Surface waves in photorefractive polymer films.

We observed the temporal development of surface waves and investigated their power propagation loss in typical photorefractive polymer films sandwiched between ITO glass substrates. We found that amplified scattered waves generated in a pumped region started to develop into surface waves from a point where they reached the substrate through the self-bending effect. The surface waves propagated over a distance of 1.7 mm, thereby confining the power to a region at a distance of 30 microns from the substrate. Considerable propagation power loss of the surface waves was observed at a low pumping power of the beam; however, the power loss decreased considerably when the beam had high power.

Phase-perturbation-free measurement of electro-optic effect based on Mach-Zehnder interferometer.

A novel method of evaluating the electro-optic (EO) effect is proposed based on a Mach-Zehnder interferometer, where the interference fringes are perturbed by air turbulence and/or other mechanical vibrations of an optical bench. The method enables the practical and industrial measurement of the EO coefficient in any environment. It also provides the continuous or repetitive measurement, leading to evaluation of temporal change of an EO coefficient or orientation relaxation of an EO-chromophore containing polymer poled by an electric field.

Polymeric saturable-absorber mirror for passive Q-switching of a laser-diode-pumped Nd3+:YVO4 microchip laser.

A polymeric multilayered mirror doped with a saturable dye worked as a passive Q-switch of a laser-diode-pumped Nd(3+):YVO4 microchip laser. The multilayered mirror consisted of alternately spin-coated layers of polyvinylcarbazole (PVK) and cellulose acetate on a glass substrate. A dye of bis-(dimethylaminodithiobenzil)-nickel was doped in one of the layers of PVK, providing the repetitively Q-switched pulses. The pulse width and repetition rate were 4 ns and 68 kHz, respectively, for a laser-cavity length of 5 mm, and the average and the peak power were 40 mW and 156 W, respectively, for the highest pump power of 435 mW. The dependence of the Q-switched characteristics on the pump power and on the concentration of the doped dye is described.

Design, fabrication, and evaluation of crystal-cored fibers for efficient second-harmonic generation based on Cerenkov-radiation-type phase matching.

A formulation for calculating the optical second-harmonic power based on the Cerenkov-radiation-type phase matching is derived for a crystal-cored fiber. The prerequisite condition for high efficiency is expressed by a simple relation by use of the refractive indices of a core crystal, a core radius, and a fundamental wavelength. An organic crystal-cored fiber is designed and practically fabricated by the guiding principle derived here. A blue second-harmonic wave of 1.4 mW is obtained from a 1-mm-long fiber by use of a 60-mW semiconductor laser, and the second-harmonic intensity agrees well with the prediction. Degradation of the organic core crystal caused by the generated blue wave is observed, and the lifetime of the device is evaluated.