatts). By this means, the cost and the complexity of the power supply are greatly reduced. The welding of LF2, LF21, LD2, and LY12 aluminum alloy plates has been successfully achieved using this laser. (c) 2005 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.

Welding of Al alloy plates using a novel high-average-power pulsed CO2 laser

A novel high-average-power pulsed CO2 laser with a unique electrode structure is presented. The operation of a 5-kW transverse-flow CO2 laser with the preionized pulse-train switched technique results in pulsation of the laser power, and the average laser power is about 5 kW. The characteristic of this technique is switching the preionized pulses into pulse trains so as to use the small preionized power (hundreds of watts) to control the large main-discharge power (tens of kilowatts). By this means, the cost and the complexity of the power supply are greatly reduced. The welding of LF2, LF21, LD2, and LY12 aluminum alloy plates has been successfully achieved using this laser. (c) 2005 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.

A new Yb-doped oxyorthosilicate laser crystal: Yb : Gd2SiO5

A new Yb-doped oxyorthosilicate laser crystal, Yb:Gd2SiO5 (Yb:GSO), has been grown by the Czochralski (Cz) method. The crystal structure was determined by means of X-ray diffraction analysis. Room temperature absorption and fluorescence spectra of Yb3+ ions in GSO crystal were measured. Then. spectroscopic parameters of Yb:GSO were calculated and compared with those of another Yb-doped oxyorthosilicate crystal Yb:YSO. Results indicated that Yb:GSO crystal seemed to be a very promising laser gain media in generating ultra-pulses and tunable solid state laser applications. As expected, the output power of 2.72 W at 1089 nm was achieved in Yb:GSO crystal with absorbed power of only 4.22 W at 976 nm, corresponding to the slope efficiency of 71.2% through the preliminary laser experiment. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Low-threshold diode-pumped Yb3+, Na+: CaF2 self-Q-switched laser

For the first time to our knowledge, the laser performance of Yb3+, Na+-codoped CaF2 single crystals was demonstrated. Self-Q-switched laser operation at 1050nm was observed for 976 nm diode pumping at room temperature. On 5 W of incident power, the repetition rate and width of the self-Q-switched pulses reached 28 kHz and 1.5 mu s, respectively. A maximal slope efficiency of 20.3% and minimal threshold absorbed pump power of 30 mW were respectively achieved with different output couplers, showing the promising application of Yb3+, Na+-codoped CaF2 crystals as compact and efficient solid-state lasers. (C) 2005 Optical Society of America.

Nano-modification inside transparent materials by femtosecond laser single beam

Periodic nanostructures along the polarization direction of light are observed inside silica glasses and tellurium dioxide single crystal after irradiation by a focused single femtosecond laser beam. Backscattering electron images of the irradiated spot inside silica glass reveal a periodic structure of stripe-like regions of similar to 20 nm width with a low oxygen concentration. In the case of the tellurium dioxide single crystal, secondary electron images within the focal spot show the formation of a periodic structure of voids with 30 nm width. Oxygen defects in a silica glass and voids in a tellurium dioxide single crystal are aligned perpendicular to the laser polarization direction. These are the smallest nanostructures below the diffraction limit of light, which are formed inside transparent materials. The phenomenon is interpreted in terms of interference between the incident light field and the electric field of electron plasma wave generated in the bulk of material.

Nanosecond nonlinear absorption in Au and Ag nanoparticles precipitated glasses induced by a femtosecond laser

We obtain Au and Ag nanoparticles precipitated in glasses by irradiation of focused femtosecond pulses, and investigate the nonlinear absorptions of the glasses by using Z-scan technique with ns pulses at 532 nm. We observe the saturable absorption behavior for An nanoparticles precipitated glasses and the reverse saturable ones for Ag ones. We also obtain, by fitting to the experimental results in the light of the local field effect near and away from the surface plasmon resonance, chi(m)((3)) = 4.5 x 10(-7) and 5.9 x 10(-8) esu for m the imaginary parts of the third-order susceptibilities for Au and Ag nanoparticles, respectively. The nonlinear response of Au nanoparticles in the glass samples arises mainly from the hot-electron contribution and the saturation of the interband transitions near the surface plasmon resonance, whereas that of Ag nanoparticles in the glass samples from the interband transitions. These show that the obtained glasses can be used as optoelectronic devices suiting for different demands. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Photoreduction of Ag+ in aluminoborate glasses induced by irradiation of a femtosecond laser

We report on photoreduction of Ag+ in aluminoborate glasses induced by irradiation of a femtosecond laser. Novel fluorescence was observed in the femtosecond laser irradiated glass when excited by a 365 nm ultraviolet lamp. Optical absorption, emission, and electron spin resonance spectra of the glass samples demonstrated that after the laser irradiation, portions of silver ions near the focused part of the laser beam inside the glass were reduced to silver atoms, which resulted in the formation of the characteristic fluorescence. The observed phenomenon may have promising applications in the fabrication of functional optical devices.

Three-dimensional micro- and nano-fabrication in transparent materials by femtosecond laser

Femtosecond pulsed lasers have been widely used for materials microprocessing. Due to their ultrashort pulse width and ultrahigh light intensity, the process is generally characterized by the nonthermal diffusion process. We observed various induced microstructures such as refractive-index-changed structures, color center defects, microvoids and microcracks in transparent materials (e.g., glasses after the femtosecond laser irradiation), and discussed the possible applications of the microstructures in the fabrication of various micro optical devices [e.g., optical waveguides, microgratings, microlenses, fiber attenuators, and three-dimensional (3D) optical memory]. In this paper, we review our recent research developments on single femtosecond-laser-induced nanostructures. We introduce the space-selective valence state manipulation of active ions, precipitation and control of metal nanoparticles and light polarization-dependent permanent nanostructures, and discuss the mechanisms and possible applications of the observed phenomena.