Novel fabrication technique for planar glass waveguides

A novel technique has been developed for the deposition of low-loss planar glass waveguides by directly spin coating from the liquid, thus overcoming the problems of reproducing glass stoichiometry when depositing from the vapour

Towards an all-integrated MOPA configuration using Yb-doped ion-exchanged waveguides

In this paper, we present an ion-exchanged Yb-glass waveguide amplifier, seeded by an ion-exchanged Yb-glass waveguide laser demonstrating a gain as high as 10 dB. We also present multi-GHz, mode-locked ion-exchanged waveguide lasers and discuss the development of a fully integrated high-power, multi-GHz waveguide sourc

1.5W diode-pumped monolithic planar waveguide laser

We describe a compact and efficient Nd:YAG waveguide laser pumped by a diode-bar. An output of 1.5W is obtained for 6W incident power, with significant brightness enhancement

Towards high-power multi-GHz waveguide lasers

There has been a growing interest in the development of laser sources with high (>GHz) pulse repetition rates owing to their potential applications in areas such as nonlinear microscopy, optical sampling, frequency metrology, optical communications, optical arbitrary waveform generation and for the calibration of astronomical spectrographs (astro-combs). Ultrafast lasers based on low-loss waveguide geometry offer a combination of features (low-threshold operation, high efficiency and moderate non-linearities) which make them attractive for development of compact, low-cost, multi-GHz femtosecond sources

Nd-doped crystal waveguide lasers and amplifiers

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DXN016746 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Fundamentally mode-locked Yb³⁺ doped glass waveguide lasers with repetition rate of up to 15.2 GHz

Ultrafast lasers with multi-GHz repetition rates can have applications in areas such as biophotonics, optical frequency metrology, optical sampling, optical communications and as astro-combs. Ultrafast waveguide lasers with monolithically integrated saturable absorber elements are very promising candidates for multi-GHz operation, benefiting from a low-threshold mode-locked operation and high efficiency due to the small guided mode size and consequent strong saturation of both gain medium and saturable absorber. One of the most attractive features of such devices is their compactness and compatibility with integrated optics technology

Efficient, high repetition-rate femtosecond blue source using a compact Cr:LiSAF laser

We present a practical route to designing a portable femtosecond blue light source that is rugged, compact and battery-powered. An opticaloptical second-harmonic generation (SHG) efficiency of 30% is reported using a diode-pumped, femtosecond Cr:LiSAF laser requiring only ~1.2W of electrical drive. 12mW of blue average power is generated using a 3mm KNbO3 crystal in a simple, single-pass extracavity geometry. The corresponding electrical-blue efficiency of 1% is, to our knowledge, the highest reported efficiency of any femtosecond blue source. Despite conditions of large group velocity mismatch, we show that the temporally-broadened blue pulses remain well within the femtosecond regime, at ~540fs

Electrically-controlled rapid femtosecond pulse duration switching and continuous picosecond pulse duration tuning in an ultrafast Cr4+:forsterite laser

This work recieved funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council through EP/E064450/1 and EP/E06440X/1 grants.We demonstrate rapid switching between picosecond and femtosecond operational regimes in a Cr4+:forsterite laser, using an electrically-contacted GaInNAs SESAM with saturable absorption characteristics controlled via the quantum-confined Stark effect. Additionally, continuous picosecond pulse duration tuning by over a factor 3 is reported.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Efficient, high-repetition rate, blue source using a compact CR:LiSAF laser

Summary form only given. We report a compact, directly diode-pumped Cr:LiSAF laser as an alternative pump source. This laser has an electrical-to-optical efficiency in excess of 1% and produces transform-limited pulses of ∼150 fs in duration at ∼865 nm. The average power is 35 mW and the repetition rate is ∼250 MHz, which implies modest peak powers of less than 1 kW. At these low power levels, efficient frequency doubling usually requires complex arrangements, especially if the pulse duration is to be preserved. In this paper we describe the use of a relatively thick doubling crystal in a single-pass, extra-cavity arrangement. Although the second harmonic pulses suffer temporal broadening, this represents an effective way to achieve efficient frequency conversion in a simplified configuration. The nonlinear crystal was potassium niobate (KNbO3) cut for non-critical phase matching at 860 nm and 22°C

Towards high-power on-chip GHz frequency combs

In this paper we present on-chip mode-locked waveguide lasers fabricated in Yb-doped phosphate glass and Er, Yb doped phosphate glass. At 1 micron wavelength, pulse repetition rates of up to 15 GHz with pulses ~800 fs were demonstrated and at 1.5 micron, picosecond pulses with a repetition rate up to 7 GHz were demonstrated. Dispersion was controlled in the cavity by varying the spacing between the waveguide and the SESAM, while the repetition rate could be controlled by varying the optical power. The average power can also be scaled using an integrated optical amplifier and on-chip gain of up to 10 dB was demonstrated. All these individual components can be integrated in a single platform to achieve a high-power on-chip multi-GHz optical frequency comb. Furthermore, we discuss an application of such laser sources in high-capacity telecommunications applications