Gain Regime Research Articles

A quantum mechanical analysis of Smith–Purcell free-electron lasers

The paper presents a quantum mechanical treatment for analyzing the Smith–Purcell radiation generated by charged particles passing over a periodic conducting structure. In our theoretical model, the electrons interact with a surface harmonic wave excited near the diffraction grating when the electron velocity is almost equal to the phase velocity of the surface wave. Then, the surface harmonic wave is electromagnetically coupled to a radiation mode. The dynamics of electrons are analyzed quantum mechanically where the electron is represented as a traveling electron wave with a finite spreading length. The conversion of the surface wave into a propagating mode is analyzed using the classical Maxwell׳s equations. In the small-signal gain regime, closed-form expressions for the contributions of the stimulated and spontaneous emissions to the evolution of the surface wave are derived. The inclusion of the spreading length of the electron wave to the emission spectral line is investigated. Finally, we compare our results based on the quantum mechanical description of electron and those based on the classical approach where a good agreement is confirmed.

Superradiance and collective gain in multimode optomechanics

We present a description of a strongly driven multimode optomechanical system that shows the emergence of cooperative effects usually known from systems of atom-light interaction. Our calculations show that under application of a coherent pump field the system's response can be switched from a superradiant regime to a collective gain regime by varying the frequency detuning of the pump. In the superradiant regime, enhanced optical cooling of a single vibrational mode is possible, whereas the collective gain regime would potentially enable one to achieve almost thresholdless phonon laser action. The threshold pumping power scales as $1/N$.

Experimental study of a modulated beam AlGaAs/GaAs diode amplifier operating in the highly saturated gain regime

The variation in the modulation parameters of an optical signal in a diode power amplifier has been studied experimentally. The experimental data obtained agree well with theory that takes into account nonlinear interaction between fields in the gain medium of a laser through inversion beating. It is shown that the dominant type of output signal modulation is phase modulation, whose depth depends on the amplitude – phase coupling coefficient of the gain medium of the amplifier and the nature of the modulation (the phase relationships between the spectral components) of the output signal.

Diode amplifier of modulated optical beam power

Analytical relations are obtained between characteristics of modulated light at the output and input of an optical diode power amplifier operating in the highly saturated gain regime. It is shown that a diode amplifier may act as an amplitude-to-phase modulation converter with a rather large bandwidth . The low sensitivity of the output power of the amplifier to the input beam power and its high energy efficiency allow it to be used as a building block of a high-power multielement laser system with coherent summation of a large number of optical beams.

Bandwidth analysis of type-I optical parametric chirped pulse amplification systems

We propose a set of empirical formulas to describe the signal broadband gain regime and ultra-broadband gain point under a given pump wavelength for a type-I optical parametric chirped pulse amplification (OPCPA) system. These formulas are applied in the usual nonlinear crystals (beta barium borate, potassium dihydrogen phosphate, deuterated potassium dihydrogen phosphate, cesium lithium borate, lithium triborate, and yttrium calcium oxoborate), and the corresponding results agree with numerically calculated ones. The empirical formulas provide guidelines for selecting appropriate crystals or pump wavelengths to design OPCPA for broadband or ultra-broadband gain bandwidths with appointed signal wavelength.

Development of a dual MCP framing camera for high energy x-rays.

Recently developed diagnostic techniques at LLNL require recording backlit images of extremely dense imploded plasmas using hard x-rays, and demand the detector to be sensitive to photons with energies higher than 50 keV [R. Tommasini et al., Phys. Phys. Plasmas 18, 056309 (2011); G. N. Hall et al., "AXIS: An instrument for imaging Compton radiographs using ARC on the NIF," Rev. Sci. Instrum. (these proceedings)]. To increase the sensitivity in the high energy region, we propose to use a combination of two MCPs. The first MCP is operated in a low gain regime and works as a thick photocathode, and the second MCP works as a high gain electron multiplier. We tested the concept of this dual MCP configuration and succeeded in obtaining a detective quantum efficiency of 4.5% for 59 keV x-rays, 3 times larger than with a single plate of the thickness typically used in NIF framing cameras.

Multistability and hidden attractors in a multilevel DC/DC converter

An attracting periodic, quasiperiodic or chaotic set of a smooth, autonomous system may be referred to as a “hidden attractor” if its basin of attraction does not overlap with the neighborhood of an unstable equilibrium point. Historically, this condition has implied that the basin of attraction for the hidden set in most cases has been so complicated that special analytic and/or numerical techniques have been required to locate the set. By simulating the model of a multilevel DC/DC converter that operates in the regime of high feedback gain, the paper illustrates how pulse-width modulated control can produce complicated structures of attracting and repelling states organized around the basic switching cycle. This leads us to suggest the existence of hidden attractors in such systems as well. In this case, the condition will be that the basin of attraction does not overlap with the fixed point that represents the basic switching cycle.

Theory of filtered type-II parametric down-conversion in the continuous-variable domain: Quantifying the impacts of filtering

Parametric down-conversion (PDC) forms one of the basic building blocks for quantum optical experiments. However, the intrinsic multimode spectral-temporal structure of pulsed PDC often poses a severe hindrance for the direct implementation of the heralding of pure single-photon states or, for example, continuous-variable entanglement distillation experiments. To get rid of multimode effects narrowband frequency filtering is frequently applied to achieve a single-mode behavior. A rigorous theoretical description to accurately describe the effects of filtering on PDC, however, is still missing. To date, the theoretical models of filtered PDC are rooted in the discrete-variable domain and only account for filtering in the low gain regime, where only a few photon pairs are emitted at any single point in time. In this paper we extend these theoretical descriptions and put forward a simple model, which is able to accurately describe the effects of filtering on PDC in the continuous-variable domain. This developed straightforward theoretical framework enables us to accurately quantify the trade-off between suppression of higher-order modes, reduced purity and lowered Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) entanglement, when narrowband filters are applied to multimode type-II PDC.

Surface-emitting red, green, and blue colloidal quantum dot distributed feedback lasers.

We demonstrate surface emitting distributed feedback (DFB) lasers across the red, green, and blue from densely packed colloidal quantum dot (CQD) films. The solid CQD films were deposited on periodic grating patterns to enable 2nd-order DFB lasing action at mere 120, 280, and 330 μJ/cm2 of optical pumping energy densities for red, green, and blue DFB lasers, respectively. The lasers operated in single mode operation with less than 1 nm of full-width-half-maximum. We measured far-field patterns showing high degree of spatial beam coherence. Specifically, by taking advantage of single exciton optical gain regime from our engineered CQDs, we can significantly suppress the Auger recombination to reduce lasing threshold and achieve quasi-steady state, optically pumped operation.

Coherence properties of amplified slow light by four-wave mixing.

We present an experimental study of the coherence properties of amplified slow light by four-wave mixing (FWM) in a three-level electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) system driven by one additional pump field. High energy gain (up to 19) is obtained with a weak pump field (a few mW/cm2) using optically dense cold atomic gases. A large fraction of the amplified light is found to be phase incoherent to the input signal field. The dependence of the incoherent fraction on pump field intensity and detuning and the control field intensity is systematically studied. With the classical input pulses, our results support a recent theoretical study by Lauk et al. [Phys. Rev. A88, 013823 (2013)], showing that the noise resulting from the atomic dipole fluctuations associated with spontaneous decay is significant in the high gain regime. This effect has to be taken into consideration in EIT-based applications in the presence of FWM.

Generation of frequency degenerate twin photons in pulse pumped fiber optical parametric amplifiers: Influence of background noise

Using a Sagnac fiber loop functions as a deterministic splitter of photon pairs produced by the frequency degenerate four wave mixing, we show that the background noise of the degenerate photon pairs is contributed by both Raman scattering and frequency non-degenerate four wave mixing. To improve the purity of photon pairs in the high gain regime, in addition to suppressing the noise photons by cooling the nonlinear fiber and by optimizing the detuning between the frequencies of the pump and photon pairs, the walk-off effect of the two pulsed pump fields should be mitigated by managing the dispersion of the fiber. Our investigation is not only the first step towards the generation of multi-mode squeezed vacuum in fiber optical parametric amplifiers pumped with pulsed lights, but also contributes to improving the purity of the fiber sources of degenerate photon pairs.

Phase regeneration of a star-8QAM signal in a phase-sensitive amplifier with conjugated pumps

We demonstrate numerically phase regeneration of a star-8QAM signal with two amplitude and four phase states in a phase-sensitive amplifier. In a dual-stage setup, two phase-conjugated idlers are generated in a first stage consisting of two fiber-optic parametric phase-insensitive amplifiers operated in highly nonlinear gain regime. These are used as pumps in the second, phase-sensitive amplification stage which enables efficient phase regeneration via a degenerate four-wave-mixing process. The latter can be operated in two different operation modes: without format conversion or with phase-shifted amplitude levels. In both regimes, we observe high phase-regeneration efficiency for all amplitude levels: the initial phase noise with 0.2 rad standard deviation is reduced by a factor of 5.

Radiofrequency pulse design for the selective excitation of dissolved 129Xe

To optimize radiofrequency (RF) pulses for the selective excitation of dissolved phase (129)Xe that take into account the very short T2*, while simultaneously, minimally exciting the much larger gas signal. Numerical simulations of Shinnar le-Roux pulses and binomial coefficient composite-element pulses were performed and experimentally implemented on a 1.5 Tesla (T) clinical scanner. These were compared with pulses commonly used for short T2* imaging from the literature. The pulses were then experimentally tested in vivo with healthy volunteers inhaling hyperpolarized (129)Xe using nuclear MR spectroscopy on a 1.5T clinical scanner. Standard RF excitation pulses inadvertently excite the gas compartment, or are long enough that the T2* of the dissolved compartment deteriorates the received signal. Amplitude modulated binomial composite pulses perform well being short and having high selectivity, however, deteriorate at high amplifier gain setting. Composite pulses using pulse width modulation provide the desired frequency response even in these nonlinear, high gain regimes. Composite pulses provide a means of very narrow band frequency selectivity in a short duration pulse that is well suited to dissolved (129)Xe imaging. Pulse width modulation maintains the desired frequency response even in the presence of amplitude distortion.

Raman and loss induced quantum noise in depleted fiber optical parametric amplifiers

We present a semi-classical approach for predicting the quantum noise properties of fiber optical parametric amplifiers. The unavoidable contributors of noise, vacuum fluctuations, loss-induced noise, and spontaneous Raman scattering, are included in the analysis of both phase-insensitive and phase-sensitive amplifiers. We show that the model agrees with earlier fully quantum approaches in the linear gain regime, whereas in the saturated gain regime, in which the classical equations are valid, we predict that the amplifier increases the signal-to-noise ratio by generating an amplitude-squeezed state of light. Also, in the same process, we analyze the quantum noise properties of the pump, which is difficult using standard quantum approaches, and we discover that the pump displays complicated dynamics in both the linear and the nonlinear gain regimes.

Multistability and Torus Reconstruction in a DC–DC Converter With Multilevel Control

By virtue of their limited size and relatively low costs, multilevel dc-dc converters have come to play an important role in modern industrial power supply systems. When operating in a regime of high corrector gain, such converters can display a variety of new dynamic phenomena associated with the appearance of additional oscillatory modes. Starting in a state where four pairs of stable and unstable period-6 cycles coexist with the basic period-1 cycle, the paper describes a sequence of smooth and nonsmooth bifurcations through which the cycles and their basins of attraction transform as the output voltage is increased. The paper also describes the birth of a multilayered resonance torus through a transverse pitchfork bifurcation of the saddle cycle on an ordinary resonance torus.

Dynamic characterization and amplification of sub-picosecond pulses in fiber optical parametric chirped pulse amplifiers

We show a first-time demonstration of amplification of 400 fs pulses in a fiber optical parametric amplifier. The 400 fs signal is stretched in time, amplified by 26 dB and compressed back to 500 fs. A significant broadening of the pulses is experimentally shown due to dispersion and limited gain bandwidth both in saturated and unsaturated gain regimes.

Two-color lasing in cold atoms

Elaborating versatile strategies for new lasing schemes is important for both fundamental research and realistic applications. By using atomic photonic crystals, two-color distributed feedback lasing can be shown to occur in a nonlinear regime of balanced optical gain. Within the context of a simple model based on coupled-wave theory and applied to alkali-metal-atom crystals, we find that the two-color lasing threshold in cold atoms is within state-of-the-art experimental reach.

Investigation of the electron trajectories and gain regimes of the whistler pumped free-electron laser

A free-electron laser (FEL) scheme, which employs the whistler wave as a slow electromagnetic wave wiggler, was studied theoretically. Subjected to the transverse fields of whistler wave wiggler, the beam electrons are the source of the energy needed to produce electromagnetic radiation. The strength and the period of the wiggler field depend on the parameters of the magnetoplasma medium. This configuration has a higher tunability by controlling the plasma density, on top of the γ-tunability of the conventional FELs. The theory of linear gain and electron trajectories was presented and four groups (I, II, III, and IV) of electron orbits were found in the presence of an axial guide magnetic field. Using perturbation analysis, it is found that these groups of orbits were stable except small regions of group I and IV orbits. The function Φ which determines the rate of change of axial velocity with beam energy was also derived. In the case in which Φ<0 represents a negative-mass regime in which the axial velocity accelerates as the electrons lose energy. Numerical solutions showed that by increasing the cyclotron frequency, the gain for group I and III orbits increased, while a gain decrement was obtained for group II and IV orbits.

Analysis of Waveguide Effects on the Free Electron Laser Gain

Using an approach unlike that in the literature, the effects induced by waveguides on the gain in infrared free-electron lasers are analyzed for both the low and the high gain regimes. By analyzing the relation of the detuning parameter to the radiation frequency and the waveguide parameter, the radiation frequency and the slippage are analyzed not merely for the resonance case, but for more general cases. Their dependence on the waveguide parameter is analytically presented for an arbitrary value of the detuning, the features of the gain and the requirements for the waveguide parameter can be easily revealed. It is found that the derivative of the detuning parameter with respect to the radiation wavenumber is proportional to the slippage. The analysis shows that the zero slippage always exists, and to have gain at the zero-slippage frequency corresponds to obtaining a gain curve with a single broadband peak. This can be realized for both the high gain and the low gain regions by choosing the appropriate dimension of the waveguide. It is also shown that the higher order modes of the waveguide have greater effect on the high gain than on the low gain regime.

(3+1)-dimensional superluminal spatiotemporal optical solitons and vortices at weak light level

A scheme is proposed to produce (3+1)-dimensional superluminal spatiotemporal optical solitons and vortices in a coherent atomic system working in an active Raman gain regime. It is shown that the evolution of the envelope of a signal field obeys a modified (3+1)-dimensional nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation, which includes dispersion, diffraction, and Kerr nonlinearity. Various solutions of light bullets, light vortices, light-bullet trains, and light-vortex trains are presented, which display many interesting characters, including superluminal propagating velocity and extremely low generating power. In addition, they can be easily manipulated in a controllable way. Stabilization of such high-dimensional superluminal light bullets and vortices can be realized using the trapping potential formed by an additional far-detuned laser field.