To enhance the correlation in the orthogonal directions, a polarization self-modulation scheme with an intra-cavity quarter wave plate in a coaxial pumping orthogonally polarized laser was proposed. This quasi-isotropic cavity was compared with the traditional scheme in terms of the differences in the oscillation between dual components and the intra-cavity eigenstate distribution was obtained. Both theoretical and experimental results indicated that modes were effectively locked in TE and TM directions and dual-eigenstates output was achieved, which provided a half-free-spectrum-range frequency difference in ±45° directions. Q-switching and dual-wavelength-operation did not affect the polarization self-modulation process.
In order to obtain a passively Q-switched sub-nanosecond microchip laser with a low pulse jitter of less than 10 ns, a scheme of injection-seeding stable nanosecond laser pulses was designed. The pulse timing jitter of the passively Q-switched laser was improved from μs-level to ns-level with the seeding pulse energy of around 70 μJ. Based on experimental measurements, the dynamic process of pulse locking by varying the seeding pulse energy was discussed. The locking threshold affected by the peak pump power and time delay (ΔtQ) between the initial passively Q-switched laser and seeding pulses was also analyzed.
KEYWORDS: Air temperature, LIDAR, Atmospheric sensing, Monte Carlo methods, Measurement uncertainty, Temperature metrology, Statistical analysis, Atmospheric modeling
The measurement uncertainty is an important parameter to evaluate the reliability of the Rayleigh lidar in detecting atmospheric temperature. This presentation aims to study the atmospheric temperature measurement uncertainty of a floating platform-mounted Rayleigh lidar. A model was established for altitude correction considering the platform attitude, and the temperature uncertainty originating from the fluctuation in rolling and pitching angles was evaluated using the Monte Carlo method (MCM). The results show that the atmospheric temperature uncertainty due to platform fluctuation is confined to 10-2 K when the detection altitude is up to 65 km.
We report a compact and highly stable 1064-nm electro-optic Q-switched laser operating at the repetition rate of 1 kHz. A composite Nd:YAG crystal was used as the gain media and the cavity length was 105 mm. Under the average pump power of 11 W, the output power achieved 2.404 W with the pulse width of 4.558 ns, corresponding to the maximum peak power of 0.527 MW and the optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 21.85%. The slope efficiency reached 42.69%. The beam quality in the horizontal (Mx2) and vertical (My2) directions were 1.81 and 1.58, respectively. The pulse timing jitter was less than 1 ns, and the average power fluctuation measured within 30 min was 0.83% (RMS). It is believed that such a compact and highly stable pulsed laser with high repetition rate, high peak power, and good beam quality has great potential in the fields of lidar, etc.
A theoretical model was proposed to simulate the broadband second harmonic generation (SHG) based on random quasiphase matching (RQPM) by Fourier transform mothed. A broadband SHG experiment system was built which could obtain the distribution of the SHG signal over a whole ZnSe sample. Both the simulated and experimental results demonstrated that the main feature of RQPM is the linear dependency of the SHG intensity with sample thickness.
Efficient orthogonally polarized lasers (OPLs) with power balance is of great significance in many fields. A gain-selfbalanced coaxial-end-pumped orthogonally polarized laser is proposed in this presentation. Using the orthogonal Nd:YVO4 crystal arrangement and a quarter wave plate, different waves were amplified by both crystals and the OPL could operate under the optimized condition. Compared with traditional methods, the beam quality and the coherence of the OPL were greatly improved and the coherence could also be actively switched by pump conditions. Theoretical explanations and discussions were given from the view of thermal effects and laser resonators. It is believed the gain-self-balanced coaxialend-pumped OPL has broad application prospects in precision measurement and other fields.
Based on the rate equation of passively Q-switching, the effects of pump rate on the pulse timing jitter was simulated. The evolution of pulse jitter versus initial transmittance of the saturated absorber and pump power were experimentally investigated using different Nd:YAG/Cr:YAG bonded crystals. By adopting reasonable parameters, it was proved that the pulse jitter of passively Q-switching could be controlled within hundreds of nanoseconds. If an actively Q-switched laser was used as the seed laser for a passively Q-switched microchip laser, the pulse jitter could be reduced down to ~5 ns, and the output characteristics of the passively Q-switched laser with seed injection were discussed.
A passively Q-switched dual-wavelength laser with pulsed LD coaxial end-pumped configuration was demonstrated. A theoretical model was built to simulate the dynamic process of the pulsed LD coaxial end-pumped dual-wavelength laser. Experimental verifications were carried out based on Nd:YAG/Nd:YAP crystals. When the reflectivity of the output mirror and the initial transmission of the saturable absorber were both 50%, the maximum output single-pulse energy of pulsed-pumped passively Q-switched dual-wavelength laser was 304 μJ, which was obviously enhanced compared with that in the CW pumping.
A high-efficiency, high-peak-power, widely tunable optical parametric generator (OPG) based on a MgO-doped periodically poled lithium niobate (PPMgLN) crystal is reported. Pumped by a microchip passively Q-switched laser (duration: 330 ps, repetition rate:1 kHz) with the power output of 880 mW, the OPG could be continuously tuned from 1399 nm to 4443 nm by changing the grating period and working temperature. The OPG generated an output power of 591 mW for the signal (1758 nm) and the idler (2695 nm) waves, achieving the internal conversion efficiency of 67.16%, slope efficiency of 89.6% and peak power above 1 MW at 1758 nm. The evolution of linewidth of the signal wave during wavelength tuning were also studied and the theoretical models were proposed. The linewidth was narrowed from 100 GHz to GHz level using a continuous-wave (CW) tunable seeder. The linewidth reached 1.72 GHz at 1626 nm, close to the Fourier transform limit of the sub-nanosecond signal wave.
Considering the impact of the pump focal position on the output characteristics in dual-wavelength lasers with coaxially arranged dual crystals, we study on the thermal effects based on two coaxial Nd:YVO4 crystals with variable pump focal position and incident pump power theoretically and experimentally. The output characteristics and thermal focal lengths were discussed at different cavity lengths using the resonator theories and compared with the monolithic crystal. The performance of the scheme with two discrete crystals when the focal position locates deep at different cavity lengths was also researched and the advantages over single crystal were verified.
A continuous-wave (CW) dual-wavelength laser with coaxial diode end-pumping configuration is demonstrated. A theoretical model was built to simulate the CW output power process of the dual-wavelength laser generation. The experiment was performed with Nd:YVO4/Nd:YAP composite laser crystals. The continuous-wave output power reached 5.28 W under the maximum LD pump power of 15 W, corresponding to optical-optical conversion efficiency of 35.2%. The power ratio between 1064 nm and 1080 nm could be tuned by varying the pump wavelength to balance the gains in two laser crystals.
We demonstrate the theory and experiments of a power-ratio tunable dual-wavelength laser with coaxial diode end-pumping configuration by varying the pump wavelength, which is realized by controlling the working temperature of the pump laser diode (LD). Composite laser gain media containing an Nd : YVO4 crystal and an Nd : GdVO4 crystal was used for example. The dynamics of the dual-wavelength laser generation based on practical input operating parameters were simulated, and in the experiment, a total power of 3.72 W was obtained under the maximum LD pump power of 8 W, corresponding to the optical–optical conversion efficiency of 46.5%. The characteristics of the power-ratio tuning and output power agreed well with the theoretical predictions.
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