Passive coherent beam combining of quantum-cascade lasers with a Dammann grating.

An external cavity using a binary phase grating has been developed to achieve coherent combining of five quantum-cascade lasers emitting at 4.65 µm. The grating phase profile is designed to combine five beams of equal intensities into a single beam with a good efficiency (~75%). The performances of this cavity concerning output power, stability, combining efficiency and beam quality are detailed. We report a CW combining efficiency of 66% corresponding to an output power of ~0.5 W with a good beam quality (M(2)<1.6).

Spatial mode control of a diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser by an intracavity liquid-crystal light valve.

We present a new beam-shaping technique with an intracavity optically addressed liquid-crystal spatial light modulator. The Nd:YAG resonator is able to deliver beams with various spatial profiles such as flat-topped super-Gaussian and square-shaped beams.

Optical data storage in microfibers.

Tests of optical data storage in arrays of microfibers confirm its applicability and potential for higher storage densities than those achievable with conventional holographic data storage. Arrays of single-mode microfibers, spaced 0.78 microm apart and 60 microm long, were generated in a photopolymer film with four laser beams and simultaneously inscribed with Lippmann-Bragg fringes by use of a counterpropagating beam. Following the curing steps, spectra of white light retroreflected from a single fiber exhibit the reconstructed spectral lines of the multiwavelength laser used in the recording step; 10(11) bits/cm(2), or 10(13) bits on a compact disk, appear to be recordable.

Nearly diffraction-limited laser focal spot obtained by use of an optically addressed light valve in an adaptive-optics loop.

We demonstrate correction of laser wave-front distortions by use of an adaptive-optical technique based on a light valve. The setup consists of an achromatic and adjustable-sensitivity wave-front sensor and a wave-front corrector relying on an optically addressed liquid-crystal spatial light modulator. Experimental results with strongly aberrated beams focused close to the diffraction limit are presented for the cw regime. Additional experiments with pulses and measurement of damage thresholds show that this approach is relevant for spatial phase correction of ultraintense laser pulses.

Phase volume holographic optical components for high-brightness single-LCD projectors.

Projection systems based on liquid-crystal displays (LCD's) offer new opportunities to display high-definition and large-size TV images. There are two types of LCD projector architectures: the 3-LCD architecture uses one LCD for each primary color, red, green, and blue, whereas a single-LCD configuration employs only one LCD paved with color filters. The single-LCD projector is simple and compact but suffers from a poor luminous efficiency because of losses in the color filters: each filter transmits only ~1/3 of the flux emitted by the lamp. To increase this optical efficiency, we propose to introduce volume holographic elements in the architecture of a single-LCD projector. Innovative systems are presented in which volume holographic elements realize the spatiochromatic illumination of the LCD. This illumination consists of selectively directing all the light that corresponds to a primary color, red, green, or blue, in the pixel addressed with the corresponding video composite signal and exploits the spectral selectivity and dispersion properties of volume holographic gratings and lenses. The two main advantages of such illumination are the suppression of the color filters and the recovery of the light lost in a classical architecture by absorption of the color filters. A complete luminous efficiency analysis of spatiochromatic illumination with volume holographic elements is presented. The achieved performances are compared with classical single-LCD projectors.

Signal-beam amplification by two-wave mixing in a liquid-crystal light valve.

A new two-wave-mixing interaction with gain through a Bi(12)SiO(20) liquid-crystal light valve is presented. We show that the diffraction of a pump beam in the direction of a weak signal leads to a net amplification of the signal beam, with no need for a phase shift between the interference pattern and the induced index grating. A two-wave-mixing gain of 10 and a 150-ms response time are obtained with a 8.8-microm -thick liquid-crystal layer, a total intensity of the interacting beams of only 200 muW/cm(2), and an ac external voltage of +/-6 V . Image amplification is also demonstrated.

Characterization of perpendicular chirped phase volume grating pairs for laser pulse stretching.

We report the characterization of a new pulse stretcher that provides a linear and positive variation of the group delay as a function of the optical frequency. It consists of a perpendicular chirped-grating pair introduced by Tournois [Opt. Commun. 106, 253 (1994)] that allows 20-fs pulses to be stretched to 100 ps. The system is tested by short-pulse spectral interferometry. We designed and realized the chirped gratings by phase volume holographic recording in a highly efficient photopolymer.