Phase measurement and far-field reconstruction on externally coupled laser diode arrays.

Passive coherent combination of several discrete low power laser diodes is a promising way to overcome the issue of degrading beam quality when scaling single emitters to > 10 W output power. Such systems would be an efficient alternative to current high power sources, yet they suffer from fatal coherence loss when operated well above threshold. We present a new way to obtain detailed coherence information for laser diode arrays using a spatial light modulator to help identify the underlying decoherence processes. Reconstruction tests of the emitted far-field distribution are conducted to evaluate the performance of our setup.

Mode stabilization of a laterally structured broad area diode laser using an external volume Bragg grating.

An external volume Bragg grating (VBG) is used for transverse and longitudinal mode stabilization of a broad area diode laser (BAL) with an on-chip transverse Bragg resonance (TBR) grating. The internal TBR grating defines a transverse low-loss mode at a specific propagation angle inside the BAL. Selection of the TBR mode was realized via the angular geometry of an external resonator assembly consisting of the TBR BAL and a feedback element. A feedback mirror provides near diffraction limited and spectral narrow output in the TBR mode albeit requiring an intricate alignment procedure. If feedback is provided via a VBG, adjustment proves to be far less critical and higher output powers were achieved. Moreover, additional modulation in the far field distribution became discernible allowing for a better study of the TBR concept.

Broad area diode laser with on-chip transverse Bragg grating stabilized in an off-axis external cavity.

The emission characteristics of a novel, specially designed broad area diode laser (BAL) with on-chip transversal Bragg resonance (TBR) grating in lateral direction were investigated in an off-axis external cavity setup. The internal TBR grating defines a low loss transversal mode at a specific angle of incidence and a certain wavelength. By providing feedback at this specific angle with an external mirror, it is possible to select this low loss transverse mode and stabilize the BAL. Near diffraction limited emission with an almost single lobed far field pattern could be realized, in contrast to the double lobed far field pattern of similar setups using standard BALs or phase-locked diode laser arrays. Furthermore, we could achieve a narrow bandwidth emission with a simplified setup without external frequency selective elements.

Wave-particle dualism and complementarity unraveled by a different mode.

The precise knowledge of one of two complementary experimental outcomes prevents us from obtaining complete information about the other one. This formulation of Niels Bohr's principle of complementarity when applied to the paradigm of wave-particle dualism--that is, to Young's double-slit experiment--implies that the information about the slit through which a quantum particle has passed erases interference. In the present paper we report a double-slit experiment using two photons created by spontaneous parametric down-conversion where we observe interference in the signal photon despite the fact that we have located it in one of the slits due to its entanglement with the idler photon. This surprising aspect of complementarity comes to light by our special choice of the TEM(01) pump mode. According to quantum field theory the signal photon is then in a coherent superposition of two distinct wave vectors giving rise to interference fringes analogous to two mechanical slits.

Two-dimensional modeling of transient gain gratings in saturable gain media.

A transient two-dimensional model describing degenerate four-wave mixing inside saturable gain media is presented. The new model is compared to existing one-dimensional models with their qualitative results confirmed. Large quantitative differences with respect to peak reflectivity and optimum pump fluence are observed. Furthermore, the influence of the beam focus size, the transverse position and the crossing angle on the reflectivity of the grating is investigated using the improved model. It is demonstrated that the phase conjugate reflectivity depends sensitively on the transverse features of the interacting beams with a transverse shift in the position of the pump beams yielding a threefold improvement in reflectivity.

High brightness, tunable biphoton source at 976 nm for quantum spectroscopy.

A compact all solid state continuous-wave biphoton source, tunable around 488 nm, for quantum spectroscopic applications based on a frequency doubled diode laser system is presented. Copolarized photon pairs in the fundamental transversal mode could be generated at 976 nm by spontaneous parametric down conversion inside a type-0 quasi phase matched periodically poled lithium niobate waveguide crystal with an efficiency of 8-10(-6). A high flux rate greater than 10(7) photon pairs per second has been achieved at pump powers in the muW range resulting in more than 7-10(9) photon pairs/s-mW. Further a detailed investigation of the spectral behavior and the flux rate as a function of the detuning from the degenerated case is presented.

Low-power phase conjugation based on stimulated Brillouin scattering in fiber amplifiers.

Phase-conjugating stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) mirrors are frequently used to improve the brightness of solid-state lasers. With a scheme for designing fiber amplifiers as SBS phase conjugators the power requirements can be decreased by orders of magnitude; yet only low coherence is required, and high fidelity is reached. A peak power of 5 W was demonstrated to be sufficient for optical SBS phase conjugation.