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We report the comparative investigation of fabricating type-II waveguide lasers in Nd:Y3Al5O12 (Nd:YAG) using femtosecond laser pulses at 515 and 1030 nm. We focus on the comparison in track morphologies, modification thresholds, and the overall efficiency of the ultrafast laser inscription (ULI) process in creating these waveguides. For both wavelengths, we demonstrated low propagation losses of 0.2 dB/cm. We achieved the lowest reported lasing threshold of 9 mW in a Nd:YAG waveguide laser. Superior performance was achieved with the 1030-nm ULI source, yielding a slope efficiency over 40% and achieving a lasing threshold at half the value observed for the 515-nm source. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spontaneous photon bursts are observed in the output collected from a mesoscale semiconductor-based laser near the lasing threshold. Their appearance is compared to predictions obtained from Laser Rate Equations and from a Stochastic Laser Simulator. While the latter is capable of predicting the observed large photon bursts, the photon numbers computed by the former produces a noisy trace well below the experimentally detectable limit. We explain the discrepancy between the two approaches on the basis of an incorrect accounting of the onset of stimulated emission by the Rate Equations, which instead are capable of complementing the physical description through topological considerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Random laser actions in a disordered media based on polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) polymer doped with Rh6G dye and Au nanoparticles have been demonstrated. It was observed that the shape of Au nanoparticles can tune the spectral central position of the random laser action. It was also seen that the shape of Au nanoparticles strongly affects the pump threshold. Comparing nanosphere- and nanorod-based systems, the nanorod-based one exhibited a lower threshold. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is known (yet often ignored) from quantum mechanical or energetic considerations, that the threshold gain of the quasi-static spaser depends only on the dielectric functions of the metal and the gain material. Here, we derive this result from the purely classical electromagnetic scattering framework. This is of great importance, because electrodynamic modelling is far simpler than quantum mechanical one. The influence of the material dispersion and spaser geometry are clearly separated; the latter influences the threshold gain only indirectly, defining the resonant wavelength. We show that the threshold gain has a minimum as a function of wavelength. A variation of nanoparticle shape, composition, or spasing mode may shift the plasmonic resonance to this optimal wavelength, but it cannot overcome the material-imposed minimal gain. Furthermore, retardation is included straightforwardly into our framework; and the global spectral gain minimum persists beyond the quasi-static limit. We illustrate this with two examples of widely used geometries: Silver spheroids and spherical shells embedded in and filled with gain materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A detailed study is presented on the lasing properties of an erbium-doped photonic crystal fiber (PCF) laser. The effects of the host PCF’s structure and laser parameters on continuous-wave laser emission are analyzed by considering the confinement and overlap of pump and signal fields in the gain medium for varying values of pitch, hole diameter, and doping radius. For analysis, we used a finite-difference mode-calculation algorithm devised with standard population and propagation rate-equation solver. Our analysis, applied to an experimentally realized PCF laser, reproduces the observed/reported data, thereby showing the efficacy of our analysis. Finally, a fiber geometry to realize a laser with threshold as low as 6 mW using a short fiber length of 0.52 m is prescribed. The aim of the design is to greatly reduce splice loss with standard single-mode SM28/G.652 fiber while maintaining the optimum performance. These results are new in PCF laser research and should be useful in realizing high performance PCF-based laser devices. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The high energy loss of heavy ions in matter as well as the small angular scattering makes heavy ion beams an excellent tool to produce almost cylindrical and homogeneously excited volumes in matter. This aspect can be used to pump short wavelength lasers. For the first time, a beam of heavy ions was used to pump a short wavelength gas laser in an experiment performed at the GSI ion accelerator facility in December 2005. In this experiment, thewell-known KrF* excimer laser was pumped with an intense uranium beam. Pulses of an uranium beam compressed down to 110 ns (full width at half maximum) with initial particle energy of 250 MeV per nucleon were stopped inside a gas laser cell. A mixture of an excimer laser premix gas (95.5%Kr + 0.5%F2) and a buffer gas (Ar) in different proportions was used as the laser gas. The maximum beam intensity reached in the experiment was 2.5 × 109 particles per pulse, which resulted in 34 J/g specific energy deposited in the laser gas. The laser effect on the transition at λ 248 nm has been successfully demonstrated by various independent methods. There, the laser threshold was reached with a beam intensity of 1.2 × 109 particles per pulse, and the energy of the laser pulse of about 2 mJ was measured for an ion beam intensity of 2 × 109 particles per pulse. As a next step, it is planned to reduce the laser wavelength down to the vacuum ultraviolet spectral region, and to proceed to the excimer lasers of the pure rare gases. The perspectives for such experiments are discussed and the detailed estimations for Xe and Kr cases are given. We believe that the use of heavy ion beams as a pumping source may lead to new pumping schemes on the higher lying level transitions and considerably shorter wavelengths, which rely on the high cross sections for multiple ionization of the target species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study of the threshold characteristics of quantum-dot (QD) laser diodes shows how inhomogeneous broadening and p-doping influence the QD laser's temperature dependence of threshold To. The analysis includes the additional parameters of homogeneous broadening, quantum state populations, and threshold gain. The results show that while the source of negative T0 can occur due to different effects, the transparency current plays a critical role in both undoped and p-doped QD lasers. Experimental trends of negative To and their dependence on p-doping are replicated in the calculated results. Inhomogeneous broadening is found to play a lesser role to the transparency current in setting T0. Homogeneous broadening is most important for uniform QDs with thermally isolated ground-state transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study, both theoretically and experimentally, the threshold characteristics of a distributed feedback fiber laser that depend on the value of a phase shift introduced into the fiber Bragg grating structure. We show that as the phase shift possesses a noticeable birefringence, the laser oscillates at any phase shift value. We also reveal that the laser threshold is different for the cavity eigen polarizations and depends on the phase shift value. We derive a simple analytical formula to calculate the laser threshold in the case of π phase shift; this formula can be utilized to estimate a minimal threshold value for the laser with certain active fiber and Bragg grating parameters. The developed theory allows us to fairly model the experimentally measured dependence of the laser threshold on induced phase shift value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A high-power and widely tunable all-fiber Raman laser is demonstrated. The Raman fiber laser has been tuned over a range of 60 nm from 1075 to 1135 nm and delivers up to 5.0 W of Stokes output power for 6.5 W of launched pump power. Efficiencies ranging from 76.1 to 93.1% and laser thresholds from 0.78 to 2.59 W have been measured. The spectrum of the depolarized Raman gain coefficient of the germanosilicate fiber has also been inferred from our experimental measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We investigate the impact of induced absorption caused by injected charge carriers and excited states on the threshold current density of an organic laser diode using numerical simulations. The electrical properties of the device are described by a self consistent drift-diffusion model. The optical properties are calculated using a transfer matrix method. Nonradiative annihilation processes are included employing typical rate constants. In our approach, a three-layer double-heterostructure (DII) with typical organic material properties is studied, which exhibits a threshold current density of 564 A/cm2 - For this virtual device, upper limits for the charge carrier and triplet-triplet absorption cross section σcarrier = 1.53 x 10-3 · σSE and σT1TN = 4.34 x 10-3 · σSE have been calculated as a function of the stimulated emission cross section σSE. Additionally, the role of device geometry, and material properties concerning induced absorptions is studied. It is shown that the impact of absorption processes is not strongly influenced by the device geometry. By increasing the charge carrier mobilities to μ = 2 cm2/V · s in the transport layers and μ = 0.2 cm2/V · s in the emission layer, the impact of polaron absorption can be greatly reduced. In this case, laser operation might still be possible if σcarrier and σSE are within the same order of magnitude. Decreasing the triplet lifetime TT1 is a promising way to reduce the impact of triplet-triplet absorption. For σT1TN and σSE being within the same order of magnitude, the triplet lifetime TT1 has to be reduced to 1 ns for laser operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optical properties and structure of antireflective coatings (AR) deposited from hydrolysed TEOS sol have been characterized in detail. The influence of various parameters on the formation of colloidal silica antireflective coatings by the dip-coating technique has been investigated. For the characterization of colloidal silica films, the UV-visible spectroscopy, laser ellipsometry, and atomic force microscopy were used. Using optimal sol-gel processing conditions (dipping rate -- 40 mm/min, coating time -- 20 s, and temperature -- 20 °C), the colloidal silica coatings were obtained and characterized in comparison with non-coated glass substrate. The reflectance of AR coatings increased with increasing the temperature of sol-gel processing. The laser damage threshold of as deposited films was measured at 1064 nm (1H) and 33.5 nm (3H) wavelength using a Nd:YAG lasers. The laser damage threshold of AR coating exceeded 15.22 J/cm² at 1064 nm and 26.82 J/cm² at 355nm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a model describing self-mode locking (SML) and sustained self-pulsing (SSP) in a unidirectional ring-fiber laser using only the interaction between the saturated population inversion and the optical signal circulating in the laser cavity. Gain saturation alone is used to explain SML behavior close to laser threshold and the sharp transition to an SSP regime. The model also describes self-pulsing inhibition to the profit of SML for a sufficiently high pump power. Experimental results agree with most model predictions, but the overestimation of the self-pulsing threshold suggests that the phenomenon is furthered by an effect other than gain saturation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, bidirectional (mutual) injection locking is demonstrated with solid-state lasers, producing significant improvements over traditional single-direction injection locking. Each laser element shares part of its output with other elements in bidirectional locking, distinct from single-direction (traditional) injection locking where one master laser provides the locking signal for a number of slaves. In a phase-locked array, the individual laser outputs add coherently, and the brightness of the entire array scales with the square of the number of elements, as if the active material diameter were increasing. Benefits of bidirectional locking, when compared to traditional injection locking, include reduced laser threshold, better output beam quality, and improved scaling capability. Experiments using two Nd:YVO4 lasers confirmed that mutual injection locking reduced lasing threshold by a factor of at least two and increased the output beam quality significantly. The injection-locking effects began with 0.03% coupling between lasers and full-phase locking for coupling exceeding 0.5%. The 0.5% requirement for full-phase locking is significantly lower than the requirement for traditional injection locking. The large coupling requirement limits traditional injection-locked arrays to fewer than 20 elements, whereas mutually injection-locked arrays have no such limit. Mutual injection locking of an array of lasers can lead to a new architecture for high-power laser systems. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, a model to calculate the modal gain in organic optical amplifiers and the laser threshold power density in organic laser diode structures is presented. We consider a single-layer design to investigate the dependence of the modal gain and threshold power density on electron and hole mobility, injection barriers, the thickness of the active layer, as well as exciton dissociation at the injecting contacts. A figure of merit is introduced to quantify the influence of absorption by polarons in optical amplifiers. We show that equal charge carrier mobilities are of crucial importance to achieve appreciable gain on the order of 1/cm at a power density of P = 50 kW/cm² for the considered poly[2-methoxy, 5-(2'-ethyl-hexyloxy)-1,4-phenylene vinylene] (MEH-PPV)-like model material. Increasing the injection barriers to φb ≈ 0.3 eV decreases the gain marginally but is beneficial in terms of polaron absorption. Regarding modal gain, there is an optimum thickness for the active layer of d ≈ 200 nm, if different devices are compared on the basis of equal power density. We derive power laws for the dependence of modal gain on mobility and power density, which can serve as guidelines for future device design considerations. We determine the maximum allowed polaron absorption cross section δabs relative to the cross section δstim for stimulated emission that may not be exceeded to achieve positive net gain necessary for optical amplification. For the most favorable parameters, δabs has to be at least 20 times smaller than δstim. The dependence of the laser threshold power density on all of the above-mentioned parameters is investigated. We show that, in the optimum case considered, the power density necessary for lasing is 40 times higher than the highest value reported in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The molecule N,N′-bis(3-methylphenyl)-N,N′-dyphenylbenzidine (TPD) has been widely used in optoelectronic applications, mainly for its hole-transporting properties, but also for its capability to emit blue light and amplified spontaneous emission, which is important for the development of organic lasers. Here, we report deep-blue-emitting distributed feedback (DFB) lasers based on TPD dispersed in polystyrene (PS), as active media, and dichromated gelatin layers with holographically engraved relief gratings, as laser resonators. The effect of the device architecture (with the resonator located below or on top of the active layer) is investigated with a dye (TPD) that can be doped into PS at higher rates (up to 60 wt%), than with previously used dyes (<5 wt%). This has enabled changing the index contrast between film and resonator, which has an important effect on the laser performance. With regards to thresholds, both architectures behave similarly for TPD concentrations above 20 wt%, while for lower concentrations, top-layer resonator devices show lower values (around half). Remarkably, the operational durability of top-layer resonator devices is larger (in a factor of around 2), independently of the TPD concentration. This is a consequence of the protection offered by the resonator against dye photo-oxidation when the device is illuminated with pulsed UV light. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an analog/digital hybrid subcarrier multiplexed (SCM) transmission, carriers have generally been substituted for transmission signals such as AM vestigal sideband (AM-VSB) AM signals and M-QAM signals to evaluate transmission quality. In practical hybrid SCM, however, carriers are modulated by video signals or digital data, and the amplitude of a multiplexed signal composed of these modulation signals is more compressed than that of the carriers. This causes a decrease in the frequency of clipping of the multiplexed signal at the laser threshold. Consequently, the BER of the M-QAM signal in a practical hybrid SCM is lower than that of the experimental results for the same optical modulation index (OMI). However, it is difficult to prepare many practical modulation signals for experiments in a laboratory. Therefore, there is demand for a bit error rate (BER) analysis method for a multiplexed signal that includes the modulation signals needed to sufficiently evaluate the BER and determine the optimum OMI in a practical hybrid SCM. In this paper, we describe such a BER analysis method that can effectively estimate the BER in a practical hybrid SCM. In practical systems, the BER was greatly improved over the BER of a multiplexed signal of carriers. Furthermore, BER degradations due to clipping can be neglected for the AM signals in setting a practical OMI range. We used this analysis method to study the effective OMI range of AM and M-QAM signals. By assuming modulation signals, the OMI range is enlarged and, significantly, the OMI of an AM signal becomes suitable for setting practical values in AM-SCM transmission. This OMI range is more practical than those of former studies [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Superlattice quantum cascade (QC) lasers based on optical transitions between conduction minibands are unipolar semiconductor lasers with high-current-carrying capability and attendant high optical power due to miniband transport in the active and in the injector regions. Other advantages include the intrinsic population inversion associated with the large interminiband-to-intraminiband relaxation time ratio and the high oscillator strength of the laser transition at the superlattice Brillouin zone boundary. This oscillator strength is significantly larger than that of intersubband transitions in double-quantum-well active regions of conventional cascade lasers, particularly at long infrared wavelengths (10 μm). Following a brief review of results on conventional QC lasers, design considerations for superlattice cascade lasers are discussed, along with recent advances in long-wavelength (11 μm) structures with doped active regions. Dopants broaden the gain spectrum and increase the laser threshold. Two laser designs that avoid doping of the active regions without causing electric-field-induced localization of the superlattice states are then presented, along with experimental results. In the first one, modulation doping creates a space-charge electric field that compensates the voltage drop across the undoped superlattice active regions. In the second scheme, the latter are designed with quantum wells of varying thickness (chirped superlattice), so that under application of the external field, the localized quantum well states overlap, forming minibands. Both schemes lend to considerably lower threshold current densities than devices with doped active regions, as well as to much higher peak optical power and to room-temperature operation. A record peak power of 500 mW at λ=7.6 μm at room temperature is obtained with the chirped design. The latter also leads to the longest operating wavelength of any other QC laser (17 μm). The last section of the paper describes superlattice cascade lasers operating simultaneously at two or more widely different wavelengths [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Amplified Spontaneous Emission is ubiquitous in systems with optical gain and is responsible for many opportunities and shortcomings. Its role in the progression from the simplest form of thermal radiation (single emitter spontaneous emission) all the way to coherent radiation from inverted systems is still an open question. We critically review observations of photon bursts in micro- and nanolasers, in the perspective of currently used measurement techniques, in relation to threshold-related questions for small devices. Corresponding stochastic predictions are analyzed, and contrasted with burst absence in differential models, in light of general phase space properties. A brief discussion on perspectives is offered in the conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antiresonant reflecting optical waveguide (ARROW-type) vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers are designed for high-power single-mode operation. A detailed full-vector finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) study shows strong modal discrimination in favor of the fundamental mode for large aperture (>6 μm), large index-step (Δn>0.025) simplified ARROW-type devices. The FDTD model identifies the polarization-dependent radiation losses of the higher order modes, which prevent them from reaching laser threshold [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A new method for measuring the linewidth enhancement factor is presented. This idea is based on the relation between the upper and lower bounds of the locked and unlocked regimes when the detuning of the pump and slave laser is plotted as a function of the injection power. Our results are confirmed with an independent measurement using amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) spectroscopy as well as our theory, which takes account of the realistic quantum-well (QW) band structure and many-body effects. This method provides a new approach to measure the linewidth enhancement factor above laser threshold [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

1.3-μm InGaAsN:Sb-GaAs single-quantum-well laser diodes have been grown by a solid source molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) using Sb as a surfactant. A record low threshold of 1.02 kA/cm2 and a slope efficiency of 0.12 W/A are obtained for broad-area laser diodes under pulsed operation at room temperature. A characteristic temperature of 64 K and a lasing wavelength temperature dependence of 0.38 nm/°C are reported [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this study, high-order distributed-feedback (DFB) polymer lasers were comparatively investigated. Their performance relies on multiple lasing directions and their advantages include their high manufacturing tolerances due to the large grating periods. Nine laser cavities were fabricated by spin-coating the gain polymer films onto a grating structure, which was manufactured via interference lithography that operated at the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th DFB orders. Low threshold lasing and high slope efficiency were achieved in high-order DFB polymer lasers due to the large grating groove depth and the large gain layer thickness. A high-order DFB configuration shows possible advantages, including the ability to control the lasing direction and to achieve multiple-wavelength lasers. Furthermore, our investigation demonstrates that the increase in threshold and decrease in slope efficiency with an increase in the feedback order can be limited by controlling the structural parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]