High-power xenon lamp-pumped Er:YAP pulse laser operated in free-running and acousto-optical Q-switching modes

We demonstrate a high-energy and high-power pulse laser on a xenon lamp-pumped Er:YAP crystal. The laser performance and thermal focal lengths under different working frequencies are discussed. The results show that the thermal lens effect is gradually aggravated with the increase of working frequencies, and even working at 100 Hz, a single pulse energy of 234 m J can be achieved. A maximum average power of 41.5 W is achieved with a working frequency of 20 Hz and slope efficiency of 2.82%. This output power is much higher than other xenon lamp-pumped erbium laser devices.A Q-switched laser is demonstrated by using the TeO2crystal, the maximum output energies of 11.5 m J and 3.5 m J are obtained at 50 and 100 Hz, the corresponding peak powers are 93.4 k W and 17.2 kW, respectively.The laser wavelengths and beam quality factors are also characterized in the free-running and Q-switched modes. A higher pulse energy and peak power laser could be achieved further by improving the damage threshold of TeO2acousto-optical Q-switching. All the experimental results illustrate that the xenon lamp-pumped Er:YAP laser is a promising candidate for high-power and high-frequency mid-infrared laser devices.

Acousto-Optically Q-Switched Operation of Yb:CNGG Disordered Crystal Laser

We report the repetitively Q-switched laser operation of the Yb-doped calcium niobium gallium garnet disordered garnet crystal, achieved with an acousto-optic modulator in a compact plano-concave resonator that is endpumped by a 935-nm diode laser. An average output power of 1.96 W is produced at pulse repetition rate of50 k Hz at emission wavelengths around 1035 nm, with a slope efficiency of 16%. The highest pulse energy of 269 μJ is generated at pulse repetition rate of 1 k Hz, with pulse width 12.1 ns and peak power 20.53 kW.

Transmission Characteristic Simulation of High Frequency Acousto-Optic Modulators

The way by which one can make sure the operating mode of the modulation is by observing the Comsol results of the designed model of proposed acousto-optic modulator (AOM). These results include the pressure distribution, sound pressure distribution, stress distribution at piezoelectric, far-field analysis that describes the diffracted light orders, and electric potential versus light frequency. Throughout the simulating process of modulator operating using Comsol, it begins when the RF is power by a voltage of 100 V, the light is then split into first ordered diffraction, which implies that the modulator is in the operating mode. The use of semiconductor materials is due to its smaller gap that easily transfers the energy that leads to generating first order diffraction when they provided a voltage power. It mentioned that zero order diffraction indicates the modulator does not run;other orders are appearing with increasing the frequency of light leading to decrease of the efficiency of the modulator performance.

An Advanced Multi-Band Acousto-Optical Radio-Wave Spectrometer with Multi-Channel Frequency Processing for Astrophysical Studies

We present an advanced schematic arrangement of the radio-wave spectrometer with a few parallel optical arms for processing the data flow. This arrangement includes two principal novelties. First of them consists in the proposed design, where each individual optical arm exhibits its original performances providing parallel multi-band observations within a few different scales simultaneously. These optical arms have the beam shapers providing both the needed incident light polarization and apodization to increase the dynamic range. After parallel acousto-optical processing, data flows of all the optical arms are united by the joint CCD matrix on the stage of the combined electronic data processing. The second novelty is in usage of unique wide-aperture bastron-based acousto-optical cell providing one of the best performances at the middle-frequencies (about 500 MHz) in comparison with the other available crystalline materials in this range. Such multi-band capabilities have a number of applications in astrophysical scenarios at different scales: from objects in the distant universe to planetary atmospheres in the Solar system. Thus one yields the united versatile instrument, which provides comprehensive studies of astrophysical objects simultaneously with precise synchronization in various frequency ranges.

High stability and low noise laser-diode end-pumped Nd:YAG ceramic passively Q-switched laser at 1123 nm based on a Ti_(3)C_(2)T_(x)-PVA saturable absorber

We report a high repetition frequency, high power stability and low laser noise laser-diode(LD) end-pumped Nd: YAG ceramic passively Q-switched laser at 1123 nm based on a Ti_(3)C_(2)T_(x)-polyvinyl alcohol(PVA) film as a saturable absorber(SA). A Brewster polarizer(BP) and a birefringent crystal(BC) are incorporated to enable frequency selection and filtering for the passively Q-switched 1123 nm pulsed laser to improve the power stability and reduce the noise. When the pump power is 5.1 W, an average output power of 457.9 m W is obtained, corresponding to a repetition frequency of 1.09 MHz,a pulse width of 56 ns, a spectral line width of 0.65 nm, a power instability of ±0.92%, and a laser noise of 0.89%.The successful implementation of the “Ti_(3)C_(2)T_(x)-PVA film passively Q-switching” combined with “frequency selection and filtering of BP + BC” technology path provides a valuable reference for developing pulsed laser with high repetition frequency, high stability and low noise.

Developing an Advanced Prototype of the Acousto-Optical Radio-Wave Spectrometer for Studying Star Formation in the Milky Way

The designed practically prototype of an advanced acousto-optical radio-wave spectrometer is presented in a view of its application to investigating the Milky Way star formation problems. The potential areas for observations of the cold interstellar medium, wherein such a spectrometer can be exploited successfully at different approximations, are: 1) comparison of the Milky Way case with extragalactic ones at scale of the complete galactic disk;2) global studies of the Galactic spiral arms;and 3) characterization of specific regions like molecular clouds or star clusters. These aspects allow us to suggest that similar instrument will be really useful. The developed prototype of spectrometer is able to realize multi-channel wideband parallel spectrum analysis of very-high-frequency radio-wave signals with an improved resolution power exceeding 103. It includes the 1D-acousto-optic wide-aperture cell as the input device for real-time scale data processing. Here, the current state of developing this acousto-optical spectrometer in frames of the astrophysical instrumentation is briefly discussed, and the data obtained experimentally with a tellurium dioxide crystalline acousto-optical cell are presented. Then, we describe a new technique for more precise spectrum analysis within an algorithm of the collinear wave heterodyning. It implies a two-stage integrated processing, namely, the wave heterodyning of a signal in an acoustically square-law nonlinear medium and then the optical processing in the same solid-state cell. Technical advantage of this approach lies in providing a direct multi-channel parallel processing of ultra-high-frequency radio-wave signals with the resolution power exceeding 104. This algorithm can be realized on a basis of exploiting a large-aperture effective acousto-optical cell, which operates in the Bragg regime and performs the ultra-high-frequency co-directional collinear acoustic wave heterodyning. The general concept and basic conclusions here are confirmed by proof-of-principle experiments with the specially designed cell of a new type based on a lead molybdate crystal.

LD-pumped acousto-optic 2-switched Pr:YLF pulsed laser at 604 nm

We demonstrated an actively acousto-optic Q-switched pulsed laser based on Pr:YLF at 604 nm.A 604 nm continuous-wave(CW)laser with a maximum output power of 3.84 W was achieved for the first time,to the best of our knowledge.The Q-switched laser with a maximum average output power of 0.384 W,a narrowest pulse duration of 44.5 ns,a maximum single pulse energy of~64.1μJ,and a maximum peak power of~1.44 kW was obtained at a repetition rate of 6 kHz.As far as we know,this was the first report of such a narrow pulse duration,high-power,and high-energy Q-switched pulsed laser at604 nm.The beam quality factors M_x~2and M_y~2were measured to be 2.87 and 2.40,respectively.The results show that acousto-optic Q-switching is a promising method for obtaining pulsed lasers.

An acousto-optic Q-switched fiber laser using China-made double-cladding fiber

A simple laser-diode pumped acoustic-optic Q-switched fiber laser is reported by using China-made largemode-area ytterbium-doped fiber. Q-switched pulses with a beam quality factor of M^2 ≈ 2 and several hundred nanoseconds pulse duration are achieved at the repetition rate of 1 - 50 kHz. When the repetition rate is 1 kHz, the pulse energy is 0.93 mJ with the pulse duration of 132 ns. Meanwhile, the profile of laser pulses shows some mode-locking phenomena, the mechanism of the phenomena is discussed.

Highly efficient dual-wavelength acousto-optically Q-switched Tm,La:CaF_(2)laser

A highly efficient milli-joule-level Q-switched Tm,La:CaF_(2)laser is experimentally demonstrated.By employing an acousto-optic modulator,the diode-pumped pulsed lasers are stably operated at repetition rates ranging from 500 Hz to 10 kHz.Dual-wavelength operation of 1881.7 nm and 1888.5 nm is achieved with slope efficiency of 64.7%.Up to 1.89 mJ of pulse energy is obtained at a pulse width of 100 ns,corresponding to a peak power of 18.88 kW.These results verified that the Tm,La:CaF_(2)crystal could be a promising candidate for achieving highly efficient and high-energy pulsed lasers.

The frequency resolution of acousto-optical spectrometer

this paper discusses the frequency resolution of an acousto-optical spectrometer system under influences of deflector 's spectral resolution, coherent light-beam truncation ratio, and photodiode array's response. The broadening of the resoluble line-pattern caused by the response of a photodiode pixel has been computed. According to this discussion the authors proposed the selecting principles for the design parameters of the acoustooptical spectrometer including light-beam truncation ratio, focal length of Fourier lens, and number of photodiode array elements, i.e. the quantitative criteria for specific observational necessities with an acousto-optical spectrometer considered with resolution, bandwidth, and sidelobes of instrumental profile comprehensively. An experimental measurement of the frequency resolution to verify the above theoretical computations has also been carried out.

Generation of dual and quad‑optical frequency combs in the injected radiation free mode‑locked frequency‑shifted feedback laser

The results of an optoelectronic system—frequency-shifted feedback(FSF)laser experimental examination are presented.The considered FSF laser is seeded only with optical amplifer spontaneous emission(ASE)and operates in the mode-locked regime,whereby the output radiation is sequence of short pulses with a repetition rate determined by the delay time in its optical feedback circuit.In the frequency domain,the spectrum of such a pulse sequence is an optical frequency comb(OFC).These OFCs we call initial.We consider the possibility of tunable acousto-optic(AO)dual and quad-comb frequency spacing downconversion in the FSF laser seeded with ASE and operating in the mode-locked regime.The examined system applies a single frequency shifting loop with single AO tunable flter as the frequency shifter that is fed with several radio frequency signals simultaneously.The initial OFCs with frequency spacing of about 6.5 MHz may be obtained in the wide spectral range and their width,envelope shape and position in the optical spectrum may be tuned.The dual-combs are obtained with a pair of initial OFCs aroused by two various ultrasound waves in the acousto-optic tunable flter(AOTF).The dual-combs frequency spacing is determined by the frequency diference of the signals applied to the AOTF piezoelectric transducer and can be tuned simply.The quad-combs are obtained with three initial OFCs,forming a pair of dual-combs,appearing when three ultrasound frequencies feed the AOTF transducer.The quad-combs frequency spacing is defned by the diference between the frequency spacing of dual-combs.Quad-combs with more than 5000 spectral lines and tunable frequency spacing are observed.The successive frequency downconversion gives the possibility to reduce the OFC frequency spacing form several MHz for initial OFC to tens of kHz for quad-combs.

Efficient corner-pumped Nd:YAG/YAG composite slab laser

A corner-pumped type is a new pumping type in the diode-pumped all-solid-state lasers, which has the advantages of high pump efficiency and favourable pump uniformity. A highly efficient corner-pumped Nd：YAG/YAG composite slab laser is demonstrated in this paper. The maximal continuous-wave output power of the 1064 nm laser is up to 18.57 W with a slope efficiency and an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 44.9% and 39.8%, respectively. Inserting an acousto-optic Q-switch in the cavity, the highest average output power of the quasi-continuous wave 1064 nm laser of 6.73W is obtained at a repetition rate of 9.26 kHz. The experimental results show that a corner-pumped type is a kind of feasible schedules in the design of diode-pumped all-solid-state lasers with low or medium output powers.

Highly efficient electro-optically Q-switched 473 nm blue laser

An external frequency doubling electro-optically Q-switched neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG) 473 nm blue laser was demonstrated. With absorbed pump energy of 48 mJ at 100 Hz repetition rate, about 2 mJ of 473 nm blue laser pulse energy was achieved by cascade frequency doubling. The second harmonic conversion efficiency was 64.5%, and overall optical-optical efficiency was 4.2%, respectively. The blue laser pulse width was less than 10 ns, and beam quality factor was less than 2.4.

Laser at 532 nm by intracavity frequency-doubling in BBO

A simple and compact linear resonator green laser at 532 nm is generated by intracavity frequencydoubling of a diode-side-pumped acousto-optically（AO）Q-switched Nd：YAG laser at 1064 nm.Two acoustooptic Q-switches were placed orthogonally with each other to improve the hold-off capacity.As high as 214 W of continuous-wave（CW）and 154 W of quasi-continuous-wave（QCW）output power at 1064 nm were obtained when the pumping power was 1598 W.The type I phase-matched BBO crystal was used as the nonlinear medium in the second harmonic generation.A green laser with an average output power of 37 W was obtained at a repetition rate of 20 kHz and a pulse width of 54 ns,which corresponds to pulse energy of 1.85 mJ per pulse and a peak power34.26 kW,respectively.

Simultaneous all-solid-state multi-wavelength lasers——a promising pump source for generating highly coherent terahertz waves

A diode-end-pumped Nd：YAG dual-wavelength laser operating at 1319 and 1338 nm is demonstrated. The maximum average output power of the quasi-continuous wave linearly polarized dual-wavelength laser is obtained to be 2.1 W at a repetition rate of 50 kHz with an output power instability of less than 0.38% and beam quality factor M^2 of 1.45. Using the two lines, the highly coherent and narrow linewidth terahertz radiation of 3.23 THz can be generated in an organic 4-N, N-dimethylamino-methyl-stilbazolium tosylate （DAST） crystal. Meanwhile, the multi-wavelength red laser at 659.5, 664 and 669 nm is generated by frequency doubling and sum frequency processes in a lithium triborate （LBO） crystal. The average red laser output power is enhanced up to 1.625 W at a repetition rate of 15 kHz with an output power instability of better than 0.53% and beam quality factor M^2 of 6.05. Using the three lines, it is possible to generate the multi-wavelength THz radiation of 3.3, 3.43 and 6.73 THz in an appropriate difference frequency crystal.