Continuous-wave High-power Laser Research Articles

Protecting Fiber-Optic Quantum Key Distribution Sources against Light-Injection Attacks

A well-protected and characterised source in a quantum key distribution system is needed for its security. Unfortunately, the source is vulnerable to light-injection attacks, such as Trojan-horse, laser-seeding, and laser-damage attacks, in which an eavesdropper actively injects bright light to hack the source unit. The hacking laser could be a high-power one that can modify properties of components via the laser-damage attack and also further help the Trojan-horse and other light-injection attacks. Here we propose a countermeasure against the light-injection attacks, consisting of an additional sacrificial component placed at the exit of the source. This component should either withstand high-power incoming light while attenuating it to a safe level that cannot modify the rest of the source, or get destroyed into a permanent high-attenuation state that breaks up the line. We demonstrate experimentally that off-the-shelf fiber-optic isolators and circulators have these desired properties, at least under attack by a continuous-wave high-power laser.

Laser processing of high chromium white iron

Mechanical properties, such as wear-resistance and hardness, of laser welded and cladded high chromium white iron were investigated. The study involves the laser welding, cladding, and laser surface melt treatment by 3-kW Nd:YAG continuous wave high power laser. The laser welding of 2-mm thick high chromium white iron samples was laser welded in two combinations: iron-to-iron and iron-to-steel. Strong metallurgical bonding was witnessed between not only the iron samples but also iron and steel samples by laser welding. Three types of powder materials were used to laser clad the samples: metal-ceramic (compositionally close to INCO-702), stellite-21, and stellite-1 in order to estimate mechanical property changes and process ability of high chromium white iron. Even though the microstructure of metal-ceramic coating shows worse than stellite powder coatings it has more hardness and wear resistant property which were comparable to base iron. Hardness of metal-ceramic coating was slightly lower than base iron, yet the wear resistance was increased twofold.

Continuous wave high-power laser propagation in water is affected by strong thermal lensing and thermal blooming already at short distances

When laser beams propagate through media with non-vanishing absorption, the media is heated resulting in a change of the refractive index, which can lead to thermal lensing and thermal blooming. However, experimental details about both phenomena for propagations in water are lacking, especially for high-power lasers in the kilowatt range. We show that significant thermal lensing occurs only for high input powers before the onset of convective flow, while for low input powers, no strong thermal lens arises. After the onset of water flow, thermal blooming occurs at low input powers comparable to that known for propagations over kilometres in the air. However, for high input powers a thermal blooming on a qualitatively higher level is shown. By wavefront sensing, the change of refractive index distribution in water is investigated. This clearly shows the fast development of a strong thermal lens for high input powers and the onset of convection. Furthermore, a qualitatively good agreement of the accompanying simulations is observed. It is found that the absorption coefficient is linear with a value of mu ={13.7},{mathrm{m}^{-1}} at least up to 7.5 kW, i.e. 8 mathrm{kW/cm}^2. However, the directed transmission into an aperture is only constant before any thermal lensing of blooming occurs.

Analysis of melt-through process of 1.07 μm continuous wave high power laser irradiation on metal

Laser-metal interactions are influenced by various parameters, including laser wavelength and laser pulse duration. By proper adjustments of these parameters, one can create states that manifest different phenomena during laser ablation. In this work, we study laser melt-through of metal using 1 kW high power continuous laser with 1.07 μm wave length. A Ytterbium (Yb) doped fiber laser is used on the metal sample of varying thicknesses (0.1 ∼ 2 mm). In addition to providing measurements from the melt-through process, numerical study of thermal transport effect of laser heating and thermo-elastic response of metal are reported. The test-based simulation is shown to reproduce the thermal transport characteristics of beam-metal interaction at high power continuous wave irradiation with notable accuracy.

High-power continuous-wave intracavity frequency-doubled Nd:GdVO/sub 4/-LBO laser under diode pumping into the emitting level

The continuous-wave high power laser emission of Nd:GdVO/sub 4/ at the fundamental wavelength of 1.06 /spl mu/m and its 531-nm second harmonic obtained by intracavity frequency doubling with an LBO nonlinear crystal is investigated under pumping by diode laser at 808 nm (on the /sup 4/I/sub 9/2//spl rarr//sup 4/F/sub 5/2/ transition) and 879 nm (on the /sup 4/I/sub 9/2//spl rarr//sup 4/F/sub 3/2/ transition). It is shown that, in spite of a lower absorption at 879 nm, the infrared emission is comparable under these two wavelengths of pump. The green emission performances were, however, improved by the 879 nm pump: 5.1 W at 531 nm with M/sup 2/=1.46 and 0.31 overall optical-to-optical efficiency was obtained from a 3-mm-thick 1-at.% Nd:GdVO/sub 4/ laser medium and a 10-mm-long LBO nonlinear crystal in a Z-type cavity for 16.5 W pump power. In similar conditions, the maximum green power for the 808 nm pump was 4.4 W, with 0.26 overall optical-to-optical efficiency and M/sup 2/=3.40 beam quality; at this pump wavelength the green emission shows evident saturation for pump power in excess of 9.9 W. This behavior is connected with the enhanced heat generation under 809-nm pumping, as evidenced by the increased thermal lensing of the fundamental emission. A careful alignment of the laser enables emission almost free of chaotic intensity fluctuations.