Chia-Kai Chang

Parasitic Stimulated Amplification in High-Peak-Power and Diode-Seeded Nanosecond Fiber Amplifiers

The broadband parasitic amplification in a diode-seeded nanosecond ytterbium-doped fiber laser amplifier system is numerically and experimentally investigated. The amplification is originated from a weak and pulsed parasitic signal associated with the 1064-nm seed diode laser. Although the average power of the parasitic pulse is less than 5% of the total seed laser power, a significant transient spike is observed during the amplification. In agreement with the simulation, nonlinear effects caused by the transient spike limits the scaling of signal peak power in fiber preamplifiers. With the utilization of a narrow bandwidth filter to eliminate the parasitic pulse, the power and energy scalability of a multistage diode-seeded fiber amplifier laser system has been significantly improved. At 1064 nm, pulses with the peak power of 120 kW and energy of 1.2 mJ have been successfully generated in the multistage Yb3+-doped fiber amplifier with an energy gain of 63 dB and 56% conversion efficiency. In viewing of the parasitic pulses 8.8-nm bandwidth, it has the potential to become a novel seed source for high-peak-power fiber amplifiers.

Full-depth epidermis tomography using a Mirau-based full-field optical coherence tomography

With a Gaussian-like broadband light source from high brightness Ce(3+):YAG single-clad crystal fiber, a full-field optical coherence tomography using a home-designed Mirau objective realized high quality images of in vivo and excised skin tissues. With a 40 × silicone-oil-immersion Mirau objective, the achieved spatial resolutions in axial and lateral directions were 0.9 and 0.51 μm, respectively. Such a high spatial resolution enables the separation of lamellar structure of the full epidermis in both the cross-sectional and en face planes. The number of layers of stratum corneum and its thickness were quantitatively measured. This label free and non-invasive optical probe could be useful for evaluating the water barrier of skin tissue in clinics. As a preliminary in vivo experiment, the blood vessel in dermis was also observed, and the flowing of the red blood cells and location of the melanocyte were traced.

Cell death detection by quantitative three-dimensional single-cell tomography.

Ultrahigh-resolution optical coherence tomography (UR-OCT) has been used for the first time to our knowledge to study single-cell basal cell carcinoma (BCC) in vitro. This noninvasive, in situ, label-free technique with deep imaging depth enables three-dimensional analysis of scattering properties of single cells with cellular spatial resolution. From three-dimensional UR-OCT imaging, live and dead BCC cells can be easily identified based on morphological observation. We developed a novel method to automatically extract characteristic parameters of a single cell from data volume, and quantitative comparison and parametric analysis were performed. The results demonstrate the capability of UR-OCT to detect cell death at the cellular level.

Experiment and simulation on interface shapes of an yttrium aluminium garnet miniature molten zone formed using the laser-heated pedestal growth method for single-crystal fibers

Atwo-dimensionalsimulationwasemployedtostudythemelt/airandmelt/solidinterface shapes of the miniature molten zone formed in a laser-heated pedestalgrowth (LHPG) system. Using a non-orthogonal body-fitting grid system withthe control-volume finite-difference method, the interface shape can bedetermined both efficiently and accurately. During stable growth, thedependence of the molten-zone length and shape on the heating CO

High power broadband continuum source based on an all-PM-fiber master oscillator nonlinear power amplifier

In an all-polarization-maintaining-fiber master oscillator power amplifier system at 1064 nm under all normal dispersion, intense nanosecond emission was generated with spectral broadening from 980 to 1600 nm. In such a fiber nonlinear power amplifier, efficient power scaling is able to be free from significant depletion because both laser amplification and nonlinear conversion are simultaneously employed. As a result, output peak power up to 117 kW with a pulse energy of 1.2 mJ is generated with a maximum core intensity of 30 GW cm 2 . In addition, the conversion efficiency is 66% for a pulse duration of 6.1 ns at the moderate repetition of 20 kHz. The output level is close to the damage threshold for long-term operation. The onset and interplay of constituted fiber nonlinearities can be addressed, especially from single mode to a few modes, stage by stage. Furthermore, the seeding influence on the spectral broadening reveals its versatility for enabling many potential applications. For seeding by a highly controlled diode laser at the nanojoule level, a double-pass preamplifier significantly improves the energy extraction, resulting in a high input level for an efficient nonlinear power amplifier. Such a linearly polarized light source composed of an intense 1064 nm pump and a broad sideband seed is beneficial for efficiently driving broadband tunable optical parametric amplification.

Direct Side Pumping of Double-Clad Fiber Laser by Laser Diode Array Through the Use of Subwavelength Grating Coupler

An electron-beam-fabricated subwavelength grating coupler for direct side coupling of light emission from a high-power laser diode array (LDA) was studied theoretically and implemented experimentally. A gold-embedded silica-based design for grating coupler was employed to minimize the thermal expansion caused by the accumulated heat from light absorption by metal part of the grating coupler. In addition, with the consideration of the backward diffraction loss and the groove wall nonverticality caused by fabrication distortion, the grating pitch and groove width were optimized for the highest coupling efficiency. According to the experimental results, the grating coupler is capable of coupling light power up to 21 W from a 976-nm continuous-wave-operated LDA into the inner clad of a 400-μm-diameter double-clad fiber with an overall coupling efficiency of 50%. Furthermore, an LDA side-pumped ytterbium-doped DCF laser by using the grating coupler was demonstrated. By fine tuning the slow-axis collimation lens array, the laser-pumping scheme can easily be switched between bidirectional pumping and unidirectional pumping. Compared with the unidirectionally pumped fiber laser of the same gain fiber length, the laser slope efficiency of the bidirectionally pumped fiber laser was increased by 18% because of a better gain distribution over the fiber length. Finally, the signal output power of 10 W with a slope efficiency of 61% was achieved for the bidirectional side-pumped fiber laser.

Microstructural and microspectral characterization of a vertically aligned liquid crystal display panel

The microstructural and microspectral characteristics of a vertically aligned liquid crystal display (VA-LCD) panel were obtained noninvasively for the first time. With 1 μm axial and 2 μm transversal resolutions, the cell gap profile beneath the patterned thin-film transistor of the VA-LCD panel can clearly be resolved. The thicknesses of the multiple thin-film layers and the embedded defects can also be unveiled. As far as spectral response is concerned, the light transmittance at the layer boundaries can be estimated from the measured reflectance, which is crucial information for the design of a highly transmissive panel. The color shift of the VA-LCD panel due to fabrication error was evaluated.

Epidermal cell classification via Mirau-based full-field optical coherence tomography

Via Mirau-based full-field optical coherence tomography using Gaussian-like spectrum light source from Ce3+:YAG single-clad crystal fiber, melanocytes and keratinocytes are successfully classified with their shape dissimilarity and nucleus-cytoplasm ratio from epidermal primary cell culture.

Mirau-based full-field time-domain optical coherence tomography using Ce3+:YAG crystal fiber light source

Based on single-objective construction utilizing high brightness Ce3+:YAG single-clad crystal fiber light source, this Mirau-based full-field time-domain optical coherence tomography with circular polarization incident light represents deeper penetration in scattering medium. Using objective-changeable ability of home-designed Mirau objective, this system provides different applications, like biological tissue and single cells, by different spatial resolution with corresponding dynamics. High quality image relying on less ghost image and near common-path interference was demonstrated under this compact and power-stable system.

Errata: Segmentation of nucleus and cytoplasm of a single cell in three-dimensional tomogram using optical coherence tomography

Abstract. A random rayburst sampling (RRBS) framework was developed to detect the nucleus and cell membrane boundaries in three-dimensional (3-D) space. Raw images were acquired through a full-field optical coherence tomography system with submicron resolution—i.e., 0.8  μm in lateral and 0.9  μm in axial directions. The near-isometric resolution enables 3-D segmentation of a nucleus and cell membrane for determining the volumetric nuclear-to-cytoplasmic (N/C) ratio of a single cell. The RRBS framework was insensitive to the selection of seeds and image pixel noise. The robustness of the RRBS framework was verified through the convergence of the N/C ratio searching algorithm. The relative standard deviation of the N/C ratio between different randomly selected seed sets was only 2%. This technique is useful for various in vitro assays on single-cell analyses.