Diode-pumped and packaged acoustooptically tunableTi:Er:LiNbO3 waveguide laser of wide tuning range

Design, fabrication, and properties of an acoustooptically tunable Ti:Er:LiNbO₃ waveguide laser of up to 31-nm tuning range in the wavelength band 1530 nm<λ<1575 nm are discussed. The laser cavity is formed by an Au mirror and a dielectric mirror as output coupler, both vacuum-deposited on the polished waveguide endfaces. As tunable intracavity wavelength filter with zero frequency shift, two monolithically integrated single-stage acoustooptical TE-TM-mode converters are used together with two polarization splitters operated as TE- and TM-pass polarizers, respectively. The minimum threshold of about 54 mW (coupled) pump power is obtained at λ≈1561-nm emission wavelength for diode laser pumping at λ_p≈1480 nm. With about 110-mW coupled pump power, up to 320-μW output power is achieved; the emission linewidth is 0.3 nm     

Fluorescence and laser operation in single-mode Ti-diffusedNd:MgO:LiNbO3 waveguide structures

The spectral properties of the guided-wave Nd fluorescence and results of laser oscillation in Ti-indiffused single-mode Nd:MgO:LiNbO ₃ waveguides and waveguide cavities, respectively, are reported. The splitting and polarization behavior of the fluorescence lines around 0.9, 1.08, and 1.37 μm were studied. Using a single-mode diode laser as a pump source (λ_p=814.6 nm), an oscillation threshold in an 8-mm-long structure of 2.1-mW absorbed pump power has been obtained. An output power up to 310 μW (limited by the available pump power), a slope efficiency of 16% at power levels >150 μW, and an emission linewidth of 0.21 nm (at λ_s=1085 nm) have been measured     

Optimal pump wavelength in the4I15/2-4I13/2 absorption band for efficient Er3+-doped fiberamplifiers

The authors report the measured gain of a highly efficient erbium-doped fiber amplifier pumped at wavelengths between 1.46 and 1.51 μm. The optimal pump wavelength, λ_opt, was determined to be 1.475 μm. At this wavelength, the maximum gain coefficients for signals at 1.531 and 1.544 μm were 2.3 and 2.6 dB/mW, respectively. At λ_opt, high gains ranging from 32 dB at pump power P_p=20 mW up to 40 dB at P _p=80 mW were obtained. These modest pump powers are within the capabilities of currently available 1.48-μm diode lasers. The width about λ_opt for 3-dB gain variation exceeded 27 nm for P_p=10 mW and 40 nm for P_p >20 mW. With this weak dependence on pump wavelength, single-longitudinal-mode lasers do not have a significant advantage over practical Fabry-Perot multimode pump lasers     

On the operational and manufacturing tolerances of GaAs-AlAs MQWmodulators

We approach the question of optimization of surface-normal p-i(multiquantum-well, MQW)-n modulators from the viewpoint of investigating their tolerance to variations in wavelength and temperature and errors in manufacture. The reflection characteristics of two high-quality samples are carefully processed to eliminate Fabry-Perot fringes, and then their spectra at any bias are characterized with six phenomenological parameters which depend on λ₀, the zero-field exciton position. The two GaAs-AlAs samples have λ₀'s of 833.8 and 842.3 nm, and so cover a range useful for modulators designed to operate near 850 nm in the normally reflecting condition, i.e., reflection decreases with field. A linear interpolation of the parameters of these two samples is used to predict the behavior of MQW diodes with λ₀'s around this range, and so a fully comprehensive examination of normally reflecting MQW modulators is performed. The performance aspect that is examined is contrast ratio as a function of nonuniformities in the devices or operating conditions given a voltage swing of 3 V. There are two operational modes discussed. If the voltage offset of the bias is allowed to vary via a feedback circuit, a contrast of 2:1 may be maintained over an operating wavelength change (Δλ) of 17 nm with local variations of wavelength of ±1 nm, which corresponds to a temperature variation of 60°C while allowing for variations of laser driver wavelength of ±1 nm. If feedback Is not permitted, we determine that, given tolerances to manufacturing errors, a contrast of 1.5:1 may be maintained over a wavelength range of ~5 nm by either using stacked diode designs or extremely shallow quantum wells     

Analysis of erbium-doped fiber amplifiers pumped in the4I15/2-4I13/2 band

A theoretical model for the amplifiers predicts gain coefficients of around 2 dB per milliwatt of launched pump power, in close agreement with previously reported measurements. The model is also used to determine the optimal pump wavelength λ_opt that maximizes the amplifier gain. It is shown that the latter is insensitive to pump detuning near λ_opt=1.48 μm, within a 20 nm range, which indicates that broadband, multimode laser diode pump sources and pumps with narrow linewidths should yield identical gain performance     

Coherent frequency-domain reflectometry for characterization ofsingle-mode integrated-optical waveguides

Based on the principles of optical frequency domain reflectometry (OFDR), a highly resolving and sensitive technique suitable for detecting, localizing, and quantifying weakly reflecting irregularities in single-mode optical waveguides is developed. A distributed feedback (DFB)-laser diode at λ₀≅1.3 μm tuned within a range of Δλ≅6 nm and Δv≅1 THz, respectively, is used as a source in the experimental arrangement. An auxiliary interferometer is employed so that the tuning need not be linear in time, in contrast to early implementations. At present, with waveguide structures on InP under test, a spatial resolution of 50 μm and a dynamic range of about 60 dB are obtained. These data surpass OFDR results published so far. Prospects of closing the gap to coherence-domain reflectometric results and specific advantages make OFDR a promising technique     

High-resolution OCDR for testing integrated-optical waveguides:dispersion-corrupted experimental data corrected by a numericalalgorithm

A numerical algorithm is presented and applied to dispersion-corrupted experimental data taken by coherence domain reflectometric (OCDR) measurements. It results in a retrieval of micrometer resolution and an enhanced dynamic range. High-resolution OCDR measurements may be seriously impaired by dispersion effects in the waveguides under test and rugged source spectra. In the investigation (Ti:LiNbO₃ single-mode waveguide, 16 mm long; superluminescent diode source at λ₀=820 nm) the spatial resolution progressively deteriorates along the waveguide by about one order of magnitude (from 6 to 60 μm). The algorithm was applied to the experimental data and successfully removed the dispersive broadening of the signatures     

Low degradation rate in strained InGaAs/AlGaAs single quantum welllasers

A 10000 h, 30°C constant-current lifetest performed on five strained In_0.2Ga_0.8As/AlGaAs single-quantum-well lasers, with λ~930 nm, is discussed. The devices are 90-μm×400-μm oxide-stripe lasers with facet coatings, grown by atmospheric pressure organometallic vapor-phase epitaxy. For each diode, the current was maintained at a constant value of ~300 mA, corresponding to approximately 100 mW of output power. After 10⁴ h, thresholds increased from an average of 84 mA to 108 mA, while quantum efficiencies were essentially unchanged. In relation to a typical 100-mW constant-power lifetest, this is equivalent to a degradation rate of less than 1%/kh     

Limitation of the Kirchhoff boundary conditions for aerial imagesimulation in 157-nm optical lithography

The aerial images of half-wavelength features with 0° and 180° phases obtained by using the Kirchhoff boundary conditions are compared with those obtained by using rigorous electromagnetic field computation for 248-nm lithography and 157-nm lithography. The discrepancies between the aerial images computed by the two methods are large at both wavelengths, but they are much larger for TM polarization at the wavelength λ=157 nm. These discrepancies are due to diffraction effects in the aperture regions, which are more pronounced at λ=157 nm because of the larger ratio of the thickness of the chromium absorber to the wavelength required at λ=157 nm for a given attenuation factor. This shows that diffraction effects in the aperture regions must be included when simulating aerial images in 157-nm lithography     

Acoustically tunable wavelength filter with gain

The first integrated optical amplifying acoustically tunable wavelength filter in Er-doped LiNbO₃ is reported. At the signal wavelength of λ_s=1531 nm a maximum gain of 4.8 dB has been obtained with a coupled pump power of 160 mW (λ_p =1484 nm). Lossless signal transmittance has been achieved with a pump power as low as 13.5 mW for λ_s>1561 nm     

High-nonlinearity fiber optical parametric amplifier with periodicdispersion compensation

Theory shows that the maximum gain and bandwidth of one-pump fiber optical parametric amplifiers made from high-nonlinearity fiber, operated with a pump wavelength λ_p far from the fiber zero-dispersion wavelength λ₀ can greatly be improved by periodic dispersion compensation. We have performed experiments and obtained good agreement with theory: for λ_p=1542 and λ₀=1591 nm, we have increased the bandwidth from 7 to 28 nm, and the maximum gain from 15 to 20 dB, by splicing three pieces of standard fiber at regular intervals in a 40-m long nonlinear fiber     

Continuous wave, Q-switched and mode-locked operation of alaser-pumped Nd:LNA laser

A linear cavity Nd:LNA laser pumped by a Ti:sapphire laser was investigated in a continuous wave (CW), Q-switched and mode-locked regime. A parallel study using a Nd:YAG crystal was also conducted using the same optics and intercavity elements. The slope efficiencies obtained with a 5% output coupler in CW operation are 41 and 55% for Nd:LNA (λ~1.054 nm) and Nd:YAG (λ~1.065 nm), respectively. Mode locking was achieved with a 360-MHz intracavity phase modulator and led to a relative improvement of the Nd:LNA versus the Nd:YAG device. In the Q-switched mode with an intracavity acoustooptic modulator, the performance of the two lasers is almost identical. With 300 mW of absorbed pump power at λ~800 nm, peak powers ~130 W were achieved in a 65-ns pulse with a 5% output coupler     

Microcollimated laser diode with low wavefront aberration

A microcollimated laser diode (MCLD) utilizing a 1-mm short focal length, φ0.5-mm small diameter micro Fresnel lens (MFL) as the collimating lens is discussed. The MCLD is assembled with a 780-nm quantum-well laser diode dice and an MFL in the smallest commercially available laser package. The radiated laser beam from the MCLD has a power of higher than 2 mW at 50 mA driving current, a φ2 mm beam diameter with a nearly Gaussian intensity profile, and a low wavefront aberration of less than λ/14 (RMS value) measured at a 1-m distance     

CW radio-frequency excited white-light He-Cd+ laser

We report on the design and performance of a continuous-wave transverse capacitively coupled radio-frequency excited He-Cd⁺ laser, which is capable of simultaneously delivering stable, tens-milliwatt power output at the three primary spectral lines blue: (λ=441.6 nm), green (λ=533.7 nm and λ=537.8 nm), and red (λ=635.5 nm and λ=636.0 nm). Mixing these lines can result in the laser beam featured by a wide band of colors, including white color. The radio-frequency discharge, that excited the He-Cd mixture inside an alumina ceramic tube (400 mm length and 4 mm inner diameter) inserted into the fused silica tubing, operated between 400 mm long and 4 mm wide outer electrodes. Transformation of the radio-frequency discharge impedance to the 50-Ω output resistance of the radiofrequency generator and symmetrization of the radio-frequency voltage were performed by a special matching circuit. Under single-line operation the He-Cd⁺ laser output powers of 60 mW, 38 mW and 14 mW were obtained for the blue, green and red lines, respectively, at an input radio-frequency power of 400 W. Owing to the power interaction between the laser oscillations at red and green higher laser output powers in red and green are possible under multi-line operation. At optimum conditions the white-light laser output power of about 60 mW is obtainable from the laser tube of 40 cm active length. The rms noise-to-signal ratio (lower than 0.4%) of the laser output power of the radio-frequency excited He-Cd⁺ laser was comparable to that of hollow cathode He-Cd⁺ lasers and much lower than that of conventional positive column He-Cd⁺ lasers. The presented laser has exhibited stable operation for more than 400 hours, showing ability to become a long life laser     

Integrated optical spectrum analyzer with internal gain

The first scanning integrated optical spectrum analyzer (IOSA) with resolution enhancement due to intracavity loss compensation in an amplifying Ti:Er:LiNbO₃-waveguide is reported. The active IOSA of about 1.423 GHz free spectral range has been diode-pumped at λ_p=1479 nm (E_p∥c) slightly below the lasing threshold at 1531 nm (P_p,th≅40 mW). Linear scanning of the cavity resonances has been achieved by driving the phase modulator (U_x≅10.4 V) with a sawtooth voltage. A finesse up to 205 has been achieved at λ_s≅1546 nm     

High T0 long-wavelength InGaAsN quantum-well lasersgrown by GSMBE using a solid arsenic source

We demonstrate high performance, λ=1.3- and 1.4-μm wavelength InGaAsN-GaAs-InGaP quantum-well (QW) lasers grown lattice-matched to GaAs substrates by gas source molecular beam epitaxy (GSMBE) using a solid As source. Threshold current densities of 1.15 and 1.85 kA/cm² at λ=1.3 and 1.4 μm, respectively, were obtained for the lasers with a 7-μm ridge width and a 3-mm-long cavity. Internal quantum efficiencies of 82% and 52% were obtained for λ=1.3 and 1.4 μm emission, respectively, indicating that nonradiative processes are significantly reduced in the quantum well at λ=1.3 μm due to reduced N-H complex formation. These Fabry-Perot lasers also show high characteristic temperatures of T₀ =122 K and 100 K at λ=1.3 and 1.4 μm, respectively, as well as a low emission wavelength temperature dependence of (0.39±0.01) nm/°C over a temperature range of from 10°C to 60°C     

Room temperature pulsed operation of 1.5 μm GaInAsP/InPvertical-cavity surface-emitting laser

Room-temperature pulsed operation of a GaInAsP/InP vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser diode (VCSELD) with an emission wavelength near 1.55 μm is reported. A double heterostructure with a 34-pair GaInAsP (λ_g=1.4 μm)/InP distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) was grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). The measured reflectivity of the semiconductor DBR is over 97% and threshold current is 260 mA for a 40-μmφ device with a 0.88-μm-thick active layer. Threshold current density is as low as 21 kA/cm² at room temperature     

Laser ablation of anisotropic conductive adhesive

A laser ablation process has been developed and optimized for the rework of anisotropic conducting adhesive bonds. Ablative photodecomposition of the adhesive matrix and simultaneous removal of the conductive particles is a dry, controllable, and readily implemented alternative for removal of these materials and preparation of the substrate for reprocessing. The ultraviolet absorption spectrum was evaluated, and ablation results evaluated at both λ=193 nm and λ=248 nm. The λ=193 nm wavelength was determined to be optimal for complete adhesive removal and minimal thermal damage to the substrate. A systematic evaluation of the fluence level, angle of incidence, and cumulative exposure established the parameter range between complete adhesive removal and substrate damage. The surface topology of reworked samples showed little change from the original, but a resistance increase was observed for the rebonded circuits. This process appears superior to competing methods because it is both dry and restores the bonding surface to nearly original condition     

Fiber-coupling-operated orthogonal-linear-polarization Nd:YAGmicrochip laser: photothermal beat-frequency stabilization andinterferometric displacement measurement application

The Nd³⁺:YAG microchip laser is operated at orthogonal-linear-polarized two frequencies (λ=1.06 μm). A low crosstalk of 10^-4 is accomplished by means of the fiber-coupled laser diode pumping. The effect of another fiber-coupled laser diode irradiation on the beat frequency is investigated in terms of photothermally induced stress. The beat frequency of typically 100 MHz is stabilized within ±1 MHz by means of the photothermal feedback control of the cavity stress. The utility of the laser in heterodyne interferometric displacement measurement with a good linearity and high resolution is demonstrated     

Single-longitudinal-mode operation of DFB lasers in gain-switchedoperating conditions

Single-longitudinal-mode operation under a gain-switched condition, generating 20 ps optical pulses, has been attained in DFB lasers emitting at 1.3 μm wavelength. It has been clarified that Δλ, which is the difference between the DFB wavelength and the gain peak wavelength, plays an important role in stable single-mode operation. The optimum range of Δλ wave found to be in the range from -15 nm to 0 nm