ABSTRACT
The utilization of sub-100 fs pulses has attracted attention as an approach to further improve the quality and precision of femtosecond laser microfabrication. However, when using such lasers at pulse energies typical for laser processing, nonlinear propagation effects in air are known to distort the beam's temporal and spatial intensity profile. Due to this distortion, it has been difficult to quantitatively predict the final processed crater shape of materials ablated by such lasers. In this study, we developed a method to quantitatively predict the ablation crater shape, utilizing nonlinear propagation simulations. Investigations revealed that the ablation crater diameters derived by our method were in excellent quantitative agreement with experimental results for several metals over a two-orders-of-magnitude range in the pulse energy. We also found a good quantitative correlation between the simulated central fluence and the ablation depth. Such methods should improve the controllability of laser processing with sub-100 fs pulses and contribute to furthering their practical application to processes over a wide pulse-energy range, including conditions with nonlinear-propagating pulses.
ABSTRACT
Thermal stress effects on continuous-wave second-harmonic generation in periodically poled LiTaO3 crystals are evaluated via a numerical simulation that is based on nonlinear propagation equations and a thermal conduction equation. The thermal performance and absorption coefficients used in the numerical simulation were determined by comparison with experimental results. The results show that the thermal stress caused by a small residual absorption would restrict the maximum output power of a second-harmonic-continuous-wave laser.
ABSTRACT
We devised a simplified system for coherent polarization beam combination (CPBC), in which two beams with orthogonal polarizations are combined with a polarizing beam splitter (PBS). In a CPBC system, control of the relative phase between two beams is important to obtain an output beam with stable polarization. Herein, the beam leaked from PBS is used to control the relative phase, realizing a robust system. We experimentally demonstrate that the proposed system can be operated with high efficiency and without quality deterioration.
ABSTRACT
We proposed a method to determine device quality in heat removal. Temperature change depending on SH power was analyzed by fitting with a new model to characterize heat removal performance of SHG modules, named as phase-matched calorimetry (PMC). The thermal disposal performance of SHG devices was improved by combination of metal housing and reduced crystal aperture. With a tight aperture, we demonstrated a 19 W single-pass 532-nm SHG at a conversion efficiency of 26.5% in a 10-mm-long PPMgSLT crystal without saturation.
ABSTRACT
Amplitude modulation of laser light is required for resonant sideband extraction employed in gravitational-wave detectors. Amplitude modulation with electro-optic phase modulators is realized by interferometric phase-to-amplitude conversion. Although two outputs modulated at opposite phases to each other are obtained, usually only one of them is utilized and the other is abandoned. The reuse of this abandoned light improves the power efficiency of the modulation. This can be realized by inverting the modulation phase of one output with a delay line and adding it to the other coherently. Moreover, this system selects a high-efficiency operating point and modulates the light in a linear range. We demonstrate that the modulation system can be operated with a power loss that is due only to the losses of the optical components.
ABSTRACT
Second-generation gravitational wave detectors require a highly stable laser with an output power greater than 100 W to attain their target sensitivity. We have developed a frequency stabilization system for a 100-W injection-locked Nd:YAG (yttrium aluminum garnet) laser. By placing an external wideband electro-optic modulator used as a fast-frequency actuator in the optical path of the slave output, we can circumvent a phase delay in the frequency control loop originating from the pole of an injection-locked slave cavity. Thus, we have developed an electro-optic modulator made of a MgO-doped stoichiometric LiNbO(3) crystal. Using this modulator, we achieve a frequency control bandwidth of 800 kHz and a control gain of 180 dB at 1 kHz. These values satisfy the requirement for a laser frequency control loop in second-generation gravitational wave detectors.
ABSTRACT
We investigated the influence of amplitude modulation (AM) noise and phase modulation (PM) noise of a laser source on the frequency stability in frequency stabilization systems. We estimated the frequency stability and evaluated the efficacy of a noise reduction technique (the Doppler-trend subtraction method) of a laser diode frequency stabilization system, where enhanced intensity noise arising from PM-to-AM noise conversion through a reference gas cell is reduced using the technique employed in modulation transfer spectroscopy. To evaluate the relationship between the laser's intrinsic noise and its frequency stability, we performed noise spectrum measurements and formulated frequency stability in addition to measuring Allan standard deviation. As a result, it is found that the extra noise generated in PM-to-AM conversion is efficiently removed by the Doppler-trend subtraction method and that within the feedback bandwidth, the frequency stability becomes 1 order of magnitude better than that without the method.
ABSTRACT
We investigated thermal behaviors of single-pass second-harmonic generation of continuous wave green radiation with high efficiency by quasi-phase matching in periodically poled Mg-doped stoichiometric lithium tantalate (PPMgSLT). Heat generation turned out to be directly related to the green light absorption in the material. Strong relation between an upper limit of the second harmonic power and confocal parameter was found. Single-pass second-harmonic generation of 16.1 W green power was achieved with 17.6% efficiency in Mg:SLT at room temperature.
Subject(s)
Computer-Aided Design , Lasers , Lithium/chemistry , Magnesium/chemistry , Models, Theoretical , Oxides/chemistry , Tantalum/chemistry , Computer Simulation , Equipment Design , Equipment Failure Analysis , Light , Materials Testing , Scattering, Radiation , TemperatureABSTRACT
We have developed a wavelength-stabilized laser diode (LD) for geophysical measurement devices, which benefit from the uniformity of laser light. Regarding this purpose, a system that has such characteristics as low power consumption, sturdiness against mechanical disturbances, and a long life with long-term frequency stability is especially required. Therefore, we adopt as the light source a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) LD because it has various advantages concerning such properties. This paper describes the durable and compact wavelength-stabilized laser system. Since our DBR-LD oscillates at 852 nm, we selected the Cs-D2 line (6 2S1/2-6 2P3/2 transition) as a frequency reference to obtain a long-term stability in wavelength. Stabilization is performed by a feedback system using a modulation transfer (MT) method, which is a kind of Doppler-free saturated absorption spectroscopy, to acquire a saturated absorption signal with a high signal-to-noise ratio. Using this system, we could continuously lock the laser frequency to the hyperfine component of the Cs-D2 line for more than one week. By an Allan standard deviation measurement, the uncertainty of the stabilized laser frequency was found to be better than 1 x 10(-10) (<40 kHz) in a Gatetime region longer than 100 s.
ABSTRACT
We have built a single-frequency Nd:YAG laser capable of producing an output power of 101 W by injection locking a slave laser that can emit an output power of 121 W in the free-running state to a 2-W master laser. We confirmed that the output mode was diffraction limited and linearly polarized.
ABSTRACT
We report on our prototype experiment that uses a 4-m detuned resonant sideband extraction interferometer with suspended mirrors, which has almost the same configuration as the next-generation, gravitational-wave detectors. We have developed a new control scheme and have succeeded in the operation of such an interferometer with suspended mirrors for the first time ever as far as we know. We believe that this is the first such instrument that can see the radiation pressure signal enhancement, which can improve the sensitivity of next-generation gravitational-wave detectors.
