Search Results

Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
  • Item
    Multi-millijoule, few-cycle 5 µm OPCPA at 1 kHz repetition rate
    (Washington, DC : Soc., 2020) von Grafenstein, Lorenz; Bock, Martin; Ueberschaer, Dennis; Escoto, Esmerando; Koç, Azize; Zawilski, Kevin; Schunemann, Peter; Griebner, Uwe; Elsaesser, Thomas
    A table-top midwave-infrared optical parametric chirped pulse amplification (OPCPA) system generates few-cycle pulses with multi-10 GW peak power at a 1 kHz repetition rate. The all-optically synchronized system utilizes ZnGeP2 nonlinear crystals and a highly stable 2 µm picosecond pump laser based on Ho:YLiF4. An excellent energy extraction is achieved by reusing the pump pulse after the third parametric power amplification stage, resulting in 3.4 mJ idler pulses at a center wavelength of 4.9 µm. Pulses as short as 89.4 fs are achieved, close to only five optical cycles. Taking into account the pulse energy, a record high peak power of 33 GW for high-energy mid-IR OPCPAs beyond 4 µm wavelength is demonstrated. © 2020 OSA - The Optical Society. All rights reserved.
  • Item
    Sub-100 fs mode-locked Tm:CLTGG laser
    (Washington, DC : Soc., 2021) Wang, Li; Chen, Weidong; Pan, Zhongben; Loiko, Pavel; Bae, Ji Eun; Rotermund, Fabian; Mateos, Xavier; Griebner, Uwe; Petrov, Valentin
    We report on the first sub-100 fs mode-locked laser operation of a Tm3+-doped disordered calcium lithium tantalum gallium garnet (Tm:CLTGG) crystal. Soliton mode-locking was initiated and stabilized by a transmission-type single-walled carbon nanotube saturable absorber. Pulses as short as 69 fs were achieved at a central wavelength of 2010.4 nm with an average power of 28 mW at a pulse repetition rate of ∼87.7 MHz. In the sub-100 fs regime, the maximum average output power amounted to 103 mW.
  • Item
    35 W continuous-wave Ho:YAG single-crystal fiber laser
    (Cambridge : Cambridge Univ. Press, 2020) Zhao, Yongguang; Wang, Li; Chen, Weidong; Wang, Jianlei; Song, Qingsong; Xu, Xiaodong; Liu, Ying; Shen, Deyuan; Xu, Jun; Mateos, Xavier; Loiko, Pavel; Wang, Zhengping; Xu, Xinguang; Griebner, Uwe; Petrov, Valentin
    We report on a high-power Ho:YAG single-crystal fiber (SCF) laser inband pumped by a high-brightness Tm-fiber laser at 1908 nm. The Ho:YAG SCF grown by the micro-pulling-down technique exhibits a propagation loss of at. A continuous-wave output power of 35.2 W is achieved with a slope efficiency of 42.7%, which is to the best of our knowledge the highest power ever reported from an SCF-based laser in the 2 spectral range. © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Cambridge University Press in association with Chinese Laser Press.
  • Item
    Few-cycle 65-µJ pulses at 11.4 µm for ultrafast nonlinear longwave-infrared spectroscopy
    (Washington, DC : Optical Society of America, OSA, 2022) Fuertjes, Pia; Bock, Martin; Grafenstein, Lorenz von; Ueberschaer, Dennis; Griebner, Uwe; Elsaesser, Thomas
    Low-energy excitations can provide insight into the basic ultrafast nonequilibrium dynamics of condensed matter. High-energy femtosecond pulses in the long-wavelength infrared are required to induce such processes, and can be generated in an optical parametric chirped pulse amplification (OPCPA) system comprising three GaSe stages. A femtosecond Cr:ZnS laser serves as the front-end, providing the seed for the 2.0-µm pump and the 2.4-µm signal pulses without nonlinear conversion processes. The OPCPA system is pumped at 2.05 µm by a picosecond Ho:YLF regenerative amplifier at a 1-kHz repetition rate. The recompressed idler pulses at 11.4 µm have a duration of 185 fs and an unprecedented energy of 65 µJ, corresponding to a pump-to-idler conversion efficiency of 1.2%. Nonlinear transmission experiments in the range of the L2 infrared band of liquid water demonstrate the potential of the pulses for nonlinear vibrational spectroscopy of liquids and solids.
  • Item
    SESAM mode-locked Tm:Y2O3 ceramic laser
    (Washington, DC : Soc., 2022) Zhang, Ning; Liu, Shande; Wang, Zhanxin; Liu, Jian; Xu, Xiaodong; Xu, Jun; Wang, Jun; Liu, Peng; Ma, Jie; Shen, Deyuan; Tang, Dingyuan; Lin, Hui; Zhang, Jian; Chen, Weidong; Zhao, Yongguang; Griebner, Uwe; Petrov, Valentin
    We demonstrate a widely tunable and passively mode-locked Tm:Y2O3 ceramic laser in-band pumped by a 1627-nm Raman fiber laser. A tuning range of 318 nm, from 1833 to 2151 nm, is obtained in the continuous-wave regime. The SESAM mode-locked laser produces Fourier-transform-limited pulses as short as 75 fs at ∼ 2.06 µm with an average output power of 0.26 W at 86.3 MHz. For longer pulse durations of 178 fs, an average power of 0.59 W is achieved with a laser efficiency of 29%. This is, to the best of our knowledge, the first mode-locked Tm:Y2O3 laser in the femtosecond regime. The spectroscopic properties and laser performance confirm that Tm:Y2O3 transparent ceramics are a promising gain material for ultrafast lasers at 2 µm.
  • Item
    Tm3+-doped calcium lithium tantalum gallium garnet (Tm:CLTGG): novel laser crystal
    (Washington, DC : OSA, 2021) Alles, Adrian; Pan, Zhongben; Loiko, Pavel; Serres, Josep Maria; Slimi, Sami; Yingming, Shawuti; Tang, Kaiyang; Wang, Yicheng; Zhao, Yongguang; Dunina, Elena; Kornienko, Alexey; Camy, Patrice; Chen, Weidong; Wang, Li; Griebner, Uwe; Petrov, Valentin; Solé, Rosa Maria; Aguiló, Magdalena; Díaz, Francesc; Mateos, Xavier
    We report on the development of a novel laser crystal with broadband emission properties at ∼2 µm – a Tm3+,Li+-codoped calcium tantalum gallium garnet (Tm:CLTGG). The crystal is grown by the Czochralski method. Its structure (cubic, sp. gr. 𝐼𝑎3¯𝑑, a = 12.5158(0) Å) is refined by the Rietveld method. Tm:CLTGG exhibits a relatively high thermal conductivity of 4.33 Wm-1K-1. Raman spectroscopy confirms a weak concentration of vacancies due to the charge compensation provided by Li+ codoping. The transition probabilities of Tm3+ ions are determined using the modified Judd-Ofelt theory yielding the intensity parameters Ω2 = 5.185, Ω4 = 0.650, Ω6 = 1.068 [10−20 cm2] and α = 0.171 [10−4 cm]. The crystal-field splitting of the Tm3+ multiplets is revealed at 10 K. The first diode-pumped Tm:CLTGG laser generates 1.08 W at ∼2 µm with a slope efficiency of 23.8%. The Tm3+ ions in CLTGG exhibit significant inhomogeneous spectral broadening due to the structure disorder (a random distribution of Ta5+ and Ga3+ cations over octahedral and tetrahedral lattice sites) leading to smooth and broad gain profiles (bandwidth: 130 nm) extending well above 2 µm and rendering Tm:CLTGG suitable for femtosecond pulse generation.
  • Item
    Watt-level femtosecond Tm-doped “mixed” sesquioxide ceramic laser in-band pumped by a Raman fiber laser at 1627 nm
    (Washington, DC : Soc., 2022) Zhang, Ning; Wang, Zhanxin; Liu, Shande; Jing, Wei; Huang, Hui; Huang, Zixuan; Tian, Kangzhen; Yang, Zhiyong; Zhao, Yongguang; Griebner, Uwe; Petrov, Valentin; Chen, Weidong
    We report on a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror mode-locked Tm:(Lu,Sc)2O3 ceramic laser in-band pumped by a Raman fiber laser at 1627 nm. The nonlinear refractive index (n2) of the Tm:(Lu,Sc)2O3 ceramic has been measured to be 4.66 × 10-20 m2/W at 2000 nm. An average output power up to 1.02 W at 2060 nm is achieved for transform-limited 280-fs pulses at a repetition rate of 86.5 MHz, giving an optical efficiency with respect to the absorbed pump power of 36.4%. Pulses as short as 66 fs at 2076 nm are produced at the expense of output power (0.3 W), corresponding to a spectral bandwidth of 69 nm. The present work reveals the potential of Tm3+-doped sesquioxide transparent ceramics for power scaling of femtosecond mode-locked bulk lasers emitting in the 2-μm spectral range.
  • Item
    Spectroscopy of solid-solution transparent sesquioxide laser ceramic Tm:LuYO3
    (Washington, DC : OSA, 2022) Eremeev, Kirill; Loiko, Pavel; Braud, Alain; Camy, Patrice; Zhang, Jian; Xu, Xiaodong; Zhao, Yongguang; Liu, Peng; Balabanov, Stanislav; Dunina, Elena; Kornienko, Alexey; Fomicheva, Liudmila; Mateos, Xavier; Griebner, Uwe; Petrov, Valentin; Wang, Li; Chen, Weidong
    We report on a detailed spectroscopic study of a Tm3+-doped transparent sesquioxide ceramic based on a solid-solution (lutetia – yttria, LuYO3) composition. The ceramic was fabricated using commercial oxide powders by hot isostatic pressing at 1600°C for 3 h at 190 MPa argon pressure. The most intense Raman peak in Tm:LuYO3 at 385.4 cm−1 takes an intermediate position between those for the parent compounds and is notably broadened (linewidth: 12.8 cm−1). The transition intensities of Tm3+ ions were calculated using the Judd-Ofelt theory; the intensity parameters are W2 = 2.537, W4 = 1.156 and W6 = 0.939 [1020 cm2]. For the 3F4 → 3H6 transition, the stimulated-emission cross-section amounts to 0.27 × 10−20 cm2 at 2059nm and the reabsorption-free luminescence lifetime is 3.47 ms (the 3F4 radiative lifetime is 3.85 ± 0.1 ms). The Tm3+ ions in the ceramic exhibit long-wave multiphonon-assisted emission extending up to at least 2.35 µm; a phonon sideband at 2.23 µm is observed and explained by coupling between electronic transitions and the dominant Raman mode of the sesquioxides. Low temperature (12 K) spectroscopy reveals a significant inhomogeneous spectral broadening confirming formation of a substitutional solid-solution. The mixed ceramic is promising for ultrashort pulse generation at >2 µm.