Wavelength-tunable organic semiconductor lasers based on elastic distributed feedback gratings

Wavelength-tunable organic semiconductor lasers based on mechanically stretchable polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) gratings were developed. The intrinsic stretchability of PDMS was explored to modulate the period of the distributed feedback gratings for fine tuning the lasing wavelength. Notably, elastic lasers based on three typical light-emitting molecules show com-parable lasing threshold values analogous to rigid devices and a continuous wavelength tunability of about 10 nm by mechanic-al stretching. In addition, the stretchability provides a simple solution for dynamically tuning the lasing wavelength in a spec-tral range that is challenging to achieve for inorganic counterparts. Our work has provided a simple and efficient method of fab-ricating tunable organic lasers that depend on stretchable distributed feedback gratings, demonstrating a significant step in the advancement of flexible organic optoelectronic devices.

Monolithic Integration of a Widely Tunable Laser with SOA Using Quantum-Well Intermixing

This paper presents an SG-DBR with a monolithically integrated SOA fabricated using quantum-well intermixing （QWI） for the first time in China's Mainland. The wavelength tuning range covers 33nm and the output power reaches 10mW with an SOA current of 50mA. The device can work at available channels with SMSR over 35dB.

A Wavelength Tunable DBR Laser Integrated with an Electro-Absorption Modulator by a Combined Method of SAG and QWI

We report a wavelength tunable electro-absorption modulated DBR laser based on a combined method of SAG and QWI. The threshold current is 37mA and the output power at 100mA gain current is 3.5mW. When coupled to a single-mode fiber with a coupling efficiency of 15% ,more than a 20dB extinction ratio is observed over the change of EAM bias from 0 to -2V. The 4.4nm continuous wavelength tuning range covers 6 channels on a 100GHz grid for WDM telecommunications.

Tunable Distributed Bragg Reflector Laser Fabricated by Bundle Integrated Guide

The tunable BIG RW distributed Bragg reflector lasers with two different coupling coefficient gratings are proposed and fabricated.The threshold current of the laser is 38mA and the output power is more than 8mW.The tunable range of the laser is 3 2nm and the side mode suppression ratio is more than 30dB.The variation of the output power within the tunable wavelength range is less than 0 3dB.

Influence of laser intensity in second-harmonic detection with tunable diode laser multi-pass absorption spectroscopy

Tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy （TDLAS） has been widely employed in atmospheric trace gases detection. The ratio of the second-harmonic signal to the intensity of laser beam incident to the multi-pass cell is proved to be proportional to the product of the path length and the gas concentration under any condition. A new calibration method based on this relation in TDLAS system for the measurement of trace gas concentration is proposed for the first time. The detection limit and the sensitivity of the system are below 110 and 31ppbv （parts-per-billion in volume）, respectively.

A remote sensing system of vehicle emissions based on tunable diode laser technology

As being an effective real-time method of monitoring vehicle emissions on-road, a remote sensing system based on the tunable diode laser （TDL） technology was presented, and the key technologies were discussed. A field test in Guangzhou（Guangdong, China） was performed and was found that the factors, such as slope, instantaneous speed and acceleration, had significant influence on the detectable rate of the system. Based on the results, the proposal choice of testing site was presented.

A compact graphene Q-switched erbium-doped fiber laser using optical circulator and tunable fiber Bragg grating

We demonstrate a passively Q-switched tunable erbium-doped fiber laser （EDFL） based on graphene as a saturable absorber （SA）. A three-port optical circulator （OC） and a strain-induced tunable fiber Bragg grating （TFBG） are used as the two end mirrors in an all-fiber linear cavity. The Q-switched EDFL has a low pump threshold of 23.8 mW. The pulse repetition rate of the fiber laser can be widely changed from 9.3 kHz to 69.7 kHz by increasing the pump power from 23.8 mW to 219.9 mW. The minimum pulse duration is 1.7 p.s and the highest pulse energy is 25.4 nJ. The emission wavelength of the laser can be tuned from 1560.43 nm to 1566.27 nm by changing the central wavelength of the straininduced TFBG.

Flexible control of semiconductor laser with frequency tunable modulation transfer spectroscopy

We introduce a new method of simultaneously implementing frequency stabilization and frequency shift for semiconductor lasers. We name this method the frequency tunable modulation transfer spectroscopy （FTMTS）. To realize a stable output of 780 nm semiconductor laser, an FTMTS optical heterodyne frequency stabilization system is constructed. Before entering into the frequency stabilization system, the probe laser passes through an acousto-optical modulator （AOM） twice in advance to achieve tunable frequency while keeping the light path stable. According to the experimental results, the frequency changes from 120 MHz to 190 MHz after the double-pass AOM, and the intensity of laser entering into the system is greatly changed, but there is almost no change in the error signal of the FTMTS spectrum. Using this signal to lock the laser frequency, we can ensure that the frequency of the laser changes with the amount of AOM shift. Therefore, the magneto-optical trap （MOT）-molasses process can be implemented smoothly.

High-power linearly-polarized tunable Raman fiber laser

In this study, we demonstrate an all-fiber high-power linearly-polarized tunable Raman fiber laser system. An in- house high-power tunable fiber laser was employed as the pump source. A fiber loop mirror （FLM） serving as a high reflectivity mirror and a flat-cut endface serving as an output coupler were adopted to provide broadband feedback. A piece of 59-m commercial passive fiber was used as the Raman gain medium. The Raman laser had a 27.6 nm tuning range from 1112 nm to 1139.6 nm and a maximum output power of 125.3 W, which corresponds to a conversion efficiency of 79.4%. The polarization extinction ratio （PER） at all operational wavelengths was measured to be over 21 dB. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on a hundred-watt level linearly-polarized tunable Raman fiber laser.

A broadband external cavity tunable InAs/GaAs quantum dot laser by utilizing only the ground state emission

A broadband external cavity tunable laser is realized by using a broad-emitting spectral InAs/GaAs quantum dot （QD） gain device. A tuning range of 69 nm with a central wavelength of 1056 nm, is achieved at a bias of 1.25 kA/cm^2only by utilizing the light emission from the ground state of QDs. This large tunable range only covers the QD ground-state emission and is related to the inhomogeneous size distribution of QDs. No excited state contributes to the tuning bandwidth. The application of the QD gain device to the external cavity tunable laser shows its immense potential in broadening the tuning bandwidth. By the external cavity feedback, the threshold current densitycan be reduced remarkably compared with the free-running QD gain device.

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.

A picosecond widely tunable deep-ultraviolet laser for angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy

We develop a picosecond widely tunable laser in a deep-ultraviolet region from 175 nm to 210 nm, generated by two stages of frequency doubling of a 80-MHz mode-locked picosecond Ti：sapphire laser. A β-BaB2O4 walk-off compensation configuration and a KBe2BO3F2 prism-coupled device are adopted for the generation of second harmonic and fourth harmonics, respectively. The highest power is 3.72 mW at 193 nm, and the fluctuation at 2.85 mW in 130 rain is less than ±2%.

Micromechanical tunable vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

We report the study on a short wavelength-tunable vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser utilizing a monolithically integrated bridge tuning microelectromechanical system. A deformable-bridge top mirror suspended above an active region is utilized. Applied bridge-substrate bias produces an electrostatic force which reduces the spacing of air-gap and tunes the resonant wavelength toward a shorter wavelength （blue-shift）, Good laser characteristics are obtained： such as continuous tuning ranges over 11 nm near 940 nm for 0-9 V tuning bias, the peak output power near 1 mW and the full-width-half-maximum limited to approximately 3.2-6.8 rim. A detailed simulation of the micromechanical and optical characteristics of these devices is performed, and the ratio of bridge displacement to wavelength shift has been found to be 3：1.

Measurements of argon metastable density using the tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy in Ar and Ar/O2

Densities of Ar metastable states 1s5 and 1s3 are measured by using the tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy（TDLAS） in Ar and Ar/O2 mixture dual-frequency capacitively coupled plasma（DF-CCP）. We investigate the effects of high-frequency（HF, 60 MHz） power, low-frequency（LF, 2 MHz） power, and working pressure on the density of Ar metastable states for three different gas components（0%, 5%, and 10% oxygen mixed in argon）. The dependence of Ar metastable state density on the oxygen content is also studied at different working pressures. It is found that densities of Ar metastable states in discharges with different gas components exhibit different behaviors as HF power increases. With the increase of HF power, the metastable density increases rapidly at the initial stage, and then tends to be saturated at a higher HF power. With a small fraction（5% or 10%） of oxygen added in argon plasma, a similar change of the Ar metastable density with HF power can be observed, but the metastable density is saturated at a higher HF power than in the pure argon discharge. In the DF-CCP, the metastable density is found to be higher than in a single frequency discharge, and has weak dependence on LF power. As working pressure increases, the metastable state density first increases and then decreases,and the pressure value, at which the density maximum occurs, decreases with oxygen content increasing. Besides, adding a small fraction of oxygen into argon plasma will significantly dwindle the metastable state density as a result of quenching loss by oxygen molecules.

Generation of wideband tunable femtosecond laser based on nonlinear propagation of power-scaled mode-locked femtosecond laser pulses in photonic crystal fiber

We implement an experimental study for the generation of wideband tunable femtosecond laser with a home-made power-scaled mode-locked fiber oscillator as the pump source.By coupling the sub-100 fs mode-locked pulses into a nonlinear photonic crystal fiber(NL-PCF),the exited spectra have significant nonlinear broadening and cover a spectra range of hundreds of nm.In experiment,by reasonably optimizing the structure parameters of NL-PCF and regulating the power of the incident pulses,femtosecond laser with tuning range of 900-1290 nm is realized.The research approach promotes the development of femtosecond lasers with center wavelengths out of the traditional laser gain media toward the direction of simplicity and ease of implementation.

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.

Semiconductor Optical Amplifier and Gain Chip Used in Wavelength Tunable Lasers

The design concept of semiconductor optical amplifier(SOA)and gain chip used in wavelength tunable lasers(TL)is discussed in this paper.The design concept is similar to that of a conventional SOA or a laser;however,there are a few different points.An SOA in front of the tunable laser should be polarization dependent and has low optical confinement factor.To obtain wide gain bandwidth at the threshold current,the gain chip used in the tunable laser cavity should be something between SOA and fixed-wavelength laser design,while the fixed-wavelength laser has high optical confinement factor.Detailed discussion is given with basic equations and some simulation results on saturation power of the SOA and gain bandwidth of gain chip are shown.

LESS-INVASIVE LASER THERAPY AND DIAGNOSIS USING A TABLETOP MID-INFRARED TUNABLE LASER

Since numerous characteristic absorption lines caused by molecular vibration exist in the midinfrared(MIR)wavelength region,selective excitation or selective dissociation of molecules is possible by tuning the laser wavelength to the characteristic absorption lines of target molecules.By applying this feature to the medical fields,less-invasive treatment and non-destructive diagnosis with absorption spectroscopy are possible using tunable MIR lasers.A high-energy nanosecond pulsed MIR tunable laser was obtained with difference-frequency generation(DFG)between a Nd:YAG and a tunable Cr:forsterite lasers.The MIR-DFG laser was tunable in a wavelength range of 5.5–10μm and generated laser pulses with energy of up to 1.4mJ,a pulse width of 5 ns,and a pulse repetition rate of 10 Hz.Selective removal of atherosclerotic lesion was successfully demonstrated with the MIR-DFG laser tuned at a wavelength of 5.75μm,which corresponds to the characteristic absorption of the ester bond in cholesterol esters in the atherosclerotic lesions.We have developed a non-destructive diagnostic probe with an attenuated total reflection(ATR)prism and two hollow optical fibers.An absorption spectrum of cholesterol was measured with the ATR probe by scanning the wavelength of the MIR-DFG laser,and the spectrum was in good agreement with that measured with a commercial Fourier transform infrared spectrometer.

Development of 2D Temperature and Concentration Measurement Method Using Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy

Exhaust gas temperature is an important factor in NOx, THC and PM emissions of engines. Especially 2D temperature and concentration distribution plays an important role for the engine efficiency. A thermocouple is intrinsically a point temperature measurement method and noncontact 2D temperature distribution cannot be attained by thermocouples. Recently, as a measurement technique with high sensitivity and high response, laser diagnostics has been developed and applied to the actual engine combustions. With these engineering developments, transient phenomena such as start-ups and load changes in engines have been gradually elucidated in various conditions. In this study, the theoretical and experimental research has been conducted in order to develop the noncontact and fast response 2D temperature and concentration distribution measurement method. The method is based on a Computed Tomography （CT） method using absorption spectra of water vapor at 1388 nm. It has been demonstrated that the method has been successfully applied to engine exhausts to measure 2D temperature distributions.

Tunable and Switchable Narrow Bandwidth Semiconductor-Saturable Absorber Mirror Mode-Locked Yb-Doped Fiber Laser Delivering Different Pulse Widths

The wavelength-tunable and switchable narrow bandwidth mode-locking operation is demonstrated in an all fiber laser based on semiconductor-saturable absorber mirror （SESAM）. Two narrow-band fiber Bragg gratings centered at 1029.9nm and 1032nm respectively with a polarization controller inserted between them are used to realize the wavelength switchable between 1029.9nm and 1032nm. The laser delivers different pulse widths of 7.5ps for 1030nm and 20ps for 1032nm. The maximum output power for both could reach -6.5mW at single pulse operation. The output wavelength couM be tuned to about 0.gnm intervals ranging from 1030.2nm to 1031.1 nm and from 1032.15nm to 1033.7nm with the temperature change of the fiber Bragg grating, respectively.