mW Average Output Power Research Articles

Gain-Switched Er-Doped Fluoride Fiber Laser at ~3.75 μm

We demonstrate a pulsed Er-doped ZBLAN fiber laser operating at 3.75 μm based on the gain-switching scheme. A diffraction grating is introduced as a wavelength selection component to enable stable lasing in this long-wavelength region that deviates from the emission peak of 4F9/2→4I9/2 transition in Er3+. Different from the conventional gain-switching behavior where the pulse repetition frequency of the output laser is same as the that of the pump, the gain-switched laser demonstrated here shows a variable pulse repetition frequency, which accounts for 1/n (n = 4, 3, 2) of the pump pulse repetition frequency, in response to the 1950 nm pump power. The output pulse characteristics, including average output power, repetition frequency, pulse duration, and peak power, are investigated in detail. Over 200 mW average output power at 3.75 μm was obtained at 12 W of 1950 nm pump power. This work demonstrates that the Er-doped ZBLAN fiber laser, in combination with gain-switched scheme, is a feasible and promising approach to generate powerful pulsed emission > 3.7 μm.

568 nm diode-pumped passively Q-switched intracavity LBO sum-frequency-mixed multi-shift Nd:YVO4/GdVO4 Raman laser

An 808 nm diode-pumped Cr4＋:YAG Q-switched intracavity LBO sum-frequency Raman laser is experimentally studied. In this laser, a c-cut Nd:GdVO 4 crystal is used as the self-Raman medium, and a c-cut Nd:YVO4 crystal is only used as the Raman medium. Simultaneous pulse oscillation of first-Stokes lights at 1176, 1177 and 1096 nm is realized. 67 mW average output power at 568 nm is obtained through sum-frequency-mixing 1176/1177 nm light with 1096 nm light in LBO at the incident pump power of 5.09 W.

High-frequency near-infrared semiconductor laser irradiation suppressed experimental tooth movement-induced inflammatory pain markers in the periodontal ligament tissues of rats

High-frequency near-infrared (NIR) semiconductor laser-irradiation has an unclear effect on nociception in the compressed lateral periodontal ligament region, a peripheral nerve region. This study aimed to investigate the effects of NIR semiconductor laser irradiation, with a power of 120J, on inflammatory pain markers and neuropeptides induced in the compressed lateral periodontal ligament area during ETM. A NIR semiconductor laser [910nm wavelength, 45 W maximum output power, 300 mW average output power, 30kHz frequency, and 200ns pulse width (Lumix 2; Fisioline, Verduno, Italy)] was used. A nickel-titanium closed coil that generated a 50-g force was applied to the maxillary left-side first molars and incisors in 7-week-old Sprague-Dawley (280-300g) rats to induce experimental tooth movement (ETM) for 24h. Ten rats were divided into two groups (ETM + laser, n = 5; ETM, n = 5). The right side of the ETM group (i.e., the side without induced ETM) was evaluated as the untreated group. We performed immunofluorescent histochemistry analysis to quantify the interleukin (IL)-1β, cyclooxygenase-2 (COX2), prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), and neuropeptide [calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP)] expression in the compressed region of the periodontal tissue. Post-hoc Tukey-Kramer tests were used to compare the groups. Compared with the ETM group, the ETM + laser group showed significant suppression in IL-1β (176.2 ± 12.3 vs. 310.8 ± 29.5; P < 0.01), PGE2 (104.4 ± 14.34 vs. 329.6 ± 36.52; P < 0.01), and CGRP (36.8 ± 4.88 vs. 78.0 ± 7.13; P < 0.01) expression. High-frequency NIR semiconductor laser irradiation exerts significant effects on ETM-induced inflammation. High-frequency NIR semiconductor laser irradiation can reduce periodontal inflammation during orthodontic tooth movement.

Large-mode-area soliton fiber oscillator mode-locked using NPE in an all-PM self-stabilized interferometer.

In this work, we investigate an approach to scale up the output pulse energy in an all-polarization-maintaining 17.3 MHz Yb-doped fiber oscillator via implementation of a 25 µm core-diameter large-mode-area fiber. The artificial saturable absorber is based on a Kerr-type linear self-stabilized fiber interferometer, enabling non-linear polarization rotation in polarization-maintaining fibers. Highly stable mode-locked steady states in the soliton-like operation regime are demonstrated with 170 mW average output power and a total output pulse energy of ∼10n J distributed between two output ports. An experimental parameter comparison with a reference oscillator constructed with 5.5 µm core-sized standard fiber components reveals an increase of pulse energy by a factor of 36 with simultaneously reduced intensity noise in the high-frequency range >100k H z.

Low-Noise Femtosecond SESAM Modelocked Diode-Pumped Cr:ZnS Oscillator

Cr-doped ZnS and ZnSe are excellent gain mediums for high power and broadband ultrashort pulse generation in the 2 – <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$3~\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> wavelength range. SESAM modelocked Cr:ZnS oscillators have the advantage of reliable, self-starting passive modelocking. We present a diode-pumped, SESAM modelocked Cr:ZnS oscillator delivering ultrashort pulses of 189 fs at 550 mW average output power with a repetition rate of 435 MHz with low relative intensity noise (RIN) and timing jitter. We measured an integrated RIN of 0.05% within a frequency span of [10 Hz, 5 MHz] dominated by the 1560-nm pump diode, and a very low integrated timing jitter of 10.9 fs [2 kHz, 10 MHz]. This type of laser source benefits not only from very low noise but also from reduced complexity and cost due to direct diode pumping, which is suitable for many applications such as spectroscopy, ranging, and frequency conversion.

Thermal Characteristics of GHz Passively Mode-Locked Semiconductor Disk Laser

A 1.3 GHz repetition rate optically pumped passively mode-locked semiconductor disk laser with 5.5 ps pulse duration and 204 mW average output power at 978 nm wavelength was demonstrated. Main factors preventing the mode-locked laser from higher output power, such as the epitaxy structure of wafer and thermal characteristics of gain chip were investigated, and corresponding methods to improve the thermal performance of the laser, e.g., growing the wafer in a reversed sequence, removing substrate entirely and using a diamond as heat spreader, were proposed. The experimental results showed that both the microcavity mode of laser and the emission wavelength of QWs redshifted when the pump power increased, but their redshift rates were different. This suggested us to consider a pre-offset between the emission wavelength of QWs at room temperature and the target wavelength of laser at an intense pump, and the pre-offset values of the wavelength should be designed deliberately to guarantee the resonant periodic gain structure working properly when the temperature in the active region approaches the desired value.

Effects of high-frequency near infrared laser irradiation on experimental tooth movement-induced pain in rats.

Discomfort and dull pain are known side effects of orthodontic treatment. Pain is expected to be reduced by near-infrared (NIR) lasers; however, the mechanism underlying effects of short-pulse NIR lasers in the oral and maxillofacial area remains unclear. This study aimed to examine the effects of high-frequency NIR diode laser irradiation on pain during experimental tooth movement (ETM) on 120J. NIR laser with 910nm wavelength, 45W maximum output power, 300 mW average output power, and 200ns pulse width (Lumix 2; (Lumix 2; Fisioline, Verduno CN, Italy) was used for the experiment. A nickel-titanium-closed coil was used to apply a 50-gf force between the maxillary left-side first molar and incisor in 7-week-old Sprague-Dawley rats (280-300g) to induce ETM. We measured facial-grooming frequency and vacuous chewing movement (VCM) period between laser-irradiation and ETM groups. We performed immunofluorescent histochemistry analysis to quantify levels of Iba-1, astrocytes, and c-fos protein-like immunoreactivity (Fos-IR) in the trigeminal spinal nucleus caudalis (Vc). Compared with the ETM group, the laser irradiation group had significantly decreased facial-grooming frequency (P = 0.0036), VCM period (P = 0.043), Fos-IR (P = 0.0028), Iba-1 levels (P = 0.0069), and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) levels (P = 0.0071). High-frequency NIR diode laser irradiation appears to have significant analgesic effects on ETM-induced pain, which involve inhibiting neuronal activity, microglia, and astrocytes, and it inhibits c-fos, Iba-1, and GFAP expression, reducing ETM-induced pain in rats. High-frequency NIR diode laser application could be applied to reduce pain during orthodontic tooth movement.

High-resolution dual comb spectroscopy using a free-running, bidirectional ring titanium sapphire laser.

We report the first measurement of resolved molecular absorption lines with dual-comb spectroscopy using a Kerr-lens mode-locked bidirectional Ti:sapphire ring laser cavity. A 3 nm broad spectrum has been recorded in 5.3 ms with a spectral resolution of ≈ 1 GHz (0.05 cm-1) corresponding to a relative spectral resolution of 2.5 × 10-6. The measurement of spectrally resolved molecular absorption lines have been demonstrated on the oxygen A-band at 394 THz (760 nm, 13 000 cm-1) and was obtained with two free-running 100 fs Ti:sapphire trains of pulses without the need for active phase stabilization protocol nor real-time or post-processing correction. This work demonstrates that the bidirectional laser configuration enables a sufficient level of absolute and mutual coherence for dual-comb spectroscopy of resolved molecular absorption lines. Considering the high versatility of Ti:sapphire emission spectral range (from 600 to 1100 nm) with high-peak powers, the here reported results pave the way for Dual-Comb spectroscopy in the UV range at mW average output power using a standalone set-up, in the aim to extend its applicability for atmospheric remote-sensing.

Compact Passively Q-Switched Tm:KY(WO&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;)&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; Laser

Diode-pumped thulium lasers emitting in the spectral range near 2 μm are attractive for applications in different areas: surgery, rangefinding, and environmental atmosphere monitoring. In this article the latest results of Tm:KYW laser performance with a polycrystalline Cr:ZnSe as the most available saturable absorber for 2 μm spectral region are presented.A maximum continuous-wave output power of ≈ 0.65 W with a slope efficiency of 55 % was obtained at the wavelength of 1940 nm. Laser pulses with energy of 26 μJ and repetiotion rate of 6 kHz coresponding to 156 mW of average output power at 1910 nm were obtained at 2.2 W of incident puwp power for the Cr:ZnSe saturable absorber with initial transmission of 95 %. By using of saturable absorber with lower initial transmission of 90 % laser pulses with energy of 40 μJ and duration as short as 10 ns were realized. The maximal pulse repetition rate was 2.8 kHz at incident pump power of 2.2 W.Based on the obtained results, it can be concluded that Tm:KYW crystals are promising active media for the compact passively Q-switched lasers emitting in the spectral range near 2 μm for the usage in surgery and rangefinding. Also, described laser is planned to be used as a laser source in laser-induced damage threshold measurements setup for investigation of damage threshold of saturable absorbers as well as nonlinear crystals at the wavelength near 2 μm.

Efficient few-cycle Yb-doped laser oscillator with Watt-level average power.

So far, the operation of ultrafast bulk laser oscillators based on Yb-doped gain materials and directly emitting few-cycle pulses have been restricted to low optical-to-optical efficiencies and average output powers of only a few milliwatt. This performance limitation can be attributed to the commonly-applied standard collinear pumping scheme in which the optical pump is transmitted through a dichroic mirror whose spectral transmission and dispersion properties severely perturb the oscillating pulse when its optical spectrum extends towards the pump wavelength. In this study, we report on a novel pumping scheme relying on cross polarization that overcomes this challenge. In our concept, the pump transmitting mirror is highly transmissive for the pump light in p-polarization, while it is highly reflective for the laser light in s-polarization over a broad wavelength range, even covering the pump wavelength and beyond. In contrast to a standard thin-film polarizer featuring similar polarization dependent properties, it provides a low and flat dispersion profile over a broad spectral range for the s-polarization. Implementing this pumping scheme in a soft-aperture Kerr-lens mode-locked bulk laser oscillator based on the gain material Yb:CALGO, we achieve clean 22-fs soliton pulses at 729 mW of average output power and an optical-to-optical efficiency of 25%. In a second configuration optimized for the highest average output power, we demonstrate a high optical-to-optical efficiency of 36.6%, which was obtained for 31-fs pulses at 1.63 W of average output power. In a third configuration we experimentally confirm the limiting effect of a dichroic mirror commonly used in the standard collinear pumping scheme. All the results presented here and obtained in the first and second configuration generate pulses with a center wavelength ranging from 1030 nm to 1056 nm, well within the spectral region of high gain cross sections of Yb:CALGO. While this initial demonstration was realized using a commercial diffraction-limited fiber laser as pump source, the pump geometry appears also well suited for pumping with laser diodes coupled into multimode fibers. This novel approach opens up new opportunities for compact and cost-efficient high-power few-cycle bulk laser oscillators based on Yb-doped gain materials and can be applied to any gain material with small quantum defect.

Q-switched fiber laser employing a passive polarization-maintaining thulium-doped fiber as a saturable absorber

We present the application of polarization-maintaining thulium-doped fiber (PM-TDF) as a saturable absorber in an erbium-ytterbium-doped fiber laser. A commercial erbium-ytterbium-doped fiber amplifier (EYDFA) was employed in a ring cavity laser configuration with a sub-cavity that allowed bidirectional light propagation through PM-TDF. The Q-switched pulse operation was attained at 1563 nm with EYDFA output power of 720 – 980 mW. At maximum output power, the shortest pulse width of 1.4 µs was attained at 29.4 kHz repetition rate, with up to 41.7 mW of average output power and 1.44 µJ of pulse energy. The proposed fiber laser architecture demonstrated good stability in the time and frequency domains, thus recognizing its potential for applications that require high damage threshold saturable absorber devices.

Wavelength-tunable diamond Raman laser at ∼2.5 μm

We report on wavelength tunable operation of a diamond Raman laser at ∼2.5 μm pumped by a narrow linewidth Q-switched Tm:YAP laser at 1.88 μm. The Raman laser operates at 50 Hz of repetition rate and produced stable pulses of 1.12 mJ energy and 9.2 ns duration, corresponding to a peak power of ∼121.7 kW. Over 56 mW of average output power has been generated for ∼197 mW of incident pump power, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 45.3%. Output wavelength was tunable from 2511.1 nm to 2522.1 nm via a birefringence filter and two etalons incorporated in the Tm:YAP laser resonator.

High power diode pumped solid-state femtosecond laser systems

We demonstrate high power direct diode-pumped femtosecond laser based on a commercially available configuration and pumped by multi-diode laser modules delivering high brightness and average power. The multi-diode modules employ beam-combining scheme preserving linear polarization and focusing properties of individual laser diodes. Stable passive Kerr lens modelocked (KLM) laser operation was demonstrated, producing 30 fs pulses at ∼300 mW average output power. A simple approach to numerical modelling of KLM laser operation in cases when longitudinal pump beam exhibits strong astigmatism is also discussed.

Elastic changes in luminescence intensity of vitrified film of europium(III) β-diketonate complex

We have observed an elastic change in luminescent properties of a 20 µm thick vitrified film (prepared from an amorphous powder of an anisometric europium(III) β-diketonate complex through a melt-processing technique and sandwiched between two quartz plates) caused by the prolonged UV irradiation. The film under UV light irradiation exhibits a typical Eu3+ ion emission peaked at 611 nm. The irradiation of the film by a 337 nm pulsed nitrogen laser with 0.2 mW average output power for 80 min leads to 1.5-fold decrease in the luminescence intensity at 611 nm. Despite the fact that in the case of traditional film-type materials based on lanthanide(III) β-diketonate complexes such effect is attributed to irreversible ligand photofragmentation, we have observed no photodecomposition of the anisometric complexes in the vitrified film. Moreover, we detected full reversibility of the luminescence intensity by keeping the film in the dark for 21 h. It is worth noting that this feature can be used for the design of new reusable luminescent dosimeters for UV light.

Continuous-wave mode-locked Tm:YAG laser with GaAs-based SESAM

Passive mode-locked laser operation at 2012 nm based on Tm:YAG and GaAs-based saturable absorber mirrors is demonstrated. Continuous-wave mode-locking performance was observed, resulting in a pulse width of 47.9 ps and 117 mW average output power at 97.7 MHz. The mode-locked laser exhibits an excellent stability with a remarkably high extinction ratio of 72 dB above carrier.

Passively Q-switched yellow laser at 589 nm by intracavity frequency-doubled c-cut composite Nd:YVO4 self-Raman laser

We report on a passively Q-switched (PQS) yellow laser emitting at 589 nm by using type-I noncritical phase-matching LBO crystal intracavity frequency-doubled self-Raman laser. A 30-mm-length c-cut YVO4/Nd:YVO4/YVO4 composite crystal was employed to accelerate heat spread as well as enhance the Raman conversion efficiency. By using a Cr4+:YAG composite crystal with the initial transmission of 83%, a yellow emission with 660 mW average output power was obtained under the absorbed pump power of 17.5 W, corresponding to the diode-to-yellow conversion efficiency of 3.8% and slope efficiency of 8.1%, respectively. The pulse repetition frequency and pulse duration were measured to be 16 kHz and 2.8 ns, respectively, corresponding to the pulse energy of 41.3 μJ and peak power of 14.7 kW. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest power of PQS yellow laser via intracavity frequency-doubled self-Raman laser.

Stable Q-switched mode-locking of Er:YAG ceramic laser at 1645 nm using a semiconductor saturable absorber

We report on stable Q-switched mode-locking of a Er:YAG ceramic laser at 1645 nm using a semiconductor saturable absorber and inband-pumped with a high brightness and linearly polarized fiber source at 1532 nm. The Er:YAG ceramic sample is home-developed and has an Er3+ concentration of 0.5 at%. Over 403 mW of average output power has been generated with mode-locked pulses of 100% modulation depth and 96 MHz of repetition rate embedded inside Q-switched envelopes of ∼4.5 μs width.

Performance scaling of a 10-GHz solid-state laser enabling self-referenced CEO frequency detection without amplification.

A simple and compact straight-cavity laser oscillator incorporating a cascaded quadratic nonlinear crystal and a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) can deliver stable femtosecond modelocking at high pulse repetition rates >10 GHz. In this paper, we experimentally investigate the influence of intracavity dispersion, pump brightness, and cavity design on modelocking with high repetition rates, and use the resulting insights to demonstrate a 10.4-GHz straight-cavity SESAM-modelocked Yb:CALGO laser delivering 108-fs pulses with 812 mW of average output power. This result represents a record-level performance for diode-pumped femtosecond oscillators with repetition rates above 10 GHz. Using the oscillator output without any optical amplification, we demonstrate coherent octave-spanning supercontinuum generation (SCG) in a silicon nitride waveguide. Subsequent f-to-2f interferometry with a periodically poled lithium niobate waveguide enables the detection of a strong carrier-envelope offset (CEO) beat note with a 33-dB signal-to-noise ratio.

68 MHz Fundamental Repetition Rates for Mode-Locked Erbium Doped Fiber Laser based Carbon Nanotube Saturable Absorber

A carbon nanotube thin film as saturable absorber in a cavity design of mode-locked fiber laser is reported in this work. Measured by power dependent absorption setup, 22% modulation depth of the saturable absorber is estimated which is ideal for stabilizing the mode-locked operation. Based on the scanning image from atomic force microscope (AFM), Single wall carbon nanotube components are identified existed in the thin film. The laser cavity employed a ~40 cm long erbium doped fiber as a gain medium which corresponds to the laser wavelength of 1550 nm (telecommunication wavelength region). Total length cavity of the fiber laser is about 3.1 m where shorter cavity design is required for higher repetition rate. This proposed system result in a firm soliton spectrum at centre wavelength of ~1561 nm with ~0.7 mW average output power and pulse duration of 410 fs. The pulses are generated at fundamental repetition rate of 68 MHz without any distortion and excellent spectral quality.

High peak power, sub-ps green emission in a passively mode locked W-cavity VECSEL.

We report on the experimental results of a passively mode-locked vertical external cavity surface emitting laser (VECSEL), implemented in a W-cavity configuration, using a lithium triborate (LBO) crystal for intra-cavity second harmonic generation (SHG) at 528 nm. The W-cavity configuration allows separation of the crystal from the semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM), enabling independent control over the Gaussian beam sizes at the crystal, chip, and SESAM. This optimized cavity demonstrated a second harmonic pulse width of ~760 fs at a frequency of 465 MHz and 230 mW average output power, resulting in a peak pulse power of 580 W.