No abstract

Laser gain materials possessing high thermal conductivity and robust mechanical properties are key prerequisites for high power lasers. We show that diamond, when configured as a Raman laser, enables access to these and other extreme properties, providing an important new route to high power and high brightness beam generation. Recent achievements in pulsed and continuous wave oscillators, beam combining amplifiers, and single longitudinal mode oscillators are summarized, along with wavelength extension of these concepts through adaption to other pumps, use of Raman cascading, and intracavity harmonic generation. To date, diamond laser powers have attained 750 W with efficiency and beam quality so far unperturbed by nonlinear or thermally induced side-effects. Large factor brightness enhancement of low coherence inputs is demonstrated using multiple pump beams (via Raman beam combination) or highly multimode pumps for oscillator and amplifier configurations. Future directions for direct diode pumping, and for realizing extraordinary power and power density through reduced temperature operation and isotopically enriched diamond, are also discussed. Our results indicate that diamond is emerging as a generic high-power laser technology with advantages in terms of brightness (high average power and high beam quality) and wavelength range.

Laser guide stars based on the mesospheric sodium layer are becoming increasingly important for applications that require correction of atmospheric scintillation effects. Despite several laser approaches being investigated to date, there remains great interest in developing lasers with the necessary power and spectral characteristics needed for brighter single or multiple guide stars. Here we propose and demonstrate a novel, to the best of our knowledge, approach based on a diamond Raman laser with intracavity Type I second-harmonic generation pumped using a 1018.4 nm fiber laser. A first demonstration with output power of 22 W at 589 nm was obtained at 18.6% efficiency from the laser diode. The laser operates in a single longitudinal mode (SLM) with a measured linewidth of less than 8.5 MHz. The SLM operation is a result of the strong mode competition arising from the combination of a spatial-hole-burning-free gain mechanism in the diamond and the role of sum frequency mixing in the harmonic crystal. Continuous tuning through the Na D line resonance is achieved by cavity length control, and broader tuning is obtained via the tuning of the pump wavelength. We show that the concept is well suited to achieve much higher power and for temporal formats of interest for advanced concepts such as time-gating and Larmor frequency enhancement.

Brillouin lasers providing extremely narrow-linewidth are emerging as a powerful tool for microwave photonics, coherent communications, quantum processors, and spectroscopy. So far, laser performance and applications have been investigated for a handful of select materials and using guided-wave structures such as micro-resonators, optical fibers, and chip-based waveguides. Here, we report a Brillouin laser based on free-space laser action in an extreme optical material. Continuous-wave lasing 167 GHz from a 532 nm pump is demonstrated in diamond using a doubly resonant ring cavity, generating a pump-limited output power of 11 W. The Brillouin gain coefficient is measured to be 79 cm GW−1 with a linewidth of 12 MHz. These properties, along with an exceptionally high Brillouin frequency and wide transmission range, make diamond Brillouin lasers a promising high-power source of narrow-linewidth output and mm-wave beat notes.

A surface plasmon resonance sensor based on doublesided polished microstructured optical fiber with hollow core is put forward for refractive index sensing. Two gold films parallel to each other attached to the polished surface act as microfluidic sensing channels for the analyte. The artificially introduced air hole can facilitate the phase matching between the core mode and the plasmon mode. The sensitivities of the proposed sensor are investigated by the wavelength, amplitude and phase interrogation methods when the analyte refractive index increases from 1.33 to 1.34. In contrast to the D-shaped design, the double-sided polished structure demonstrates narrower resonance spectral width and greater phase sensitivity. Moreover, the numerical results indicate that the proposed sensor shows a good stability in the fabrication tolerances of ±5% of the thickness of gold film and the depth of polishing, respectively. Index Terms-Fiber optics sensors, surface plasmon resonance, microstructured optical fiber, refractive index sensors. I. INTRODUCTION S URFACE plasmon resonance (SPR) is the excitation of the surface plasmon coupled with the oscillations of free electron density between the metal and dielectric [1]-[5].

A surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor based on a dual-side polished microstructured optical fiber (MOF) with a dual core is proposed for a large analyte refractive index (RI; na) detection range. Gold is used as a plasmonic material coated on the polished surface, and analytes can be directly contacted with the gold film. The special structure not only facilitates the fabrication of the sensor, but also can work in the na range of 1.42–1.46 when the background material RI is 1.45, which is beyond the reach of other traditional MOF-SPR sensors. The sensing performance of the sensor was investigated by the wavelength and amplitude interrogation methods. The detailed numerical results showed that the proposed sensor can work effectively in the na range of 1.35–1.47 and exhibits higher sensitivity in the na range of 1.42–1.43.

High average power lasers with high beam quality are critical for emerging applications in industry and research for defense, materials processing, and space applications. However, overcoming thermal effects in the gain medium remains the key challenge for increasing laser brightness at high powers. Here we report a means for increasing the beam brightness of high-power continuous-wave (CW) beams based on external cavity Raman lasers using diamond, a material with thermal properties far superior to any other laser material. With pump beam quality in the range M=2.3-7.3, efficient pump-limited conversion to an M=1.1 Stokes beam is achieved in all cases, with increases in brightness from the pump by factors as high as 12.7. The influence of pump beam quality on laser threshold and slope efficiency is analyzed. This Letter foreshadows an alternative approach for scaling the brightness of CW lasers using high-power, moderate beam quality pumps up to M=20 or more, such as thin-disk and slab lasers and fiber lasers operating in a mode instability regime.

No abstract