Interplay of theory and computation in chemistryexamples from on-water organic catalysis, enzyme catalysis, and single-molecule fluctuations

Continuous-wave operation of a diamond Raman laser is demonstrated. Low-birefringence synthetic single-crystal diamond is used and is intracavity pumped by a Nd:YVO(4) laser. A cw output power of 200 mW is achieved at the Raman wavelength (1240 nm), and 1.6 W of on-time output power is obtained in quasi-cw mode. Losses in the diamond (approximately 1% per pass) and thermal effects in the Nd:YVO(4) limit the efficiency.

Spectral broadening of the fundamental field in intracavity Raman lasers is investigated. The mechanism for the spectral broadening is discussed and the effect is compared in two lasers using Raman crystals with different Raman linewidths. The impact of the spectral broadening on the effective Raman gain is analyzed, and the use of etalons to limit the fundamental spectral width is explored. It was found that an improvement in output power could be obtained by using etalons to limit the fundamental spectrum to a single narrow peak. 9810-9818 (2012). 20. J. J. Zayhowski, "The effects of spatial hole burning and energy diffusion on the single-mode operation of standing-wave lasers," IEEE J. Quantum Electron.

Low-birefringence ( n<2x10 6 ), low-loss (absorption coefficient <0.006cm1 at 1064nm), single-crystal, synthetic diamond has been exploited in a CW Raman laser. The diamond Raman laser was intracavity pumped within a Nd:YVO 4 laser. At the Raman laser wavelength of 1240nm, CW output powers of 1.6W and a slope efficiency with respect to the absorbed diode-laser pump power (at 808nm) of ~18% were measured. In quasi-CW operation, maximum on-time output powers of 2.8W (slope efficiency ~24%) were observed, resulting in an absorbed diode-laser pump power to the Raman laser output power conversion efficiency of 13%. References and links ©2011 Optical Society of America

Low birefringence synthetic single-crystal diamond was used as a Raman laser medium inside a Q-switched Nd:YVO(4) laser. A maximum average output power of 375 mW was achieved at a wavelength of 1240 nm and a repetition rate of 6.3 kHz. This equates to a conversion efficiency of 4% from the diode laser to the first Stokes component at 1240 nm. Optical losses within the diamond (approximately 1% per single pass) limited the performance and are currently the main barrier to the demonstration of an efficient CW diamond Raman laser.