Amplified spontaneous emission and gain from optically pumped films of dye-doped polymers

The amplified spontaneous emission and gain characteristics of various fluorescent dyes, 2-(1,1-dimethylethyl)-6(2-(2,3,6,7-tetrahydro-1,1,7,7-tetramethyl-1H,5H-benzo[ij] quinolizin-9-1)ethenyl)-4H-pyran-4-ylidene) propanedinitrile (DCJTB) and 4-dicyanomethylene-2-methyl-6-(p-dimethyl-aminostyryl)-4H-pyran (DCM), doped in polystyrene (PS) matrices were studied and compared. It was found that DCJTB has a larger net gain, 40.72 cm(-1), a lower loss, 2.49 cm(-1), and a lower threshold, 0.16 (mJ/ pulse)/cm2, than DCM, which has a net gain of 11.95 cm(-1), a loss of 9.25 cm(-1), and a threshold of 4(mJ/pulse)/cm2. The improvement of performance in DCJTB PS films is attributed to the larger free volume of DCJTB caused by the introduction of steric spacer groups into the DCJTB molecule.     

Multimode laser emission from dye doped polymer optical fiber

Multimode laser emission is observed in a polymer optical fiber doped with a mixture of Rhodamine 6G (Rh 6G) and Rhodamine B (Rh B) dyes. Tuning of laser emission is achieved by using the mixture of dyes due to the energy transfer occurring from donor molecule (Rh 6G) to acceptor molecule (Rh B). The dye doped poly(methyl methacrylate)-based polymer optical fiber is pumped axially at one end of the fiber using a 532 nm pulsed laser beam from a Nd:YAG laser and the fluorescence emission is collected from the other end. At low pump energy levels, fluorescence emission is observed. When the energy is increased beyond a threshold value, laser emission occurs with a multimode structure. The optical feedback for the gain medium is provided by the cylindrical surface of the optical fiber, which acts as a cavity. This fact is confirmed by the mode spacing dependence on the diameter of the fiber.     

Thermo-switchable multi-wavelength laser emission from a dye-doped nematic liquid-crystal device

A sandwich-type laser device with a surface-relief grating inside was infiltrated with dye-doped nematic liquid-crystals which functioned as gain media. The surface-relief grating was fabricated by soft lithographic technique on a sol-gel derived zirconium-doped hybrid film using a polydimethyl-siloxane replica. The optical properties of the distributed feedback (DFB) resonator were modified by introducing a high refractive index layer consisting of niobium pentoxide subsequently. Thermal induced shift of amplified spontaneous emission spectrum, switching of multi-wavelength DFB laser emission and occurrence of random lasing were demonstrated.     

Spatial structure of dye-doped polymer nanoparticle laser media

The spatial structure of dye-doped polymer-nanoparticle gain media, reported to generate spatially homogeneous single-transverse-mode laser beams, has been examined by electron microscopy in the nanometer scale. It is found that the distribution of the silica nanoparticles in the laser dye-doped polymer is fairly uniform. There is some aggregation of silica particles into loose nanoclusters. However, the nanocluster dimensions are smaller than those necessary to satisfy the conditions for internal interference in the visible spectrum. This explains the absence of macroscopic spatial inhomogeneities in the emission laser beams.     

Multimode emission and optical power in a semiconductor quantum dot laser

Effect of spatial hole burning (SHB) and multi-longitudinal-mode generation on high power operation of a quantum dot (QD) laser is studied. We use a set of rate equations for confined carriers in QDs, free carriers in the optical confinement layer and photons. The threshold currents and output powers of modes are computed numerically. The power of the main mode is reduced due to lasing of higher-order modes and spatially nonuniform carrier distribution. As a new mode turns on, kinks appear in the light-current curves (LCCs) of existing modes. SHB reduces the total optical power of a laser and contributes to nonlinearity of the overall LCC. The effect is more significant when any of the parameters of the structure is close to its critical tolerable value. The LCC becomes more linear with improving QD-size uniformity or increasing surface density of QDs or cavity length.     

Microcavity effects and optically pumped lasing in single conjugated polymer nanowires

Conjugated polymers have chemically tuneable opto-electronic properties and are easily processed, making them attractive materials for photonics applications. Conjugated polymer lasers, in a variety of resonator geometries such as microcavity, micro-ring, distributed feedback and photonic bandgap structures, have been fabricated using a range of coating and imprinting techniques. Currently, one-dimensional nanowires are emerging as promising candidates for integrated, subwavelength active and passive photonic devices. We report the first observation of optically pumped lasing in single conjugated polymer nanowires. The waveguide and resonator properties of each wire are characterized in the far optical field at room temperature. The end faces of the nanowire are optically flat and the nanowire acts as a cylindrical optical cavity, exhibiting axial Fabry-Pérot mode structure in the emission spectrum. Above a threshold incident pump energy, the emission spectrum collapses to a single, sharp peak with an instrument-limited line width that is characteristic of single-mode excitonic laser action.     

Spectral and laser studies on energy transfer binary dye-doped polymer laser rods

The energy transfer mechanism of two different dyes, C450 as donor and C535 as acceptor incorporated into polymeric matrices, is investigated. The absorption and fluorescence characteristics of C450 and C535 dye-doped polymer modified with ethanol are studied. The results are compared with their respective liquid mixtures. The spectral parameters of C450 and C535 in polymer and the corresponding monomer compositions are obtained. We study the variation of gain for different acceptor concentrations whilst keeping the donor concentration fixed. The gain of acceptor with donor increased and then decreased as the acceptor concentration was increased. Both solid and liquid media showed similar trends. We also study the photobleaching of the dye-doped polymer rod under nitrogen laser excitation.     

Using two-dimensional distributed feedback for the synchronization of emission from laser active media

It is shown that two-dimensional (2D) Bragg resonance structures can be used for the synchronization of emission from a spatially developed laser active medium. Analysis of the dynamics of a laser with 2D distributed feedback shows that stationary lasing with a frequency and a spatial structure of the field close to the fundamental mode of a 2D Bragg resonator is possible in the structures with large values of the Fresnel parameter.     

Photomechanical effects in a dye-doped polymer nanocomposite

Nile Red (NR) has been widely used as a microenvironmental probe since its luminescence characteristics depend strongly on medium polarity, viscosity, and hydrophobicity. The driving source for the internal motion of NR in rigid media is an absorbed photon that induces the molecule to rotate internally, causing the matrix deformed. Reversible (elastic) deformation and irreversible (plastic) deformation will influence the twisting dynamics in a different manner. In this work, we have investigated its excited state motion in a polymer nanocomposite, wherein polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and nanodiamonds (NDs) were used as a matrix and a filler, respectively. PVA is a hydrophilic polymer having good chemical resistance, processability, and gel formation ability. Nanodiamond is a good candidate as a nanofiller for polymer composites. The elastic modulus of the polymer nanocomposite was measured by atomic force microscopy (AFM) nanoindentation and the emission lifetime of NR embedded in the polymer nanocomposite by time-resolved emission spectroscopy. Our results show that the fluorescence lifetime of NR is correlated well to the elastic modulus of polymer nanocomposite.     

Photophysics of laser dye-doped polymer membranes for laser-induced fluorescence photogrammetry

Laser-induced fluorescence target generation in dye-doped polymer films has recently been introduced as a promising alternative to more traditional photogrammetric targeting techniques for surface profiling of highly transparent or reflective membrane structures. We investigate the photophysics of these dye-doped polymers to help determine their long-term durability and suitability for laser-induced fluorescence photogrammetric targeting. These investigations included experimental analysis of the fluorescence emission pattern, spectral content, temporal lifetime, linearity, and half-life. Results are presented that reveal an emission pattern wider than normal Lambertian diffuse surface scatter, a fluorescence time constant of 6.6 ns, a pump saturation level of approximately 20 microJ/mm2, and a useful lifetime of more than 300,000 measurements. Furthermore, two demonstrations of photogrammetric measurements by laser-induced fluorescence targeting are presented, showing agreement between photogrammetric and physically measured dimensions within the measurement scatter of 100 microm.     

Optimisation of distributed feedback laser biosensors

A new integrated optical sensor chip is proposed, based on a modified distributed- feedback (DFB) semiconductor laser. The semiconductor layers of different refractive indices that comprise a laser form the basis of a waveguide sensor, where changes in the refractive index of material at the surface are sensed via changes in the evanescent field of the lasing mode. In DFB lasers, laser oscillation occurs at the Bragg wavelength. Since this is sensitive to the effective refractive index of the optical mode, the emission wavelength is sensitive to the index of a sample on the waveguide surface. Hence, lasers are modelled as planar waveguides and the effective index of the fundamental transverse electric mode is calculated as a function of index and thickness of a thin surface layer using the beam propagation method. We find that an optimised structure has a thin upper cladding layer of ~0.15 mum, which according to this model gives detection limits on test layer index and thickness resolution of 0.1 and 1.57 nm, respectively, a figure which may be further improved using two lasers in an interferometer-type configuration.     

光泵浦XeF(C-A)激光技术研究进展

综述了西北核技术研究所在光泵浦XeF(C-A)激光技术研究方面取得的成果,研制的10 J级激光器最大输出能量为18.7 J,总转换效率达到0.25%,在国际上首次实现了XeF(C-A)激光重频运行,运行频率0.1～1 Hz;描述了光泵浦源的结构和供气装置的研制;介绍了在高重频光泵浦源和激光线宽压缩研究方面的最新进展,光泵浦源最高运行频率达90 Hz,XeF(C-A)激光线宽已被压缩到1nm.     

Propagation characteristics and wavelength tuning of amplified spontaneous emission from dye-doped polymer

The propagation characteristics of amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) through a rhodamine 6 G-doped polymethyl methacrylate freestanding film waveguide were studied. This was done by shifting the excitation stripe horizontally along a transversely pumped waveguide. By this method, we could tune the ASE wavelength. The maximum tunability thus obtained was approximately 18 nm with a pump stripe length of 6 mm.     

Energy characteristics of a solid-state laser pumped by emission from a cumulative jet

St. Petersburg Mechanical Institute. Translated from Inzhenerno-fizicheskii Zhurnal, Vol. 62, No. 2, pp. 261–266, February, 1992.     

A new design of a diffused laser light optically pumped small cesium beam frequency standard

A new set-up of a small Cs clock has been successfully experimentally tested. The short-term stability (2x10(-12)) and the long-term stability (3.5x10(-13) for a day sample time) have been measured. Only one laser is needed without any frequency shift device. The light frequency shift caused by diffuse light was calculated and measured.     

Characteristics of stimulated emission from an optically pumped GaN/AlGaN double heterostructure

The luminescence properties of a GaN/Al_0.1Ga_0.9N double heterostructure grown by vapor-phase deposition from organometallic compounds are studied. When luminescence is observed from the end, the radiation intensity shows a sharply defined threshold dependence on the pump density. The threshold excitation density at T=77 K was ∼40 kW/cm² and the wavelength of the stimulated emission was λ=357 nm. The long-wavelength shift of the emission line at high pump densities may be attributed to renormalization of the band gap caused by many-particle interactions in the electron-hole plasma. Pis’ma Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 23, 53–59 (August 12, 1997)     

Photoacoustic distributed feedback laser spectroscopy on hydrogen fluoride

We have developed a photoacoustic spectrometer based on a distributed feedback (DFB) diode laser. The single-mode emission of the laser can be tuned continuously over 700 GHz enabling the precise determination of absorption line parameters. Our experiments were performed on the rotational lines P2 and P3 of the vibrational transition 2-0 (overtone) of hydrogen fluoride (HF) at 1304.534 nm and 1312.591 nm (vacuum), respectively. The pressure broadening coefficient due to elastic collisions with N(2) molecules is found to be 5.92 +/- 0.04 GHz/atm (296 K) and 5.38 +/- 0.04 GHz/atm, respectively. The Doppler linewidths turn out to be 630 +/- 40 MHz and 670 +/- 40 MHz (296 K), respectively. The pressure-induced line shifts of the absorption lines for N(2) are 540 +/- 40 MHz/ atm and 580 +/- 40 MHz/atm, respectively.     

Efficient pulsed 946-nm laser emission from Nd:YAG pumped by a titanium-doped sapphire laser

Efficient pulsed room-temperature laser emission at 946 nm is obtained from a Nd:YAG rod pumped by a Ti-doped sapphire laser in the free-running mode. Three bonded YAG rods of 3-mm diameter with different Nd concentrations and active lengths were tested. A maximum output energy of 83.5 mJ at 3 Hz was obtained with a slope efficiency of 32.3% in an end-pumping configuration.