Numerical investigation of pulsed gas amplifiers operating in hollow-core optical fibers.

Optically pumped molecular gas amplifiers having a gain medium contained in a hollow-core optical fiber are investigated with numerical modeling to understand the primary physical processes that affect amplifier output and efficiency. A comparison of computational results with experimental measurements of incident pump, absorbed pump, and emitted mid-IR from a pulsed, acetylene-filled, hollow-core fiber amplifier [ Opt. Exp.25, 13351 (2017)] is used to explore the effects of various physical processes on pulsed amplifier operation. Single frequency, one-dimensional, time-dependent models are shown to align with experimentally measured lasing thresholds and ratios of absorbed pump to emitted laser energy but significantly over predict the amount of incident pump energy that is absorbed. A two-dimensional, time-dependent model that assumes Gaussian spectral and radial intensity profiles for the pump is developed and shows an improved ability to capture pump absorption. Results indicate that 1D, time-dependent models have utility in guiding experiments but the significant influence of the pump and laser propagation modes and the pump spectral characteristics on efficiency, threshold, and signal output must be explicitly included in high-fidelity high-power modeling.

Lens-Coupled CCD Detector for X-ray Crystallography.

An x-ray crystallography detector (Blue-1) has been built based upon a Fairchild 486 back-illuminated CCD and a custom lens system designed by Optics One Inc. The advantages of our Blue-1 lens system over more conventional fiber-optic tapers are: lower noise and higher efficiency; improved point spread function; negligible spatial distortion; and lack of "chicken-wire" patterns. Also, the engineering is simpler because the CCD is not bonded to the fiber-optic taper. A unique mechanical design has been employed to accurately focus the image on the CCD. The detector software is based on MATLAB and takes advantage of its powerful imaging and signal processing libraries. The CCD timing can be updated on the fly by using a "CCD controller language" to specify timing.