We investigated in-band pumping of Tm,Ho,Lu:CaGdAlO4 (CALGO) using a Raman shifted Er-fiber laser (1678 nm) in the continuous-wave (CW) and mode-locked (ML) regimes. The 6-mm long, antireflection-coated, a-cut CALGO was doped with 4.48at.% Tm (sensitizer), 0.54at.% Ho (emission) and 5.51at.% Lu (compositional disorder). For mode-locking we employed a GaSb SESAM and chirped mirrors (round-trip group-delay dispersion: -1250 fs2). Pumping with 5.5 W (unpolarized), the average output power (0.2% output coupler) was 148 mW at ⁓96 MHz. The spectrum was centered at 2071.5 nm with a FWHM of 21.5 nm (sigma-polarization) and the pulse duration was 218 fs (time-bandwidth product: 0.327).
We report on polarized spectroscopic properties of Ho3+ ions in orthorhombic (sp. gr. Pnma) yttrium orthoaluminate YAlO3 crystals for laser development at 2 μm and 3 μm. This includes polarized Raman, absorption and luminescence spectra, fluorescence lifetime measurements and Stark energy-level study. The transition intensities for Ho3+ ions are calculated using the Judd-Ofelt theory. The peak stimulated-emission cross-sections are 2.01×10-20 cm2 at 1977 nm (5 I7 → 5 I8) and 2.31×10-20 cm2 at 2918 nm (5 I6 → 5 I7) for light polarization E || b. For both transitions, pump-induced polarization-switching is expected. The fluorescence lifetimes of the 5 I7 and 5 I6 Ho3+ manifolds are 7.27 and 0.36 ms, respectively (for 1 at.% Ho3+ -doping).
We report on sub-100-fs pulse generation from a passively mode-locked laser based on a novel disordered crystal,
lanthanum calcium lithium niobium gallium garnet (LCLNGG) codoped with thulium (Tm3+) and holmium (Ho3+) ions.
In the continuous-wave regime, the Tm,Ho:LCLNGG laser generated a maximum output power of 350 mW at
2080.5 nm with a slope efficiency of 23.8%. By using a Lyot filter, the laser wavelength was continuously tuned over a
broad range of ~210 nm (1904.1 – 2114.1 nm). Soliton mode-locking was initiated and stabilized by a transmission-type
single-walled carbon nanotube saturable absorber. Pulses as short as 63 fs were obtained at a central wavelength of
2072.7 nm with an average output power of 63 mW at a pulse repetition rate of ~102.5 MHz.
A comparative study of three disordered calcium niobium gallium garnet (CNGG)-type crystals codoped with Tm3+ and Ho3+ ions is performed: (i) without host modifiers (CNGG), (ii) with Li+ cations added (CLNGG), and (iii) with Li+ and La3+ cations added (LCLNGG), all grown by the Czochralski method. The crystals exhibit inhomogeneously broadened luminescence bands extending beyond 2.1 μm. A diode-pumped Tm,Ho:LCLNGG laser generates 562 mW at 2082 nm with a slope efficiency of 17.4% and a laser threshold of 0.46 W. A continuous wavelength tuning between 1904.1 and 2121.1 nm (tuning range: 217 nm) is achieved with this new garnet compound. The Tm,Ho:LCLNGG crystal is promising for generation of ultrashort pulses from mode-locked lasers emitting above 2 μm.
We report on the first laser operation of a novel double molybdate compound, Yb:KY(MoO4)2. Single-crystals were grown by the Low Temperature Gradient (LTG) Czochralski method. The crystal structure (orthorhombic, sp. gr. Pbna – D142h) was refined with the Rietveld method. Yb:KY(MoO4)2 exhibits a layered structure leading to a strong optical anisotropy and a perfect cleavage along the (100) plane. The stimulated-emission cross-section for Yb3+ ions is 3.70×10-20 cm2 at 1008.0 nm and the emission bandwidth is 37 nm (for light polarization E ||b). Continuous-wave laser operation is achieved in a 3 at.% Yb:KY(MoO4)2 crystal plate (thickness: 286 μm) under diode pumping. The microchip laser generated a maximum output power of 0.81 W at 1021-1044 nm with a slope efficiency of 76.4% and linear polarization. Yb:KY(MoO4)2 crystal films / plates are attractive for sub-ns passively Q-switched microchip lasers and thin-disk lasers.
Tetragonal calcium rare-earth aluminates, CaLnAlO4, combine a structural disorder with good thermo-mechanical properties. We report on efficient continuous-wave (CW) and passively Q-switched (PQS) ~2-μm laser operation of a 4 at.% Tm:CaYAlO4 crystal using a compact (6-mm-long) plane-parallel cavity. The pump source was a 791 nm fibercoupled AlGaAs laser diode. The CW output power reached 5.78 W at ~1970 nm with a slope efficiency of 43.6% and a linear laser polarization. Stable PQS operation was achieved using a single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) based transmission-type saturable absorber. The PQS laser generated 2.15 W at ~1945 nm, a record-high average output power for this type of lasers. The best pulse characteristics (energy/duration) were 9.1 μJ/165 ns at a repetition rate of 235 kHz.
Ytterbium-doped transparent ceramics based on cubic garnets are promising for thin-disk lasers. 3.6 at.% Yb:Lu3Al5O12 transparent ceramics were fabricated by a solid-state reaction at 1800 °C in vacuum using Yb:Lu2O3 and Al2O3 nanopowders produced by laser ablation and their spectroscopic properties were studied. The stimulated-emission crosssection is 2.46×10-20 cm2 at 1030.2 nm. The Stark splitting of the Yb3+ multiplets was also determined. A compact CW Yb:Lu3Al5O12 ceramic laser pumped by a fiber-coupled 968 nm InGaAs laser diode generated 5.65 W at ~1031 nm with a slope efficiency of 67.2%. Using quasi-CW pumping, the peak power reached 8.83 W.
Rare-earth-doped calcium niobium gallium garnets (Ca3Nb1.5Ga3.5O12, shortly CNGG) are disordered laser materials attractive for ultrashort pulse generation. We report on the crystal growth by the Czochralski method, spectroscopy and efficient laser operation of Yb3+,Na+ and Yb3+,Na+,Li+-codoped CNGG-type crystals. Their cubic structure is confirmed by X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. The absorption / stimulated-emission cross-sections and lifetime of Yb3+ are determined. Continuous-wave (CW) laser experiments are performed in a compact cavity using a 968-nm InGaAs pump laser diode. A 11.9 at.% Yb,Na:CNGG crystal generated 3.74 W at 1069.9 nm with a slope efficiency of 56.5%. Yb,Na:CNGG is promising for sub-100-fs mode-locked lasers at ~1 μm.
Tm,Ho co-doped disordered calcium niobium gallium garnet (CNGG) crystals are investigated as a novel gain medium for mode-locked lasers near 2 μm. With a GaSb-based semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) and chirped mirrors for dispersion compensation such a laser is mode-locked at a repetition rate of 89.3 MHz. For a 5% output coupler, a maximum average output power of 157 mW is obtained with a pulse duration of 170 fs (28-nm broad spectrum centered at 2.075 μm, leading to a time-bandwidth product of 0.331). With a 0.5% output coupler, 73-fs pulses are generated at 2.061 μm with a spectral width of 62 nm (time-bandwidth product of 0.320) and an average output power of 36 mW.
Mode-locked lasers emitting ultrashort pulses in the 2-μm spectral range at high (100-MHz) repetition rates offer unique opportunities for time-resolved molecular spectroscopy and are interesting as pump/seed sources for parametric frequency down-conversion and as seeders of ultrafast regenerative laser amplifiers. Passively mode-locked lasers based on Tm3+- and Ho3+-doped bulk solid-state materials have been under development for about a decade. In 2009 we demonstrated the first steady-state operation of such a Tm:KLu(WO4)2 laser using a single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) saturable absorber (SA), generating 10-ps pulses at 1.95 μm. In 2012 this laser produced 141-fs pulses at 2.037 μm. More recently, the study of numerous active media with different SAs resulted in the generation of sub-100-fs (sub-10-optical-cycle) pulses. Materials with broad and smooth spectral gain profile were selected, naturally emitting above 2 μm to avoid water vapor absorption/dispersion effects, including anisotropic materials, strong crystal-field distortion in hosts that do not contain rare-earths, crystals with structural or compositional (i.e. mixed compounds) disorder that exhibit inhomogeneous line broadening, mixed laser ceramics, and Tm,Ho-codoping of ordered and disordered crystals and ceramics. A broad absorption band in semiconducting SWCNTs spans from 1.6 to 2.1-μm whereas the absorption of graphene extends into the mid-IR and scales for multilayers, increasing the modulation depth. Compared to GaSb-based semiconductor SA mirrors (SESAMs), the carbon nanostructures exhibit broader spectral response and can be fabricated by simpler and inexpensive techniques. Chirped mirrors were implemented for groupvelocity dispersion compensation, to generate the shortest pulses, down to 52 fs at 2.015 μm.
Monoclinic rare-earth silicates, RE2SiO5, are the promising hosts for Nd3+ doping. We have studied Nd:(Gd,Y)2SiO5, Nd:(Lu,Y)2SiO5 and Nd:Lu2SiO5 crystals for their suitability for ~1.3 μm (4F3/2 → 4I13/2) lasers. The absorption and stimulated-emission cross-section spectra were determined. The continuous-wave laser operation was studied in a compact plano-plano cavity. A b-cut Nd:(Gd,Y)2SiO5 crystal generated up to 0.75 W of linearly polarized emission at 1360.7 nm with a slope efficiency η of 16.9%. For the same crystal operated at the 4F3/2 → 4I11/2 transition, the output power reached 3.84 W at 1077.4 nm with η = 54.5% with a threshold of only 80 mW.
A mid-infrared optical parametric chirped pulse amplification (OPCPA) system generating few-cycle pulses with multi-GW peak power at a 1 kHz repetition rate is presented. The system is pumped by a high-energy 2-μm picosecond source to exploit the high nonlinearity of ZnGeP2 (ZGP) crystals for parametric amplification. Employing a dispersion management scheme based on bulk materials and a spatial light modulator pulses as short as 75 fs are obtained in the idler at a center wavelength of 5 μm. The maximum generated pulse energy of 1.2 mJ translates into a peak power of 14 GW. Moreover, damage considerations of ZGP crystals at high 2 μm pump pulse intensities in the few-ten picosecond range are explored.
The recent advances in the development of Holmium monoclinic double tungstate thin-disk lasers are reviewed. The thin-disk is based on a 250-μm-thick 3 at. % Ho:KY(WO4)2 active layer grown on a (010)-oriented KY(WO4)2 substrate. When pumped by a Tm-fiber laser at 1960 nm with a single-bounce pump geometry, the continuous-wave Ho:KY(WO4)2 thin-disk laser generates an output power of 1.01 W at 2057 nm corresponding to a slope efficiency η of 60% and a laser threshold of only 0.15 W. The thin-disk laser is passively Q-switched with a GaSb-based quantum-well semiconductor saturable absorber mirror. In this regime, it generates an average output power of 0.551 W at ~2056 nm with η = 44%. The best pulse characteristics are 4.1 μJ / 201 ns at a repetition rate of 135 kHz. The laser performance, beam quality and thermo-optic aberrations of such lasers are strongly affected by the Ho3+ doping concentration. For the 3 at.% Ho3+-doped thin-disk, the thermal lens is negative (the sensitivity factors for the two principal meridional planes are -1.7 and -0.6 m-1/W) and astigmatic. The Ho:KY(WO4)2 epitaxial structures are promising as active elements in mode-locked thin-disk lasers at ~2060 nm.
Tetragonal calcium rare-earth aluminates, CaLnAlO4, are attractive laser host crystals. The emission of Nd3+ ions at 1.3- 1.4 μm due to the 4F3/2 → 4I13/2 transition is of interest for medicine, fiber optics, and light conversion. We report on compact Nd:CaLnAlO4 lasers using a plane-plane cavity. With an a-cut 0.8 at.% Nd:CaYAlO4 crystal diode-pumped at 802 nm, a maximum continuous-wave output power of 365 mW was achieved at 1.365 & 1.390 μm corresponding to the σ-polarization. The 4F3/2 → 4I13/2 laser performance of the Nd:CaLnAlO4 crystals was compared to that from a monoclinic Nd:KGd(WO4)2. At the 4F3/2→ 4I11/2 transition (1.08 μm), a Nd:CaYAlO4 micro-laser generated multi-watt output (>4 W) with a slope efficiency of 39%.
A buried depressed-index channel waveguide with a circular cladding and a core diameter of 40 μm is fabricated in a bulk monoclinic 3 at.% Tm:KLu(WO4)2 crystal by femtosecond direct laser writing. In the continuous-wave regime, the Tm waveguide laser generates ∼210 mW at 1849.6 nm with a slope efficiency η of 40.8%. Passively Q-switched operation is achieved by inserting transmission-type 2D saturable absorbers (SAs) based on few-layer graphene and MoS2. Using the graphene-SA, a maximum average output power of ∼25 mW is generated at 1844.8 nm. The pulse characteristics (duration/energy) are 88 ns/18 nJ at a repetition rate of 1.39 MHz.
We report on the first application of a topological insulator based on antimony telluride (Sb2Te3) as a saturable absorber (SA) in a bulk microchip laser. The transmission-type SA consisted of a thin film of Sb2Te3 (thickness: 3 nm) deposited on a glass substrate by pulsed magnetron sputtering. The saturable absorption of the Sb2Te3 film was confirmed for ns-long pulses. The microchip laser was based on a Tm:GdVO4 crystal diode-pumped at ∼802 nm. In the continuous-wave regime, this laser generated 3.54 W at 1905-1921 nm with a slope efficiency η of 37%. The Q-switched laser generated a maximum average output power of 0.70 W at 1913 nm. The pulse energy and duration were 3.5 μJ and 223 ns, respectively, at a repetition rate of 200 kHz. The Sb2Te3 SAs are promising for passively Q-switched waveguide lasers at ∼2 μm.
Tetragonal rare-earth calcium aluminates, CaLnAlO4 where Ln = Gd or Y (CALGO and CALYO, respectively), are attractive laser crystal hosts due to their locally disordered structure and high thermal conductivity. In the present work, we report on highly-efficient power-scalable microchip lasers based on 8 at.% Yb:CALGO and 3 at.% Yb:CALYO crystals grown by the Czochralski method. Pumped by an InGaAs laser diode at 978 nm, the 6 mm-long Yb:CALGO microchip laser generated 7.79 W at 1057–1065 nm with a slope efficiency of η = 84% (with respect to the absorbed pump power) and an optical-to-optical efficiency of ηopt = 49%. The 3 mm-long Yb:CALYO microchip laser generated 5.06 W at 1048–1056 nm corresponding to η = 91% and ηopt = 32%. Both lasers produced linearly polarized output (σ- polarization) with an almost circular beam profile and beam quality factors M2x,y <1.1. The output performance of the developed lasers was modeled yielding a loss coefficient as low as 0.004-0.007 cm-1. The results indicate that the Yb3+- doped calcium aluminates are very promising candidates for high-peak-power passively Q-switched microchip lasers.
Absorption, stimulated-emission and gain cross-sections are determined for 3 at.% Tm:CaGdAlO4. This crystal is employed in a microchip laser diode-pumped at 802 nm. In the continuous-wave (CW) regime, this laser generates 1.16 W at 1883-1893 nm with a slope efficiency of 32% with respect to the absorbed pump power. Using a special "bandpass" output coupler, vibronic CW laser operation up to 2043 nm is achieved. For passive Q-switching of the Tm:CaGdAlO4 laser-saturable absorbers (SAs) based on CVD-grown graphene and randomly-oriented arc-discharge single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) in a PMMA film. The SWCNT-SA demonstrates superior performance. The laser produced a maximum average output power of 245 mW at 1844 nm with a slope efficiency of 8%. The latter corresponds to a pulse energy and duration of 6 μJ and 138 ns, respectively, at a repetition rate of 41 kHz. Using the graphene-SA, 2.8 μJ, 490 ns pulses are obtained at a repetition rate of 86 kHz.
We report on the growth, spectroscopic and laser characterization of a novel monoclinic laser crystal, 3.5 at.% Yb, 5.5 at.% In:KLu(WO4)2 (Yb,In:KLuW). Single-crystals of high optical quality are grown by the TSSG method. The absorption, stimulated-emission and gain cross-sections are determined for this material at room temperature with polarized light. The maximum σabs is 9.9×10-20 cm2 at 980.8 nm for light polarization E || Nm. The radiative lifetime of Yb3+ in Yb,In:KLuW is 237±5 μs. The stimulated-emission cross-sections are σSE(m) = 2.4×10-20 cm2 at 1022.4 nm and σSE(p) = 1.3×10-20 cm2 at 1039.1 nm corresponding to an emission bandwidth of >30 nm and >35 nm, respectively. A diode-pumped Ng-cut Yb,In:KLuW microchip laser generates 4.11 W at 1047-1052 nm with a slope efficiency of 78%. Passive Q-switching of a Yb,In:KLuW laser is also demonstrated. The Yb,In:KLuW crystal seems very promising for sub-100 fs mode-locked lasers.
A trigonal 5.6 at.% Yb:YAl3(BO3)4 (Yb:YAB) crystal is employed in continuous-wave (CW) and passively Q-switched microchip lasers pumped by a diode at 978 nm. Using a 3 mm-thick, c-cut Yb:YAB crystal, which has a higher pump absorption efficiency, efficient CW microchip laser operation is demonstrated. This laser generated a maximum output power of 7.18 W at 1041–1044 nm with a slope efficiency η of 67% (with respect to the absorbed pump power) and an almost diffraction-limited beam, M2x,y < 1.1. Inserting a Cr:YAG saturable absorber, stable passive Q-switching of the Yb:YAB microchip laser was obtained. The maximum average output power from the Yb:YAB/Cr:YAG laser reached 2.82 W at 1042 nm with η = 53% and a conversion efficiency with respect to the CW mode of 65% (when using a 0.7 mm-thick Cr:YAG). The latter corresponded to a pulse duration and energy of 7.1 ns / 47 μJ at a pulse repetition rate (PRR) of 60 kHz. Using a 1.3 mm-thick Cr:YAG, 2.02 W were achieved at 1041 nm corresponding to η = 38%. The pulse characteristics were 4.9 ns / 83 μJ at PRR = 24.3 kHz and the maximum peak power reached 17 kW. Yb:YAB crystals are very promising for compact sub-ns power-scalable microchip lasers.
We demonstrate passive Q-switching (PQS) of the Tm-doped BaY2F8 (Tm:BYF) laser for the first time. The Tm:BYF
laser is diode-pumped using an L-shaped hemispherical resonator. In the cw regime, the maximum output power with an
18% Tm-doped BYF crystal reached 1.12 W at ~1920 nm for an absorbed pump power of 3.06 W. In the PQS regime,
maximum pulse energy (720 μJ) and peak power (17.1 kW) were obtained with an 8% Tm-doped BYF crystal and a
Cr:ZnS saturable absorber with 92% low-signal transmission, again near 1920 nm, for a pulse width of ~40 ns and a
repetition rate of 50 Hz.
In the design of mode-locked lasers, single-walled carbon nanotube saturable absorbers (SWCNT-SAs) have emerged as important alternatives to semiconductor saturable absorber mirrors (SESAMs) due to their favorable optical
characteristics, low cost, and relatively simple fabrication scheme. Therefore, it is of great interest to explore the limits of energy scaling in solid-state lasers mode-locked with SWCNT-SAs. Due to their unique wavelength range for
biomedical applications, a room-temperature Cr4+:forsterite laser operating near 1.3 μm was used in the mode-locking experiments. The laser was end-pumped with a continuous-wave Yb-fiber laser at 1064 nm. Furthermore, a q-preserving multipass-cavity (MPC) was added to the short resonator to lower the pulse repetition rate to 4.51 MHz and to scale up the output pulse energy at low average power. The SWCNT-SA was fabricated with SWCNTs grown by the highpressure CO conversion (HiPCO) technique. With dispersion compensation optics, the net group delay dispersion of the resonator was estimated to be around -4440 fs2. When mode-locked with the SWCNT-SA, the resonator produced 10-nJ, 121-fs pulses at 1247 nm with a spectral bandwidth of 16 nm, corresponding to a time-bandwidth product of 0.37. To our knowledge, this represents the highest peak power (84 kW) generated to date from a bulk femtosecond solid-state laser, mode-locked by using a SWCNT-SA. The results also suggest that the peak power achieved in our experiments was limited only by the self-focusing in the Cr4+:forsterite gain medium and further increase in output energy should in principle be possible in other gain media mode-locked with SWCNT-SAs.
Continuous-wave (CW) lasing of Ho in KRE(WO4)2 (RE=Y, Gd, Lu) crystals has been compared using in-band
pumping by a diode pumped Tm:KLu(WO4)2 laser under identical conditions at room temperature. The three monoclinic
double tungstate hosts perform similarly with the maximum output power obtained for Ho:KY(WO4)2, 406 mW with
slope efficiency of 59.9%. For Ho:KLu(WO4)2 the maximum power reached 392 mW but the slope efficiency was
slightly higher, 61.6%. Ho:KGd(WO4)2, for which the ionic radius difference between dopant and substituted ions is
maximum, generated an output power of 368 mW with slope efficiency of 53.2%.
Passive Q-switching of a diode-pumped (Tm,Yb):KLu(WO4)2 laser, operating between 1910 and 1950 nm, has been
achieved using polycrystalline Cr2+:ZnS as a saturable absorber in a hemispherical L-shaped cavity. The dependence on
the doping levels of Tm and Yb and the low-signal absorption of the saturable absorber has been studied. The highest
average output power reached 272 mW at a repetition rate of 2.04 kHz corresponding to a pulse energy of 133 μJ. This
was achieved with (8.8 at. % Tm, 2.3 at. % Yb):KLu(WO4)2 active element and a saturable absorber with 85% lowsignal
transmission. The highest pulse energy, 148 μJ, was achieved with the same combination at lower (0.94 kHz)
repetition rate. The obtained pulse energy with the different samples is compared with theoretical analysis and the pulse
duration and peak power are estimated from the calculations.
Femtosecond mode-locked semiconductor disk lasers (SDLs) have the potential to replace rather complex, expensive
laser systems and to establish ultrashort-pulse applications outside of scientific laboratories. We report about almost
Fourier-limited pulses with a duration close to 100 fs obtained in the single-pulse regime. The SDL cavity consisted of
only three elements, an InGaAs/AlGaAs gain chip, a fast semiconductor saturable absorber mirror and an output coupler.
The pulse in our mode-locked SDL was shaped mainly by the spectro-temporal behavior of saturable absorption and gain
and the associated self-phase modulation. The group delay dispersion is small.
Pulses as short as 107 fs were generated with a spectral width of 10.2 nm (FWHM), centered at 1030 nm. This results in
a time-bandwidth product of ≈0.31, which is close to the transform-limit. The output power amounted to 3 mW at a pulse
repetition rate of 5 GHz, corresponding to fundamental mode-locking. Harmonically mode-locked SDLs are capable of
operating at much higher pulse repetition rates, which was also investigated. A maximum pulse repetition rate of 92 GHz
was achieved while preserving the pulse duration shorter than 200 fs.
Monoclinic crystals of Tm-doped KLu(WO4)2 were used to demonstrate pulsed laser operation near 2 μm. Passive Qswitching
and passive mode-locking were the techniques employed to produce such laser pulses. For passive Qswitching
we used an AlGaAs -based diode laser to pump the active elements and Cr:ZnSe and Cr:ZnS crystals as
saturable absorbers. For passive mode-locking we used a Ti:sapphire laser as pump source and single-walled carbon
nanotubes as saturable absorbers. In the former case, maximum pulse energies of 200 μJ for a pulse duration of 70 ns
were achieved at a repetition rate of 3 kHz with Cr:ZnS saturable absorber, while in the latter case, ultrashort pulse
durations of ~10 ps were measured with a maximum average power of 240 mW. In both laser regimes the oscillation
wavelength was ~1945 nm.
We demonstrate the first thin disk epitaxial Tm-laser based on the monoclinic KLu(WO4)2 with 15 at. % doping. The
doped epitaxial layer serving as an active medium is only 80 μm thick. The large absorption enables efficient pumping
with only a single double pass of the pump radiation from the diode-laser. For output coupling between 0.4% and 2.8 %,
the slope efficiency in the continuous-wave regime is in the 7-11% range and the laser threshold is 1.5...2.5 W of
absorbed pump power. The laser emission spectra are centered at ~1850, 1915 and 1940 nm for output couples of 2.8%,
1.6% and 0.4% transmission, respectively. In all cases the emission spectra are "structured", consisting of a number
(typically 5...10) of narrow emission lines spread irregularly over 15...30 nm.
We present a synthesized sub-ps dual-wavelength laser source for digital holographic interferometry with a wide
reconstruction range. The developed laser source generates two spectrally separated parts within one pulse. The sub-ps
pulse duration desensitizes the holographic setup to environmental impacts. A center wavelength distance of only 12 nm
with a high contrast was demonstrated by spectral shaping of the 50 nm broad seed spectrum of a CPA Ti:sapphire laser
system centered at 800 nm.
Time-resolved two-wavelength contouring requires the simultaneous and separable recording of two holograms. In
general, a single CCD-camera is applied, and the spectral separation is realized by different reference wave tilts, which
requires ambitious interferometric setups. Contrary to this, we introduce two CCD-cameras for digital holographic
recording, thus essentially simplifying the interferometric setup by the need of only one propagation direction of the
reference wave. To separate the holograms for the simultaneous recording process, a Mach-Zehnder interferometer was
extended by a polarization encoding sequence.
To study our approach of time-resolved digital holographic two-wavelength contouring, an adaptive fluidic PDMS-lens
with integrated piezoelectric actuator served as test object. The PDMS-lens consists of an oil-filled lens chamber and a
pump actuator. If a voltage is applied to the piezoelectric bending actuator the fluid is pumped into the lens chamber
which causes a curvature change of the 60-μm thick lens membrane and thus a shift of the focal length. The dynamic
behavior of the PDMS-lens, driven at a frequency of 1 Hz, was investigated at a frame rate of 410 frames per second.
The measured temporal change of the lens focal length between 98 and 44 mm followed the modulation of the
piezoelectric voltage with a 30 V peak-to-peak amplitude. Due to the performed time-resolved two wavelength
contouring, we are able to extract the optical path length differences between center and perimeter of the lens. From the
calculated phase difference maps we estimated large optical path differences of larger than 10 μm, corresponding to
more than 15 times of the source wavelength.
Circular and rectangular MEMS optical scanners operating at a resonance frequencies close to 1 kHz are investigated by
single-pulse digital holographic two-wavelength contouring. Coverage of the range interesting for shape measurements
of micro mechanical applications like optical scanning mirrors between 10 - 100 μm using only one laser source is a
challenging task. For this purpose, a dual-wavelength laser source was developed that generates two 12 nm and 34 nm
separated sub-picosecond pulses around 790 nm. A Twyman-Green interferometer was extended by a polarization
encoding sequence to separate the interferograms for the recording process. The two holograms were captured
simultaneously introducing two CMOS-cameras in the interferometer setup. The phase difference information of the
object within the synthetic wavelength of 40 μm was unambiguously generated and the 3D-shape calculated. To reliably
measure the surface deformation of the oscillating mirrors the evaluation of the single phase images is sufficient. The
resulting deformation of the mirrors based on the reconstructed single phase from the holograms was captured at a
wavelength of λ = 783 nm. The deduced rms-values of the surface shape of the oscillating mirrors at maximum load are
only ~50 nm, corresponding to a surface flatness of better than λ/10. This is an excellent result, keeping in mind that the
mirror plates of the optical scanners are only ~50 μm thick. These detail information from one interferogram are
combined with the coarse shape information deduced from the phase difference map of the two interferograms captured
at different wavelengths. Using two-wavelength contouring only for extracting the linear slope of the mirror and
combining this with the detail information of the single phase images yields a combined reconstruction. This provides a
much more realistic picture of the virtually vanishing deformations of the MEMS optical scanners operated at its
resonance. We are not aware of any other method that could provide equally detailed information on such a MEMS
structure while simultaneously capturing such a large amplitude of the dynamics.
We studied diode pumping of the locally disordered Yb-doped NaY(WO4)2 crystal. An a-cut 1.514-mm thick sample
(6.9 at % Yb doping or 4.52×1020 cm-3) was placed under Brewster angle in a z-shaped astigmatically compensated
cavity, without any active cooling. It was oriented for pumping and emission in π-polarization (E//c). Laser experiments
were performed applying a high brightness laser diode as a pump source. The laser diode delivered up to 2.1 W of input
power and the emission wavelength was selected in the broad absorption peak of Yb:NaY(WO4)2 around 961nm.
Continuous-wave operation in the 1-μm range was obtained for output coupler transmission between 1% and 10%. A
maximum output power of ≈180 mW and slope efficiencies up to 30%, related to the absorbed power, were achieved.
For femtosecond mode-locked operation, a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror as well as two SF10 prisms were
included in the cavity. Aligning the cavity for shortest pulses, we obtained stable passive mode-locking with pulse
durations as short as 97 fs directly from the oscillator. Applying external compression, the pulse duration could be
further reduced to 90 fs with a corresponding time-bandwidth-product of 0.321. The average output power amounted to
59 mW at a repetition rate of 90 MHz and the corresponding output spectrum was centered at 1044 nm.
High-quality crystals of KLu(WO4)2, shortly KLuW, were grown with sizes sufficient for characterization of the thermomechanical and optical properties, and substantial progress was achieved in the field of spectroscopy and laser operation with Yb3+- and Tm3+-doping. We review the properties of flux grown KLuW, the Yb3+ and Tm3+ spectroscopy, and present laser results obtained in several operational regimes both with Ti:sapphire and direct diode laser pumping using InGaAs and AlGaAs diodes near 980 and 800 nm, respectively. The slope efficiencies with respect to the absorbed pump power achieved with continuous-wave (CW) bulk and epitaxial Yb:KLuW lasers under Ti:sapphire laser pumping were ≈57 and ≈66%, respectively. Output powers as high as 3.28 W were obtained with diode pumping in a simple two-mirror cavity where the slope efficiency with respect to the incident pump power reached ≈78%. Passively Q-switched laser operation of bulk Yb:KLuW was realized with a Cr:YAG saturable absorber resulting in oscillation at ≈1031 nm with a repetition rate of 28 kHz and simultaneous Raman conversion to ≈1138 nm with maximum energies of 32.4 and 14.4 &mgr;J, respectively. The corresponding pulse durations were 1.41 and 0.71 ns. Passive mode-locking by a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) resulted in bandwidth-limited pulses with duration of 81 fs (1046 nm, 95 MHz) and 114 fs (1030 nm, 101 MHz) for bulk and epitaxial Yb:KLuW lasers, respectively. Slope efficiency as high as 69% with respect to the absorbed power and an output power of 4 W at 1950 nm were achieved with a diode-pumped Tm:KLuW laser. The tunability of this laser, under Ti:sapphire laser pumping, extended from 1800 to 1987 nm. An epitaxial Tm:KLuW laser provided slope efficiency as high as 64% and a tuning range from 1894 to 2039 nm when pumped by a Ti:sapphire laser.
We studied several crystals of Yb-doped LuVO4 with different orientations (a-cut and c-cut) in order to evaluate the
potential of this new laser material for high power continuous-wave operation using simple hemispherical cavities,
longitudinally pumped by a fiber coupled diode laser. We achieved substantial improvement with respect to previous
results in terms of output power and slope efficiency. The highest output power and optical efficiency were obtained for
the &pgr;-polarization using a-cut samples. Bistability of the input-output power characteristics in terms of a hysteresis loop
was also observed. Significant intensity fluctuations were found existing in a small operational region near the critical
point (up-threshold) of the bistability region. The heating of the crystal is reduced in the lasing state when stimulated
emission keeps the part of the radiative relaxation high in comparison to the nonradiative relaxation processes.
Among the crystalline rare earth laser hosts the isotropic sesquioxides Sc2O3, Y2O3, and Lu2O3 (cubic bixbyite structure) are known for their superior thermo-mechanical properties. Their thermal conductivity considerably exceeds that of Y3Al5O12 (YAG). Their low phonon energy ensures large energy storage times by minimizing non-radiative relaxation processes. Yb-doped sesquioxides exhibit somewhat broader absorption and emission bandwidths than Yb:YAG which is advantageous for uncritical diode laser pumping and short pulse generation. The splitting of the lower Yb3+ manifold is also larger which is important in the quasi-four-level operation scheme. Solid solutions with the isostructural Yb2O3 are possible but the observed strong lifetime quenching makes the sesquioxide hosts more suitable for laser geometries that profit from relatively low Yb concentrations. Lu2O3 is the host whose thermal conductivity is least affected by Yb-doping. The high melting point (above 2400°C) makes it difficult to grow the sesquioxides from the melt. Recently, the use of the heat-exchanger-method (HEM) allowed to considerably enhance the optical quality of the grown crystals and the available single crystal size. Here we review the properties and present laser results obtained recently with Yb-doped sesquioxide crystals in the continuous-wave (cw) and mode-locked (picosecond and femtosecond) regimes using both Ti:sapphire and diode-laser pumping. In the cw regime optical-to-optical efficiency of 62.2% and slope efficiency of 72.7% were reached with Yb:Sc2O3 operating at 1041.6 nm. Passive mode-locking of both Yb:Sc2O3 and Yb:Lu2O3 was achieved by semiconductor saturable absorber mirrors. Pulse durations of the order of 200 fs were obtained with intracavity dispersion compensation.
The strongly anisotropic monoclinic double tungstates are known for their large absorption and emission cross sections and broader spectral lines of the rare earth dopants which makes them preferable for diode pumping. In the case of Tm the position of the absorption peak near 800 nm is very suitable for pumping with AlGaAs laser diodes. For the first time to our knowledge we grew Tm-doped KLu(WO4)2 crystals with high optical quality and obtained cw laser oscillation with a commercial 20 W diode bar. Only simple beam shaping optics was used for the 802 nm pump beam. The 2.9 mm thick, uncoated, 3 at. % Tm-doped KLu(WO4)2 was studied in a nearly hemispherical 50 mm long cavity with
longitudinal pumping. Room temperature was maintained by water cooling the crystal. The sample was Ng-cut and the
oscillating polarization was parallel to the Nm optical axis. With a 3% output coupler the polarized output at 1950 nm reached 4 W for 15 W of incident pump power. The slope efficiency with respect to the absorbed pump power amounted to 69% and the maximum optical efficiency reached 47%. It is the first time such high powers were generated with Tm-doped monoclinic double tungstates.
Novel types of thin-film microoptical components have been found very advantageous for beam shaping of high-power and ultrashort-pulse lasers. Measuring techniques, nonlinear optics, materials processing, and further advanced photonic applications, will benefit from specific advantages. Compared to conventional microoptics, low dispersion and absorption as well as added degrees of freedom in structure and functionality are accessible. Single or multilayer designs, spherical and non-spherical profiles, extremely small angles, and flexible substrates enable key components for the tailoring of lasers in spatial, temporal, and spectral domain at extreme parameters. By vacuum deposition and selective etching transfer, a cost-effective fabrication of single or array-shaped refractive, reflective, or hybrid components is possible. During the last decade significant progress in this field could be achieved. Including very recent applications for spatio-temporal shaping and characterization of complex and non-stationary laser fields, the state of the art is presented here. Particular emphasis is put on the generation of localized few-cycle wavepackets from Ti:sapphire laser beams by the aid of broadband microaxicons. Special microoptics are capable of transforming vacuum ultraviolet radiation. Wavefronts of strongly divergent sources can be analyzed by advanced Shack-Hartmann sensors based on microaxicon-arrays. Single-maximum nondiffractive beams are generated by different approaches for self-apodizing systems. Prospects for future developments, like robust multichannel information processing with arrays of self-reconstructing X-pulses, are discussed.
For spatiotemporal transformation and processing of ultrashort-pulse laser beams, serious design constraints arise from dispersion and diffraction. At pulse durations in 10-fs range, temporal and spatial parameters of propagating wave packets are coupled and significant inhomogeneities appear. To enable a controlled shaping or encoding and a reliable detection or decoding with 2-D spatial resolution, specific advantages of thin-film micro-optical arrays can be exploited. Transmitting and reflecting components of extremely small conical angles are used to generate multiple nondiffracting beams and self-imaging phase patterns. With novel-type metal-dielectric microaxicons, low-dispersion reflective devices are realized. Beam propagation is simulated numerically with Rayleigh-Sommerfeld diffraction theory. For ultrafast time-space conversion, matrix processors consisting of dielectric thin-film microaxicons are tested. Transversally resolving linear and nonlinear autocorrelation techniques are applied to characterize the space-time structure of localized few-cycle wave packets shaped from Ti:sapphire laser beams at pulse durations down to 8 fs. Bessel-like X waves are generated and their propagation is studied. In combination with autocorrelation, wavefront analysis of ultrashort-pulse lasers with Bessel-Shack-Hartmann sensors operated in reflection setup is demonstrated.
Recent progress in laser beam shaping and characterization with novel-type thin-film microoptics is presented. These novel microoptical devices offer several distinctive advantages, such as a short optical path, small angles, low roughness or multilayer design. These features allow shaping of laser beams at extreme parameters with respect to spectrum, angular distribution, intensity, or pulse duration. Particular emphasis is laid on (i) hybrid components for high-power diode laser collimation, (ii) spatio-temporal shaping of localized few-cycle wavepackets, and (iii) microoptics for the vacuum ultraviolet. For the fabrication of thin-film structures, vapor deposition with shading masks was used. To improve the efficiency of diode laser collimation, spatially variable AR coatings and integrated arrays of cylindrical microlenses were developed. Arrays of Bessel-like beams were generated from sub-10-fs Ti:sapphire laser pulses by refractive and reflective microaxicons. We further demonstrated the use of microaxicon arrays for spatially resolved autocorrelation of ultrashort pulses. Deposition and etching transfer of flat VUV-structures was studied. Finally, the generation of single-maximum nondiffracting beams by self-apodizing system design is discussed.
Spatially resolved wavefront sensing and time-resolved autocorrelation measurement of ultrashort pulses are usually separated procedures. For few-cycle pulses with significant spatial inhomogeneities and poor beam quality, a fully spatio-temporal beam characterization is necessary. Here we report on a new concept for a joint two-dimensional mapping of local temporal coherence and local wavefront tilt based on the combination of collinear autocorrelation and Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensing. Essentially for this "wavefront autocorrelation" is a splitting of the beam into a matrix of Bessel-like sub-beams by an array of thin-film microaxicons. The sub-beams are further processed by a two-dimensional collinear autocorrelation setup. The second harmonic distribution of sub-beams at a defined distance is imaged onto a CCD camera. The nondiffractive sub-beams ensure an extended depth of focus and a low sensitivity towards angular misalignment or axial displacement. With low-dispersion small-angle refractive-reflective shapers, wavefront-sensing of Ti:sapphire laser wavepackets was demonstrated experimentally for the first time.
For spatio-temporal processing of ultrashort-pulse laser beams, design constraints arise from dispersion and diffraction. In sub-10-fs region, temporal and spatial coordinates of propagating wavepackets get non-separable. To enable controlled shaping and detection with spatial resolution, specific advantages of thin-film microoptical arrays are exploited. Transmitting and reflecting components of extremely small conical angles were used to generate multiple nondiffracting beams and self imaging patterns. With novel-type metal-dielectric microaxicons, low-dispersion reflective devices were realized. Beam propagation was simulated with Rayleigh-Sommerfeld diffraction theory. For time-space conversion, matrix processors consisting of thin-film microaxicons were tested. Transversally resolving linear and nonlinear autocorrelation techniques were applied to characterize the space-time-structure of localized few-cycle wavepackets shaped from Ti:sapphire laser beams at pulse durations down to 8 fs. Bessel-like X-waves were shaped and their propagation was studied. In combination with autocorrelation, wavefront analysis of ultrashort-pulse lasers with Bessel-Shack-Hartmann sensors operated in reflection setup was demonstrated.
ZnO nanocrystalline thin layers are of growing interest for ultrafast optical applications. Previous investigations delivered different values of second order susceptibilities. The quantitative contribution of grain structure - depending on fabrication procedure - is not well understood. For our investigations, pure and doped polycrystalline and amorphous ZnO thin filmes of 0.1 to 1.5 μm thickness have been prepared by spray pyrolysis and alternative techniques. Texture, thickness and further structural properties of the layer have been characterized by SEM, AFM, XRD, and optical spectroscopy. Using 20-fs Ti:Sa laser pulses centered at 800 nm, we measured the angular dependence of SHG intensity and determined second order susceptibilities. For a small range of crystallinity parameters, pronouced SHG efficiencies appear. From our experiments, design parameters for ZnO nanolayers can be derived which enable a tailoring of sandwich structures for advanced non-linear processing and femtosecond laser autocorrelation.
The growing interest on Yb-doped lasers has been underlined by creating new active materials with Yb3+ as a dopant. The anisotropic monoclinic tungstate crystals KY(WO4)2 and KGd(WO4)2 used as hosts for Yb3+ provide larger absorption and emission cross sections and smaller quantum defect than YAG. Especially for the thin disk laser concept highly doped materials with short absorption lengths are appropriate. We present continuous-wave (cw) lasing results with a 100% Yb-doped KYb(WO4)2 (KYbW), the first stoichiometric cw laser based on Yb3+ as an active ion.
The cw laser experiments were performed with a 125-μm-thin KYbW sample. The one side high-reflective-coated KYbW crystal was positioned at one end of a V-type laser activity and fixed on a new type of a holder, a "laminar laser mount", which enable direct water cooling of the pumped region of the laser crystal. A home made cw Ti:Sappphire laser served as the pump source.
CW laser oscillation was observed at a pump threshold (λpump=1025nm) of 70 mW with a slope efficiency of 21% with respect to the absorbed pump power at room temperature. The maximum output power amounted to 20 mW for a 0.3% outcoupling transmission. The emission spectrum was centered at λL=1068 nm.
Spectral interference caused by structured thin-film components has been used for shaping and characterization of few-cycle femtosecond laser beams. Array structures enable spatially resolved measurements of coherence and wavefront. The generation of spatially and temporally localized optical wavepackets with reflective and refractive axicons was demonstrated in theory and experiment.
Multilayer micro-optics combines refractive beam shaping with wavelength selective multiple interference. Layer composition and thickness distribution were optimized by advanced simulation software. Components were fabricated by mask-shaded vapor deposition with planetary rotation. Surface profiles were characterized interferometrically. For two-dimensional reflectance mapping, a high-accuracy automated system was developed. Micro-mirror arrays for self-imaging resonators, mode selective mirrors for miniaturized solid-state lasers and angular-adapted graded AR-coatings for microlenses are presented as applications.
Shading masks consisting of regular grids of thin metallic wires have been used for the vacuum deposition of micro- optical thin film components. The fabrication of cylindrical microlenses with single- and two-step procedures has been demonstrated. Refractive as well as partially reflective arrays with pitches greater than or equal to 50 micrometer have been realized with SiO2 and SiO2:HfO2 layers on glass, quartz and polymer substrates. The thickness profiles have been characterized interferometrically.
To improve the beam properties of a short-pulse KrF excimer laser (FWHM < 3.8 ns) with a low number of roundtrips (2...3) and limited magnification (< 5), unstable resonator designs have been developed. Resonators containing mirrors with super-Gaussian reflectivity distributions of different super-Gaussian orders have been investigated theoretically by beam propagation method as well as experimentally by measuring the near- and far-field beam profiles. Mirrors with radially varying multilayer systems have been fabricated by mask-shaded vacuum deposition of dielectric layers with planetary rotation of the substrate. It has been demonstrated that the (delta) -factor of the laser can be significantly improved with compact resonator configurations. For a resonator length of 400 mm, a beam spot size on the output coupler of 2 w equals 1.6 mm and a magnification of M equals 5, the optimum operation characteristics has been found for a super-Gaussian order of about k equals 10. Compared with a plane-parallel system, the (delta) -factor was enhanced by a factor of up to 7. The characteristic beam parameter M2 (times-diffraction- limited-factor) could be reduced in x- and y-directions by factors of 4 and 2, respectively. The experimental results are in good agreement with our theoretical predictions.
Physical, spectral and laser properties of anew Yb3+ doped phosphate laser glass, QX/Yb, has been developed. This glass exhibits a low thermal expansion coefficient and a negative temperature coefficient of refractive index, resulting in an acceptable athermal behavior and an excellent thermal loading capability. The peak absorption and emission cross sections of Yb3+ were measured to be 1.06 X 10-20 cm2 and 0.903 X 10-20 cm2, respectively. The concentration quenching and the influence of the OH- content on fluorescence lifetimes were examined. Excellent laser performance with a slope efficient of 49 percent and a maximum output power of 400 mW was demonstrated.
Refractive and refractive-reflective arrays of circular as well as cylindrical thin-film microlenses in linear, hexagonal and rectangular arrangements on solid glass/quartz plates and flexible polymer foils have been produced with an improved vapor-deposition technique using shading hole masks and a planetary rotation system. Up to 1000 solitary elements with pitches of 170...350 micrometers and diameters of 50...350 micrometers have been deposited on solid quartz plates and flexible polymer substrates. Focal lengths of typically 1.5...20 mm have been realized. Additional global envelope functions of phase and/or reflectance have been realized. Different types of segmented lasers including imaging and self-imaging arrays as coupling, outcoupling and focussing components have been tested. Graded reflectance micro-mirror arrays (GRMMA) have been used as refractive-reflective elements for solid-state lasers with unstable Talbot resonators which deliver arrays of phase-coupled, focused partial beams. Arrays of diode laser beamlets have been generated by optical transformers combining rod lenses (fibers) with microlens arrays. New schemes for side-on and end-on pumped solid-state lasers and fiber array lasers containing microlens arrays have been developed.
A broadband laser emission with two peaks at A. = 1,053 ,um and A. = 1,061 ,um has been obtained simultaneously by using a fiber bundle laser composed of Nd-doped phosphate-glass fibers and Nd-doped silicate-glass fibers.
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