Low-cost, highly efficient, and tunable ultrafast laser technology based on directly diode-pumped Cr:Colquiriites
Name
679619815-MIT.pdf
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35.35 MB
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dcc469f46a4d360b016c6931a5c94182
Author(s)
Demirbas, Umit
Advisor(s)
James G. Fujimoto and Franz X. Kärtner.
Date Issued
2010
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
This doctoral project aims to develop robust, ultra low-cost ($5,000-20,000), highly-efficient, and tunable femtosecond laser technology based on diode-pumped Cr:Colquiriite gain media (Cr:LiCAF, Cr3+:LiSAF and Cr:LiSGaF). By using inexpensive single-mode diodes ($150) as the pump source, we have obtained continuous-wave (cw) output powers >250-mW with slope efficiencies >50%. Record cw tuning ranges were demonstrated for Cr:LiSAF (775-1042 nm), Cr:LiSGaF (777-977 nm), and Cr:LiCAF (754-871 nm). For femtosecond pulse generation, semiconductor saturable absorber mirrors (SESAMs/SBRs) were developed, which were used to initiate and sustain mode-locking. Typical performance was ~25-100 fs pulses, with an optical spectrum in the 770-920 nm range, with ~1-2 nJ of pulse energies from ~100-MHz repetition rate cavities. Record electrical-to-optical conversion efficiencies of ~10% were demonstrated in the cw mode-locked regime. A mode-locked tuning range of 767-817 nm, with ~130-fs long pulses was obtained by using Cr:LiCAF as gain medium. With the Cr:LiSAF gain medium, using regular SESAMs/SBRs centered around 800 nm, 850 nm, and 910 nm, mode-locked tuning ranges of 803-831 nm, 828-873 nm, and 890-923 nm were demonstrated, respectively. By using a broadband oxidized SESAM/SBR, a record tuning range of 800-905 nm was demonstrated with ~150-fs long pulses. Using an extended cavity Cr:LiCAF laser, pulse energies >15-nJ with peak powers exceeding 100-kW were obtained. We performed the first cavity-dumping experiments with a Cr:Colquiriite laser and demonstrated pulse energies >100-nJ, and peak powers approaching MW level, at repetition rates up to 50-kHz. Cr:LiCAF gain media were also pumped by single-emitter multimode diodes, where we obtained >2-W output power in cw operation, and ~100-fs pulses with 390-mW of average power at a repetition rate of 140 MHz in cw mode-locked operation. As an example application area for this low cost technology, we performed multiphoton microcopy experiments with a single-mode diode-pumped Cr:LiCAF laser. We also performed attosecond-resolution timing jitter characterization experiments of the femtosecond Cr:LiSAF laser, and measured a record-low upper limit for the integrated timing jitter of the Cr:LiSAF laser (137-attoseconds in 10 kHz-10 MHz range).
Description
Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2010.
This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
Cataloged from student submitted PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 335-352).
Subjects
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
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