Far-field Beam Profile Research Articles

Observation and theory of X-ray mirages

The advent of X-ray lasers allowed the realization of compact coherent soft X-ray sources, thus opening the way to a wide range of applications. Here we report the observation of unexpected concentric rings in the far-field beam profile at the output of a two-stage plasma-based X-ray laser, which can be considered as the first manifestation of a mirage phenomenon in X-rays. We have developed a method of solving the Maxwell–Bloch equations for this problem, and find that the experimentally observed phenomenon is due to the emergence of X-ray mirages in the plasma amplifier, appearing as phase-matched coherent virtual point sources. The obtained results bring a new insight into the physical nature of amplification of X-ray radiation in laser-induced plasma amplifiers and open additional opportunities for X-ray plasma diagnostics and extreme ultraviolet lithography.

强激光远场光斑强度分布测量技术

强激光远场光斑强度分布测量技术

Propagation of a partially coherent beam from an unstable resonator through turbulent atmosphere

The influence of atmospheric turbulence on the propagation of a partially coherent beam from an unstable resonator was studied numerically. The resonant mode of the unstable resonator is obtained by iterative calculation using the Huygens–Fresnel formula. Also, using the extended Huygens–Fresnel integral, the intensity distribution of a propagating laser beam is calculated for different conditions. The influence of turbulence on the profile of partially coherent beams of an unstable resonator is studied. The effects of geometrical parameters of the resonator on the far-field beam profile are investigated. The results show that an unstable resonator with higher magnification has a superior far-field beam profile under partial coherency and turbulence conditions.

InGaN micro-pixellated light-emitting diodes with nano-textured surfaces and modified emission profiles

We present the fabrication details and performance characteristics of InGaN light-emitting diodes (LEDs) consisting of arrays of interconnected micro-pixels where each micro-pixel is nano-textured via nano-imprinting. We have taken the further step of embodying the pixels in a rhomboidal geometry. It is found that the power output of these nano-textured micro-LEDs with rhomboidal geometries is 57% higher than that of conventional square-shaped broad-area reference LEDs. The series resistance of the textured LEDs is reduced, owing to the multi-finger electrodes introduced. Furthermore, these LEDs can sustain higher operation current of up to 500 mA without encapsulation, suggesting improved thermal dissipation capability. Finally, the combined effects of surface texturing, micro-LED configuration, and geometric shaping on the light extraction are analyzed. It is found that the power enhancement by surface texturing, micro-pixellating and the rhomboidal geometry are 32%, 16%, and 9%, respectively, implying that surface texturing is the most effective contribution to increasing the light extraction efficiency in our design. The angular dependent far-field beam profile is also remarkably changed, compared with the standard Lambertian emission pattern of the conventional square-shaped LEDs. Substantial increase in the EL intensity is evident from both the top surface and the sidewall.

Improved beam characteristics of solid-target soft x-ray laser amplifiers by injection seeding with high harmonic pulses

Injection seeding of solid-target soft x-ray laser amplifiers with high harmonic pulses is shown to dramatically improve the far-field laser beam profile and reduce the beam divergence. Measurements and two-dimensional simulations for a 13.9 nm nickel-like Ag amplifier show that the amplified beam divergence depends strongly on the seed and can therefore be controlled by selecting the divergence of the seed. The near-field beam size of both the seeded and unseeded lasers is shown to be determined by the size of the gain region and the divergence of the amplified beams.

Generation of extended filaments of femtosecond pulses in air by use of a single-step phase plate

We experimentally demonstrate that by use of a phase plate that is placed between an adjustable aperture and a focusing lens, the length of the filament can be dramatically extended in air with a femtosecond laser pulse. In addition, the far-field beam profile captured after the filament indicates that the supercontinuum is strongly confined on axis, and a single filament appears to be attainable at relatively high input pulse power when the phase plate is used.

Second-harmonic generation of practical Bessel beams

A fast Gaussian expansion approach is used to investigate fundamental and second-harmonic generation in practical Bessel beams of finite aperture. The analysis is based on the integral solutions of the KZK equation under the quasilinear approximation. The influence of the medium's attenuation on the beam profile is considered. Analysis results show that the absorption parameter has a significant effect on the far-field beam profile of the second harmonic. Under certain circumstances, the second harmonic of a practical Bessel beam still has the main properties of an ideal Bessel beam of infinite aperture when it propagates within its depth of field.

Analysis of directional emission via surface modes on photonic crystals

Directional emission of light exiting a photonic crystal waveguide by a coherent action of radiative surface modes was recently demonstrated [E. Moreno et al., Phys. Rev. B 69 (2004) 121402], and subsequently the substantial enhancement of the directional emission was achieved by engineering the surface and adjusting relevant parameters [S.K. Morrison et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 86 (2005) 081110]. Here we present the analysis of surface modes causing directional emission by the plane wave expansion method and the finite-difference time-domain method. Then we numerically investigate the effects of surface termination on directional emission. We find another surface termination condition with a positive surface displacement. Our surface termination is more effective than the original structure, and nearly as effective as the termination for the enhancement. Besides, our termination is simpler than that for the enhancement. We confirm its effectiveness in the far-field beam profile and radiation intensity distribution of directional emission from our termination.

Mutual Injection-Locking and Coherent Combining of Two Individual Fiber Lasers

In this paper, mutual injection-locking and coherent combining are demonstrated with two individual erbium-doped fiber lasers that were coupled by two fiber splitters. Mutual injection-locking theory of two lasers is analyzed. In the free-running state, the far-field beam profile is a simple intensity superposition, as expected of two incoherent beams. Under mutual injection-locking, interference fringes with high contrast ratio are obtained, and the two fiber lasers lase at the same wavelength with a stable output power. We have found that the two fiber lasers are always in out-of-phase mode, which is consistent with theoretical analysis. Coherent beam combining by mutual injection-locking is realized without the need for length or amplitude control. This method can be easily scaled to combine more beams.

Laser energetics and propagation modelling for the NIF

Design, activation, and operation of modern high-energy, fusion-class lasers rely heavily on accurate simulation of laser performance. Setup, equipment protection, and data interpretation of the National Ignition Facility[1] (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) are being controlled by a Laser Performance Operations Model (LPOM) [2], which, at its core, utilizes a Virtual Beam Line (VBL) simulation code to predict laser energetics, wavefront, near- and far-field beam profiles, and damage risk prior to each shot. This same simulation tool is being used widely to understand such diverse phenomena as regenerative-amplifier saturation, damage inspection system performance, fratricide risk from small-scale flaws in large optics, converter performance, and conjugate image formation.

Effects of Surface Termination on Directional Emission from Photonic Crystal Waveguides

We numerically investigate by the finite-difference time-domain method the effects of surface termination on directional emission exiting a photonic crystal waveguide. The directed power and far-field beam profile for the original proposal [E. Moreno et al., Phys. Rev. B 69, 121402 (2004)] and its enhancement [S. K. Morrison et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 86, 081110 (2005)] are computed for different values of some important parameters. We find another surface termination condition with a positive surface displacement in the structure of the original proposal which has a negative surface displacement. Our surface termination is more effective than the original structure, and nearly as effective as the termination for the enhancement, for directional emission. Besides, our termination is simpler than that for the enhancement. We confirm the effectiveness of directional emission from our termination in its far-field beam profile, radiation intensity distribution, and additionally the wave-vector space representation by the Fourier analysis.

Design and Evaluation of Fundamental-Mode and Polarization-Stabilized VCSELs With a Subwavelength Surface Grating

We demonstrate 850-nm oxide-confined vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) with a locally etched subwavelength surface grating that are single-mode and polarization stable from threshold up to thermal roll-over, reaching /spl sim/4 mW of output power. The side-mode suppression ratio (SMSR) is >30 dB and the orthogonal polarization suppression ratio (OPSR) is /spl sim/20 dB. Moreover, no distortion of the far-field beam profile is observed as a result of the surface grating. Our numerical calculations show that a carefully designed VCSEL can have a high simultaneous mode and polarization selectivity without a significant increase in loss for the favored fundamental mode with polarization state perpendicular to the grating lines. This indicates characteristics such as threshold current and resonance frequency will not be notably degraded. The calculations also show a low sensitivity to variations in grating etch depth and duty cycle, which relaxes fabrication tolerances. In our experimental parametric study, where the oxide aperture diameter, surface grating diameter, and grating duty cycle were varied, the combined mode and polarization selection was investigated. For an optimum combination of oxide aperture and surface grating diameters of 4.5 and 2.5 /spl mu/m, respectively, the device is found to be single-mode and polarization stable for a broad range of grating duty cycles, from 55% to 75%, with only a small variation in other laser performances, which is in line with theory.

Optical frequency-domain chromatic dispersion measurement method for higher-order modes in an optical fiber

We propose a new chromatic dispersion measurement method for the higher-order modes of an optical fiber using optical frequency modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) interferometry. An optical fiber which supports few excited modes was prepared for our experiments. Three different guiding modes of the fiber were identified by using far-field spatial beam profile measurements and confirmed with numerical mode analysis. By using the principle of a conventional FMWC interferometry with a tunable external cavity laser, we have demonstrated that the chromatic dispersion of a few-mode optical fiber can be obtained directly and quantitatively as well as qualitatively. We have also compared our measurement results with those of conventional modulation phase-shift method.

High brightness single-mode ridge laser utilizing buried heterostructure defined by quantum-well intermixing

The authors demonstrate a novel high brightness single-lateral mode ridge laser using quantum well intermixing to form a buried heterostructure. Increased discrimination between the fundamental and higher order modes can be achieved using the buried heterostructure to reduce the width of the gain section, enhancing fundamental mode operation. This allows the ridge width to be increased while maintaining fundamental mode operation, hence reducing the optical intensity at the facet and increasing the optical power before mirror degradation. Standard and novel buried heterostructure ridge lasers of 5-/spl mu/m width are compared; far-field beam profiles clearly show improved modal stability for the novel structure.

Double-pass copper vapor laser master-oscillator power-amplifier systems: generation of flat-top focused beams for fiber coupling and percussion drilling

In this paper, a compact master-oscillator power-amplifier laser system incorporating telescopic beam expansion in a high-gain double-pass amplifier is presented. A miniature (0.5 W) master-oscillator copper vapor laser is used to efficiently extract over 37 W of high-beam-quality (full transverse coherence) output power from a kinetically enhanced nominally 35-W copper vapor laser at 12-kHz pulse repetition frequency. By configuring the oscillator for low coherence output and using a multimode optical fiber between the oscillator and the double-pass amplifier, a high-power (34 W) low-divergence output beam having a well-defined flat-top far-field beam profile was also produced. The flat-top farfield beam profile arises from control of the spatial coherence of a flat-top near-field beam, rather than the usual techniques for producing flattened Gaussian beams from coherent Gaussian beams. Use of the flat-top focused beam for high-speed percussion drilling of high quality 100-/spl mu/m diameter holes in metals was demonstrated, as well as high-power (34-W average power, 80-kW peak power) damage-free power transmission through 100-/spl mu/m core diameter step-index optical fibers.

Transverse mode structure and output stability of the p-Ge terahertz laser

The p-Ge terahertz laser with flat external cavity mirrors exhibits intensity modulations at well-defined nonequidistant frequencies in the 8-80-MHz range, resulting from beating of transverse modes. A theoretical description of the mode structure of this cavity is given. Results compare well with experimental data on beat frequencies and far-field beam profiles obtained using a metal mesh out-coupling window. Based on calculations, a cavity with a reduced size back mirror is proposed to suppress higher order transverse modes. Experiments prove that a reduction of the mirror to about 70% of the end-face surface leads to an effective suppression of the intensity modulations. Such a cavity exhibits a strongly improved pulse-to-pulse stability of the output and a much better shape of the micro pulse train under mode-locked operation.

Bessel beams of finite amplitude in absorbing fluids

Second-harmonic generation in a Bessel beam is investigated analytically, with emphasis on the effect of absorption. It is shown that absorption has a strong influence on the far-field beam profile. Numerical results are presented for higher harmonics and for waveform distortion in a Bessel beam that forms a shock.

Observation of power drop and low threshold due to beam waist shrinkage around critical configurations in an end-pumped Nd:YVO 4 laser

Under pumping spot size less than that of the cavity mode, we observed a decrease of the fundamental mode power in an end-pumped solid-state laser when the cavity length was adjusted approaching certain critical resonator configurations where the transverse modes are degenerate. In the proximity of these configurations, we found, for the first time to our knowledge, that the laser exhibits a relatively low threshold pump power together with an unexpected far-field beam profile and shrinking beam waist.

Use of atomic force microscopy for analysis of high performance InGaAsP/InP semiconductor lasers with dry-etched facets

We report on the use of an atomic force microscope (AFM) to directly measure the quality of InGaAsP/InP laser facets formed by a CH4:H2:Ar reactive ion etching process. From the AFM data, we obtain values for rms surface roughness and transverse angular tilt that have previously only been estimated through laser operating characteristics or inferred from scanning electron microscope analysis. The etched facet reflectivity, calculated from device slope efficiency data and far-field beam profiles, is in excellent agreement with AFM measurements. We show methane-based dry etching can achieve a rms facet roughness of 22 nm. This value surpasses the generally accepted roughness parameter of λ/10 and is competitive with the best chlorine-based facet etching to date. We also report a transverse angular facet tilt of 2°, which we believe to be the most vertical, CH4-based facet etch reported to date. The output performance of these devices is nearly identical to cleaved devices.

Operation and output pulse characteristics of an extremely compact capillary-discharge tabletop soft-x-ray laser

We report on the operating parameters and laser output pulse characteristics of an extremely compact discharge-pumped 46.9-nm laser of a size comparable with that of many widely utilized visible and ultraviolet gas lasers. This capillary-discharge laser generated subnanosecond laser pulses with energies of as much as 25microJ by single-pass amplification in an 18.6-cm-long argon-plasma column. Measurements of the laser output energy, pulse width, far-field beam profile, and beam divergence are reported.