Suppression of stimulated Brillouin and Raman scatterings using an alternating frequency laser and transverse magnetic fields

A novel scheme to suppress both stimulated Brillouin scattering(SBS) and stimulated Raman scattering(SRS) by combining an alternating frequency(AF) laser and a transverse magnetic field is proposed. The AF laser allows the laser frequency to change discretely and alternately over time. The suppression of SBS is significant as long as the AF difference is greater than the linear growth rate of SBS or the alternating time of the laser frequency is shorter than the linear growth time of SBS. However, the AF laser proves ineffective in suppressing SRS, which usually has a much higher linear growth rate than SBS. To remedy that, a transverse magnetic field is included to suppress the SRS instability. The electrons trapped in the electron plasma waves(EPWs) of SRS can be accelerated by the surfatron mechanism in a transverse magnetic field and eventually detrapped. While continuously extracting energy from EPWs, the EPWs are dissipated and the kinetic inflation of SRS is suppressed. The one-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation results show that both SBS and SRS can be effectively suppressed by combining the AF laser with a transverse magnetic field with tens of Tesla. The total reflectivity can be dramatically reduced by more than one order of magnitude. These results provide a potential reference for controlling SBS and SRS under the related parameters of inertial confinement fusion.

Two-hertz-linewidth Nd:YAG lasers at 1064 nm stabilized to vertically mounted ultra-stable cavities

Two Nd：YAG lasers operating at 1064 nm are separately servo-locked to two vertically mounted ultra-stable cavities. The optical heterodyne beat between two cavity-stabilized lasers shows that the linewidth of each laser reaches 2 Hz and the average frequency drift reduces to less than 1 Hz/s.

Frequency stabilization of a 399-nm laser by modulation transfer spectroscopy in an ytterbium hollow cathode lamp

The modulation transfer spectroscopy in an ytterbium hollow cathode lamp at 399 nm is measured. The error signal for frequency locking is optimized by measuring the dependences of its slope, linewidth and magnitude on various parameters. Under the optimum condition, the laser frequency at 399 nm can be stabilized. The long-term stability of laser frequency is measured by monitoring the fluorescence signal of the ytterbium atomic beam induced by the locked laser. The laser frequency is shown to be tightly locked, and the stabilized laser is successfully applied to the cooling of ytterbium atoms.

Generation of Continuous-Wave 194 nm Laser for Mercury Ion Optical Frequency Standard

A 194-nm cw laser is an essential part in the mercury ion optical frequency standard. We report the generation of over 2mW continuous-wave radiation at 194nm in a beta barium borate crystal using a simple sum frequency mixing （SFM） system. One source beams at 718nm is resonantly enhanced with a cavity and the other at 266mn makes a single pass. Considering the walk-off effect in SFM, the source beam waists are designed to be elliptical, thus the conversion efficiency can be promoted. The 266-nm beam produced by frequency doubling of 532-nm laser is shaped close to the diffraction limit to achieve better mode matching.

Study of a low power dissipation,miniature laser-pumped rubidium frequency standard

This paper studies a miniature low power consumption laser-pumped atom vapour cell clock scheme. Pumping ^87Rb with a vertical cavity surface emitting laser diode pump and locking the laser frequency on a Doppler-broadened spectral line, it records a 5 × 10^-11τ-1/2 （τ〈500 s） frequency stability with a table-top system in a primary experiment. The study reveals that the evaluated scheme is at the level of 2.7 watts power consumption, 90 cm^3 volume and 10^-12τ-1/2 short-term frequency stability.

Dual-Wavelength Bad Cavity Laser as Potential Active Optical Frequency Standard

We experimentally realize the dual-wavelength bad cavity laser for the first time. As the Cs cell temperature is kept between 118℃ and 144℃, both the 1359nm and 147Ohm lasing outputs of dual-wavelength bad cavity laser are detected. The laser output power of dual-wavelength bad cavity laser is measured when changing the 455 nm pumping laser frequency and power at 127℃ Cs cell temperature. Both the 1359 nm laser and the 1470 nm laser are working at the deep bad cavity regime, and the ratio between the linewidth of cavity mode and the laser gain bandwidth a ≈ 40 for 1359nm and 1470nm lasers. The 147Ohm laser linewidth is measured to be 407.3Hz. The dual-wavelength bad cavity laser operating on atomic transitions demonstrated here has a potential in the application as a stable optical local oscillator, even an active optical frequency standard directly in the future.

Strong optical feedback in birefringent dual frequency laser

Strong optical feedback in a birefringent dual frequency He-Ne laser with a high reflectivity feedback mirror has been investigated for the first time. The output characteristics of two orthogonally polarized modes are demonstrated in two different optical feedback cases： one is for both modes being fed back and the other is for only one of the modes being fed back. Strong mode competition can be observed between the two modes with strong optical feedback, And when one mode＇s intensity is near its maximum, the other mode is nearly extinguished. When both modes are fed back into the laser cavity, the mode competition is stronger than when only one mode is fed back, The difference in initial intensity between the two orthogonally polarized modes plays an important role in the mode competition, which has been experimentally and theoretically demonstrated.

Clinical usefulness of transpapillary removal of common bile duct stones by frequency doubled double pulse Nd:YAG laser

AIM: To study the efficacy and the safety of laser lithotripsy without direct visual control by using a balloon catheter in patients with bile duct stones that could not be extracted by standard technique. METHODS: The seventeen patients (7 male and 10 female; mean age 67.8 years) with difficult common bile duct (CBD) stones were not amenable for conventional endoscopic maneuvers such as sphincterotomy and mechanical lithotripsy were included in this study. Laser wavelengths of 532 nm and 1064 nm as a double pulse were applied with pulse energy of 120 mJ. The laser fiber was advanced under fluoroscopic control through the ERCP balloon catheter. Laser lithotripsy was continued until the fragment size seemed to be less than 10 mm. Endoscopic extraction of the stones and fragments was performed with the use of the Dormia basket and balloon catheter. RESULTS: Bile duct clearance was achieved in 15 of 17 patients (88%). The mean number of treatment sessions was 1.7 ± 0.6. Endoscopic stone removal could not be achieved in 2 patients (7%). Adverse effects were noted in three patients (hemobilia, pancreatitis, and cholangitis). CONCLUSION: The Frequency Doubled Double Pulse Nd:YAG (FREDDY) laser may be an effective and safe technique in treatment of difficult bile duct stones.

Improvement of Laser Frequency Stabilization for the Optical Pumping Cesium Beam Standard

A method is presented to improve the laser frequency stabilization for the optical pumping cesium clock. By comparing the laser frequency stabilization of different schemes, we verify that the light angle is an important factor that limits the long-term frequency stability. We minimize the drift of the light angle by using a fiber- coupled output, and lock the frequency of a distributed-feedback diode laser to the fluorescence spectrum of the atomic beam. The measured frequency stability is about 3.5 ×10^-11 at i s and reaches 1.5 × 10^-12 at 2000s. The Allan variance keeps going down for up to thousands of seconds, indicating that the medium- and long-term stability of the laser frequency is significantly improved and perfectly fulfills the requirement for the optical pumping cesium clock.

Wavelength-Tunable Single Frequency Ytterbium-Doped Fiber Laser with Loop Mirror Filter

By using a loop mirror filter, a novel wavelength-tunable single-frequency ytterbium-doped fiber laser is developed to select single longitudinal modes in a linear cavity. The output wavelength could be tuned 2.4 nm intervals range from 1063.3 to 1065.Tnrn with the temperature change of the fiber Bragg grating. The maximum output power could reach 32 m W while the pump power increases to 120 m W. The corresponding optical-to-optical conversion efficiency is 26.7% and the slope efficiency is 33.9%, respectively. The output power fluctuation is below 2%, and its highest signal-to-noise ratio is 60 dB.

Spectral filtering of dual lasers with a high-finesse length-tunable cavity for rubidium atom Rydberg excitation

We propose and demonstrate an alternative method for spectral filtering and frequency stabilization of both 780-nm and 960-nm lasers using a high-finesse length-tunable cavity(HFLTC).Firstly,the length of HFLTC is stabilized to a commercial frequency reference.Then,the two lasers are locked to this HFLTC using the Pound–Drever–Hall(PDH)method which can narrow the linewidths and stabilize the frequencies of both lasers simultaneously.Finally,the transmitted lasers of HFLTC with each power up to about 100μW,which act as seed lasers,are amplified using the injection locking method for single-atom Rydberg excitation.The linewidths of obtained lasers are narrowed to be less than 1 k Hz,meanwhile the obtained lasers'phase noise around 750 k Hz are suppressed about 30 d B.With the spectrally filtered lasers,we demonstrate a Rabi oscillation between the ground state and Rydberg state of single-atoms in an optical trap tweezer with a decay time of(67±37)μs,which is almost not affected by laser phase noise.We found that the maximum short-term laser frequency fluctuation of a single excitation lasers is at~3.3 k Hz and the maximum long-term laser frequency drift of a single laser is~46 k Hz during one month.Our work develops a stable and repeatable method to provide multiple laser sources of ultra-low phase noise,narrow linewidth,and excellent frequency stability,which is essential for high precision atomic experiments,such as neutral atom quantum computing,quantum simulation,quantum metrology,and so on.

Line profile analysis of an astronomical spectrograph with a laser frequency comb

We present a study of the spectral line shape associated with a High Resolution Spectrograph on the 2.16 m telescope at the Xinglong Observing Station of National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences. This measurement is based on modeling the instrumental line shape obtained by unresolved modes from a Yb-fiber mode-locked laser frequency comb. With the current repetition rate of 250 MHz and 26 GHz mode spacing on the spectrograph, we find the absolute variation of the line center, 0.0597 pixel in the direction of the CCDs, and 0.00275 pixel （～3 m s^-1） for relative variation in successive exposures on a short timescale. A novel double-Gaussian model is presented to improve the quality of the fit by a factor of 2.47 in a typical single exposure. We also use analysis with raw moments and central moments to characterize the change in line shape across the detector. A trend in charge transfer efficiency can be found on the E2V 4096 ×4096 CCD that provides a correction for wavelength calibration aiming to reach a level of precision for radial velocity below 1 m s^- 1.

Anomalous Variation of Beat Frequency in a Dual Frequency He-Ne Laser

The beat frequency in a dual frequency He-Ne laser varies while the resonant cavity length is tuned. As to the laser with two longitudinal modes, the variation amplitude is commonly less than 500 kHz, proven by experiments and theories. This study reveals an anomalous variation of the beat frequency when a piece of element is put into the cavity and is aligned with the laser axis. Consequently the variation amplitude couM reach 22 MHz, several dozen times larger than that without the intra-cavity element. This cannot be explained only by laser mode pulling and pushing effects. Some influencing factors are investigated experimentally, including the tilted angle of the element and the distance between its surface and cavity mirror. The qualitative analysis is discussed, which agrees with the experimental results.

Two-Photon Transitions of ^(85)Rb 5D_(5/2) State by Using an Optical Frequency Comb and a Continuous-Wave Laser

A high-resolution two-photon spectrum of 5S1/2 → 5P3/2 → 5D5/2 transitions in a thermal SSRb vapor cell is presented by using an optical frequency comb and a cw laser. The fluorescence of 6P3/2 → 5S1/2 spontaneous emission is detected when the cw laser frequency is scanned from the 5S1/2 ground state to 5P3/2 hyperfine levels and the optical frequency comb repetition rate is fixed. The hyperfine splittings （Ff = 2-5） of the 5D5/2 excited state are well resolved. The dependences of fluorescence intensities on the cw laser intensity and temperature of SSRb vapor eel1 are studied, respectively. The experimental results are in good agreement with the theoretical analyses.

A 420nm Blue Diode Laser for the Potential Rubidium Optical Frequency Standard

We report a 42Ohm external cavity diode laser with an interference filter （IF） of 0.5am narrow-bandwidth and 79% high transmission, which is first used for Rb optical frequency standard. The IF and the cat-eye reflector are used for selecting wavelength and light feedback, respectively. The measured laser linewidth is 24 kHz when the diode laser is free running. Using this narrow-linewidth IF blue diode laser, we realize a compact Rb optical frequency standard without a complicated PDH system. The preliminary stability of the Rb optical frequency standard is 2 × 10^-13 at I s and decreases to 1.9 ×10^-14 at 1000s. The narrow-linewidth characteristic makes the IF blue diode laser a well suited candidate for the compact Rb optical frequency standard.

Coherent Features of Resonance-Mediated Two-Photon Absorption Enhancement by Varying the Energy Level Structure,Laser Spectrum Bandwidth and Central Frequency

The femtosecond pulse shaping technique has been shown to be an effective method to control the multi-photon absorption by the light–matter interaction. Previous studies mainly focused on the quantum coherent control of the multi-photon absorption by the phase, amplitude and polarization modulation, but the coherent features of the multi-photon absorption depending on the energy level structure, the laser spectrum bandwidth and laser central frequency still lack in-depth systematic research. In this work, we further explore the coherent features of the resonance-mediated two-photon absorption in a rubidium atom by varying the energy level structure, spectrum bandwidth and central frequency of the femtosecond laser field. The theoretical results show that the change of the intermediate state detuning can effectively influence the enhancement of the near-resonant part, which further affects the transform-limited （TL）-normalized final state population maximum. Moreover, as the laser spectrum bandwidth increases, the TL-normalized final state population maximum can be effectively enhanced due to the increase of the enhancement in the near-resonant part, but the TL-normalized final state population maximum is constant by varying the laser central frequency. These studies can provide a clear physical picture for understanding the coherent features of the resonance-mediated two-photon absorption, and can also provide a theoretical guidance for the future applications.

YCOB晶体中辐射引起的BO_2-F^+心

YCOB,a member of the new crystal family of ReCOB (ReCOB=ReCa 4O(BO 3) 3,Re=La 3+ ,Nd 3+ ,Sm 3+ ,Gd 3+ ,Er 3+ ,Y 3+ ),has received mo re and more attentions in recent few years,because of its excellent nonlinear op tical (N LO) properties and a great promise as a laser host material.Unfortunately,liking most of nonlinear optical crystals,the laser induced damages were also created in the new crystal family when irradiated by ultraviolet laser.In this report we present our preliminary results of the investigation on the radiation induced damage in YCOB crystals.

Nd∶ReCOB晶体的生长、各向异性和最佳相位匹配方向

Red,blue and green visible lasers are more attractive with the development of the science and technology.Self frequency doubling is an important approach to realize visible lasers.For self frequency doubling,the basic requests are high figure of merit(FOM),high damage threshold,good chemical stability and mechanical properties.Perfection and growth characters are also important for a practical SFD crystal. In recent years,the discovery of rare earth calcium oxyborates has resulted in the renewal in the field of SFD crystal.ReCaO(BO 3) 3(ReCOB)is a new type of novel nonlinear optical crystals which is nearly congruently melt and can be grown with Czochralski method.ReCOB crystals possess high nonlinear coefficients and damage thresholds.They are non hydroscopic and easy cutting and polishing.They belong to monoclinic with point group m and space group cm.The strong anisotropy originated from the low symmetry makes the measurement and application of the crystal more complicated.More than half of naturally existed crystals belongs to low symmetry,consequently,the research on the nonlinear and anisotropic laser optical properties are not only important for ReCOB crystal,but also useful for the applications of other low symmetry crystals.

Decreased vibrational susceptibility of Fabry-Perot cavities via designs of geometry and structural support

Ultra-stable optical cavities are widely used for laser frequency stabilization. In these experiments the laser performance relies on the length stability of the Fabry-Perot cavities. Vibration-induced deformation is one of the dominant factors that affect the stability of ultra-stable optical cavities. We have quantitatively analysed the elastic deformation of Fabry-Perot cavities with various shapes and mounting configurations. Our numerical result facilitates a novel approach for the design of ultra-stable cavities that are insensitive to vibrational perturbations. This approach can be applied to many experiments such as laser frequency stabilization, high-precision laser spectroscopy, and optical frequency standards.

A 23.75-GHz frequency comb with two low-finesse filtering cavities in series for high resolution spectroscopy

A laser frequency comb with several tens GHz level is demonstrated,based on a Yb-doped femtosecond fiber laser and two low-finesse Fabry-Perot cavities（FPCs） in series.The original 250-MHz mode-line-spacing of the source comb is filtered to 4.75 GHz and 23.75 GHz,respectively.According to the multi-beam interferences theory of FPC,the side-mode suppression rate of FPC schemes is in good agreement with our own theoretical results from 27 dB of a single FPC to43 dB of paired FPCs.To maintain long-term stable operation and determine the absolute frequency mode number in the23.75-GHz comb,the Pound-Drever-Hall（PDH） locking technology is utilized.Such stable tens GHz frequency combs have important applications in calibrating astronomical spectrographs with high resolution.