Even a low failure rate means that dozens of satellites could lose control and become debris. Because they are located in an operational orbit, they pose a serious problem. Therefore, a few active debris removal (ADR) ideas have been proposed, which is to tow and de-orbit debris satellites with rescue satellites similar to tugboats for shipwrecks. In these cases, physical contact, such as towing by wire, is a prerequisite. Mechanical coupling between satellites involves risks such as the collision between satellites and loss of attitude control at the time of coupling. Since no cooperation between the two satellites is not desirable, mechanical contact is very difficult when the debris has high angular momentum. On the other hand, the contactless debris removing idea, to irradiate debris satellites with lasers and use of the laser ablation induced impulse, has been proposed. In this approach ti, is important to accumulate data on how much impulse is generated by the plasma plume produced by laser ablation in a vacuum. A compact and efficient measurement device to measure this impulse has been developed. In this study, we investigated impulses generated by a 10ns Q-switched Nd:YAG laser (1064nm) and its second harmonic generation (SHG, 532nm) using a metal as a target for laser irradiation. The results show that the fundamental (1064nm) laser of about 100W can generate enough thrust to deorbit space debris with comparable mass to a small satellite from 1000km to 500km altitude in a year. SHG can be converted to impulse more efficiently than 1064nm. The use of 532nm alone, including the SHG generation efficiency, has less impact on the impulse generation effect than the use of 1064nm fundamental alone, without SHG. It was pointed out that the energy of the Nd:YAG laser effectively uses generation of impulse when the remaining fundamental components that could not be converted to SHG could be used to irradiate to generate ablation. Although the use of SHG is not effective in terms of 1064nm fundamental power including SHG generation efficiency, it is demonstrated that the energy of the Nd:YAG laser can be efficiently utilized by using the remaining fundamental components that could not be converted to SHG.
We revisit self-difference frequency generation –– nonlinear mixing of the lasing field induced by stimulated emission with its pump source in a laser gain medium –– by employing transition-metal doped chalcogenides along with the standard birefringent phase-matching techniques for mid-infrared applications. The use of an a-cut Cr:CdSe crystal under the noncritical PM condition has significantly improved the conversion efficiency compared to the previous results obtained in a Cr:ZnSe slab with Fresnel phase-matching. To generalize the self-mixing design, the phase-matching conditions of solid solutions CdSxSe1-x doped with Cr2+ and Fe2+ ions are characterized in the mid-infrared spectral range.
We have demonstrated pulse-on-demand operation of a 2 μm AO Q-switched Tm: YAG laser. Burst pulse operation, the number of pulses in a packet, and pulse interval can be controlled by RF power modulation and pump control. The burst packet included up to 10 pulses at a pulse interval of 138 s. The pulse energy and pulse width of a single pulse in the packet were ~0.7 mJ and 70–150 ns, respectively. In addition, we have demonstrated that the envelope of the burst pulse train could be designed as required.
The Ultra Fine Sun Sensor (UFSS) on board the HINODE solar observing satellite is one of the most successful sun sensors. It is the linear CCD sun sensor with a special detection method using multiple slits, called the periodic reticle. The angular resolution of 0.14 arcsec in the noise equivalent angle (NEA) and 1 arcsec stability were achieved by the sensor head, of 1.2 kg weight. The concept of the detection method and processing algorithm of the Sun’s direction is described. The system is modeled and the dynamic response of the system is characterized by the first-order lag system. By utilizing this characteristic, a resolution improvement three times higher can be expected by adjusting the parameters with a small modification to the HINODE UFSS processing algorithm. The design for a new UFSS for the next generation solar observation satellite, SOLAR-C, shall include these modifications. The thermomechanical design is also reviewed to improve stability and a design policy is obtained.
The microscope technology with wider view field, deeper penetration depth, higher spatial resolution and higher imaging speed are required to investigate the intercellular dynamics or interactions of molecules and organs in cells or a tissue in more detail. The two-photon microscope with a near infrared (NIR) femtosecond laser is one of the technique to improve the penetration depth and spatial resolution. However, the video-rate or high-speed imaging with wide view field is difficult to perform with the conventional two-photon microscope. Because point-to-point scanning method is used in conventional one, so it’s difficult to achieve video-rate imaging. In this study, we developed a two-photon microscope with spinning disk beam scanner and femtosecond NIR fiber laser with around 10 W average power for the microscope system to achieve above requirements. The laser is consisted of an oscillator based on mode-locked Yb fiber laser, a two-stage pre-amplifier, a main amplifier based on a Yb-doped photonic crystal fiber (PCF), and a pulse compressor with a pair of gratings. The laser generates a beam with maximally 10 W average power, 300 fs pulse width and 72 MHz repetition rate. And the beam incident to a spinning beam scanner (Yokogawa Electric) optimized for two-photon imaging. By using this system, we achieved to obtain the 3D images with over 1mm-penetration depth and video-rate image with 350 x 350 um view field from the root of Arabidopsis thaliana.
Solar-pumped laser has attracted attention in the area of renewable energy creation. However, since the conversion efficiency from solar energy to laser energy is low, such lasers are not yet in practical use. In this work, we developed Nd3+,Cr3+ codoped YVO4 and CaYAlO4 crystals for solar-pumped laser. We succeeded to increase absorption at UV-VIS region with both crystals drastically. The absorption cross section of Nd,Cr:CaYAlO4 around 400 nm was more than 70 times that of Nd,Cr:YAG crystals. The fluorescence at 1 μm was observed by pumping at 400 nm. It indicates that energy transfer from Cr to Nd occurred effectively.
We report on an all-solid-state rapidly tunable pulsed coherent 6-10 μm light source achieved in an optical parametric oscillator (OPO) pumped with an electronically tuned Cr:ZnSe laser and its application to lidar remote sensing for environmental detection. We designed a lidar system using the 6-10 μm light source and a telescope with a primary mirror of 50 cm and a high-efficient HgCdTe detector. The lidar system would be a valuable system in the measurement of chemical agents in the 100-300 m.
Laser remote sensing technologies are valuable for a variety of scientific requirements. These measurement techniques
are involved in several earth science areas, including atmospheric chemistry, aerosols and clouds, wind speed and
directions, prediction of pollution, oceanic mixed layer depth, vegetation canopy height (biomass), ice sheet, surface
topography, and others. Much of these measurements have been performed from the ground to aircraft over the past
decades. To improve knowledge of these science areas with transport models (e.g. AGCM), further advances of vertical
profile are required.
JAXA collaborated with NICT and RIKEN started a new cross-sectional 3-year program to improve a technology
readiness of the critical 1-micron wavelengths from 2011. The efficient frequency conversions such as second and third
harmonic generation and optical parametric oscillation/generation are applied. A variety of elements are common issues
to lidar instruments, which includes heat rejection using high thermal conductivity materials, laser diode life time and
reliability, wavelength control, and suppression of contamination control. And the program has invested in several
critical areas including advanced laser transmitter technologies to enable science measurements and improvement of
knowledge for space-based laser diode arrays, Pockels cells, advanced nonlinear wavelength conversion technology for
space-based LIDIRs. Final goal is aim to realize 15 watt class Q-switched pulse laser over 3-year lifetime.
Always, in the atmosphere of the earth we live in is a luminous phenomenona (Fluorescence by cosmic rays,
lightning and aurora etc..) has been occurring. JEM-EUSO (Extreme Universe Space Observatory onboard
Japanese Experiment Module) experiment is the observation that aims to capture the luminous phenomenon in
earth's atmosphere from orbit. JEM-EUSO telescope observations have been using a Fresnel lens of the world's
largest. The observation area (250km radius at the sea level) is extremely larger than the telescope installed
on the ground to captures the luminous phenomenon. The main target of EUSO is to capture the fluorescence
emission caused by UHECR (Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Ray). This way that is extremely large observation area
for UHECR will be frontier for astronomical observation of charged particles for relatively near space (50Mpc).
Because JEM-EUSO observe fluorescence in the atmosphere of the earth from space, it is necessary to measure
the state of the atmosphere (cloud cover and transparency in particular) for the calibration. The infrared camera
mounted on the JEM-EUSO is used to measurement of cloud coverage and cloud top height. For the atmospheric
transparency measurement and calibration of the cloud top height, we use the LIDAR system using EUSO's
telescope and the laser. It is also possible that in addition to this, to know the state of the atmosphere based
on the background light captured by EUSO's telescope. These measurements of atmospheric conditions for the
observation of UHECRs is not only calibration data. The atmospheric observation that covers the entire ground
is the vital information in the geophysical.
Furthermore, it is possible to measure light emission by lightning or meteor that occur in the field of view
during observation of darkness in the JEM-EUSO. Expected by combining a lot of measurement, to understand
of the earth and proceed further.
A compact and high-energy pulsed mid-infrared laser using an optical parametric oscillator (OPO) has been developed
using a diode-pumped and Q-switched Tm,Ho:YAG ceramic laser with a wavelength of 2.09 μm as a pump source. A
singly-resonant OPO with a 20 mm long AgGaSe2 crystal was used, and the crystal was set at an angle normal to the
pump beam. The output idler pulse energy was up to about 200 μJ with the pump energy of about 6 mJ for both the type
I and type II phase matching conditions. The wavelength of the idler pulses was 5.97 and 6.37 μm for type I and type II,
respectively. The output characteristics predicted using a model calculation were in good agreement with the
experimental results. It is suggested that the output idler pulse energy in the experiment is limited by the surface damage
threshold of the AgGaSe2 crystal. By increasing the pump beam diameter from 1 to 3 mm (3-fold) and the pump energy
from 6 to 54 mJ (9-fold), the idler pulse energy of 1.8 mJ (= 200 μJ × 9) will be obtained without increasing the pump
intensity and without saturation of the output idler pulse energy.
We are developing a laser guide star (LGS) system for the
188-elements Adaptive Optics system (AO188) of the
Subaru telescope. In this paper we describe the results of the performance tests of the LGS system. The beam
that excites sodium atoms at 90 km altitude of the LGS is generated by the following sequence. The source
of the beam is a quasi-CW mode locked sum-frequency generating 589 nm laser. This laser beam propagates
through a diagnostics system for measuring the wavelength and the beam quality. Then it couples into a solidcore
photonic crystal fiber cable for transmitting the beam to a telescope for launching the beam (LLT: Laser
Launching Telescope). The output beam from this fiber cable is collimated by the optics mounted on the
LLT. This collimated beam is expanded by the LLT and launched into the sky. We executed several engineering
observations of the LGS system from 2009 for confirming the performance of all the components in this sequence.
We also report the quality of the LGS.
Highly reliable DUV light sources are required for semiconductor applications such as a photomask inspection. The
mask inspection for the advanced devices requires the UV lightning wavelength beyond 200 nm. By use of dual fiber
lasers as fundamental light sources and the multi-wavelength conversion we have constructed a light source of 198nm
with more than 100 mW. The first laser is Yb doped fiber laser with the wavelength of 1064 nm; the second is Er doped
fiber laser with 1560 nm. To obtain the robustness and to simplify the configuration, the fundamental lights are run in
the pulsed operation and all wavelength conversions are made in single-pass scheme. The PRFs of more than 2 MHz
are chosen as an alternative of a CW light source; such a high PRF light is equivalent to CW light for inspection
cameras. The light source is operated described as follows. Automatic weekly maintenance within an hour is done if it is
required; automatic monthly maintenance within 4 hours is done on fixed date per month; manufacturer's maintenance is
done every 6 month. Now this 198 nm light sources are equipped in the leading edge photomask inspection machines.
The feasibility of the cascaded second and third harmonic generation in two-sectioned periodically
poled lithium tantalate crystal is analyzed. Simulation using computational non-linear optical model
rigorously coupled with the thermal model suggests that 20-30 % efficiency can be achieved for 3 W
power 2.2 ns pulsed 1.064 μm laser operating at frequency 6.8x103 Hz if the crystal is composed with
optimized section lengths for: (i) 8.0 μm periodic first-order SHG structure and (ii) 6.6 μm periodic
third-order THG structure. Significant inhibition of THG efficiency can be due to the heat release of SH
and TH along the crystal, associated thermal dephasing and lenzing which can be effectively inhibited by
decreasing the crystal cross-section dimensions to the practical minimum of 200x200 μm.
Since resonant absorption of light caused by a variety of different molecular bond occurs in the mid-infrared (MIR)
wavelength region, many applications using tunable MIR lasers have been reported. However, the applicable fields of
the MIR tunable lasers have been restricted by their large size and high cost equipments. Therefore, we are developing a
compact tunable MIR laser using an optical parametric oscillator (OPO). To obtain a long term stability and a high
conversion efficiency, a diode-pumped and Q-switched Tm,Ho:YAG ceramic laser with a wavelength of 2.1 μm was
adopted for the pump source. A maximum output energy of 40 mJ was obtained with the Tm,Ho:YAG ceramic laser at a
pulse width of 150 ns and a repetition rate of 10 Hz. An experiment was performed using a singly-resonant OPO with a
ZnGeP2 crystal pumped by another OPO with a wavelength of 2.1 μm. A threshold pump fluence of 0.2 J/cm2 and a
slope efficiency of 60% were obtained at a signal and idler wavelengths of 3.3 and 5.6 μm, respectively. Using these
results and a theoretical model calculation, the maximum output energy of MIR-OPO pumped with the Tm,Ho:YAG
ceramic laser was estimated to be about 20 mJ.
Polycrystalline ceramic with activator ions has already become popular material as laser medium.
In this study, composite type rod which consisted with doped- and undoped-YAG sections was
prepared for the laser experiments. By the improvement of pumping chamber, pulse energy of 930
mJ was obtained from oscillator with TEM00 in normal pulse mode at 10 Hz at room temperature.
Giant pulse generation was carried out by inserting an AO Q-switch into the laser cavity. Because of
the limitation of surface damage thresholds on the laser rod and the mirrors, the maximum output
energy up to 21 mJ was obtained.
Integrated computational model for operation of co-doped Tm,Ho solid-state lasers is developed coupling (i) 8-level rate equations with (ii) TEM00 laser beam distribution, and (iii) complex heat dissipation model. Simulations done for Q-switched ≈0.1 J giant pulse generation by Tm,Ho:YLF laser show that ≈43 % of the 780 nm light diode side-pumped energy is directly transformed into the heat inside the crystal, whereas ≈45 % is the spontaneously emitted radiation from 3F4, 5I7 , 3H4 and 3H5 levels. In water-cooled operation this radiation is absorbed inside the thermal boundary layer where the heat transfer is dominated by heat conduction. In high-power operation the resulting temperature increase is shown to lead to (i) significant decrease in giant pulse energy and (ii) thermal lensing.
This paper reports the experimental results on the phase-matching properties of AgGaGeS4 for second-harmonic
generation (SHG) at 0.8 &mgr;m that was achieved by using the KTP optical parametric oscillator and difference-frequency
generation (DFG) at 2 and 5-12 &mgr;m that were achieved by using the dual-wavelength emitting Ti:Sapphire laser and the
Nd:YAG laser. Two AgGaGeS4 samples showed locally different phase-matching conditions which were probably
caused by the various crystal compositions. The new Sellmeier equations were constructed using the literature value of
the refractive indices and compared with the experimental data. A satisfactory agreement between the model calculation
and the experiments is obtained.
Thulium and holmium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) ceramic materials are investigated.
Compared with YAG crystal, there is hardly any spectroscopic difference between ceramic and
crystal at the same doping level. Laser oscillation was successfully carried out under quasicontinuous-
wave diode pumping. Optical-to-optical efficiency higher than 5% was achieved. It was
calculated that total absorbed power hardly changes around 783 nm with a bandwidth of about 7
nm using a diode array of 3.5-nm linewidth as a pump source.
We report an all-solid-state coherent 589 nm light source in single-pass sum-frequency generation (SFG) with actively
mode-locked Nd:YAG lasers for the realization of sodium lidar and laser guide star adaptive optics. The Nd:YAG
lasers are constructed as a LD-side-pumped configuration and are operated at 1064 and 1319 nm for 589 nm light
generation in SFG. Output powers of 16.5 and 5.3 W at 1064 and 1319 nm are obtained with two pumping chambers.
Each chamber consisted of three 80-W-LD arrays. Single transverse mode TEM00; M2 ~1.1 is achieved with adjustment
of cavity length considering thermal lens effect with increase of input LD power. The cavity length is set to
approximately 1 m. Accordingly the mode-locked lasers are operated at a repetition rate of approximately 150 MHz.
Synchronization of two pulse trains at 1064 and 1319 nm is accomplished by control of phase difference between two
radio frequencies input in acousto-optic mode-lockers. Then temporal delay is controlled with a resolution of 37
ps/degree. Pump beams are mixed in periodically poled stoichiometric lithium tantalate (PPSLT) without an
antireflection coating. The effective aperture and length of the crystal are 0.5 × 2 mm2 and 15 mm. When input intensity
is set at 5.6 MW/cm , an average output power of 4.6 W is obtained at 589.159 nm. Precise tuning to the sodium D2
line is accomplished by thermal control of etalons set in the Nd:YAG lasers. The output power at 589.159 nm is stably maintained within ±1.2% for 8 hours.
The purpose of this paper is to report on the current status of developing the new laser guide star (LGS) facility for the Subaru LGS adaptive optics (AO) system. Since two major R&D items, the 4W-class sum-frequency generating laser1 and the large-area-core photonic crystal fiber2, have been successfully cleared, we are almost ready to install the LGS facility to the Subaru Telescope. Also we report the result for LGS generation in Japan.
We are developing Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics (LGSAO) system for Subaru Telescope at Hawaii, Mauna Kea. We achieved an all-solid-state 589.159 nm laser in sum-frequency generation. Output power at 589.159 nm reached 4W in quasi-continuous-wave operation. To relay the laser beam from laser location to laser launching telescope, we used an optical fiber because the optical fiber relay is more flexible and easier than mirror train. However, nonlinear scattering effect, especially stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) and stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS), will happen when the inputted laser power increases, i.e., intensity at the fiber core exceed each threshold. In order to raise the threshold levels of each nonlinear scattering, we adopt photonic crystal fiber (PCF). Because the PCF can be made larger core than usual step index fiber (SIF), one can reduce the intensity in the core. We inputted the high power laser into the PCF whose mode field diameter (MFD) is 14 μm and the SIF whose MFD is 5 μm, and measured the transmission characteristics of them. In the case of the SIF, the SRS was happen when we inputted 2 W. On the other hand, the SRS and the SBS were not induced in the PCF even for an input power of 4 W. We also investigated polarization of the laser beam transmitting through the PCF. Because of the fact that the backscattering efficiency of exciting the sodium layer with a narrowband laser is dependent on the polarization state of the incident beam, we tried to control the polarization of the laser beam transmitted the PCF. We constructed the system which can control the polarization of input laser and measure the output polarization. The PCF showed to be able to assume as a double refraction optical device, and we found that the output polarization is controllable by injecting beam with appropriate polarization through the PCF. However, the Laser Guide Star made by the beam passed through the PCF had same brightness as the state of the polarization.
We developed a high power and high beam quality 589 nm coherent light source by sum-frequency generation in order to utilize it as a laser guide star at the Subaru telescope. The sum-frequency generation is a nonlinear frequency conversion in which two mode-locked Nd:YAG lasers oscillating at 1064 and 1319 nm mix in a nonlinear crystal to generate a wave at the sum frequency. We achieved the qualities required for the laser guide star. The power of laser is reached to 4.5 W mixing 15.65 W at 1064 nm and 4.99 W at 1319 nm when the wavelength is adjusted to 589.159 nm. The wavelength is controllable in accuracy of 0.1 pm from 589.060 and 589.170 nm. The stability of the power holds within 1.3% during seven hours operation. The transverse mode of the beam is the TEM00 and M2 of the beam is smaller than 1.2. We achieved these qualities by the following technical sources; (1) simple construction of the oscillator for high beam quality, (2) synchronization of mode-locked pulses at 1064 and 1319 nm by the control of phase difference between two radio frequencies fed to acousto-optic mode lockers, (3) precise tunability of wavelength and spectral band width, and (4) proper selection of nonlinear optical crystal. We report in this paper how we built up each technical source and how we combined those.
A novel continuous-wave blue-green laser was developed by the second-harmonic generation of the emission from Yb doped gain fiber. The laser cavity consists of a fiber Bragg grating (FBG), a gain fiber, an aspheric lens, a dichroic mirror for output coupling of second harmonic, a periodically-poled LiNbO3 (PPLN), and a high reflector. The intracavity-doubled fiber laser was pumped by a 580-mW, fiber pigtailed laser diode at 974 nm through the FBG. The Yb laser emission from the fiber end was focused onto the high reflector, providing optical feedback and forming the resonator. The PPLN was placed near the flat end mirror, where the waist is formed, in order to increase the fundamental intensity. The emission wavelength can be selected by changing the FBG within the bandwidth of the gain fiber. An FBGs for 1017.6 nm was selected for the experiment. Circulating power of the fundamental wave in the cavity was measured to be approximately 1500 mW when a 5% output coupler was placed instead of high-reflecting mirror. Stable output in excess of 30 mW at 508.8 nm was obtained. The optical-optical efficiency from the pump power to the visible output was about 5%. The fluctuation of the laser output power was less than 0.5% for more than 2 hours without a power feedback loop. The M2 value was measured to be 1.2. Wavelength-selectable lasers will be useful for applications including fluorescent microscopy, biological imaging, flow cytometry and spectroscopic analysis.
We developed the elemental technologies to construct a 1-kW, 10-kHz thin-disk laser. We obtained the wellpolarized CW output of over 900 W without any compensation optics of the birefringence error. The extinction ratio of output was over 1:140. We developed and installed the water-cooled Pockels cell into the CW laser cavity to act as a polarization rotator by applying a DC-voltage to the cell. We confirmed that the cooled cell did not create distinguished birefringence and thermal lensing over 900-W operation.
The deforming of thin-disk at high power operation was estimated by using a commercial M2 meter. We optimized the cavity configuration from the estimation results to obtain high beam quality. After the optimization, the M2 values kept up to 3.5 until the output reached to 400 W. At the 500-W output, the M2 in vertical and horizontal plane were 3.65 and 3.02, respectively.
Efficient CW laser oscillation was performed using floating zone-grown Tm:GdVO4 crystals. The measured absorption spectra of the grown crystals exhibited high absorption coefficient of 13.2 cm-1 at 799 nm for π polarization, and the absorption coefficient remained more than 4.5 cm-1 at 808 nm for both π- and σ-polarizations. Using a 808 nm single-stripe laser diode as a pump source, a slope efficiency of 38% and a threshold of 420 mW were achieved with respect to absorbed pump power at room temperature. The highest output power of 235 mW was achieved. The laser could be tuned over 20 nm with rotation of an intracavity etalon. It was demonstrated that Tm:GdVO4 is an excellent material for use in a 2 μm laser for a compact LD-pumped system.
A conductively cooled pump head with a triangular-prism laser rod is proposed and discussed. A pump absorption efficiency of ~80% and better pump intensity distribution were expected from the results of simulations. An output energy of 95 mJ and an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 10% were obtained at a pulse repetition frequency of 5 Hz in normal-mode operation. Using a fused-silica acousto-optic Q-switch, the laser produced an output energy of 21 mJ in a single Q-switched pulse. No parasitic oscillation occurred even when the laser rod with polished lateral surfaces was used in Q-switched operations.
KEYWORDS: Adaptive optics, Telescopes, Stars, Mirrors, Wavefront sensors, K band, Laser systems engineering, Wavefronts, Deformable mirrors, Control systems
The performance of the Cassegrain Adaptive Optics (AO) system of the 8.2 m Subaru Telescope is reported. The system is based on a curvature wavefront sensor with 36 photon-counting avalanche photodiode modules and a bimorph wavefront correcting deformable mirror with 36 driving electrodes. This AO system has been in service since 2002 April for two open-use instruments, an infrared camera and spectrograph (IRCS) and a coronagraph imager with adaptive optics (CIAO). The Strehl ratio in the K-band is around 0.3 when a bright guide star is available under 0".4 seeing condition. High sensitivity of the wavefront sensor allows significant improvement in the image quality, even for faint guide stars down to R=18 mag. The design of the new Nasmyth Adaptive Optics system with 188 control elements under construction is described. This new system with fivefold increase in the number of control elements will provide twice higher Strehl ratio of 0.7. To increase the sky coverage for this new system, a power laser system to produce an artificail guide star in the upper atmosphere is also under construction. The AO system with laser guide capability enables the coverage up to 80% of the entire sky and offers diffraction limited observation for almost any target in the sky. An all solid-state 4W laser to generate the sodium D line emission by summing the two YAG laser frequencies is under development. The generated laser beam is tranmitted through a photonic crystal fiber to the laser launching telescope attached at the backside of the secondary mirror. Expected performance of this laser guide Nasmyth AO system is shown.
We present the development status of the laser system for Subaru Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics System. We are manufacturing the quasi-continuous-wave sum frequency laser as a prototype. The optical efficiency of sum frequency generation normalized by the mode-locked fundamental YAG (1064 nm) laser output power is achieved to be 14 % using the non-linear crystal, periodically poled potassium titanyl phosphate (PPKTP). Output power at sodium D2 line was about 260 mW. The optical relay fiber and the laser launching telescope are also described in this paper. For the optical relay fiber, we are testing an index guided photonic crystal fiber (PCF), whose core material is filled by fused silica, and whose clad has close-packed air holes in two dimension. The coupling efficiency was evaluated as about 80 % using 1mW He-Ne laser. We introduce the design of laser launching telescope (LLT), which is a copy of VLT laser launching telescope, and the interface to the Subaru Telescope.
A high-quality gadolinium vanadate (GdVO4) crystal of 7 at.% thulium (Tm) in the starting material was grown by the Czochralski technique. The measured absorption spectra exhibited sufficient absorption coefficients for LD pumping: 6.0 cm-1 for π polarization and 6.2 cm-1 for σ polarization. Laser oscillation was carried out using single-stripe, 808-nm LDs in an end-pumping configuration. A slope efficiency of 28% and a threshold of 750 mW were exhibited with respect to the absorbed pump power. An output power of 420 mW was achieved at the absorbed power of 2.4 W. It was demonstrated that Tm:GdVO4 is actually useful material for 2-μm lasers, particularly in the compact LD-pumped system.
Micro scaled grooves and cavities are fabricated with the method of direct writing and superposing grooving in ambient air using femtosecond laser pulses and copper, aiming at establishing an industrially useful femtosecond laser processing machine to be able to fabricate three dimensional micro-scale structures, especially micro scaled molds, and processing techniques. The following items are demanded to make femtosecond laser processing machine an industrially useful tool. (1) There is no thermally influenced region around the area irradiated by the laser beam. (2) Surfaces irradiated laser beam are smooth. (3) Substances ablated to form are not attached on the surface of the work. In this study, fundamental properties of grooving and cavity processing are investigated experimentally, considering above items, especially eyeing on the items (1) and (2). As a result obtained in this research, the method of direct writing and superposing grooving havs a potential to fabricate micro scaled structure.
Rod-shaped thulium-doped gadolinium ortho-vanadate (Tm:GdVO4) crystals have been successfully grown by using the floating zone (FZ) method. The crystals grown showed good transparency and with no cracks and bubbles. Tm:GdVO4 exhibited a strong and wide absorption band around 800 nm. For p polarization of the 5 at.% sample, the absorption coefficient at 799 nm and the linewidth were 21.9 cm-1 and 6.3 nm, respectively. The strong and broad absorption remits the requirements for the LD specification.
We have developed an excitation wavelength tunable Raman system which consists of a spectrometer, a CCD detector and an electronically tuned Ti:sapphire (ETT) laser. All those components are controlled with a single computer. This system is useful for Raman excitation profile measurements. A new technique was developed to calibrate deviation of wavelengths of ETT laser from that of Raman spectrometer within +/- 1.5cm-1 of error. Obtained Raman spectra of hemoglobin measured with various excitation wavelengths in 700-860 nm range showed characteristic change of their intensities in some of Raman bands. Assignments of Raman bands were carried out sufficiently in help with change in intensity of the bands which reflect symmetric character of the responsible vibrational modes with the change in excitation wavelength.
A variety of progress concerned with an electronically tuned Ti:sapphire laser with an acousto-optic tunable filter for the purpose of spectroscopic applications are described. The major advances are that fast and random access tuning can be achieved in a tuning range of 690-1056 nm by computer control without any mechanical changes of cavity. The access speed reached to 250 microsecond(s) . The Ti:sapphire laser also provided tunable dual-wavelength operation in a single laser cavity with introducing two different radio frequencies at same time. The operation was promising as a pumping source of difference-frequency generation. Difference-frequency generation of non-mechanical tuning was realized from 6.0 to 7.1 micrometers , from 6.8 to 8.6 micrometers , and from 8.5 to 11.3 micrometers for the phase-matching angle at 58, 53, and 46 deg, respectively, using the dual-wavelength laser. Furthermore, the electronic tuning by acousto-optic tunable filter achieved broad tunable picosecond pulse generation with only computer control.
Recently, we grew organic ionic-salt crystals of 4- dimethylamino-N-methyl-4-stilbazolium-tosylate (DAST) with extremely large nonlinearity, and also realized dual wavelength oscillation of an electronically tuned Ti:Sapphire laser. In this report, the generation of a coherent THz-wave from DAST crystal was demonstrated for the first time by the difference frequency generation of a dual- wavelength oscillating Ti:Sapphire laser.
Novel ablation of wide band-gap materials such as fused quartz and GaN by multiwavelength excitation using a VUV-UV laser system is reviewed. Simultaneous irradiation of VUV and UV laser beams emitted form a VUV Raman laser presents great potential for precision from microfabrication of the materials. The mechanism and the role of VUV beams in this process are made clear on the basis of band structure. The advantages of this technique are discussed in comparison with the conventional single wavelength ablation. Furthermore, another novel ablation of glass materials using a conventional UV laser, referred to as 'laser-induced plasma assisted ablation (LIPAA)', is introduced. By LIPAA, a high quality micrograting structure is fabricated on fused quartz.
Novel ablation of wide band gap materials such as fused quartz by multiwavelength excitation using a VUV-UV laser system is reviewed. Simultaneous irradiation of VUV and UV laser beams emitted from a VUV Raman laser presents great potential for precise microfabrication of the materials. The mechanism and the role of VUV beams in this process are made clear on the basis of band structure. Furthermore, the advantages of this technique are discussed in comparison with the conventional single wavelength ablation. This technique is applied to selected area removal of SiO2 films on Al lines for repair of Si integrated circuits.
We have investigated higher-order anti-Stokes Raman scattering with injection of Stokes or anti-Stokes pulses for the efficient generation of vacuum ultraviolet radiation. Spatial profiles of anti-Stokes pulses were modified and their energies were increased with injection of pulses with the wavelength of the first Stokes pulse to the pump pulse of the fourth harmonic of Nd:YAG laser. Enhancement factors become larger for the higher orders of anti-Stokes pulses. The shift of optimum pressure together with the change of profile from ring to Gaussian-like shape induced by injection explains that the enhancement effect is due to adjustment of phase matching condition for anti-Stokes generation.
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