Experimental study of electro-optical-switched pulsed Nd:YAG laser

We report the specification of a compact and stable side diode-pumped Q-switched pulsed Nd：YAG laser. We ex- perimentally study and compare the performance of the pulsed Nd：YAG laser in the free-running and Q-switched modes at different pulse repetition rates from 1 Hz to 100 Hz. The laser output energy is stabilized by using a special configu- ration of the optical resonator. In this laser, an unsymmetrical concave-concave resonator is used and this structure helps the mode volume to be nearly fixed when the pulse repetition rate is increased. According to the experimental results in the Q-switched operation, the laser output energy is nearly constant around 70 mJ with an FWHM pulse width of 7 ns at 100 Hz. The optical-to-optical conversion efficiency in the Q-switched regime is 17.5%.

Polarization switching in a quasi-isotropic microchip Nd:YAG laser induced by optical feedback

This paper demonstrates the influence of external optical feedback on the polarization state of longitudinal modes in quasi-isotropic microchip Nd：YAG lasers. Under optical feedback, the polarization state of longitudinal modes in quasi-isotropic lasers relies strongly on the intracavity anisotropy loss and mode competition. When the intracavity anisotropy loss is small, external optical feedback can cause polarization switching and strong mode competition between two orthogonal linearly polarized eigenstates of one laser longitudinal mode, which leads to the distortion of laser intensity modulation waveform. The polarization switching is independent of the initial external cavity length. By increasing the intracavity anisotropy loss, one polarization eigenstate can be suppressed and the laser works in single-polarization state. A theoretical analysis based on the compound cavity model is presented, which is in good agreement with the experimental results. The results offer guidance to the development of laser feedback interferometers.

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.

Application of Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy with Optical Hollow Fiber to Engine Exhaust Gas Measurement

In recent years, tighter regulation has been already enforced on harmful substances such as NOx, CO, and particles. Considering the above situation, it is important to monitor controlling factors of engine systems in order to improve efficiencies of their operations. As to car engines, an increasing concern in environmental issues such as air pollution, global warming and petroleum depletion has helped drive researches into various ways. Laser diagnostics has been applied to measure species concentration in the actual industrial fields. However there are several challenges to proceed in applying laser diagnostics to practical application. Especially stability of the measurement system is one of the most difficult issues. The purpose of this research is the development of a prompt measurement technique which can be applicable to various engine conditions. The Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy （TDLAS） using the hollow fiber has been developed to satisfy above requirements. By using a hollow fiber, misalignment of an optical axis and vulnerability of measurement environment such as vibration can be greatly reduced with sensitive and fast response features. It was demonstrated that this method can be applicable to measure gas compositions in engine exhaust with a range of millisecond response time. A sensitive method using tunable UV diode laser absorption spectroscopy was also discussed to detect NOx in exhausts.

Simulation of Diode-Pumped Q-Switched Nd:YAG Laser Generating Eye-Safe Signal in IOPO Environment

Numerical simulation of diode-pumped Q-switched Nd:YAG laser leading to the generation of eye-safe signal in singly resonant Intracavity Optical Parametric Oscillator (IOPO) is presented. Starting from rate equations, the time dependent laser equations have been solved numerically, whereas the space-dependent OPO equations analytically. Our results show that 1.4 J diode laser (810 nm) pulse with 200 msec width, delivers 30 mJ Nd:YAG laser (1064 nm) pulse with 5 n-second width. This Nd:YAG laser further generates 9 mJ eye safe signal (1570 nm) pulse with 2.5 n-second width.

A 1550-nm linearly tunable continuous wave single-mode external cavity diode laser based on a single-cavity all-dielectric thin-film Fabry Pérot filter

A 1550-nm linearly tunable continuous wave （CW） single-mode external cavity diode laser （ECDL） based on a singlecavity all-dielectric thin-film Fabry-Pérot filter （s-AFPF） is proposed and realized in this paper. Its internal optical components as well as their operation mechanisms are introduced first, and then its longitudinal mode output characteristic is theoretically analyzed. Afterwards, we set up the experimental platform for the output characteristic measurement of this tunable ECDL; under different experimental conditions, we execute accurate and real-time measurements for the output central wavelength, output optical power, output longitudinal mode distribution, and the line-width of the tunable ECDL in its tuning process. By summing up the optimal experimental condition from the measured data, we obtain the optimal tunable ECDL relevant parameters： the tunable ECDL has a linear mode-hop-free wavelength tuning region of 1547.203 nm-1552.426 nm, a stable output optical power in the range of 40 μW-50 μW, and a stable output longitudinal mode distribution of a single longitudinal mode with a line-width in the range of 100 MHz-150 MHz. This tunable ECDL can be used in environmental gas monitoring, atomic and molecular laser spectroscopy research, precise measurements, and so on.

Diode and Nd:YAG laser in a case of refractory acne keloidalis nuchae

Acne keloidalis nuchae(AKN)is a disease of unclear etiology that mainly affects males.Medical treatment of AKN is difficult,with refractory cases often requiring ablation by laser or surgical resection.We report herein,a 23-year-old male with refractory AKN treated successfully with combined laser ablation,using an 810-nm diode laser and a 1064-nm Nd:YAG laser.

High-peak-power passively Q-switched 1.3 μm Nd:YAG/V^(3+):YAG laser pumped by a pulsed laser diode

We demonstrate a high-pulse-energy, short-pulse-width passively Q-switched（PQS） Nd：YAG∕V3t：YAG laser at 1.3 μm, which is end-pumped by a pulsed laser diode. During the PQS regime, a maximum total output pulse energy of 3.3 m J is obtained under an absorbed pump pulse energy of 21.9 m J. Up to 400 μJ single-pulse energy is realized with the shortest pulse width of 6.16 ns and a pulse repetition frequency of 34.1 k Hz,corresponding to a peak power of 64.9 k W. The high-energy laser pulse is operated in the dual wavelengths of 1319 and 1338 nm, which is a potential laser source for THz generation.

0.6μm CMOS Laser Diode Driver for Optical Access Networks

Using native CMOS technology,EDA tool,and adopting full-custom design methodology,a laser diode driver for the use of STM-1 and STM-4 optical access network,is realized by CSMC-HJ 0.6μm CMOS technology to modulate laser diodes at 155Mb/s (STM-1),622Mb/s (STM-4) with adjustable modulation current from 0 to 50mA for an equivalent 50Ω load.The maximum modulation voltage is over 2.5V pp corresponding to a 3V DC bias for output stage.The time range of rise and fall from 360ps to 471ps is measured from the output voltage pulse.The RMS jitter is no more than 30ps for four bit rates.The power consumption is less than 410mW under a power supply voltage of 5V.According to the experimental results,the laser diode driver achieves the same level as their counterparts worldwide.

Analysis of gain distribution in cladding-pumped thulium-doped fiber laser and optical feedback inhibition problem in fiber-bulk laser system

The steady-state gain distribution in cladding pumped thulium-doped fiber laser（TDFL） is analytically and numerically solved based on the rate equations including loss coefficients and cross relaxation effect. With the gain curve, a problem, which is named optical feedback inhibition（OFI） and always occurs in tandem TDFL-Ho：YAG laser system, is analyzed quantitatively. The actual characteristics of output spectra and power basically prove the conclusion of theoretical analysis. Then a simple mirror-deflected L-shaped cavity is employed to restrain the external feedback and simplify the structure of fiber-bulk Ho：YAG laser. Finally, 25 W of 2097-nm laser power and 51.2% of optical-to-optical conversion efficiency are obtained, and the beam quality factor is less than 1.43 obtained by knife-edge method.

1 kHz single-frequency, injection-seeded Er:YAG laser with an optical feedback

A novel 1 kHz single-frequency, Q-switched Er-doped yttrium aluminum garnet(Er:YAG) laser pumped by a 1470 nm laser diode is demonstrated. The 500 ns, 5.52 mJ single-frequency, diffraction-limited pulses are obtained by using a ‘ramp-fire' injection-seeding technique and an optical feedback architecture. The full width at half-maximum of the pulse spectrum is measured to be 1.47 MHz by using the heterodyne technique. The beam quality M2 factors are measured to be 1.18 and 1.24 in the x and y directions, respectively.

Modelling and optical response of a compressive-strained AlGaN/GaN quantum well laser diode

The effects of the quantum well(QW)width,carrier density,and aluminium(Al)concentration in the barrier layers on the optical characteristics of a gallium nitride(GaN)-based QW laser diode are investigated by means of a careful modelling analysis in a wide range of temperatures.The device’s optical gain is calculated by using two different band energy models.The first is based on the simple band-to-band model that accounts for carrier transitions between the first levels of the conduction band and valence band,whereas the second assumes the perturbation theory(k.p model)for considering the valence intersubband transitions and the relative absorption losses in the QW.The results reveal that the optical gain increases with increasing the n-type doping density as well as the Al molar fraction of the AlxGa1–xN layers,which originate the GaN compressivestrained QW.In particular,a significant optical gain on the order of 5000 cm^-1 is calculated for a QW width of 40A at room temperature.In addition,the laser threshold current density is of few tens of A/cm^2 at low temperatures.

A Mid-IR Optical Parametric Oscillator Pumped by an Actively Q-Switched Ho:YAG Ceramic Laser

We demonstrate a mid-IR ZnGeP2 （ZGP） optical parametric oscillator （OPO） pumped by a dual-end-pumped actively aeoasto-optie Q-switched Ho：YAG ceramic laser. The maximum average output power of 35 W is obtained at a pulse repetition frequency of 20 kHz from the Ho：YAG ceramic laser. Under the maximum incident pump power of Ho：YAG ceramic laser, the maximum output power of 14 W is obtained from the ZGP OPO, corresponding to the slope efficiency of 49.6% with respect to the incident pump power. The wavelength can be tuned from 3.5 μm to 4.2μm （signal）, corresponding to 5.24.1 μm （idler）. The beam quality M2 is less than 2.3 from the ZGP OPO.

Electrically and Optically Bistable Operation in an Integration of a 1310 nm DFB Laser and a Tunneling Diode

We experimentally demonstrate an In P-based hybrid integration of a single-mode DFB laser emitting at around 1310 nm and a tunneling diode. The evident negative differential resistance regions are obtained in both electrical and optical output characteristics. The electrical and optical bistabilities controlled by the voltage through the tunneling diode are also measured. When the voltage changes between 1.46 V and 1.66 V, a 200-mV-wide hysteresis loop and an optical power ON/OFF ratio of 17 dB are obtained. A side-mode suppression ratio of the integrated device in the ON state is up to 43 dB. The tunneling diode can switch on/off the laser within a very small voltage range compared with that directly controlled by a voltage source.

Diode Pumped High Peak Power Quasi Q-Switched and Passively Q-Switched Nd:YVO₄Lasers at 1064 nm and 532 nm using Cr:YAG and KTP crystals

Diode end-pumped solid-state lasers have the potential to yield high quality laser beams with high efficiency for laser range finding and warning receiver applications as well as day and night military laser designation systems. In this paper we presents theoretical calculations using Advanced Dynamics Professional LASCAD software and experimental studies for a high power pigtailed fiber diode laser module of 8 W operating at 808 nm with a specially designed high efficiency cooling system, end pumped high-efficiency Nd:YVO4 laser of 3 × 3 × 10 mm rod and overall cavity length of 44 mm. To the best of our knowledge a self Q-switching effects was generated in Nd:YVO4 laser by changing the cavity dimensions and the position of the intracavity KTP crystal at certain regime of operation for the first time, in which the cavity length is reduced to be 30 mm and the distance between Nd:YVO4 rod and KTP crystal is only 1mm. Self Q-switched laser pulse at 532 nm with high peak power of 96 W, pulse width of 88 ns at FWHM and repetition rate of 400 kHz was achieved. Experimental studies of a passive Q-switched Nd:YVO4 laser using Cr:YAG crystal with three different transmissions of 30%, 40% and 70% were investigated. Passive Q-switched laser pulse at 1064 nm and narrow line width of less than 1.5 nm with highest peak power of nearly 18 kW, short pulse width of less than 4 ns at FWHM and higher repetition rate of 45 kHz using Cr:YAG with transmission of 30% was achieved for the first time.

152 W high-power blue diode laser operated at 447 nm

We demonstrate a high-power blue diode laser operated at 447 nm combining laser diodes using an optical fiber bundle. As many as 127 diode lasers at 447 nm were coupled into 400 μm/0.22 NA fibers using an aspherical lens group with different focus lengths. The bare fibers were mechanically bundled through high temperature ultraviolet adhesive after the coatings of the 127 fibers were stripped. The diameter of the fiber bundle was 6 mm. The total output power of such a bundle was 152 W with electro-optical conversion efficiency of 27.56%and the RMS power instability was less than ±1% within 3 h.

Subharmonic mode locking of a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser

A Q-switched Nd:YAG laser has been actively mode-locked at a subharmonic frequency for the first time,to the authors’knowledge.The laser operation mode is provided by a combination of a traveling wave acousto-optic modulator and a spherical cavity mirror.The dynamics of laser generation is investigated.Pulses with a duration of 70 ps and a peak power of about 10 MW were obtained.Also presented are new results on obtaining high-power[~60 kW]picosecond tunable radiation in the~620 nm region based on frequency conversion of a superluminescent parametric generator pumped by such a laser.

Monolithically Integrated Laser Diode and Electroabsorption Modulator with Dual-Waveguide Spot-Size Converter Output

A 1.60μm laser diode and electroabsorption modulator monolithically integrated with a novel dual-waveguide spot-size converter output for low-loss coupling to a cleaved single-mode optical fiber are demonstrated.The devices emit in a single transverse and quasi single longitudinal mode with an SMSR of 25.6dB.These devices exhibit a 3dB modulation bandwidth of 15.0GHz,and modulator DC extinction ratios of 16.2dB.The output beam divergence angles of the spot-size converter in the horizontal and vertical directions are as small as 7.3°×18.0°,respectively,resulting in a 3.0dB coupling loss with a cleaved single-mode optical fiber.

1.55μm Laser Diode Monolithically Integrated with Spot-Size Converter Using Conventional Process

A novel 1 55μm laser diode with spot size converter is designed and fabricated using conventional photolithography and chemical wet etching process.For the laser diode,a ridge double core structure is employed.For the spot size converter,a buried ridge double core structure is incorporated.The laterally tapered active core is designed and optically combined with the thin and wide passive core to control the size of mode.The laser diode threshold current is measured to be 40mA together with high slop efficiency of 0 35W/A.The beam divergence angles in the horizontal and vertical directions are as small as 14 89°×18 18°,respectively,resulting in low coupling losses with a cleaved optical fiber (3dB loss).

Quantitative evaluation of enhanced laser tattoo removal by skin optical clearing

Lasers have been widely used for tattoo removal,but the limited light penetration depth calused by high skin scattering property restricts the therapeutic outcome of deep tattoo.Skin optical clearing method,by introducing optical clearing agent(OCA)into skin,has shown some im-provement in the effect of laser tattoo removal.In this study,the enhanced laser tattoo removal has been quantitatively assessed.OCA was applied to the skin of tattoo animal model and Q switched Nd:YAG laser(1064 nm)irradiation was used to remove the tattoo.The skin evaluation instrument(Mexameter probe,MPA580)was applied to measure the content of tattoo pigment before and after laser treatment,and then the clearance rate of pigment was calculated.Further,Monte Carlo(MC)method was utilized to simulate the efecet of skin optical clearing on light transmission in tattoo skin model.By comparing the pigment change of tattoo areas respectively treated with OCA plus laser and single laser,it was found that pigment clearance of the former tattoo area was increased by 1.5-fold.Further,the MC simulation verifed that the reduced light scattering in skin could increase the effective dose of lumninous fux reaching to the deep tattoo regions.It can be concluded from both experiment and theoretical simulations that skin optical clearing technique could improve the outcome of laser tattoo re moval,which should be beneficial for clinical laser tattoo removal and other laser pigment elimination.