Metaoptics for Spectral and Spatial Beam Manipulation

Laser beam combining and beam shaping are two important areas with applications in optical communications, high power lasers, and atmospheric propagation studies. In this dissertation, metaoptical elements have been developed for spectral and spatial beam shaping, and multiplexing. Beams carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM), referred to as optical vortices, have unique propagation properties. Optical vortex beams carrying different topological charges are orthogonal to each other and have low inter-modal crosstalk which allows for them to be (de)multiplexed. Efficient spatial (de)multiplexing of these beams have been carried out by using diffractive optical geometrical coordinate transformation elements. The spatial beam combining technique shown here is advantageous because the efficiency of the system is not dependent on the number of OAM states being combined. The system is capable of generating coaxially propagating beams in the far-field and the beams generated can either be incoherently or coherently multiplexed with applications in power scaling and dynamic intensity profile manipulations. Spectral beam combining can also be achieved with the coordinate transformation elements. The different wavelengths emitted by fiber sources can be spatially overlapped in the far-field plane and the generated beams are Bessel-Gauss in nature with enhanced depth of focus properties. Unique system responses and beam shapes in the far-field can be realized by controlling amplitude, phase, and polarization at the micro-scale. This has been achieved by spatially varying the structural parameters at the subwavelength scale and is analogous to local modification of material properties. With advancements in fabrication technology, it is possible to control not just the lithographic process, but also the deposition process. In this work, a unique combination of spatial structure variations in conjunction with the conformal coating properties of an atomic layer deposition tool has been utilized to create metal-oxide nano-hair structures that are compatible with high power laser systems. These devices are multifunctional – acting as resonant structures for one wavelength regime and as effective index structures in a different wavelength regime. Discrete and continuous phase functions have been realized with this controlled fabrication process. The design, simulation, fabrication and experimental characterization of these optical elements are presented

Resonant Optical Devices For Ir Lasers

This paper highlights recent developments in resonant optical devices for infrared (IR) and mid-infrared (mid- IR) lasers. Sub-wavelength grating based resonant optical filters are introduced and their application in 2 μm thulium fiber laser and amplifier systems has been discussed. The paper focuses on applying such filtering techniques to 2.8 μm mid-IR fiber laser systems. A narrowband mid-IR Guided-Mode Resonance Filter (GMRF) was designed and fabricated using Hafnium(IV) Oxide film/quartz wafer material system. The fabricated GMRF was then integrated into an Erbium (Er)-doped Zr-Ba-La-Al-Na (ZBLAN) fluoride glass fiber laser as a wavelength selective feedback element. The laser operated at 2782 nm with a linewidth less than 2 nm demonstrating the viability of GMRF\u27s for wavelength selection in the mid-IR. Furthermore, a GMRF of narrower linewidth based on Aluminum Oxide/quartz wafer material system is fabricated and tested in the same setup. The potentials and challenges with GMRFs will be discussed and summarized. © 2013 Copyright SPIE