Three-photon-excited upconversion luminescence of niobium ions doped silicate glass by a femtosecond laser irradiation

We report on the bluish green upconversion luminescence of niobium ions doped silicate glass by a femtosecond laser irradiation. The dependence of the fluorescence intensity on the pump power density of laser indicates that the conversion of infrared irradiation to visible emission is dominated by three-photon excitation process. We suggest that the charge transfer from O-2-to Nb5+ can efficiently contribute to the bluish green emission. The results indicate that transition metal ions without d electrons play an important role in fields of optics when embedded into silicate glass matrix. (C) 2008 Optical Society of America.

Valence state change and refractive index change induced by femtosecond laser irradiation in Sm3+ doped fluoroaluminate glass

We report femtosecond laser induced valence state and refractive index change in transparent Sin(3+)-doped fluoroaluminate glass. The effect of annealing on the induced changes was studied and the thermal stability of these changes was discussed. The results show that the femtosecond laser induced valence state change is more stable than the induced refractive index change. The observed phenomenon could be applied to design the thermally erasable or stable storage medium. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Self-organized microvoid array perpendicular to the femtosecond laser beam in CaF2 crystals

Microvoid arrays were self-organized when femtosecond laser beam was tightly focused at a fixed point inside CaF2 crystal sample. Except void array grown below the focal point which had been reported before, we found another void array grown vertical to the laser propagation direction. This result has potential application in the fabrication of integrated micro-optic elements and photonic crystals. The possible mechanism of the phenomenon was proposed and verified experimentally.

Blue emission from Eu2+ -doped high silica glass by near-infrared femtosecond laser irradiation

Eu2+-doped high silica glass (HSG) is fabricated by sintering porous glass which is impregnated with europium ions. Eu2+-doped HSG is revealed to yield intense blue emission excited by ultraviolet (UV) light and near-infrared femtosecond laser. The emission profile obtained by UV excitation can be well traced by near-infrared femtosecond laser. The upconversion emission excited by 800 nm femtosecond laser is considered to be related to a two-photon absorption process from the relationship between the integrated intensity and the pump power. A tentative scheme of upconverted blue emission from Eu2+-doped HSG was also proposed. The HSG materials presented herein are expected to find applications in high density optical storage and three-dimensional color displays. (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics.

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.

Study on eight-pass dual-frequency laser interferometer with nanometer precision

A new dual-frequency laser displacement measurement interferometer with nanometer precision has been developed. An eight-pass optical subdivision technology is proposed to improve resolution based on commercial interferometers. A static positioning error measuring method has been used to examine the precision and repeatability of the laser interferometer. An optical resolution of 1.24 nm and an accuracy of nanometer scale have been achieved.

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.

Modelling and simulation of the second-order Doppler error of a laser dual-frequency interferometer

Only the first- order Doppler frequency shift is considered in current laser dual- frequency interferometers; however; the second- order Doppler frequency shift should be considered when the measurement corner cube ( MCC) moves at high velocity or variable velocity because it can cause considerable error. The influence of the second- order Doppler frequency shift on interferometer error is studied in this paper, and a model of the second- order Doppler error is put forward. Moreover, the model has been simulated with both high velocity and variable velocity motion. The simulated results show that the second- order Doppler error is proportional to the velocity of the MCC when it moves with uniform motion and the measured displacement is certain. When the MCC moves with variable motion, the second- order Doppler error concerns not only velocity but also acceleration. When muzzle velocity is zero the second- order Doppler error caused by an acceleration of 0.6g can be up to 2.5 nm in 0.4 s, which is not negligible in nanometric measurement. Moreover, when the muzzle velocity is nonzero, the accelerated motion may result in a greater error and decelerated motion may result in a smaller error.