35 research outputs found
Double- and multi-femtosecond pulses produced by birefringent crystals for the generation of 2D laser-induced structures on a stainless steel surface
Laser-induced textures have been proven to be excellent solutions for modifying wetting, friction, biocompatibility, and optical properties of solids. The possibility to generate 2D-submicron morphologies by laser processing has been demonstrated recently. Employing double-pulse irradiation, it is possible to control the induced structures and to fabricate novel and more complex 2D-textures. Nevertheless, double-pulse irradiation often implies the use of sophisticated setups for modifying the pulse polarization and temporal profile. Here, we show the generation of homogeneous 2D-LIPSS (laser-induced periodic surface structures) over large areas utilizing a simple array of birefringent crystals. Linearly and circularly polarized pulses were applied, and the optimum process window was defined for both. The results are compared to previous studies, which include a delay line, and the reproducibility between the two techniques is validated. As a result of a systematic study of the process parameters, the obtained morphology was found to depend both on the interplay between fluence and inter-pulse delay, as well as on the number of incident pulses. The obtained structures were characterized via SEM (scanning electron microscopy) and atomic force microscopy. We believe that our results represent a novel approach to surface structuring, primed for introduction in an industrial environment
Graphene Mode-Locked Ultrafast Laser
Graphene is at the center of a significant research effort. Near-ballistic
transport at room temperature and high mobility make it a potential material
for nanoelectronics. Its electronic and mechanical properties are also ideal
for micro and nanomechanical systems, thin-film transistors and transparent and
conductive composites and electrodes. Here we exploit the optoelectronic
properties of graphene to realize an ultrafast laser. A graphene-polymer
composite is fabricated using wet-chemistry techniques. Pauli blocking
following intense illumination results in saturable absorption, independent of
wavelength. This is used to passively mode-lock an Erbium-doped fibre laser
working at 1559nm, with a 5.24nm spectral bandwidth and ~460fs pulse duration,
paving the way to graphene-based photonics
High-power picosecond pulses by SPM-induced spectral compression in a fiber amplifier
The fiber based generation of nearly transform-limited 10-ps pulses with 200 kW peak power (97 W average power) based on SPM-induced spectral compression is reported. Efficient second harmonic generation applying this source is also discussed
Energetic and high average power femtosecond fiber laser using chirped- and divided-pulse amplification
International audienc
Numerical and experimental analysis of nonlinear regenerative amplifiers overcoming the gain bandwidth limitation
International audience—We present a numerical and experimental analysis of a nonlinear architecture to overcome the gain bandwidth limitation in regenerative amplifiers. This technique is based on the optimization of dispersion and nonlinear effects during the amplification process to obtain broad-bandwidth pulses that can be compressed to short durations with high temporal quality. We demonstrate the advantage of this method to maintain an excellent temporal quality of pulses even at high levels of optical nonlinearity. The technique has been applied to regenerative amplifiers using Yb:YAG, Yb:KYW, and Yb:CALGO crystals as gain media. In all cases we achieved the shortest pulse duration ever obtained from regenerative amplifiers using the respective laser crystals. These results underline the benefits of this amplification technique with respect to current state of the art
Multi-meter fiber-delivery and compression of milli-joule femtosecond laser and fiber-aided micromachining
Up to 10 meter-long Kagome hollow-core-photonic-crystal-fibers were used to successfully deliver Yb-laser pulses with milli-Joule energy-level and 600-femtosecond pulsewidth in robustly single-mode fashion. Self-compression to ~50fs, and intensity-level nearing petawatt/cm2 were achieved. Free focusing-optics laser-micromachining is demonstrated on different materials. \ua9 OSA 2013
Energetic and high average power femtosecond fiber laser using chirped- and divided-pulse amplification (orale)
International audienc
Vertical-external-cavity semiconductor lasers
Surface-emitting semiconductor lasers can make use of external cavities and optical pumping techniques to achieve a combination of high continuous-wave output power and near-diffraction-limited beam quality that is not matched by any other type of semiconductor source. The ready access to the laser mode that the external cavity provides has been exploited for applications such as intra-cavity frequency doubling and passive mode-locking. The purpose of this Topical Review is to outline the operating principles of these versatile lasers and summarize the capabilities of devices that have been demonstrated so far. Particular attention is paid to the generation of near-transform-limited sub-picosecond pulses in passively mode-locked surface-emitting lasers, which are potentially of interest as compact sources of ultrashort pulses at high average power that can be operated readily at repetition rates of many gigahertz
Generation of sub-100-fs pulses in an Yb: CaGdAlO4 nonlinear regenerative amplifier (orale)
International audienc
Generation of sub-100-fs pulses in an Yb: CaGdAlO4 nonlinear regenerative amplifier (orale)
International audienc