A high-accuracy optical distance meter with a mode-locked femtosecond laser is proposed for distance measurements in a 310-m-long optical tunnel. We measured the phase shift of the optical beat component between longitudinal modes of a mode-locked laser. A high resolution of 50 microm at 240-m distance was obtained without cyclic error correction. The group refractive index of air is automatically extracted to an accuracy of 6 parts per million (ppm) by two-color measurement with the pulses of fundamental and second-harmonic wavelengths. Finally, an absolute mechanical distance of 240 m was obtained to within 8-ppm accuracy by use of a series of beat frequencies with the advantage of a wide range of intermode frequency, together with the results of the two-color measurement.

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We present a new fabrication method, called ‘‘vertical spin coating,’’ to prepare highly oriented J aggregates dispersed in polymer films. Linear dichroic spectra of the oriented J aggregate of 1,1′-diethyl-2,2′-quinocyanine bromide PIC-Br were measured at 5 K. The dichroic ratio at the peak of J band was 5 to 10, dependent on the preparation conditions. Precise measurement of the dichroism at the J band revealed that the J band is composed of two bands with transition dipole moments perpendicular to each other. The films are stable even at room temperature, and have applications as nonlinear optical devices.

Single-mode X couplers and three-dimensional waveguides are fabricated in transparent glasses by use of an unamplified femtosecond laser generating energies of up to 100 nJ. Changing fabrication parameters such as power and scanning speed permits creation of waveguides with a wide range of structures and refractive-index difference. Optical coherence tomography shows large refractive-index changes of up to ~10(-2) in the waveguides; these changes are consistent with guided mode analysis.

We demonstrate that fiber-based frequency combs with multi-branch configurations can transfer both linewidth and frequency stability to another wavelength at the millihertz level. An intra-cavity electro-optic modulator is employed to obtain a broad servo bandwidth for repetition rate control. We investigate the relative linewidths between two combs using a stable continuous-wave laser as a common reference to stabilize the repetition rate frequencies in both combs. The achieved energy concentration to the carrier of the out-of-loop beat between the two combs was 99% and 30% at a bandwidth of 1 kHz and 7.6 mHz, respectively. The frequency instability of the comb was 3.7x10(-16) for a 1 s averaging time, improving to 5-8x10(-19) for 10000 s. We show that the frequency noise in the out-of-loop beat originates mainly from phase noise in branched optical fibers.

We demonstrate passive mode locking of solid-state lasers by saturable absorbers based on carbon nanotubes (CNT). These novel absorbers are fabricated by spin-coating a polymer doped with CNTs onto commercial dielectric laser-mirrors. We obtain broadband artificial saturable absorber mirrors with ultrafast recovery times without the use of epitaxial growth techniques and the well-established spin-coating process allows the fabrication of devices based on a large variety of substrate materials. First results on passive mode locking of Nd:glass and Er/Yb:glass lasers are discussed. In the case of Er/Yb:glass we report the to our knowledge shortest pulse generated in a self-starting configuration based on Er/Yb:bulk-glass: 68 fs (45 fs Fourier-limit) at 1570 nm wavelength at a pulse-repetition rate of 85 MHz.

We have developed a fiber-based frequency comb system consisting of a simple mode-locked fiber laser and a backward pumping amplifier combined with a highly nonlinear fiber with a short zerodispersion wavelength. As a result, the signal to noise ratio of the obtained carrier-envelope-offset frequency beat is larger than 45 dB at a bandwidth of 100 kHz. Furthermore, we have succeeded in measuring the optical frequencies of a 1542-nm acetylene-stabilized laser and a 532-nm iodinestabilized Nd:YAG laser continuously for more than one week using the fiber-based comb system. The long-term measurement revealed that the frequency stability of the iodine-stabilized laser was 5.7 x 10(-15) with 100 000 s averaging.

Three-dimensional photonic waveguide devices are fabricated in glass by use of femtosecond pulses from an extended-cavity laser oscillator. Three-dimensional devices, including a symmetric three-waveguide directional coupler and a three-dimensional microring resonator, are fabricated and tested. Waveguides can be fabricated at depths of approximately 1 mm inside a glass substrate, thus demonstrating the capability of achieving dramatic increases in device density. These results demonstrate the potential to fabricate new classes of devices that are not possible in two dimensions.