Picosecond pulse amplification in tapered-waveguide laser-diodeamplifiers

The amplification characteristics of picosecond Gaussian pulses in conventional nontapered and both linear and exponential tapered-waveguide (TW) laser-diode amplifier (LDA) structures have been studied. The analysis is based on numerical simulation of the rate equation which also takes into account the effect of lateral carrier density distribution. The amount of pulse distortion experienced within the amplifier for input pulses having energies E_in=0.1 E_sat(in)=0.475 pJ (where E_sat(in) is the input saturation energy of the amplifier) and E_in=E_sat(in) =4.75 pJ have been analyzed for each structure which has a length of 900 μm and an input width of 1 μm. It has been found that the TW-LDA provides higher gain saturation and hence imposes less distortion on the amplified pulse as compared with a conventional nontapered LDA. The amplified 10-ps pulse used in this study experiences almost no broadening in the TW-LDA, whereas it suffers from broadening in the conventional nontapered LDA. The carrier density distribution and the dependence of the amplifier gain on the input pulse energy have also been studied for both nontapered and tapered amplifier structures. For example, in a TW-LDA with an output width of 20 μm and a length of 900 μm, the exponential structure provides 9-dB improvement in saturation energy as compared with the conventional amplifier. This improvement is about 10.5 dB in linear TW-LDAs     

An ultra-line-narrowed high-power F/sub 2/ laser for dioptric design microlithography exposure tools

An ultra-line-narrowed high-power and high-repetition rate F/sub 2/ laser system has been developed for 157-nm microlithography exposure tools with dioptric projection design. The injection locked system (ILS) consists of a low-power seed laser with ultra-narrow spectral linewidth and a high-gain amplifier. More than 25-W output power, a spectral linewidth below 0.2 pm full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) and an energy stability (3-sigma) below 10% have been obtained at a 5-kHz repetition rate and for a delay time range between the two laser stages of about 15 ns. Directly compared with a master oscillator power amplifier system, the ILS had a better performance related to output energy, energy stability, and laser pulse duration.     

Analytical expressions for the FM and AM responses of an integratedlaser-modulator

The need for low-chirp and compact transmitters for high-bit-rate optical links has led to the development of integrated laser electroabsorption modulators (ILM). We have investigated feedback effects inducing frequency chirp by developing a model treating the ILM as a whole and obtained analytical expressions of the FM and AM responses. The variation of the frequency chirp with the residual facet reflectivity of the modulator section is calculated. The model predicts the unusual peak in the measured frequency responses and has been used to define design rules     

Simulation and design of integrated femtosecond passively mode-locked semiconductor ring lasers including integrated passive pulse shaping components

In this paper, a model is presented for the simulation of integrated passively mode-locked InP-InGaAsP ring laser systems that include active components such as an amplifier and saturable absorber, and passive components that can be frequency dispersive. These dispersive components can have a complex frequency dependence, such as arrayed waveguide gratings (AWGs). The model is a lumped-element model that is used as a design tool for developing integrated femtosecond pulse sources with internal dispersion control. Simulations based on an InP/InGaAsP amplifier and absorber show the possibility of laser designs that are able to generate pulses with pulse durations down to 300 fs in the 1550-nm wavelength range. The designs are based on femtosecond laser systems in bulk and fiber optics that are published in the literature. The femtosecond laser sources presented here can be realized using existing InP-InGaAsP active-passive integration technology.     

Low-heat high-power scaling using InGaAs-diode-pumped Yb:YAG lasers

We report to our knowledge the highest to date quasi-CW output power, 600 W and pulse energy, >1 J, for an InGaAs diode-pumped Yb:YAG laser. In separate preliminary results, we have also obtained 225 W of average output power under true CW diode pumping. This performance was obtained using a laser head designed to be part of a master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) operating at 3 kW. We summarize why the diode-pumped Yb:YAG crystal laser is ideal for scaling to high average powers and the different approaches being pursued. We also report our latest results for side-pumped rod devices     

Picosecond pulse amplification in AlGaAs flared amplifiers

Amplification of ultrashort pulses in a semiconductor flared amplifier is analyzed by using a two dimensional (2-D) time-domain BPM (beam propagation method) model including the effects of gain saturation, finite-gain bandwidth, self-phase modulation, index dispersion, carrier heating, and gain relaxation between successive pulses induced by carrier diffusion and recombination. The paper includes a presentation of the model and of the numerical resolution method, detailed analysis and discussion of the spatio-temporal pulse distortions in the case of picosecond and subpicosecond pulses and an evaluation of the device performance. The performance of the flared amplifier is evaluated considering the temporal length, the time-bandwidth product, the far field, the output energy as a function of the input energy, the injected current, and the repetition rate. While subpicosecond pulse amplification leads to strong distortions and to very low total gain, the flared amplifier is well adapted to the amplification of picosecond pulses at low-repetition rates     

High-power broad-area tapered amplifier with a monolithicallyintegrated output focusing lens at 0.98-μm wavelength

We have demonstrated a 0.98-μm wavelength tapered broad-area amplifier with a monolithically integrated aspherical waveguide lens. CW output exceeding 1 W from the amplifier-lens chip was measured with 10 mW input from a 0.98-μm diode laser. The integrated semiconductor waveguide lens focused the amplifier output to a 8 μm×3 μm spot, which was measured at output power up to about 0.5 W, corresponding to 2.5 times the diffraction limit The beam propagation method was used to model the integrated amplifier-lens chip, and the calculated focal distances agree with the experiment to within 5%. The integrated lens may be used for output coupling to a single mode fiber with the requirement that the focal point should be positioned on the output facet. Based on BPM simulation, however, the focal point position becomes uncritical if a single mode output waveguide is integrated. Our results indicate that the waveguiding lens is a useful component for the design of high-power photonic integrated circuits     

Ce3+:LiCaAlF6 crystal for high-gain orhigh-peak-power amplification of ultraviolet femtosecond pulses and newpotential ultraviolet gain medium: Ce3+:LiSr0.8Ca0.2AlF6

To develop high-peak-power ultrashort pulse laser systems in the ultraviolet region, a large Ce³⁺:LiCaAlF₆ (Ce:LiCAF) crystal, a tunable ultraviolet laser medium with large saturation fluence and broad gain spectrum width, was grown successfully with a diameter of more than 70 mm. To demonstrate high small signal gain, a four-pass confocal amplifier with 60 dB gain and 54 μJ output energy was constructed. Chirped pulse amplification (CPA) in the ultraviolet region was demonstrated using Ce:LiCAF for higher energy extraction. A modified bow-tie-style four-pass amplifier pumped by 100-mJ 266-nm 10-Hz pulses from a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser had 370-times gain and delivered 6-mJ 290-nm pulses. After dispersion compensation, the output pulses can be compressed down to 115 fs. This is the first ultraviolet, all-solid-state high-peak-power CPA laser system using ultraviolet gain media, and this demonstration shows further scalability of the Ce:LiCAF CPA system. Additionally, a new gain medium, Ce³⁺ :LiSr_0.8Ca_0.2AlF₆, with longer fluorescence lifetime and sufficient gain spectrum width over 18 nm was grown to upgrade this system as a candidate for a final power amplifier gain module     

Gain stabilization in a quantum‐dot semiconductor optical amplifier using tapered waveguide structure

In this paper, transient gain of a quantum‐dot semiconductor optical amplifier (QD‐SOA) is studied. Waveguide of the QD‐SOA is considered to have a tapered structure in which width of the waveguide increases along the QD‐SOA. It is observed that by employing tapered waveguide, gain as the key feature of the device acquires more stability, investigated by studying the impact of a powerful optical pulse on the gain as it passes through the amplifier. Thus, by gradually increasing the width of the waveguide along QD‐SOA active region, drop in the gain, caused by the strong pulse, decreases. Transient gain of the device is obtained for several outputs to input width ratios. It is demonstrated that as the width ratio increases, gain stability improves drastically; as for width ratio of 10, stability increases over 10 times compared with the generic QD‐SOA. In addition to the gain, cross‐gain modulation as a nonlinear process, which depends on the gain instability imposed by strong pulses, is studied. In this paper, the rate equations are employed for modeling tapered waveguide QD‐SOA. MATLAB ODE (MathWorks, MA, USA) along with the finite difference method is used for studying and simulating the device. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

脉冲激光清洗瓷式绝缘子表面污秽温度场和应力场分析

脉冲激光清洗技术具有运行成本低和可控性好等优点,已开始应用于瓷式绝缘子表面的污秽清除。脉冲能量密度太大,会造成瓷绝缘子的损伤。能量密度过小,直接影响清洗效率。文中以瓷式绝缘子及表面污秽为对象,通过建立有限元模型,分析不同能量密度脉冲激光下瓷式绝缘子表面温度和应力随距离变化的规律,研究脉冲激光清洗瓷式绝缘子的表面污秽清洗机制,确定最佳清洗能量密度。结果表明,能量密度为1.18 J/cm^2到2.01 J/cm^2的脉冲激光清洗瓷式绝缘子时,绝缘子表面温度远小于其气化温度;脉冲能量密度为1.41 J/cm^2时,表面最大的应力小于且接近瓷式绝缘子的抗拉强度,在不损伤基底的前提下此脉冲能量密度清污效率最高。研究成果为脉冲激光清洗瓷式绝缘子能量密度选择提供了重要依据。     

脉冲激光波形和能量对多棒极型激光触发空开关性能影响的实验研究

研究了脉冲波形对自行设计的多棒极型激光触发真空开关的时延、抖动和最低导通电压等参量的影响.理论分析并且实验研究了单峰脉冲与双峰脉冲在开关的触发阶段和导通阶段对主电路导通特性的影响.结果证明相同能量且脉宽较短的单峰脉冲导致的时延、抖动均比双峰脉冲小,两者最低导通电压相等,为优化触发激光脉冲波形提供依据和参考.通过改变照射的单峰脉冲能量,并且用场致发射扫描电子显微镜观测,研究了不同能量脉冲对靶电极质量损耗以及成分损耗比例的区别,为进一步提高靶电极寿命提供依据和参考.     

激光回波小信号宽带放大器设计

设计了一款激光回波小信号宽带低噪声放大器。选用低噪声、高带宽电流反馈型差分运算放大器THS4509,采用两级放大电路结构以获得较大的放大倍数,利用传输线变压器实现输出信号由双端到单端转换。为减小噪声,采用过渡带特性最好的椭圆低通滤波器滤除带外噪声。经实验验证,该放大器具有40 dB放大倍数、120 MHz带宽和小于10 mV(pp)的系统噪声,能对各种反射率条件下不同目标反射回的微弱激光小信号进行有效放大,较好地解决了远距离和低反射率目标物体测距问题,实际测试测距量程可达450 m。     

Self-starting 6.5-fs pulses from a Ti:sapphire laser using asemiconductor saturable absorber and double chirped mirrors

We demonstrate self-starting 6.5-fs pulses from a Kerr-lens-mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser with an average output power of 200 mW at a pulse repetition rate of 86 MHz. We have achieved a mode-locking buildup time of only 60 μs, using a broad-band semiconductor saturable absorber mirror to initiate the pulse formation. The dispersion has been compensated with a prism pair in combination with improved double-chirped mirrors. The prism pair allows for the flexible adjustment of both the duration and the center wavelength of the pulse. The double-chirped mirrors show a high reflectivity better than 99.8% over the full bandwidth of 300 nm and a controlled group delay over more than 250 nm. The choice of a proper output coupler turns out to be critical for ultrashort pulse generation directly from the laser     

InGaAs Quantum-Dot Mode-Locked Laser Diodes

This paper presents a selection of recent advances on two-section passively mode-locked InGaAs-based quantum-dot laser diodes. Pulse generation is demonstrated for repetition rates ranging from 310 MHz to 240 GHz, and with pulse durations ranging from the picosecond to the sub-400 fs regime. Mode-locking trends in these devices are discussed, and device performance improvements in terms of pulse duration, output power, and noise properties are presented. Design rules for reducing the pulse duration, increasing the output power, and improving noise performance are outlined. Implementation of tapered waveguide structures yields significant performance improvements, allowing the simultaneous achievement of ultrashort, Fourier-limited pulse generation with low amplitude noise, low timing jitter, and narrow RF linewidths.      

脉冲激光测距主放电路设计

针对脉冲激光测距精度散布较大的问题,通过对单管构成的主放电路和基于高速运放构成的主放电路的对比分析,分别选择了以2N3904晶体三极管和AD8009运算放大器作为放大器件组成放大电路,确定了电路外围参数。在不同放大倍数、脉宽的条件下,实现了对于APD前置放大回波的二次放大,使放大后的信号能被后续的时刻鉴别电路检测。实验及仿真结果表明,单管放大电路在带宽、响应速度、信噪比方面均比运放具有更好的特性,有利于提高脉冲激光测距系统的精度。     

Ultrahigh-frequency self-pulsations under gain-switching modulationin 1.5-μm dynamical single-mode monolithic compound-cavitysemiconductor lasers: Experiment and theory

The generation of 50-130-GHz high-frequency self-pulsations in ultrafast gain-switched InGaAs-InGaAsP dynamical single-mode monolithic compound-cavity lasers is studied in this paper. With various cavity lengths, the dependence of the pulsation frequency on the length of the respective cavity is shown and analyzed in detail. To explain the observed phenomena, a dynamic theory of the semiconductor laser amplifier is described which takes into account the coherent time-dependent amplification, shortening, and reflection of an incident picosecond optical pulse in the gain-switched amplifier. With the presented model, the theoretical simulation results agree well with the experimental observations     

大口径高功率激光能量测量吸收体研究

高峰值功率能量测量中吸收体的选择,将影响到高功率激光能量计测量准确性。设计了一种大口径高峰值功率体吸收型激光能量测量探头,利用有限元软件,对激光能量测量光热转换的相关过程进行了模拟研究,研究表明对400 mm×400 mm口径、1053 nm波长、3 nm脉宽、3000 J量级单脉冲激光能量测量,选择吸收系数在400～600 m^-1的玻璃作为吸收体最为合理。     

Diode array pumped kilowatt laser

The diode array pumped kilowatt laser (DAPKL) has demonstrated more than an order of magnitude increase in brightness and average power for short pulse diode-pumped solid-state lasers since its inception in 1991. Significant advances in component technology have been demonstrated, including: development of a diffusion bonding process for producing large slabs of Nd:YAG laser material. Phase conjugation by stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) has been demonstrated with high reflectivity and fidelity in a simple focused geometry with input powers of 100 W. Pulse energies at 1.06 μm of 10 J have been demonstrated with a beam quality of 1.5 times diffraction limited at the 500-W level. An average power of 875 W at 100 Hz has been obtained. Efficient frequency doubling with a record power of 165 W has been demonstrated with 5 J per pulse at 0.53 μm. Work is ongoing to enclose the system in a compact brassboard with improved performance and long term stability     

Femtosecond self- and cross-phase modulation in semiconductor laseramplifiers

We present detailed derivation of our new model for femtosecond pulse amplification in semiconductor laser amplifiers. The various dynamic nonlinear terms of gain compression and associated self-phase modulation are derived semiphenomenologically, and are discussed physically. Included are the effects of carrier depletion, carrier heating and spectral hole-burning, as well as linear and two photon absorption and the instantaneous nonlinear index. Additionally, we account for dynamically changing gain curvature and slope. We apply the theory to strong signal cross-phase-cross-gain modulation experiments with ~500 fs pulses in a broad area GaAs amplifier and show that the model accurately describes the observed complex phenomena. We also present experimental results on single beam strong signal amplification in two different quantum-well amplifiers using 150-200 fs duration pulses. For such pulse lengths, carrier heating becomes an integrating nonlinearity and its self-phase modulation is similar to that due to carrier depletion. Additionally, since the pulse spectrum is broad, the gain slope and curvature shift and narrow it. The resultant spectral distortions are very different than observed (and modeled) earlier for the ~500 fs pulses. The model is again able to correctly describe the evolution of these ultrashort pulses, indicating that it remains valid, even though pulse durations approach the intraband relaxation time     

Phase-controlled amplification of few-cycle laser pulses

Intense ultrashort waveforms of light that can be produced with an exactly predetermined electromagnetic field are essential in a number of applications of extreme nonlinear optics, most prominently in laser-driven sources of high-energy attosecond radiation. Field reproducibility in each laser shot requires stabilization of the carrier-envelope phase. The authors analyze different schemes of phase-stable pulse amplification and identify constraints limiting the precision with which the phase can be maintained. Next, they describe a phase-stabilized laser system based on a 20-fs multipass Ti:sapphire amplifier supplemented with a fiber compression stage for producing pulses in the few-cycle regime. It is shown that the amplifier introduces only a slow millihertz phase drift and, therefore, can be seeded by a standard phase-stabilized oscillator. This residual phase drift is assigned primarily to the beam pointing instability and can be precompensated in the phase-control loop of the seed oscillator using a feedback signal from a phase detector placed in the amplifier output. The phase stability of the resultant 5-fs 400-/spl mu/J pulses at a 1-kHz repetition rate is subsequently independently verified by higher order harmonic generation, in which different carrier-envelope phase settings are shown, both theoretically and experimentally, to produce distinctly different spectral shapes of the XUV radiation. From a series of such spectral patterns, the authors succeed in calibrating the value of the carrier envelope phase (with a /spl plusmn//spl pi/ ambiguity), which in turn allows them to fully characterize the temporal structure of the electric field of the laser pulses. The estimated precision of the phase control on the XUV target is better than /spl pi//5, which reduces the timing jitter between the driving laser pulse and the XUV bursts to /spl sim/ 250 as and opens the way to generate stable isolated attosecond pulses.