Multimode Laser Research Articles

Photonic Crystal Surface Emitting Diode Lasers with λ near 2 µm

Epitaxially regrown electrically pumped photonic crystal surface emitting lasers (PCSELs) operating near 2 µm were designed and fabricated within a III-V-Sb material system. A high-index-contrast photonic crystal layer was incorporated into the laser heterostructures by air-pocket-retaining epitaxial regrowth. Transmission electron microscopy studies confirmed uniform and continuous AlGaAsSb initial growth over the nano-patterned GaSb surface, followed by the development of the air-pockets. The PCSEL threshold current density had a minimal value of ~170 A/cm2 in the 160–180 K temperature range when the QW gain spectrum aligned with the Γ2 band edge of the photonic crystal. The devices operated in a continuous wave regime at 160 K. The divergence and polarization of the multimode laser beam emitted from the 200 µm × 200 µm PCSEL aperture were controlled by filamentation.

PT symmetric single-mode line-defect photonic crystal lasers with asymmetric loss design.

The exploration of parity-time (PT) symmetry in micro-/nano-cavity lasers has recently gained immense research interest. The PT symmetric phase transition to single-mode lasing has been achieved by arranging the spatial distribution of optical gain and loss in single or coupled cavity systems. In terms of photonic crystal (PhC) lasers, a non-uniform pumping scheme is usually employed to enter the PT symmetry-breaking phase in a longitudinal PT symmetric system. Instead, we use a uniform pumping scheme to enable the PT symmetric transition to the desired single lasing mode in line-defect PhC cavities based on a simple design with asymmetric optical loss. The flexible control of gain-loss contrast is realized by removing a few rows of air holes in PhCs. We obtain single-mode lasing with a side mode suppression ratio (SMSR) of around 30 dB without affecting the threshold pump power and linewidth. The output power of the desired mode is six times higher than that in multimode lasing. This simple approach enables single-mode PhC lasers without sacrificing the output power, threshold pump power, and linewidth of a multimode cavity design.

Universal Single-Mode Lasing in Fully Chaotic Billiard Lasers.

By numerical simulations and experiments of fully chaotic billiard lasers, we show that single-mode lasing states are stable, whereas multi-mode lasing states are unstable when the size of the billiard is much larger than the wavelength and the external pumping power is sufficiently large. On the other hand, for integrable billiard lasers, it is shown that multi-mode lasing states are stable, whereas single-mode lasing states are unstable. These phenomena arise from the combination of two different nonlinear effects of mode-interaction due to the active lasing medium and deformation of the billiard shape. Investigations of billiard lasers with various shapes revealed that single-mode lasing is a universal phenomenon for fully chaotic billiard lasers.

Mode switching dynamics in organic polariton lasing

We study the dynamics of multimode polariton lasing in organic microcavities by using a second-order cumulant equation approach. By inspecting the time evolution of the photon mode occupations, we show that if multiple lasing peaks are observed in time-integrated mode occupations, the reason can be either bi-modal lasing or temporal switching between several modes. The former takes place within a narrow range of parameters while the latter occurs more widely. We find that the origin of the temporal switching is different in the weak- and strong-coupling regimes. At weak coupling slope efficiency is the determining factor, while for strong coupling it is changes in the eigenmodes and gain spectrum upon pumping. This difference is revealed by investigating the photoluminescence and momentum-resolved gain spectra. Our results underscore the importance of understanding the time evolution of the populations when characterizing the lasing behaviour of a multimode polariton system, and show how these features differ between weak and strong coupling.

Visualization of an Ultra-Short THz Beams with a Radiation Propagation Analysis of the Novel Israeli Free Electron Laser

Tera Hertz radiation is currently the most researched and useful area in almost all fields of science and industry. The additional challenge is expressed in the form of radiation, pulses of femto-seconds in length are supposed to pass through a transmission line (TL) most efficiently, at a wide range of frequencies. These are complex beams, which make up the electromagnetic (EM) field, represented in the frequency domain in terms of cavity eigenmodes. A simulation allows to describe of the phase-amplitude and spectral characteristics of multimode radiation free-electron laser (FEL) operating in various operational parameters. The analysis is performed through the transmission of optical rays accurately, with each ray being characterized by amplitude, position, and angle in 3D space. A light field representation of a complex EM field is obtained via Wigner Distribution Function, which allows to describe of the dynamics of field evolution in future propagation by a ray tracing (RT) method. The final diagnostics will determine the design of the TL to be assembled in an innovative accelerator under construction at the Schlesinger Family Center for Compact Accelerators, Radiation Sources, and Applications.

Multirod approach to enhance solar-to-laser conversion efficiency in the Odeillo solar furnace

A multirod solar laser station for the megawatt solar furnace (MWSF) in Odeillo, France, was conceptualized and numerically studied to improve the solar-to-laser power conversion efficiency. 18 heliostats from the 63-heliostat field were selected, and 347 kW of solar power was obtained at its focus. From there, a two-dimensional compound parabolic concentrator further concentrated and redistributed the solar rays toward 11 core-doped Nd:YAG rods, each fixed inside a fused silica flow tube. 11.40 kW of total multimode laser power was calculated, corresponding to a 3.29% solar-to-laser power conversion efficiency. This efficiency value represents an enhancement of 1.70 and 1.26 times over that attained from single-rod solar laser systems in side-pumping configuration tested in Odeillo, France, in which Nd:YAG rods were codoped with Cr3 + and Ce3 + ions, respectively. It was also 1.44 times higher than that obtained by a previously proposed side-pumping scheme with a solar flux homogenizer and 12 Nd:YAG rods for the same MWSF.

High speed melt flow monitoring and development of an image processing algorithm for laser fusion cutting

This contribution presents high-speed camera monitoring of melt pool dynamics for steel during laser fusion cutting and compares the images with recordings in aluminum. The experiments are performed by a 4 kW multimode fiber laser with an emission wavelength of 1070 nm. To visualize the thermal radiation from the process zone during the cutting process, the kerf is captured at sample rates of up to 170 000 frames per second without external illumination with a spectral response between 400 and 700 nm, allowing measurements of the melt flow dynamics from geometric image features. The dependencies of the melt flow dynamics on laser processing parameters, such as feed rate, gas pressure, and laser power, can be evaluated. The monitoring system is placed both off-axis and mounted to a conventional cutting head, with the monitoring path aligned to the processing laser for a coaxial and lateral view of the cut kerf. The measured signal characteristics of the images captured from the melt pool are examined in the visible spectral range of the emitted thermal radiation from the process zone. Moreover, a specifically developed image processing algorithm is developed that process and analyze the captured images and extract geometric information for a measurement of the melt flow.

Double-Clad Bismuth-Doped Fiber with a Rectangular Inner Cladding for Laser Application

In this paper, we report the latest research results on the fabrication of double-clad Bi-doped germanosilicate core fibers with a rectangular inner cladding design for improved laser performance in the near-IR spectral region. Detailed comparative analysis of the absorption characteristics of the Bi-doped fibers with a circular- and rectangular-shaped inner cladding was performed. A series of cladding-pumped, Bi-doped fiber lasers emitting near 1.46 µm was developed using the semiconductor’s multi-mode fiber-coupled laser diodes at λ = 808 nm. The peculiarities of the laser parameters of the fabricated active fibers with the double-clad design were thoroughly studied by analyzing the dependencies of the slope efficiency of the lasers, namely the pump power, active fiber length and core-to-inner-cladding area ratio. The obtained results show that the rectangular design provided enhanced cladding absorption and improvements in laser performance. In particular, we achieved maximal slope efficiencies of 5.5% and 4.3% for the absorbed pump power introduced into the inner cladding with cross-section areas of 80 × 80 µm2 and 125 × 125 µm2, respectively. Multi-wavelength lasing operation in a free-running cavity due to a few modes’ propagation regimes was found using the Bi-doped fiber with an 80 × 80 µm2 inner cladding.

Designing multi-mode anti-resonant hollow-core fibers for industrial laser power delivery

We investigate the design of hollow-core fibers for the delivery of 10s of kilowatt average power from multi-mode laser sources. For such lasers, delivery through solid-core fibers is typically limited by nonlinear optical effects to 10s of meters of distance. Techniques are presented here for the design of multi-mode anti-resonant fibers that can efficiently couple and transmit light from these lasers. By numerical simulation we analyze the performance of two anti-resonant fibers targeting continuous-wave lasers with M2 up to 13 and find they are capable of delivering MW-level power over several kilometers with low leakage loss, and at bend radii as small as 35 cm. Pulsed lasers are also investigated and numerical simulations indicate that optimized fibers could in principle deliver nanosecond pulses with greater than 100 mJ pulse energy over distances up to 1 km. This would be orders of magnitude higher power and longer distances than in typical machining applications using the best available solid core fibers.

Effect of external cavity length on the coherence properties in a multimode semiconductor laser

Investigation of the coherence properties of a multimode semiconductor diode laser subjected to an external optical feedback is reported. Suitable multimode Lang-Kobayashi rate equations are solved numerically for this investigation. Suppression of threshold reduction has been found to occur for relatively long cavity delay times and for relatively high modal operation. This investigation provides numerical evidence of the role of multimode operation on the laser coherence without having to use any explicit decoherence element in the external cavity.

Tunable spatiotemporal mode-locked conventional soliton and soliton molecule in a partial multimode linear-cavity Er-doped fiber laser

In this letter, we have demonstrated the realization of wavelength-tunable spatiotemporal mode locking (STML) in a partial multimode fiber (MMF) laser with a linear cavity. The saturable absorption effect is attributed to both the nonlinear multimode interference (NL-MMI) and the nonlinear optical loop mirror (NOLM). The laser can deliver both the conventional solitons (CSs) and loosely bound solitons (BSs) with a tuning range from ∼1573 nm to ∼1601 nm. The evolutions of these two different STML solitons as the pump power are also given and it is found that the interaction between solitons would have notable affection on the beam distribution of the MM solitons. Furthermore, a spatial instability for the STML CSs is observed within a certain pump power range. These results contribute to our understanding of the nonlinear spatiotemporal dynamics in the MMF laser system.

Highly Efficient Four-Rod Pumping Approach for the Most Stable Solar Laser Emission.

We report a significant numerical improvement in multi-rod laser efficiency, with an enhanced solar tracking error compensation capacity for a heliostat-parabolic system. The solar laser head was composed of a fused silica conical lens and a single conical pump cavity ensuring multiple passes through four 4.55 mm diameter, 15 mm length Nd:YAG rods. 0.76° tracking error width at 10% laser power loss, and total multimode laser power variation of 0.05% at ±0.1° solar tracking error and 0.30% at ±0.2° solar tracking error were numerically calculated, being 1.27, 74.80 and 21.63 times, respectively, more than the experimental record in solar tracking error compensation capacity attained with a dual-rod side-pumping horizontal prototype pumped by the same heliostat-parabolic system. Additionally, the end-side-pumping configuration of the four-rod solar laser-enabled 43.7 W total multimode solar laser power, leading to 24.7 W/m2 collection efficiency and 2.6% solar-to-laser power conversion efficiency, being 1.75 and 1.44 times, respectively, more than that experimentally obtained from the dual-rod side-pumping prototype. The significant improvement in solar tracking error compensation capacity with a highly efficient end-side-pumping configuration is meaningful because it reduces the cost of high-precision trackers for solar laser applications.

Multimode laser emission from BODIPY dye-doped polymer optical fiber

We report the fabrication and investigations of lasing properties of dipyrromethene boron difluoride (BODIPY) dye-doped polymer optical fibers (DDPOFs) using two different pumping schemes. Here, we have explored BDIPA dye, a π-extended BODIPY derivative as the gain medium. A Q-switched Nd:YAG laser operating at 532 nm was used, as the pump source for the lasing studies. Stripe illumination using a cylindrical lens produces amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) in the fiber whereas a multimode laser emission at a low lasing threshold of 50 μJ was observed by spot illumination technique using a convex lens. The cylindrical surface of the optical fiber acts as a cavity and it provides the necessary optical feedback for the gain medium resulting in the observed lasing properties. The photostability of the fiber was investigated at higher pump energy of 2 mJ using a convex lens. Excellent results such as very low lasing threshold, high cavity Q-factor and photostability were observed for the fabricated BDIPA DDPOF, clearly indicating the use of the BDIPA dye as a prominent lasing material in solid-state dye lasers.

Theoretical analysis and experimental optimization of an elliptical acoustic resonator in quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy

We report an elliptical resonator suitable for quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy. The theoretical model of the elliptical resonator is first constructed and demonstrates the existence of the eigenmodes in the elliptical resonator. Then the sound field modal distributions for the different eigenmodes in the elliptical resonator are simulated by means of the finite element method. The geometric parameters of the elliptical resonator are experimentally optimized. And the performance of the elliptical resonator is assessed using a high-power multimode laser diode for the NO2 detection. Due to the high matching efficiency of the spatial profile between the elliptical resonator and the laser beam, the elliptical resonator can achieve a gain factor of 19.2 higher than 5.6 from the circular resonator.

Laser-induced isotope selective photoionization of atomic samarium

Resonance ionization spectroscopy of samarium has been performed in an atomic beam in conjunction with a time-of-flight mass spectrometer. Isotope selective photoionization studies have been carried out on one of the even isotopes of samarium (152Sm). High degree of isotopic selectivity (> 95%) has been achieved experimentally for 152Sm using multi-mode dye lasers. Isotopic abundance of 152Sm in mass selective photoionization has been studied as a function of excitation laser energy density. By employing isotope selective photoionization spectroscopy, the isotope shifts for the first- and second-step transitions have also been determined.

Room Temperature Lasing in GeSn Microdisks Enabled by Strain Engineering

AbstractThe success of GeSn alloys as active material for infrared lasers could pave the way toward a monolithic technology that can be manufactured within mainstream silicon photonics. Nonetheless, for operation on chip, lasing should occur at room temperature or beyond. Unfortunately, despite the intense research in recent years, many hurdles have yet to be overcome. An approach exploiting strain engineering to induce large tensile strain in micro‐disk made of GeSn alloy with Sn content of 14 at% is presented here. This method enables robust multimode laser emission at room temperature. Furthermore, tensile strain enables proper valence band engineering; as a result, over a large range of operating temperatures, lower lasing thresholds are observed compared to high Sn content GeSn lasers operating at similar wavelength.

Stabilization of spatiotemporal dissipative solitons in multimode fiber lasers by external phase modulation

In this work, we introduce a method for the stabilization of spatiotemporal (ST) solitons. These solitons correspond to light bullets in multimode optical fiber lasers, energy-scalable waveguide oscillators and amplifiers, localized coherent patterns in Bose–Einstein condensates, etc. We show that a three-dimensional confinement potential, formed by a spatial transverse (radial) parabolic graded refractive index and dissipation profile, in combination with quadratic temporal phase modulation, may permit the generation of stable ST dissipative solitons. This corresponds to combining phase mode-locking with the distributed Kerr-lens mode-locking. Our study of the soliton characteristics and stability is based on analytical and numerical solutions of the generalized dissipative Gross–Pitaevskii equation. This approach could lead to higher energy (or condensate mass) harvesting in coherent spatio-temporal beam structures formed in multimode fiber lasers, waveguide oscillators, and weakly-dissipative Bose–Einstein condensates.

Excitonic optical properties and lasing mode shifts in square CsPbBr3 nanoplate cavities

Cesium lead bromide (CsPbBr3) perovskite micro/nanostructures have potential applications in miniaturized integrated light sources due to their confined modal volume and high luminous efficiency. In this work, we synthesized CsPbBr3 nanoplates with regular square shapes and smooth surface by the chemical vapor deposition method. The temperature-dependent and excitation power-dependent photoluminescence spectra reveal the excitonic photoluminescence properties. The whispering gallery mode (WGM)-like lasing in CsPbBr3 nanoplates was observed at room temperature. We systematically investigated the pump fluence-dependent multi-mode and single-mode lasing actions in square microcavities. The blueshift of individual lasing modes can be attributed to the variation of refractive index resulting from the formation of the electron-hole plasma (EHP) state under highly injected carrier density. The results reveal the dependence of emission properties on excitation intensity, providing further understanding of the carrier-induced mode shift mechanism in the WGM-like lead halide perovskite microcavities.

Near-Infrared Speckle-Illumination Imaging Based on a Multidimensionally Disordered Fiber Laser

Speckle illumination is extensively applied in various imaging scenarios due to its advantages in enhancing the performance of imaging. Generally, the existing speckle-illumination methods are mainly based on external spatial modulation of light through a rotating diffuser or spatial light modulator. Both the lighting efficiency and the system's compactness are limited for these conventional external modulation methods, due to their free-space light coupling and insertion or diffraction loss. Here, a multimode fiber laser with self-reconfigurable speckle illumination is proposed and realized, benefiting from the temporal-spectral randomness of a homemade coherent random-fiber laser and the spectral-sensitive output pattern of an out-coupling multimode fiber. Output characteristics in the spectral and spatial domain of the proposed laser are analyzed and show dynamically varying speckles within a moderate bandwidth. These features pave efficient ways for superresolution imaging through an opaque scattering medium as well as ghost imaging, which is realized and demonstrated based on the lighting of the proposed laser.

Efficient high-power sub-50-fs gigahertz repetition rate diode-pumped solid-state laser.

In this article we present a directly diode-pumped high-power Kerr-lens mode-locked Yb:CALGO bulk laser oscillator operating at 1-GHz repetition rate. We report on two laser configurations optimized for either highest average power or shortest pulse duration. In the first configuration optimized for high average power, the oscillator delivers up to 6.9 W of average power, which is the highest average power of any ultrafast laser oscillator operating at gigahertz repetition rate. The 93-fs pulses have a peak power of 64 kW, and the optical-to-optical efficiency amounts to 37%. In the second configuration optimized for short pulse duration, we demonstrate 48-fs pulses at 4.1 W of average power corresponding to a higher peak power of 74kW with 21% optical-to-optical efficiency. This is the shortest pulse duration and the highest peak power demonstrated by any GHz-class Yb-based laser oscillator. The compact laser setup is directly pumped by a low-cost multimode fiber-coupled laser diode and has a high potential as an economical yet powerful source for various applications.