A simple method for the simultaneous inscription of two spectrally separated fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) with a femtosecond laser at the same spatial spot is presented. The inscription setup consists of the following elements, i.e., an amplified near-IR femtosecond laser, two identical Phase-Masks (PM), two cylindrical focusing lenses, a negative defocusing spherical lens and a 50%:50% beam splitter. The inscription beam is divided into two equal beams each containing ~50% of the energy by means of a beam splitter. Each beam is then focused on the same spatial spot of the optical fiber through a 2140 nm period PM and a cylindrical lens. One beam is focused from one side, while the other beam is focused on the same spot, but from the opposite side. This ensures the simultaneous inscription of two FBGs at the same spatial spot. The wavelength separation is achieved by defocusing one of the beams with a negative spherical lens. The transmission and reflection spectrum of the two FBGs are measured. The center Bragg wavelength of the shorter FBG is ~1548.6 nm, and the center Bragg wavelength of the longer FBG is ~1553.9 nm or ~1550.4 nm when using a defocusing lens of −400 mm or −1000 mm, respectively, in the second inscription beam path. The measured transmission dip of all FBGs is greater than −4 dB.
An array of four fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) is inscribed at the same spot with a single uniform phase-mask (PM). The inscription setup consists of an 800 nm femtosecond laser, a PM, a defocusing spherical lens and a cylindrical focusing lens. The wavelength tunability of the center Bragg wavelength is achieved by a defocusing lens, and by PM translation. An FBG is inscribed, followed by three cascaded FBGs, which are inscribed exactly at the same spot, only after a movement of the PM. The second order Bragg grating array at ~1.55 µm transmission spectra of these four FBGs is measured, showing a spectral shift of ~1.8 nm between each one, and a total spectral shift of ~5.4 nm. The transmission dip of each FBG is approximately −6 dB. The third order Bragg grating array at ~1.04 µm transmission spectra shows a transmission dip of approximately −3 dB, a wavelength separation of ~1.2 nm between each one, and a total wavelength shift of ~3.6 nm.
This article focuses on electro-optical modulators and in particularly it concerns a high efficiency modulator based on a multi-taper coupler. The advantages achieved by adding a modulator located on the multi-taper are: increasing the efficiency, bandwidth, versatility and decreasing the propagation loss while decreasing the connection gate and the location on the PIC, all due to the Multi-Taper coupling sensitivity. Numerical simulations will show the feasibility of changing the coupling efficiency dramatically by a small change on the multi-taper coupler, where coupling efficiency changes dramatically, from 3dB loss up to 38dB loss. The fabrication process will be shown for manufacturing the multi-taper modulator.
Wavelength conversion of 1065nm ns pulses in SF6- and CF4-filled photonic bandgap fiber is investigated. We obtain record conversion efficiency to the first stokes of ~70% in a 6m long fiber and observe polarization-dependent efficiency.
In recent years, there has been a growing interest towards compact high peak-power pulsed laser sources for applications such as LIDAR, range findings, remote sensing, communications and material processing.
A common laser architecture used to realize these sources is the Master Oscillator Power Amplifier (MOPA), in which a master oscillator produces a highly coherent beam and a fiber amplifier boosts the output power, while preserving its main spectral properties.
Phosphate glasses are recognized to be an ideal host material for engineering the amplification stage of a pulsed MOPA since they enable extremely high doping levels of rare-earth ions to be incorporated in the glass matrix without clustering, thus allowing the fabrication of compact active devices with high gain per unit length.
With the aim of realizing compact optical fiber amplifiers operating at 1 and 1.5 µm, a series of highly Yb3+- and Yb3+/Er3+-doped custom phosphate glass compositions were designed and fabricated to be used as active materials for the core of the amplifiers. Suitable cladding glass compositions were explored and final core/cladding glass pairs were selected to realize single-mode and multi-mode optical fibers.
Core and cladding glasses were synthesized by melt-quenching technique. The core glass was then cast into a cylindrical mold to form a rod, while the cladding glass was shaped into a tube by rotational casting method or extrusion technique. The latter has been extensively employed for the manufacturing of tellurite and germanate glass preforms, but only recently the first example of active phosphate fiber preform fabricated by this method has been reported by our research team.
Phosphate fibers were then manufactured by preform drawing, with the preform being obtained by the rod-in-tube technique.
Preliminary results of pulsed optical amplification at 1 and 1.5 µm are presented for a single-stage MOPA.
Two slightly shifted wavelength gratings are inscribed one over the other in a single mode fiber by shifting the phasemask between two positions. The inscription setup includes a NIR femtosecond laser, a phase-mask, a defocusing spherical lens and a cylindrical focusing lens. A first fiber Bragg grating (FBG) is inscribed, while the second overlapping FBG is inscribed only after a slight shift of the phase-mask, enabling a slight wavelength shift. The transmission spectrum of the complex structure is like that of a phase shifted grating, while the inscription process is very fast and simple compared to other standard methods. A high-quality phase shifted grating with two −20 dB transmission dips, a 15 dB transmission peak with a 30 pm transmission bandwidth at 3 dB is achieved. It is also observed that this phase shifted grating structure is birefringent.
This article focuses on optical connectivity and coupling efficiency to and in between waveguides. We present numerical simulation results of our proposed multitaper (MT) high efficiency coupler that indicates low coupling losses and robustness to misalignment coupling errors. We obtained an absolute coupling loss of 0.85-dB coupling into a silicon waveguide and an improvement of 19 dB in vertical misalignment and 13 dB in angular misalignment, compared with existing coupling techniques. We conclude that using the MT, high efficiency coupling can be achieved while the dimensions and geometry can be adjusted and optimized for the specific configuration.
Lead extraction (LE) is necessary for patients who are suffering from a related infection, or in opening venous occlusions that prevent the insertion of additional lead. In severe cases of fibrous encapsulation of the lead within a vein, laser-based cardiac LE has become one of the foremost methods of removal. In cases where the laser radiation (typically at 308 nm wavelength) interacts with the vein wall rather than with the fibrotic lesion, severe injury and subsequent bleeding may occur. Selective tissue ablation was previously demonstrated by a laser operating in the UV regime; however, it requires the use of sensitizers (e.g.: tetracycline). In this study, we present a preliminary examination of efficacy and safety aspects in the use of a nanosecond-pulsed solid-state laser radiation, at 355 nm wavelength, guided in a catheter consisting of optical fibers, in LE. Specifically, we demonstrate a correlation between the tissue elasticity and the catheter advancement rate, in ex-vivo experiments. Our results indicate a selectivity property for specific parameters of the laser radiation and catheter design. The selectivity is attributed to differences in the mechanical properties of the fibrotic tissue and a normal vein wall, leading to a different photomechanical response of the tissue’s extracellular matrix. Furthermore, we performed successful in-vivo animal trials, providing a basic proof of concept for using the suggested scheme in LE. Selective operation using a 355 nm laser may reduce the risk of blood vessel perforation as well as the incidence of major adverse events.
A multitaper (MT) coupler is fabricated on a silicon chip for light coupling with high efficiency and resistance to fabrication errors. Other coupling techniques such as a single taper are less efficient and prone to fabrication errors. The dimensions of the MT can be optimized for a specific coupling geometry and can span sizes from several nanometers up to several microns.
KEYWORDS: Resonators, Laser resonators, Gas lasers, Mirrors, Near field, Modes of laser operation, Carbon monoxide, Chemical elements, Laser stabilization, Reflectivity
We demonstrate an approach for stabilizing the transverse mode structure in cases where there is strong coupling between the longitudinal and the transverse modes. In this approach, an intracavity phase element that discriminates and selects a specific transverse mode is inserted into the laser resonator. We show that the discrimination can be so strong that the selection of the single transverse mode remains stable despite changes of the resonator length. We calculated the ratio of the small-signal gain and the gain threshold value for the fundamental and (1,0) Hermite-Gaussian modes, as function of a tiny change &Dgr;z of the resonator length, with and without the phase element. Without the phase element, the tiny change of the axial coordinate z of one of the mirrors of CO2 laser leads to periodical change of different transverse modes. Introducing intracavity phase element preserves a single transverse mode, which is kept practically unchanged with the change of the axial coordinate z, except for a slight periodical change of the output power and the beam quality, due to the periodicity of the resonance conditions.
A simple method for obtaining a nearly Gaussian laser beam from a high order Hermite-Gaussian mode is presented. The method is based on separating the equal lobes of the high order mode and combining them together coherently. The method was experimentally verified with an arrangement of three mirrors, a 50% beam splitter and a phase tuning plate. The beam quality factor calculated in x-direction for the resulting output beam is 1.045, being very close to that of ideal Gaussian beam. The calculated power leakage is only 1.5%. The experimental near-field and far-field intensity distributions of the output beam have nearly Gaussian cross sections in both the x and y directions, with M2x=1.34 and M2y=1.32. With some modifications, it is possible to obtain an output beam with M2x=1.15 and no power leakage.
Raymond Boxman, Samuel Goldsmith, Amir Ben-Shalom, Larissa Kaplan, David Arbilly, Evgeny Gidalevich, Vladimir Zhitomirsky, Amiel Ishaya, Michael Keidar, Isak Beilis
The cathode spot vacuum produces a jet of highly ionized plasma plus a spray of liquid droplets, both consisting of cathode material. The droplets are filtered from the plasma by passing the plasma through a curved, magnetic duct. A radial magnetic field may be applied to the face of the cathode to rotate and distribute the cathode spots in order to obtain even erosion and avoid local overheating.
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