Optically pumped wavelength-tunable lasing from a GaN beam cavity with an integrated Joule heater pivoted on Si

Dynamically tunable laser sources are highly promising for realizing visionary concepts of integrated photonic circuits and other applications. In this paper, a Ga N-based laser with an integrated PN junction heater on Si is fabricated.The photoluminescence properties of the Ga N beam cavity are controlled by temperature, and the Joule heater provides electrically driven regulation of temperature. These two features of the cavity make it possible to realize convenient tuning of the lasing properties. The multi-functional Ga N beam cavity achieves optically pumped lasing with a single mode near 362.4 nm with a high Q-factor of 1394. The temperature of this device increases by 0–5℃ under the Joule heating effect. Then, electrical control of the lasing mode is demonstrated. The lasing resonant peak shows a continuous redshift of about 0.5 nm and the device also exhibits dynamic switching of its lasing mode. The lasing modulation can be ascribed to temperature-induced reduction of the bandgap. Our work may be of benefit for external optical modulation in future chip-based optoelectronic devices.

Transport Properties of Two Coupled Quantum Dots Under Optical Pumping

Using the Keldysh-Green function,we present a theoretical study on the electron transport properties of two coupled quantum dots under optical pumping. Plateaus in the I-V curve and resonant peaks in the transmission coefficient occur and can be explained by the local electron density of states in the quantum dots. The effects of the optical pumping frequency and intensity on the transport properties of the system are also discussed. The electron dynamical localization phenomenon occurs when the optical pumping frequency is equal to the discrete hole energy level. This result can be used to realize optical control switches.

A synthetic optically pumped gradiometer for magnetocardiography measurements

Magnetocardiography(MCG)measurement is important for investigating the cardiac biological activities.Traditionally,the extremely weak MCG signal was detected by using superconducting quantum interference devices(SQUIDs).As a room-temperature magnetic-field sensor,optically pumped magnetometer(OPM)has shown to have comparable sensitivity to that of SQUIDs,which is very suitable for biomagnetic measurements.In this paper,a synthetic gradiometer was constructed by using two OPMs under spin-exchange relaxation-free(SERF)conditions within a moderate magnetically shielded room(MSR).The magnetic noise of the OPM was measured to less than 70 fT/Hz1/2.Under a baseline of 100 mm,noise cancellation of about 30 dB was achieved.MCG was successfully measured with a signal to noise ratio(SNR)of about 37 dB.The synthetic gradiometer technique was very effective to suppress the residual environmental fields,demonstrating the OPM gradiometer technique for highly cost-effective biomagnetic measurements.

Atomic optical spatial mode extractor for vector beams based on polarization-dependent absorption

Vector beams with spiral phase and spatially varying polarization profiles have many applications from optical micromanipulation to materials processing. Here, we propose and demonstrate an atomic spatial mode extracting scheme for the vector beam based on polarization-dependent absorption in the atom vapor. By employing the linear polarization pump beam which induces polarization sensitive absorption in the atomic ensemble, a counter-propagated weak probe vector beam is extracted by spatial absorption, and extracted part still maintains the original polarization and the vortex phase.The topological charges of the extracted mode are verified by interfering with the Gaussian beam, and it can be found that the orbital angular momentum is conserved in the extracting process. Our work will have potential applications in non-destructive spatial mode identification, and is also useful for studying higher-dimensional quantum information based on atomic ensembles.

High power,widely tunable femtosecond MgO:PPLN optical parametric oscillator

We demonstrate a high power,widely tunable femtosecond MgO-doped periodically poled lithium niobate(MgO:PPLN)optical parametric oscillator(OPO)at 151 MHz,pumped by a Kerr-lens mode-locked Yb:KGW laser.With a maximum pump power of 7 W,the OPO is capable of delivering as high as 2.2 W of the signal centered around 1500 nm with tunable signal spectrum ranges of 1377 nm-1730 nm at an extraction efficiency of 31.4%,which exhibits a long-term passive power stability better than 0.71%rms over 4 h.The maximum idler bandwidths of 185 nm at 3613 nm are obtained across the idler tuning ranges of 2539 nm-4191 nm.By compensating intracavity dispersion,the signal has the shortest pulse duration of 170 fs at 1428 nm.

Effect of optical pumping on the momentum relaxation time of graphene in the terahertz range

The momentum relaxation time of a photoexcited graphene in the THz frequency range has been studied by using terabertz time domain spectroscopy under optical pumping at room temperature. It is found that the momentum relaxation time of the graphene as a function of the optical pumping intensity exhibits a threshold behavior. The features of the momentum relaxation time as a function of the optical pumping intensity are also investigated. The results are useful for understanding the basic underlying physics of graphene scattering as well as finding the possible applications in carbon- based electronics.

A New Pumping-Probing Scheme for the Optically Pumped Cesium Beam Frequency Standard

A new pumping-probing scheme for the optically pumped cesium beam frequency standard has been experimentally tested in our laboratory.The stability of the optically pumped cesium beam frequency standard was measured by comparing its 10 MHz output with an HP5071A commercial cesium atomic clock.The result shows that the frequency stability for the 1 s and 30000s sample times are 1.2×10^(-11) and 3.7×10^(-13),respectively.It was proved that the new pumping scheme works well.

Microscopic Investigation into the Optically Pumped Polymer Lasers Based on Distributed Feedback

Polymeric semiconductors spin-coated onto the photoresist grating form discontinuously distributed flocci,which do not fill grating grooves with nanoscale widths.Thus,the polymer layer neither forms a continuous gain channel nor creates a waveguide that enhances the distributed feedback(DFB)mechanism provided by the grating structures.This is verified by the microscopic and spectroscopic investigations on the topographic surface of the polymer-covered grating as it is etched layer by layer using oxygen plasma.This gives more insights into the mechanisms involved in optically pumped polymer lasers and provides new guidance for constructing DFB lasers.

THE OPTICALLY PUMPED CESIUM BEAM FREQUENCY STANDARD AT PEKING UNIVERSITY

An optically pumped cesium beam frequency standard with bias-saturated absorption lock of laser diodes has been built up at Peking University.The frequency stability of 1.2×10-11/t1/2 was obtained.A new idea of sharp angle incidence of probing laser beam has been tested experimentally and fairly good results were achieved.Further improvements are discussed.

Widely Tunable Middle Infrared Optical Parametric Oscillator Pumped by the Q-Switched Ho：GdVO_4 Laser

We demonstrate a middle infrared ZnGeP_2 optical parametric oscillator pumped by the Q-switched Ho：GdVO_4 laser. When the incident Ho pump power is 4.12 W, the maximum average output power of the ZGP-OPO laser is 2.05 W, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 74.6%. The ZGP-OPO laser produces 4.2 ns mid-infrared pulses at a pulse repetition rate of 5 kHz. In addition, we obtain 0.8 um of tunable range for the signal wave and 2.1 um of tunable range for the idler wave.

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.

State Preparation in a Cold Atom Clock by Optical Pumping

We implement optical pumping to prepare cold atoms in our prototype of the ST Rb space cold atom clock, which operates in the one-way mode. Several modifications are made on our previous physical and optical system. The effective atomic signal in the top detection zone is increased to 2.5 times with 87% pumping efficiency. The temperature of the cold atom cloud is increased by 1.4 μK. We study the dependences of the effective signal gain and pumping efficiency on the pumping laser intensity and detuning. The effects of σ transition are discussed. This technique may be used in the future space cold atom clocks.

Transmittance investigation on capacitive mesh on thick dielectric substrates as output windows for optically pumped terahertz lasers

This paper reports that an output window for optically pumped terahertz （THz） laser has been fabricated by depositing a capacitive nickel-mesh on a thick high-resistivity silicon substrate （approximating to 5 mm thick）. Unlike the conventional process of depositing a gold film approximating to 100 nm on negative photoresist using electron-beam evaporation, a nickel film approximating to 1.5 μm thick is directly deposited on the clean surface of dielectric substrate using magnetron sputtering and then a positive photoresist is spun onto the nickel metal surface at 6000 r for 60 s. A transmittance spectrum of the output window in a certain frequency range （say, from zero to 1 THz） has been obtained by using THz time domain spectroscopy. Moreover a transmittance spectrum simulated numerically has also been estimated with respect to the output window using the transmission-line model （TLM） containing attenuation component from dielectric substrate. The simulation results show that the TLM can explain well the experimental curve in a certain frequency range from zero to 1 THz. Thus it is demonstrated that the improved optical component can be efficiently used as both output coupler and output window for optically pumped THz lasers.

Adjusting the properties of the photon generated via an optical parametric oscillator by using a pulse pumped laser

The cavity-enhanced spontaneous parametric down-conversion far below threshold can be used to generate a narrow-band photon pair efficiently. Previous experiments on the cavity-enhanced spontaneous parametric down- conversion almost always utilize continuous wave pump light, but the pulse pumped case is rarely reported. One disadvantage of the continuous wave case is that the photon pair is produced randomly within the coherence time of the pump, which limits its application in the quantum information realm. However, a pulse pump can help to solve this problem. In this paper, we theoretically analyze pulse pumped cavity-enhanced spontaneous parametric down- conversion in detail and show how the pump pulse affects the multi-photon interference visibility, two-photon waveform, joint spectrum and spectral brightness.

Design and test of the microwave cavity in an optically-pumped Rubidium beam frequency standard

We are developing a compact rubidium atomic beam frequency standard with optical pumping and detection. The cavity for microwave interrogation is an important part of the clock. The cavity in our design is a Ramsey-type, E-bend one, which is the same as the conventional method in most cesium beam clocks. Requirements for the design are proposed based on the frequency shift associated with the cavity. The basic structure of the cavity is given by theoretical analysis and detailed dimensions are determined by means of electromagnetic field simulation with the help of commercial software.The cavity is manufactured and fabricated successfully. The preliminary test result of the cavity is given, which is in good agreement with the simulation. The resonant frequency is 6.835 GHz, equal to the clock transition frequency of87 Rb, and the loaded quality factor is 500. These values are adjustable with posts outside the cavity. Estimations on the Ramsey line width and several frequency shifts are made.

Optical pumping nuclear magnetic resonance system rotating in a plane parallel to the quantization axis

Requested by the authors, the article entitled ＂Optical pumping nuclear magnetic resonance system rotating in a plane parallel to the quantization axis＂, published in Chinese Physics B, 2017, Vol. 26, Issue 9, Article No. 093301, has been withdrawn from the publication. The authors found that the axes in the rotating frame xy＇z are not all time-invariant, so Eq. （12） obtained from Eq. （11） is incorrect, and the conclusion is inaccurate.

Off-resonant double-resonance optical-pumping spectra and their application in a multiphoton cesium magneto-optical trap

We present an investigation of double-resonance optical pumping （DROP） spectra under the condition of single-photon frequency detuning based on a cesium 6S1/2-6P3/2-8S1/2 ladder-type system with a room-temperature vapor cell. Two DROP peaks are found, and their origins are explored. One peak has a narrow linewidth due to the atomic coherence for a counterpropagating configuration; the other peak has a broad linewidth, owing to the spontaneous decay for a coprop-agating configuration. This kind of off-resonant DROP spectrum can be used to control and offset-lock a laser frequency to a transition between excited states. We apply this technique to a multiphoton cesium magneto-optical trap, which can efficiently trap atoms on both red and blue sides of the two-photon resonance.

Analysis of influence of RF power and buffer gas pressure on sensitivity of optically pumped cesium magnetometer

A further study is conducted on two factors which respectively influence the sensitivity of optically pumped cesium magnetometer （CsOPM）. The influence of radio frequency （RF） power and the buffer gas pressure on the sensitivity is theoretically analyzed, and some properties are predicted. Based on the established measurement system and the visible Zeeman spectrum, not only is the real influence of these factors studied, but also, under our experimental condition, optimum parameters based on the measured curves are ascertained. The properties of these measured curves match the theoretical result very well. Our research attempts to provide theory reference to help magnetometer designers determine optimum parameters under certain conditions.

Double-resonance optical-pumping effect and laddertype electromagnetically induced transparency signal without Doppler background in cesium atomic vapour cell

In a Doppler-broadened ladder-type cesium atomic system （6S1/2 6P3/2-8S1/2）, this paper characterizes electro- magnetically induced transparency （EIT） in two different experimental arrangements, and investigates the influence of the double-resonance optical-pumping （DROP） effect on EIT in both arrangements. When the probe laser is weak, DROP is explicitly suppressed. When the probe laser is moderate, population of the intermediate level （6P3/2 FI = 5） is remarkable, therefore DROP is mixed with EIT. An interesting bimodal spectrum with the broad component due to DROP and the narrow part due to EIT has been clearly observed in cesium 6S1/2 F = 4-6P3/2 F^1= 5-8S1/2 F^11 = 4 transitions.

Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen entanglement in time-dependent periodic pumping non-degenerate optical parametric amplifier

The solution of the time-dependent periodic pumping non-degenerate optical parametric amplifier （NOPA） is derived when the pump depletion is considered both above and below thresholds. Based on this solution, the quantum fluctuation calculated shows that a high entanglement and a good squeezing degree of the parametric light beams are achieved near and above thresholds. We adopt two kinds of pump fields： （i） a continuously modulated pump with a sinusoidal envelope; （ii） a sequence of laser pulses with Gaussian envelopes. We analyse the time evolution of continuous variable entanglement by analytical and numerical calculations, and show that the periodic driven pumping also improves the degree of entanglement. The squeezing and Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen （EPR） entanglement by using the two pumping driven functions are investigated from below to above the threshold regions, the tendencies are nearly the same, and the Caussian driven function is superior to that of the sine driven function, when the maximum squeezing and the minimum variance of quantum fluctuation are considered. In the meantime, the generalization of frequency degenerate OPA to frequency non-degenerated OPA problem is investigated.