Armen Sevian

High-brightness narrow-line laser diode source with volume Bragg-grating feedback

Results of a long-term research in spectral narrowing and transverse mode selection in semiconductor lasers by means of volume Bragg gratings recorded in a photo-thermo-refractive (PTR) glass are described. PTR glass is a multicomponent silicate optical glass which changes its refractive index after UV exposure followed by thermal development. This feature enables recording of volume holograms with efficiency exceeding 97% in visible and near IR spectral regions which tolerate high temperatures up to 400°C, high power laser radiation. Transmitting and reflecting volume Bragg gratings recorded in such manner have spectral and angular selectivity down to 0.01 nm and 0.1 mrad, respectively. These spectral and angular selectors were used as transmitting and reflecting elements of external resonators for high-power semiconductor laser diodes (LDs). Transmitting Bragg gratings provide tunability of LDs in the range up to 60 nm, spectral narrowing down to 200 pm, stabilization of wavelength within 500 pm. Reflecting Bragg gratings allow spectral narrowing down to 20 pm, stabilization of wavelength below 100 pm at temperature variations up to 75 K. A single transverse mode emission for wide stripe LDs is observed at pumping currents exceeding 10 thresholds. Narrowing and stabilization of emission spectra of LD bars is demonstrated. It is important that all these features are achieved by passive elements with efficiency exceeding 97% and unlimited lifetime while actual brightness increase exceeded two orders of magnitude.

Efficient power scaling of laser radiation by spectral beam combining

The possibility of achieving multikilowatt laser radiation by spectrally combining beams using volume Bragg gratings (VBGs) is shown. The VBGs recorded in a photothermorefractive glass exhibit long-term stability of all its parameters in high-power laser beams with power density >1 MW/cm2 in the cw beam of total power on a kilowatt level. We consider an architecture-specific beam-combining scheme and address the cross-talk minimization problem based on optimal channel positioning. Five-channel high efficiency spectral beam combining resulted in a >750 W near-diffraction-limited cw beam has been demonstrated experimentally.

Stable coherent coupling of laser diodes by a volume Bragg grating in photothermorefractive glass

Two separate laser diodes emitting near 980 nm were coupled by a thick volume Bragg grating recorded in a photothermorefractive glass. The coupled diodes emitted at the same wavelength with a spectral width narrowed to below the resolution of the spectrum analyzer (<30 pm). Coherent emission at a pumping level greater than five times above the threshold was observed for several months with near-unity visibility of the interference pattern.

High brightness spectral beam combination of high-power vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting lasers

High brightness spectral beam combination of two high-power vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting laser (VECSEL) using volume Bragg grating in a photo-thermo-refractive (PTR) glass is demonstrated. High efficiency beam combination in excess of 90% is achieved, providing an efficient method for power scaling of diffraction limited beam. The beam quality of each starting lasers was 1.68 and 1.35, and that of combined beam was 1.9. Scaling opportunities based on the parameters of VECSELs and PTR Bragg gratings are discussed

Power scaling of laser systems using spectral beam combining with volume Bragg gratings in PTR glass

Laser system power can be increased using volume Bragg gratings in PTR glass to combine multiple beams into a near-diffraction-limited beam. We present results of combining five fiber lasers and show achievability of multi-kW-level systems.

Stable coherent coupling of laser diodes by a volume bragg grating in PTR glass

Multichannel resonators which should provide coherent emission of all its components are intensively studied for more than 25 years. However, no stable coherent emission with high efficiency was reported for such devices. The main problem preventing stable efficient coupling is a tendency of a multichannel system to switch between different modes of a complex resonator. This paper reports the use of thick Bragg grating recorded in a photothermo-refractive glass with an extremely narrow spectral width and angle selectivity that provided coherent coupling of two semiconductor laser diodes. In a described construction no oscillations of output power was observed and an interference patter with visibility close to unity was observed for a long time.

All-fiber pulse shaper for adaptive dispersion compensation in industrial lasers

We report on industrial-grade femtosecond Yb fiber lasers with >100μJ pulse energy and <300fs pulse duration using a tunable all-fiber pulse shaper. The rugged, compact phase modulator is a lossless addition to the standard chirped-pulseamplification scheme. The automated multichannel phase control across the optical bandwidth enables generation of near transform-limited pulses at the laser output, improves unit-to-unit reproducibility of laser pulse characteristics, and reduces laser build time.

Large aperture diffractive elements in PTR glass

Photo-thermo-refractive (PTR) glasses have shown high efficiency and stability for different applications in laser systems. One of the applications of diffractive elements in PTR glasses is to use them for high power laser beam control and combining which requires an increase of the size of these elements. The opportunities of recording large aperture Bragg gratings by using a translational (multi-frame exposure) technique and by using an Ar+ ion laser with higher power operating at 334.5 nm and 351 nm are studied. It is shown that photosensitivity of PTR glass at 334.5 nm and 351 nm is comparable to that of 325 nm. Because of higher power at 334.5 nm and 351 nm, the recording of large aperture holograms at these wavelengths is possible. Large-aperture holograms produced by multi-frame technique are demonstrated.

Two-photon-induced excited-state absorption in high-index fibers

We have studied the nonlinear optical properties of a high-index (n = 1.82) glass that is used as the core material in a commercially available fiber optic inverter, which is a coherent fiber bundle twisted 180 degrees to produce an inverted image. We have determined through open aperture Z-scan the two-photon absorption coefficient of the glass to be 0.8 cm/GW using 23 ps pulses (FWHM) at 532 nm, far from the linear absorption edge of 320 nm. For 5 ns (FWHM) pulses the nonlinear absorption is much larger, and is dominated by two-photon induced excited-state absorption. These effects contribute to the nanosecond optical limiting response that we have observed for the inverter using an F/5 focusing geometry.