High average power diamond Raman laser.

We report a pulsed Raman laser at 1193 nm based on synthetic diamond crystals with a record output power of 24.5 W and a slope efficiency of 57%. We compared the performance of an anti-reflection coated crystal at normal incidence with a Brewster cut sample. Raman oscillation was achieved at both room temperature and under cryogenic operation at 77 K. Modeling of these experiments allowed us to confirm the value of Raman gain coefficient of diamond, which was found to be 13.5 ± 2.0 cm/GW for a pump wavelength of 1030 nm.

Phase-matching and mitigation of four-wave mixing in fibers with positive gain.

We present a theoretical study of four-wave mixing interactions in fibers in the presence of gain. In contrast to passive fibers, positive gain at the pump wavelength leads to constructive generation of the signal and idler waves, even in the case of large phase-mismatch, so that FWM processes can be very efficient even in isotropic single-mode fibers with normal dispersion. We also propose simple ways to mitigate these parametric interactions by applying a controlled variation of the phase-mismatch along the fiber. These concepts apply to all optical amplifiers.

Four-wave mixing in nanosecond pulsed fiber amplifiers.

We present an experimental and theoretical analysis of four-wave mixing in nanosecond pulsed amplifiers based on double-clad ytterbium-doped fibers. This process leads to saturation of the amplified pulse energy at 1064 nm and to distortion of the spectral and temporal profiles. These behaviours are well described by a simple model considering both Raman and four-wave-mixing contributions. The role of seed laser polarization in birefringent fibers is also presented. These results point out the critical parameters and possible tradeoffs for optimization.

High-Power fiber amplifier with widely tunable repetition rate, fixed pulse duration, and multiple output wavelengths.

We report a pulsed, fiber-amplified microchip laser providing widely tunable repetition rate (7.1 - 27 kHz) with constant pulse duration (1.0 ns), pulse energy up to 0.41 mJ, linear output polarization, diffraction-limited beam quality (M(2) < 1.2), and < 1% pulse-energy fluctuations. The pulse duration was shown to minimize nonlinear effects that cause temporal and spectral distortion of the amplified pulses. This source employs passive Q-switching, single-stage single-pass amplification, and cw pumping, thus offering high efficiency, simplicity, and compact, rugged packaging for use in practical applications. The high peak power and high beam quality make this system an ideal pump source for nonlinear frequency conversion, and we demonstrated efficient harmonic generation and optical parametric generation of wavelengths from 213 nm to 4.4 mum with Watt-level output powers.

Continuous tuning of a microlaser-pumped optical parametric generator by use of a cylindrical periodically poled lithium niobate crystal.

An optical parametric generator with a cylindrical periodically poled LiNbO3 crystal and a Nd:YAG commercial microchip pump laser yields continuous tuning of the emitted wavelengths over a broad spectral range (1.42-1.7 microm and 2.8-4.2 microm), with large efficiency, a high repetition rate, and low divergence, in a compact and stable device.