Generation of ultrashort pulses from a neodymium glass laser system

A neodymium glass laser system capable of generating high-energy, ultrashort pulses at a convenient repetition rate is described. The effect of nonlinear frequency pulling on active mode locking is discussed. By minimizing the nonlinear frequency pulling, it is possible to routinely generate stable ~10-ps pulses at a 100-MHz repetition rate from the actively mode-locked oscillator. The regenerator amplifier increases the oscillator pulse energy to over 30 μJ at a 370-Hz repetition rate. Using intracavity self-phase modulation, the regenerative amplifier also broadens the pulse bandwidth to ~35 Å. By subsequent pulse compression while maintaining high energy, it is possible to produce 0.55-ps pulses with >10 μJ. An optical fiber pulse compressor further shortens the pulses to 30 fs (30 nJ), the shortest pulses ever generated at 1.054 μm from a neodymium laser system     

Active mode locking of broadband quantum cascade lasers

Active mode locking in broadband quantum cascade (QC) lasers with a repetition rate of about 14.3 GHz has been achieved through the modulation of the laser bias current. At low driving currents, the active mode locking in broadband QC lasers resembles the active mode locking in single-wavelength QC lasers, while at high driving currents, the mode locking properties are governed by the broad spectral gain of these lasers. At high bias currents, the active modulation excites Fabry-Perot modes across the entire gain spectrum from 6.7 to 7.4 /spl mu/m, with clear evidence of mode locking. The spectral width of the optical gain in the broadband QC lasers exceeds 2 THz and indicates the potential for generating subpicosecond pulses.     

Higher order FM mode locking for pulse-repetition-rate enhancementin actively mode-locked lasers: theory and experiment

We present a novel higher order FM mode-locked technique for active mode-locked lasers which utilizes the higher order sidebands generated by an intracavity phase modulator to establish the mode locking. The resulting mode-locked output exhibits an enhancement of the pulse repetition rate over the modulation frequency by an integral multiple. The higher order FM mode locking is studied theoretically in a laser with a homogeneous gain medium, and simple analytical expressions are obtained to characterize the output pulses. It is shown that the scheme not only enhances the pulse repetition rate but also ensures chirp-free pulses and is effective in eliminating the output pulse phase-state instability, which are commonly observed in conventional FM mode-locked lasers. The effect of group velocity dispersion and cavity nonlinearity is also investigated through numerical solution of the self-consistency equation applied to a fiber ring laser. Finally, detailed experimental results on repetition rate enhancement in fiber lasers are presented and shown to be in good agreement with the theoretical results     

Active mode locking with hybrid lasers

We present the results of a numerical study of active mode locking with hybrid lasers which contain an inhomogeneously broadened laser medium and an homogeneously broadened laser medium. The spectral, pulse, and gain characteristics of actively mode-locked hybrid lasers and the influence of the unsaturated gain, the saturation power, and the homogeneous linewidth on the pulse coherence and bandwidth are studied. The simulations show that coherent and shorter pulses are generated as compared to that by either an inhomogeneously broadened medium or a homogeneously broadened medium alone. Varying the unsaturated gain or the saturation power of the gain medium are two equivalent ways to obtain the same maximal coherent pulse bandwidth for given gain media. When different gain media can be selected, a larger pulse bandwidth can be obtained with the use of a broadband homogeneously broadened medium     

Multimode effects on the evolution and long-term stability of apassively mode-locked laser under pulsed injection locking

A multidimensional extension of the injection locking of CW lasers has been recently presented and experimentally verified when both a passively and an actively mode-locked laser were locked to injected coherent pulse trains. Harmonic injection locking of a passively mode-locked laser, where a subset of the laser cavity modes were locked to the injected signal, was also recently realized in a fiber laser to yield trains of 6-ps pulses at rates of up to 40 GHz. In this paper, the multimode injection-locking process is addressed with an emphasis on the long-term dynamics of the laser, pulse buildup under injection locking, memory effects, noise mechanism as well as potential applications, e.g., optical signal regeneration. Using a recently introduced formalism for describing passively mode-locked lasers, the experimental results are compared to numerical simulations     

40 GHz active mode-locking in a 1.5 mu m monolithic extended-cavity laser

Reports active mode locking in a monolithic long-cavity semiconductor laser, operating at 1.5 mu m wavelength. Pulses with durations of 4 ps at repetition rates up to 40 GHz have been achieved, with a modulation depth of 97%. This is the first report of active mode locking in a monolithic device, and the highest repetition rate achieved with an actively mode locked laser.<>     

利用非线性偏振旋转锁模技术产生0.7nJ, 1.5ps光脉冲

为了研究锁模光纤激光器以增益平坦型掺铒光纤放大器作为增益介质对输出特性的影响,采用增益平坦型掺铒光纤放大器结合光纤偏振控制器、偏振相关光隔离器组成锁模光纤激光器,基于非线性偏振旋转锁模技术,实现稳定、自起振锁模运转,得到了中心波长1560nm、重复频率6.495MHz、单脉冲能量0.7nJ、脉宽1.5ps的超短光脉冲。同时实验观察到峰值波长为1557nm和1570nm的双峰值波长锁模脉冲的产生。结果表明,采用增益平坦型掺铒光纤放大器替代普通掺铒光纤组成锁模光纤激光器,可获得较高单脉冲能量的超短光脉冲,锁模脉冲的输出光谱可能出现双峰结构,从而可为超短脉冲光纤激光器设计及实用化提供参考。     

同步抽运锁模的掺镱光纤激光器

同步抽运锁模是一种调制增益的锁模技术，就是调节抽运光的调制频率使之等于激光器纵模间隔的整数倍。通过对抽运光源半导体激光器的驱动电流进行正弦调制，实现了掺镱光纤激光器(YDFL)的同步抽运锁模。通过调整抽运激光器的调制频率，在相应于二次谐波锁模，4阶有理数谐波锁模条件下分别得到了较窄的脉冲输出。对重复频率625kHz的二次谐波锁模脉冲序列，脉冲宽度小于20ns，约为抽运光宽度的1／40；平均输出功率2．34mw，能量转换效率约为5％。     

Laser mode locking with addition of nonlinear index

A nonlinear index medium introduced into a passively or actively mode-locked system can lead to shorter pulses. The bandwidth limitation by gain dispersion is partially overcome by spectral broadening via the nonlinear index medium. We have found that the pulse shortening in an actively mode-locked system is limited to roughly a factor of 2 by the onset of an instability which occurs when an excessive amount of nonlinear medium is added. The instability appears as an oscillation in the pulse shape and energy. The study suggests that active mode locking of Nd YAG lasers could be improved by such means. It is also likely that the colliding pulse mode-locked system is affected by nonlinear index processes. We have found a pulse shortening of roughly the same magnitude as in the actively mode-locked system, again limited by the onset of instability.     

Short-pulse generation with broad-band tunability fromsemiconductor lasers in an external ring cavity

Short optical pulses are generated by actively mode locking semiconductor lasers in an external ring cavity with a very broad tuning range from 795 to 857 nm. The wide tunability is possible because the gain bandwidth is broadened by the use of asymmetric dual quantum wells for the semiconductor laser material. Assuming a Gaussian shape, the generated pulses have pulsewidths of 13-21 ps and spectral widths of 24.5 Å for the tuning range. The mode-locked spectrum contains almost no amplified spontaneous emission noise