Yb-doped glass microcavity laser operation in water

A ytterbium-doped silica microcavity laser demonstrates stable laser emission while completely submerged in water. To our knowledge, it is the first solid-state laser whose cavity mode interacts with water. The device generates more than 2 μW of output power. The laser performance is presented, and low-concentration biosensing is discussed as a potential application

Wavelength-independent coupler from fiber to an on-chip cavity, demonstrated over an 850nm span

A robust wide band (850 nm) fiber coupler to a whispering-gallery cavity with ultra-high quality factor is experimentally demonstrated. The device trades off ideality for broad-band, efficient input coupling. Output coupling efficiency can remain high enough for practical applications wherein pumping and power extraction must occur over very broad wavelength spans

On-Chip, Ultra-Low Threshold Yb Silica Laser

A novel Yb:SiO_2 fiber-coupled laser on a silicon chip was fabricated using a solution-gel process. We report a record-low pump threshold of 2 μW, and discuss the practical advantages of Yb microlasers

Wavelength-independent bent-fiber coupler to an ultra-high Q cavity demonstrated over 850 nm span

A bent tapered-fiber coupler is experimentally demonstrated to allow wavelength independent fiber-to-cavity coupling over an 850nm span; opening current technology of ultra-high Q cavities for applications spanning the UV to the IR band

2-kW Average Power CW Phase-Conjugate Solid-State Laser

We have demonstrated stable operation of a 2-kW Yb:YAG phase-conjugate master oscillator power amplifier (PC-MOPA) laser system with a loop phase-conjugate mirror (LPCM). This is the first demonstration of a continuous wave (CW)-input LPCM MOPA operating at a power greater than 1 kW with a nearly diffraction-limited output beam. The single-pass beam quality incident on the LPCM varied with the specific operating conditions, but it was typically ${sim}20$ times diffraction-limited (XDL). The measured beam quality with an MOPA output power of 1.65 kW was 1.3 XDL

Retrotransposons Are the Major Contributors to the Expansion of the \u3ci\u3eDrosophila ananassae\u3c/i\u3e Muller F Element

The discordance between genome size and the complexity of eukaryotes can partly be attributed to differences in repeat density. The Muller F element (∼5.2 Mb) is the smallest chromosome in Drosophila melanogaster, but it is substantially larger (\u3e18.7 Mb) in D. ananassae. To identify the major contributors to the expansion of the F element and to assess their impact, we improved the genome sequence and annotated the genes in a 1.4-Mb region of the D. ananassae F element, and a 1.7-Mb region from the D element for comparison. We find that transposons (particularly LTR and LINE retrotransposons) are major contributors to this expansion (78.6%), while Wolbachia sequences integrated into the D. ananassae genome are minor contributors (0.02%). Both D. melanogaster and D. ananassae F-element genes exhibit distinct characteristics compared to D-element genes (e.g., larger coding spans, larger introns, more coding exons, and lower codon bias), but these differences are exaggerated in D. ananassae. Compared to D. melanogaster, the codon bias observed in D. ananassae F-element genes can primarily be attributed to mutational biases instead of selection. The 5′ ends of F-element genes in both species are enriched in dimethylation of lysine 4 on histone 3 (H3K4me2), while the coding spans are enriched in H3K9me2. Despite differences in repeat density and gene characteristics, D. ananassae F-element genes show a similar range of expression levels compared to genes in euchromatic domains. This study improves our understanding of how transposons can affect genome size and how genes can function within highly repetitive domains

Photonic Whispering-Gallery Resonators in New Environments

Optical whispering-gallery devices, like the microtoroid or microdisk, confine light at resonant frequencies and in ultra-small volumes for long periods of time. Such ultra-low loss resonators have been applied in diverse areas of scientific research, including low-threshold lasers on-chip, biological sensing, and quantum computing. In this thesis, novel ultra-low loss microstructures are studied for their unique characteristics and utility. The author investigates the interaction between microcavities and various environments in order to quantify the results and lay the foundation for future applications. The first optical cavity studied is the microtoroid, which possesses ultra-high quality factor (Q) on account of its nearly atomic smooth surface, produced by surface-tension induced laser reflow. Ytterbium-doped silica microtoroids are fabricated by a sol-gel technique. The ytterbium microtoroid laser achieves record-low laser threshold (2 µW) in air, and produces the first laser output for a solid-state laser in water. This laser in water can be developed as an ultra-sensitive biological sensor, with potentially record sensitivity enabled by gain-narrowed linewidth. Also, a novel CO2 laser reflow and microtoroid testing vacuum system is demonstrated. Fabrication and testing of microtoroids is performed in a vacuum chamber to study the effect of atmospheric water and upper limit of Q in microtoroids. The selective reflow of microtoroids presents difficulties for integration of on-chip optical waveguides. As an alternative, dimension-preserving low-loss optical structures are researched for their unique applications. A gold-coated silica microdisk is fabricated, and demonstrates record and nearly-ideal quality factor (1,376) as a surface-plasmon polariton resonator. The hybrid optical-plasmonic mode structure is studied in simulation and experiment. The plasmonic resonator has ultra-low mode volume and high field confinement, making it suitable for short-range optical communication or sensing. Finally, a novel whispering-gallery optical delay line in a spiral geometry is designed and experimentally demonstrated. The center transition region of the spiral is optimized for low transmission loss by beam propagation simulation. A 1.4 m long spiral waveguide within a 1 cm^2 area is presented. The spiral waveguide structure is being developed as a real-time optical delay line with fiber-like loss, important for optical communication and signal processing.</p