Study on the possibilities of controlling the laser output beam properties by an intracavity deformable mirror

The possibilities of controlling the laser beam properties by a deformable mirror introduced into the laser optical cavity were studied theoretically and experimentally. The experiments were performed under conditions of an industrial high power transverse flow cw CO₂ laser operating with a stable resonator of a folded configuration. A deformable bimorph mirror of a surface profile controlled by the voltage applied to the mirror electrodes is implemented to the laser system as a back cavity mirror or as a one of the inner folding mirrors. The near-and far-field characteristics of the laser beam versus the resonator configuration controlled by the changes of the focal length of the deformable mirror are discussed in the paper. The analysis reveals that the resonator with an inner deformable mirror is much more sensitive to the mirror curvature variations than the resonator in which the deformable mirror is used as a back cavity mirror. The presented results show that dynamic and controllable changes in the resonator properties result in the controlled modification and optimisation of the laser output power and spatial parameters of the laser radiation.     

Spectral properties of a Tm:Ho:YAG laser in active mirror configuration

3+ :Ho³⁺:YAG laser is operated in active mirror configuration. This laser is characterised by a rather thin crystal (3 mm thickness in our experiment) and a very short resonator (about 3.2 mm). Therefore this laser is well suited for operation in a single longitudinal mode. Single-frequency operation is demonstrated with and without an intracavity etalon. It is further shown that single-frequency emission is reached with a stable cw emission. With a slight detuning of the outcoupling mirror, spiking can be achieved, resulting in an emission on different lines. The assignment of the observed laser lines to the known transitions between Stark sublevels of the ⁵I₇ and the ⁵I₈ level is discussed and compared with predictions in the literature. Received: 2 December 1997     

An interferometrically tuned and actively modelocked cw dye laser

An interferometer of the Michelson type is used to tune and to actively modelock an argon ion laser pumped cw dye laser. The interferometer constitutes a resonator mirror with a modulated reflecting coefficient. This modulation corresponds to a transient Fourier spectrum containing the whole emission band of the dye. In the center of this spectrum, a mode-locked train of picosecond pulses is generated. These pulses are tunable throughout the tuning range of the employed lasing medium in a simple and convenient way. Due to the inherent characteristic broad band output of the cw dye laser, the modulation envelope extends only for a fraction of the entire lasing period. Means of extending the said envelope to cover the complete laser output are discussed.     

Three-Rod Resonator for Krypton Lamp Pumped 1.8 kW Continuous-Wave Nd：YAG Laser

A three-rod series resonator cw Nd:YAG laser suitable for the industrial applications is presented. The symmetrical resonator laser has been developed and is rated at 1820-W output power with beam parameter product 24 mm.mrad. By utilizing the symmetrical resonator design, the characteristic of beam with multi-rod is not obviously decreased compared with that of a single one. The system total electro-optics efficiency of lamp pumped YAG crystal is as high as 4.0%. The main factors, which affect output power and beam quality of high power solid-state laser module, are theoretically analysed.     

200兆赫高功率CW锁模YAG激光泵浦源研究

本文报导一台200MHz 12W平均功率的CW锁模Nd:YAG激光泵浦源,输出脉宽约100ps,能够可靠地长期稳定运转。     

Initial operation of a higher-power quasi-optical gyrotron

Results from the initial operation of a high-power quasi-optical gyrotron based on the 90-kV, 50-A Varian VUW-8144 electron gun are reported. The output power and efficiency have been measured for a resonator mirror separation of 19.4 cm with a magnetic field of 4.95 T, corresponding to resonator output coupling of 1.9%, and for a resonator mirror separation of 21.4 cm with a magnetic field of 4.7 T, corresponding to a resonator output coupling of 3.1%. Operation was multimoded with 3-6 modes excited in the range of 125-130 GHz for the 4.95-T magnetic field. A peak efficiency of 15% at an output power of 161 kW was obtained for a gun voltage of 93 kV and a current of 12 A. A peak-output power of 364 kW at an efficiency of 10% was obtained at a voltage of 95.6 kV and 37.5 A     

CW mode locked Nd:YVO4 laser pumped by 20-W laser diode bar

The efficient cw mode locking (cw-ML) regime was demonstrated in Nd:YVO₄ laser by means of saturable absorber mirror (SAM). The 0.3-at.% Nd³⁺ doped 10-mm-long YVO₄ crystal end pumped by 20-W diode module with a beam shaper was applied as a gain medium located in the close vicinity to the rear flat mirror of the first arm of Z-type resonator of 316 cm total length with two curved mirrors of 100-cm curvature radii. The SAM of 2%-saturable absorptance and saturation fluence of 50 μJ/cm² was mounted at the opposite end of a resonator. The developed “dynamically stable” cavity design mitigates detrimental role of thermal aberration in gain medium, enforcing clean perfect mode locking even for the highest pump densities. The cw-ML pulses with 47.5 MHz repetition rate and pulse durations in the range of 15–20 ps were observed for a wide range of pump powers and output coupler losses. In the best case, for 32% of output coupler transmission, up to 6.2 W of average power with near 35% slope efficiency was achieved. The thresholds for Q-switched ML, cw-ML regimes were 2.67 W and 6.13 W of pump power, respectively. For the maximum pump power of 20 W we obtained 133 nJ of pulse energy with 16-ps pulse duration, resulting in a peak power higher than 8 kW. The threshold energy density at SAM giving the QML regime was estimated to be about 30 μJ/cm², threshold of cw-ML regime was 220 μJ/cm².     

Passively Mode-Locked Quasi-Three-Level Nd:LuVO4Laser with Semiconductor Saturable Absorber Mirror

We demonstrate a passively a Z-folded resonator. Using device, we achieve stable cw average output power under cw mode-locked Nd：LuVO4 laser operating on the quasi-three-level at 916nm with a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror （SESAM） as the passive mode-locking mode locking with 6.7ps pulse duration at repetition rate of 133 MHz and 88mW the pump power of 17.1 W.     

Properties of a laser beam generated from an axicon resonator

A high power cw CO₂ laser beam is generated from a resonator configuration having an axicon mirror as its end reflector. The properties of this beam are evaluated in terms of its polarization, focusing capability and temporal stability and the resulting effects on processing materials are presented. A comparison is made between a folded and a straight resonator having a spherical focusing mirror as its end reflector.     

Jet-type, water-cooled heat sink that yields 255-W continuous-wave laser output at 808 nm from a 1-cm laser diode bar

A newly designed jet-type, water-cooled heat sink (the funryu heat sink, meaning fountain flow in Japanese) yielded 255-W cw laser output at 808 nm from a 1-cm bar made from InGaAsP/InGaP quantum-well active layers with a 67% fill factor [70 quantum-well laser diode (LD) array along the 1-cm bar]. A funryu heat sink measuring 1.1 mm in thickness gave the LD 0.25 degrees C/W thermal resistance, one of the lowest values achieved with a 1-cm LD bar. Over a short period of operation, the device reached a maximum cw power of 255 W. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest power ever achieved in 808-nm LD operation. In the future, the funryu heat sink may be capable of 80-W cw operation over an extended lifetime of several thousand hours.     

输出环状光束的新型激光谐振腔

提出一种输出环状光束的新型激光谐振腔,即在稳定激光谐振腔中采用外环耦合方式得到环状光束的输出。利用For-Li数值迭代算法求解此类激光谐振腔的积分方程,通过计算机编程计算了平面一凹球面稳定谐振腔的输出端平面镜在不同半径的情况下,谐振腔镜面上和衍射耦合输出场基模的振幅和相位分布。计算结果预示了当输出端平面镜半径小于通常的稳定腔的基模半径时,衍射耦合输出场有稳定的环状光束输出。实验中TEA CO2激光器采用印刷电路板预电离结构,增益长度90cm,腔长5m,球面全反射镜曲率半径20m,输出端平面镜半径4．5mm,得到了内环半径为4．5mm、外环半径为5．5mm的基模环形光斑输出。从而在理论上和实验上证实了该方案产生环状光束的可行性。     

微变形镜内腔补偿激光模式畸变研究

 采用Fox-Li迭代方法，对畸变相差以Zernike多项式展开，计算了不同菲涅耳数的谐振腔在畸变发生时的低阶输出模式，分析了激光器谐振腔内畸变对激光输出模式的影响。对微变形镜的面形以Zernike多项式进行拟合，计算了中心电极的影响函数，并建立了微变形镜控制模型。实验上将微变形镜作为激光器的一个腔镜，验证了微变形镜对激光输出模式的补偿作用。结果表明，内腔微变形镜对激光输出模式具有校正作用，激光基本上可以达到基模输出。     

Improving the brightness of a multi-kilowatt single thin-disk laser by an aspherical phase front correction

We report on results obtained with an aspherical mirror to compensate for the phase front aberrations of a cw thin-disk laser with a single disk in the resonator. A record output power of 5?kW with a beam quality suitable for laser cutting (beam propagation factor M2=9.2) has been achieved.     

A guided wave monolithic resonator ruby fiber laser

Single crystal ruby fibers, cooled with liquid nitrogen, have been operated as end pumped lasers. The fiber laser is a guided wave device with a length of 15 mm and a mean diameter of 60 μm. The laser resonator structure is monolithic, consisting of an aluminium mirror coated on one fiber end face and an uncoated opposite end face serving as an output coupler. Using an argon ion laser pump source, cw output powers of several mW were obtained.     

Broadband amplitude-modulated laser source with high output power for FM/cw lidar transmitter

We are building a long-range FM/cw nonscanning imaging lidar breadboard. This lidar system achieves ranging based on a frequency modulation/continuous wave (FM/cw) technique, implemented by an amplitude modulated mid-IR diode laser transmitter with a linear frequency modulation (LFM) of the subcarrier. Firstly, various schemes of light beam modulation are analyzed. Secondly, we put forward a laser modulation scheme whose core was formed by a 1.55 μm electro-absorption modulated laser diode (EML) and an erbium-doped optical fiber amplifier (EDFA), then a corresponding experimental system architecture and components for light beam modulation and detection are established. Finally, a corresponding experiment of laser beam modulation is completed for the first time. In our experiment, the EML amplitude is modulated by a 200 MHz to 800 MHz LFM signal, whose amplitude value is 2.05 V. The average output power of the modulated laser obtained in the experiment is 10 W, peak power is 16.4 W, and the average modulation depth is 78%. The results of tests predict that this laser modulation scheme is likely to improve the imaging range of the FM/cw lidar.     

Continuous wave, 30 W laser-diode bar with 10 GHz linewidth for Rb laser pumping

A laser-diode bar incorporated into an external cavity with a volume Bragg mirror produced 30 W of cw output power within a 20 pm (10 GHz) spectral linewidth (FWHM) centered at 780 nm. The device output power exceeded 90% of that for the free-running laser-diode bar. The emission wavelength was tuned over a 400 pm range without broadening laser spectrum width. Absorption of 90% of the laser radiation by a 25 mm vapor cell containing Rb that has been pressure broadened with 300 torr of ethane was demonstrated.     

分布式电极连续面型微变形反射镜力电耦合特性分析

 针对基于MEMS技术制造的连续面型薄膜微变形反射镜，从薄膜理论出发对其力电耦合变形特性进行理论分析，导出了镜面变形表达式。利用该式及响应频率表达式，定量分析了镜面相关尺寸参数对变形量的关系，为变形镜的结构设计提供了可靠的理论依据。结果表明，当镜面厚度为1 μm且与驱动电极间距20 μm时，对控制电压不超过120 V，响应频率大于50 kHz的应用场合，变形镜镜面半径应在2.1～13.8 mm之间进行选择。仿真结果显示，驱动电压较小时，镜面变形与驱动电压平方近似成线性关系。     

High-sensitivity optical monitoring of a micromechanical resonator with a quantum-limited optomechanical sensor

We experimentally demonstrate the high-sensitivity optical monitoring of a micromechanical resonator and its cooling by active control. Coating a low-loss mirror upon the resonator, we have built an optomechanical sensor based on a very high-finesse cavity (30 000). We have measured the thermal noise of the resonator with a quantum-limited sensitivity at the 10(-19) m/sqrt[Hz] level, and cooled the resonator down to 5 K by a cold-damping technique. Applications of our setup range from quantum optics experiments to the experimental demonstration of the quantum ground state of a macroscopic mechanical resonator.     

Combining a Magnetic Field Modulation Coil with a Surface-Coil-Type EPR Resonator

It is thought that the design of magnetic field modulation coils is one of the factors limiting enlargement of the sample size in electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) measurements. In this study, we miniaturized the magnetic field modulation coil and combined it with a surface-coil-type resonator (SCR). The inductor of the SCR was a circular single-turn one-loop coil (diameter, 1 mm), and the magnetic field modulation coil was a twin-loop coil consisting of two solenoid coils each made of 15 turns of copper wire on a cylindrical bobbin with an axial length of 3 mm and an elliptical cross section (major axis, 7 mm; minor axis, 3 mm). The former was located on the latter via a spacer (thickness, 3 mm) in such a way that the directions of their axes coincided. Their combined size was about 10 mm wide, 10 mm deep, and 6 mm high. The transmission lines of the SCR were set on resonance at about 700 MHz. EPR measurements of a phantom (comprising agar that included a nitroxide radical and physiological saline solution), made with a miniaturized modulation coil combined with the SCR, exhibited a sensitivity similar to that for the conventional method. Authors' address: Hidekatsu Yokoyama, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, International University of Health and Welfare, 2600-1 Kitakanemaru, Ohtawara 324-8501, Japan     

基于微变形反射镜的TEM00模式控制

分析了连续面形薄膜微变形反射镜的结构,提出了一种简化的变形镜球面分析模型,用该模型分析含有变形镜的谐振腔,导出了TEM00模式强度与曲率半径的严格表达式,并使用Matlab软件对其进行了仿真分析.结果表明增大变形镜的曲率半径能够增大TEM00模式的输出强度.搭建含有变形镜谐振腔的实验光路系统来控制TEM00模式输出,观测到类似的输出变化.