We developed a simple three-stage amplifying tunable cw diode laser system that comprises: a Littrow configuration master laser, frequency stabilized with a dichroic atomic vapor laser lock (DAVLL), an acousto-optic frequency shifter (AOM), an injection-locked slave laser and a tapered amplifier (TA). Slave amplifies the frequency-shifted beam and suppresses (within 0.5%) the strong dependence of its intensity on the AOM carrier frequency, thus acting as an efficient optical limiter. The beam is further amplified in TA. System operates at 780 nm, with an output power above 700 mW, a time-averaged linewidth of 0.6 MHz, and a frequency drift below 2 MHz/h. The mode-hop-free tuning range of the master amounts 2 GHz, DAVLL allows a lock point tunability in the range of 400 MHz. The fine (with some tens of kHz precision) tuning range spans 70 MHz, determined by the AOM model applied. A detailed description of the system was given and its performance was tested. The basic components were designed and manufactured in our lab.
We present a frequency-shifted feedback (FSF) laser based on a tapered amplifier. The laser operates as a coherent broadband source with up to 370GHz spectral width and 2.3us coherence time. If the FSF laser is seeded by a continuous-wave laser a frequency comb spanning the output spectrum appears in addition to the broadband emission. The laser has an output power of 280mW and a center wavelength of 780nm. The ease and flexibility of use of tapered amplifiers makes our FSF laser attractive for a wide range of applications, especially in metrology.
We develop a high-power narrow-linewidth fiber amplifier based on a tapered Yb-doped fiber. In the experiment, the narrow end of the tapered fiber is used as the input port of both pump source and signal light to form a robust all-fiber configuration. The stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) is effectively suppressed owing to its gradually increased mode area as well as continuously changed Brillouin frequency shift dependent on the core diameter. As a result, an output power of 260 W without SBS and mode instability (MI) is obtained, with a slope efficiency of 71.3 % and a narrow linewidth o…
We describe a compact waveguide amplifier system that is suitable for optically pumping rubidium magnetometers. The system consists of an auto-locking vacuum-sealed external cavity diode laser, a semiconductor tapered amplifier and a pulsing unit based on an acousto-optic modulator. The diode laser utilises optical feedback from an interference filter to narrow the linewidth of an inexpensive laser diode to ~500 kHz. This output is scannable over an 8 GHz range (at 780 nm) and can be locked without human intervention to any spectral marker in an expandable library of reference spectra, using t…
We experimentally demonstrate spatial beam self-cleaning in an Yb-doped graded-index multimode fiber taper, both in passive and active configurations. The input laser beam at 1064 nm was injected for propagation from the small to the large core side of the taper, with laser diode pumping in a counterdirectional configuration. The Kerr effect permits to obtain high-beam quality amplification with no accompanying frequency conversions. As a result, our nonlinear taper amplifier may provide an important building block for multimode fiber lasers and amplifiers.
We experimentally study a fiber-based optical ring cavity integrated with a mechanical resonator mirror and an optical amplifier. The device exhibits a variety of intriguing nonlinear effects including synchronization and self-excited oscillation. Passively generated optical pulses are observed when the frequency of the optical ring cavity is tuned very close to the mechanical frequency of the suspended mirror. The optical power at the threshold of this process of mechanical mode locking is found to be related to quantum noise of the optical amplifier.
We study the degree of second-order coherence of the emission of a high-power multi-quantum well superluminescent diode with a lateral tapered amplifier section with and without feedback. When operated in an external cavity, the degree of second-order coherence changed from the almost thermal case of g$^{(2)}$(0)$\approx$1.9 towards the mostly coherent case of g$^{(2)}$(0)$\approx$1.2 when the injection current at the tapered section was increased. We found good agreement with semi-classical laser theory near and below threshold while above laser threshold a slightly higher g$^{(2)}$(0) was ob…
Laser injection locking and nanophotonic spectral translation of electro-optic frequency combs
National Institute of Standards and Technology（美国国家标准与技术研究院）；University of Maryland（马里兰大学）；Joint Quantum Institute, NIST/University of Maryland（NIST/马里兰大学联合量子研究所）
We generate coherent ultraviolet radiation at 313 nm as the third harmonic of an external-cavity diode laser. We use this radiation for laser cooling of trapped beryllium atomic ions and sympathetic cooling of co-trapped beryllium-hydride molecular ions. An LBO crystal in an enhancement cavity generates the second harmonic, and a BBO crystal in a doubly resonant enhancement cavity mixes this second harmonic with the fundamental to produce the third harmonic. Each enhancement cavity is preceded by a tapered amplifier to increase the fundamental light. The 36-mW output power of this all-semicond…
Optical injection locking is implemented to faithfully transfer the phase noise of a dissipative Kerr microresonator soliton comb in addition to the amplification of the Kerr comb. Unlike Er-doped fiber and semiconductor optical amplifiers, the optical injection locking amplifies the comb mode without degrading the optical signal-to-noise ratio. In addition, we show that the residual phase noise of the optical injection locking is sufficiently small to transfer the relative phase noise of comb modes (equivalent to the repetition frequency) of low phase noise Kerr combs, concluding that the opt…
We present a resonantly frequency-doubled tapered amplified semiconductor laser system emitting up to 2.6 W blue light at 400 nm. The output power is stable on both short and long timescales with 0.12% RMS relative intensity noise, and less than 0.15%/h relative power loss over 16 hours of free running continuous operation. Furthermore, the output power can be actively stabilized, and the alignment of the input beams of the tapered amplifier chip, the frequency doubling cavity and-in case of fiber output-the fiber can be optimized automatically using computer-controlled mirrors.
We present a multi-purpose toolkit for digital processing, acquisition and feedback control designed for physics labs. The kit provides in a compact device the functionalities of several instruments: function generator, oscilloscope, lock-in amplifier, proportional-integral-derivative filters, Ramp scan generator and a Lock-control. The design combines Field-Programmable-Gate-Array processing and microprocessor programing to get precision, ease of use and versatility. It can be remotely operated through the network with different levels of control: from simple out-of-the-shelve Web GUI to remo…
Integrated femtosecond pulse and frequency comb sources are critical components for a wide range of applications. The leading approaches for on-chip pulse generation rely on mode locking inside microresonator with either third-order nonlinearity or with semiconductor gain. These approaches, however, are limited in noise performance, wavelength tunability and repetition rates. Alternatively, sub-picosecond pulses can be synthesized without mode-locking, by modulating a continuous-wave (CW) single-frequency laser using a cascade of electro-optic (EO) modulators. This method is particularly attra…
Continuous-wave output at 229 nm for the application of laser cooling of Cd atoms was generated by the 4th harmonic using two successive second harmonic generation stages. Employing a single-frequency optically pumped semiconductor laser as a fundamental source, 0.56 W of output at 229 nm was observed with a 10-mm long, Brewster-cut BBO crystal in an external cavity with 1.62 W of 458 nm input. Conversion efficiency from 458 nm to 229 nm was more than 34%. By applying a tapered amplifier as a fundamental source, we demonstrated magneto-optical trapping of all stable Cd isotopes including isoto…
Recent advances in the development of ultra-low loss silicon nitride integrated photonic circuits have heralded a new generation of integrated lasers capable of reaching fiber laser coherence. However, these devices presently are based on self-injection locking of distributed feedback (DFB) laser diodes, increasing both the cost and requiring tuning of laser setpoints for their operation. In contrast, turn-key legacy laser systems use reflective semiconductor optical amplifiers (RSOA). While this scheme has been utilized for integrated photonics-based lasers, so far, no cost-effective RSOA-bas…
