Finesse measurement for high-power optical enhancement cavity

Finesse is a critical parameter for describing the characteristics of an optical enhancement cavity(OEC). This paper first presents a review of finesse measurement techniques, including a comparative analysis of the advantages, disadvantages, and potential limitations of several main methods from both theoretical and practical perspectives. A variant of the existing method called the free spectral range(FSR) modulation method is proposed and compared with three other finesse measurement methods, i.e., the fast-switching cavity ring-down(CRD) method, the rapidly swept-frequency(SF) CRD method, and the ringing effect method. A high-power OEC platform with a high finesse of approximately 16000 is built and measured with the four methods. The performance of these methods is compared, and the results show that the FSR modulation method and the fast-switching CRD method are more suitable and accurate than the other two methods for high-finesse OEC measurements. The CRD method and the ringing effect method can be implemented in open loop using simple equipment and are easy to perform. Additionally, recommendations for selecting finesse measurement methods under different conditions are proposed, which benefit the development of OEC and its applications.

Optical Frequency Comb-Based Cavity-Enhanced Fourier-Transform Spectroscopy:Application to Collisional Line-Shape Study

Direct-comb spectroscopy techniques uses optical frequency combs(OFCs)as spectroscopic light source.They deliver high sensitivity,high frequency resolution and precision in a broad spectral range.Due to these features,the field has burgeoned in recent years.In this work we constructed an OFC-based cavity-enhanced Fourier-transform spectrometer in the nearinfrared region and used it for a line-shape study of rovibrational transitions of CO perturbed by Ar.The highly sensitive measurements spanned the wavenumber range from 6270 cm^-1 to 6410 cm^-1,which covered both P and R branch of the second overtone band of CO.The spectrometer delivers high-resolution surpassing the Fourier-transform resolution limit determined by interferogram length,successfully removing ringing and broadening effects caused by instrumental line shape function.The instrumental-line-shape-free method and high signal-to-noise ratio in the measurement allowed us to observe collisional effects beyond those described by the Voigt profile.We retrieved collisional line-shape parameters by fitting the speed-dependent Voigt profile and found good agreement with the values given by precise cavity ring-down spectroscopy measurements that used a continuous-wave laser referenced to a stabilized OFC.The results demonstrate that OFC-based cavity-enhanced Fouriertransform spectroscopy is a strong tool for accurate line-shape studies that will be crucial for future spectral databases.

Resonant cavity-enhanced quantum dot field-effect transistor as a single-photon detector

A resonant cavity-enhanced （RCE） quantum dot （QD） field-effect transistor （RCEQDFET） is designed for single- photon detection in this paper. Adding distributed Bragg reflection （DBR） mirrors to the single-photon detector （SPD）, we improve the light absorption efficiency of the SPD. The effects of the reflectivity of the mirrors, the thickness and light absorption coefficient of the absorbing layer on the detector＇s light absorption efficiency are investigated, and the resonant cavity is determined by using the air/semiconductor interface as the mirror on the top. Through analyzing the relationship between the refractive index of AlxGal_xAs and A1 component, we choose A1As/Alo.15Gao.85As as the material of the mirror on the bottom. The pairs of A1As/Alo.15Gao.85As film are further determined to be 21 by calculating the reflectivity of the mirror. The detector is fabricated from semiconductor heterostructures grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The reflection spectrum, photoluminescence （PL） spectrum, photocurrent response, and channel current of the detector are tested and the results show that the RCEQDFET-SPD designed in this paper has better performances in photonic response and wavelength selection.

Continuous-wave optical enhancement cavity with 30-kW average power

Optical enhancement cavity(OEC)is a powerful tool for fundamental research and diagnostics.In this paper,the progress of a continuous-wave OEC to realize of megawatt cavity for a novel light source based on a steady-state microbunching(SSMB)mechanism,is reported.After efficiently suppressing all external noise and optimizing the alignment,mode-matching,and polarization matching,stable and long-term locking is achieved with the help of two feedback loops.The modal instability phenomenon caused by the surface thermoelastic deformation is observed.A pair of D-shape mirrors are utilized to remove the high-order modes.Finally,an intra-cavity average power of 30 kW is reached.

Frequency doubled femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser with an assisted enhancement cavity

We report an enhancement cavity for femtosecond Ti：sapphire laser at the repetition rate of 170 MHz. An enhancement factor of 24 is obtained when the injecting pulses have an average power of 1 W and a pulse duration of 80 fs. By placing a BBO crystal at the focus of the cavity, we obtain a 392-mW intracavity doubled-frequency laser, corresponding to a conversion efficiency of 43%. The output power has a long-term stability with a root mean square （RMS） of 0.036%.

Coupled quantum molecular cavity optomechanics with surface plasmon enhancement

Cavity optomechanics is applied to study the coupling behavior of interacting molecules in surface plasmon systems driven by two-color laser beams. Different from the traditional force–distance measurement, due to a resonant frequency shift or a peak splitting on the probe spectrum, we have proposed a convenient method to measure the van der Waals force strength and interaction energy via nonlinear spectroscopy. The minimum force value can reach approximately 10^(-15) N, which is 3 to 4 orders of magnitude smaller than the widely applied atomic force microscope(AFM). It is also shown that two adjacent molecules with similar chemical structures and nearly equal vibrational frequencies can be easily distinguished by the splitting of the transparency peak. Based on this coupled optomechanical system, we also conceptually design a tunable optical switch by van der Waals interaction. Our results will provide new approaches for understanding the complex and dynamic interactions inmolecule–plasmon systems.

Efficient high harmonics generation by enhancement cavity driven with a post-compressed FCPA laser at 10 MHz

Efficient high harmonics generation(HHG) was demonstrated at 10 MHz repetition rate with an external femtosecond enhancement cavity, seeded by a ～70 fs post-compressed 10 MHz fiber chirped pulse amplifier(FCPA) laser. Operation lasting over 30 min with 0.1 m W outcoupled power at 149 nm was demonstrated. It was found that shorter pulse was beneficial for alleviating the nonlinear plasma effect and improving the efficiency of HHG. Low finesse cavity can relax the plasma nonlinearity clamped intra-cavity power and improve the cavity-locking stability. The pulse duration is expected to be below 100 fs for both 1040 nm and 149 nm outputs, making it ideal for applications such as time-resolved photoemission spectroscopy.

Enhancing entanglement generation of two atoms in a cavity with white noise using classical driving fields

We investigate the entanglement dynamics of a quantum system consisting of two two-level atoms in a cavity with classical driving fields in the presence of white noise. The cavity is initially prepared in the vacuum state. Generally, the entanglement of two atoms decreases with the intensity of the thermal fields and the coupling strength of the two-level atoms to the thermal fields. However, we find that the entanglement of the quantum system can be enhanced by adjusting the frequency and the strength of the classical driving fields in the presence of white noise.

A concept for multiterawatt fibre lasers based on coherent pulse stacking in passive cavities

Since the advent of femtosecond lasers,performance improvements have constantly impacted on existing applications and enabled novel applications.However,one performance feature bearing the potential of a quantum leap for high-field applications is still not available:the simultaneous emission of extremely high peak and average powers.Emerging applications such as laser particle acceleration require exactly this performance regime and,therefore,challenge laser technology at large.On the one hand,canonical bulk systems can provide pulse peak powers in the multi-terawatt to petawatt range,while on the other hand,advanced solid-state-laser concepts such as the thin disk,slab or fibre are well known for their high efficiency and their ability to emit high average powers in the kilowatt range with excellent beam quality.In this contribution,a compact laser system capable of simultaneously providing high peak and average powers with high wall-plug efficiency is proposed and analysed.The concept is based on the temporal coherent combination(pulse stacking)of a pulse train emitted from a high-repetition-rate femtosecond laser system in a passive enhancement cavity.Thus,the pulse energy is increased at the cost of the repetition rate while almost preserving the average power.The concept relies on a fast switching element for dumping the enhanced pulse out of the cavity.The switch constitutes the key challenge of our proposal.Addressing this challenge could,for the first time,allow the highly efficient dumping of joule-class pulses at megawatt average power levels and lead to unprecedented laser parameters.

Design and simulation of blue/violet sensitive photodetectors in silicon-on-insulator

According to Lambert’s law,a novel structure of photodetectors,namely photodetectors in siliconon-insulator,is proposed.By choosing a certain thickness value for the SOI layer,the photodetector can absorb blue/violet light effectively and affect the responsivity of the long wavelength in the visible and near-infrared region,making a blue/violet filter unnecessary.The material of the SOI layer is high-resistivity floating-zone silicon which can cause the neutral N type SOI layer to become fully depleted after doping with a P type impurity.This can improve the collection efficiency of short-wavelength photogenerated carriers.The device structure was optimized through numerical simulation,and the results show that the photodiode is a kind of high performance photodetector in the blue/violet region.