Elton Soares de Lima Filho

Laser-induced cooling of a Yb:YAG crystal in air at atmospheric pressure.

We report for the first time the experimental demonstration of optical cooling of a bulk crystal at atmospheric pressure. The use of a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor to measure laser-induced cooling in real time is also demonstrated for the first time. A temperature drop of 8.8 K from the chamber temperature was observed in a Yb:YAG crystal in air when pumped with 4.2 W at 1029 nm. A background absorption of 2.9 × 10⁻⁴ cm⁻¹ was estimated with a pump wavelength at 1550 nm. Simulations predict further cooling if the pump power is optimized for the samples dimensions.

Ytterbium-doped glass-ceramics for optical refrigeration

We report for the first time the characterization of glass-ceramics for optical refrigeration. Ytterbium-doped nanocrystallites were grown in an oxyfluoride glass matrix of composition 2YbF(3):30SiO(2)-15Al(2)O(3)-25CdF(2)-22PbF(2)-4YF(3), forming bulk glass-ceramics at three different crystalisation levels. The samples are compared with a corresponding uncrystalised (glass) sample, as well as a Yb:YAG sample which has presented optical cooling. The measured X-ray diffraction spectra, and thermal capacities of the samples are reported. We also report for the first time the use of Yb:YAG as a reference for absolute photometric quantum efficiency measurement, and use the same setup to characterize the glass and glass-ceramic samples. The cooling figure-of-merit was measured by optical calorimetry using a fiber Bragg grating and found to depend on the level of crystallization of the sample, and that samples with nanocrystallites result in higher quantum efficiency and lower background absorption than the pure-glass sample. In addition to laser-induced cooling, the glass-ceramics have the potential to serve as a reference for quantum efficiency measurements.

Development of ytterbium-doped oxyfluoride glasses for laser cooling applications.

Oxyfluoride glasses doped with 2, 5, 8, 12, 16 and 20 mol% of ytterbium (Yb3+) ions have been prepared by the conventional melt-quenching technique. Their optical, thermal and thermo-mechanical properties were characterized. Luminescence intensity at 1020 nm under laser excitation at 920 nm decreases with increasing Yb3+ concentration, suggesting a decrease in the photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY). The PLQY of the samples was measured with an integrating sphere using an absolute method. The highest PLQY was found to be 0.99(11) for the 2 mol% Yb3+: glass and decreases with increasing Yb3+ concentration. The mean fluorescence wavelength and background absorption of the samples were also evaluated. Upconversion luminescence under 975 nm laser excitation was observed and attributed to the presence of Tm3+ and Er3+ ions which exist as impurity traces with YbF3 starting powder. Decay curves for the Yb3+: 2F5/2 → 2F7/2 transition exhibit single exponential behavior for all the samples, although lifetime decrease was observed for the excited level of Yb3+ with increasing Yb3+ concentration. Also observed are an increase in the PLQY and a slight decrease in lifetime with increasing the pump power. Finally, the potential of these oxyfluoride glasses with high PLQY and low background absorption for laser cooling applications is discussed.

Fiber Bragg gratings for low-temperature measurement.

We demonstrate the use of fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) as a monolithic temperature sensor from ambient to liquid nitrogen temperatures, without the use of any auxiliary embedding structure. The Bragg gratings, fabricated in three different types of fibers and characterized with a high density of points, confirm a nonlinear thermal sensitivity of the fibers. With a conventional interrogation scheme it is possible to have a resolution of 0.5 K for weak pure-silica-core FBGs and 0.25 K using both boron-doped and germanium-doped standard fibers at 77 K. We quantitatively show for the first time that the nonlinear thermal sensitivity of the FBG arises from the nonlinearity of both thermo-optic and thermal expansion coefficients, allowing consistent modeling of FBGs at low temperatures.

Fabrication of ultrafast laser written low-loss waveguides in flexible As₂S₃ chalcogenide glass tape.

As2S3 glass has a unique combination of optical properties, such as wide transparency in the infrared region and a high nonlinear coefficient. Recently, intense research has been conducted to improve photonic devices using thin materials. In this Letter, highly uniform rectangular single-index and 2 dB/m loss step-index optical tapes have been drawn by the crucible technique. Low-loss (<0.15  dB/cm) single-mode waveguides in chalcogenide glass tapes have been fabricated using femtosecond laser writing. Optical backscatter reflectometry has been used to study the origin of the optical losses. A detailed study of the laser writing process in thin glass is also presented to facilitate a repeatable waveguide inscription recipe.

Sensing of laser cooling with optical fibres

The calibration of a novel scheme for direct contact and in-situ measurement of temperature in laser-induced cooling of solids is presented. The scheme demonstrates the advantages of fibre Bragg grating (FBG) sensors for measurements in typical laser cooling experiments, over traditional methods. In this paper these advantages are discussed and quantified. The paper presents the interrogation method utilized and the experimental results obtained with the setup.

Direct measurement of laser cooling of Yb:YAG crystal at atmospheric pressure using a fiber Bragg grating

Although Yb:YAG has been cooled in a vacuum environment1, we report for the first time an experimental demonstration of optical cooling at atmospheric pressure. A Yb:YAG crystal is supported on thin silica fibers, inside a matt-black chamber with air at atmospheric pressure, and pumped at 1029 nm in the pulsed and CW regimes. Direct measurement of the crystal surface temperature during pumping was made possible by using a low thermal-mass, transparent fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor. The FBG interrogation system has sufficient sensitivity to measure the background absorption of the sample to below 10-4 cm-1, and bulk cooling at a pump power as low as 17 mW. The dynamical measurement of the temperature allows the determination of the overall heat transfer coefficient of the sample in the air, of 22 W.m-2K-1. A temperature drop of 8.8 K from the chamber temperature is observed in the Yb:YAG crystal in air when pumped with 4.2 W at 1029 nm, close to 8.9 K observed in vacuum1. A background absorption αb = 2.9×10-4 cm-1 is estimated with a pump wavelength at 1550 nm. Simulations predict further cooling when the sample’s cross sectional area and the pump power are optimized, including absorption saturation effects. The choice of an efficient geometry, the use of a readily available temperature sensor in less controlled environments should simplify implementation of laser cooling systems and the development of commercial devices.

Laser cooling with nanoparticles

Theoretical schemes for laser cooling with nanoparticles have been presented and comprehensively investigated. It is shown that specially designed samples based on nanoparticles can be used to improve the process of laser cooling of solids. One of the proposed schemes is based on lead salt colloidal quantum dots (QDs) doped in a glass host. The second one is based on Tm3+ doped oxy fluoride glass ceramic. It has been shown that lead salt colloidal QDs doped in a glass host can operate as artificial atoms. Very short (microsecond range) radiative lifetimes of the excited 1Sh level of PbSe QDs in comparison with the relatively long (millisecond) radiative lifetime of rare-earth (RE) ions allows the cooling process to be accelerated and to use new hosts with relatively high maximum phonon energy, which have so far been considered not suitable for cooling with RE ions. It has been shown that the second sample, which is based on Tm3+ doped oxy fluoride glass ceramic provides the unique combination of high chemical and mechanical stability of the oxide glass, which is important for a number of applications, and the low phonon energy of the fluoride nano-crystals, which trap a majority of Tm3+ ions participating in the cooling process. This is highly beneficial for laser cooling of solids, since the effective embedding of rare-earth ions in the crystalline phase with low phonon energy provides a high quantum efficiency for the 3F4 → 3H6 transition involved in the cooling cycle in the Tm3+ ions, which is a key parameter for laser cooling of solids.

Nanocrystallization in Yb3+-doped oxyfluoride glasses for laser cooling

Glass-ceramics are composite materials consisting of crystals which are controllably grown within a glass matrix usually by applying an appropriate heat treatment. They possess outstanding optical properties with applications in solid state lasers, optical amplifiers, and now, laser induced cooling. For laser cooling, the material should exhibit specific properties like low phonon energy environment around the lanthanide ions, low background losses, high transparency and high photoluminescence quantum yield. In the present study, oxyfluoride glasses and ultra-transparent nano glassceramics doped with different concentrations (2, 5, 8, 12, 16 and 20 mol %) of Yb 3+ ions have been prepared by conventional melt-quenching and subsequent thermal treatments at different temperatures, respectively. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements have been performed to characterize the thermal properties of the glass and the structural changes in the glass-ceramics, respectively. The XRD patterns confirm the growth of β-PbF2 nanocrystals as well as progressive incorporation of Yb 3+ ions. This enhances the Yb 3+ ion emission intensity which depends on the doping concentration and ceramization temperatures. The size (20 nm) of the nanocrystallites was estimated from the Sherrer’s formula and found to increase with increasing ceramization temperature, small enough to avoid scattering losses and ensure an excellent transparency of the glass-ceramics comparable with that of the parent glass. An enhancement of the luminescence properties of Yb 3+ ions surrounded by a crystalline low phonon environment is observed. Finally, the utilization of these heavily Yb 3+-doped ultra-transparent materials for laser cooling and solid state laser applications is discussed.

Toward the integration of optical sensors in smartphone screens using femtosecond laser writing

We demonstrate a new type of sensor incorporated directly into Corning Gorilla glass, an ultraresistant glass widely used in the screen of popular devices such as smartphones, tablets, and smart watches. Although physical space is limited in portable devices, the screens have been so far neglected in regard to functionalization. Our proof-of-concept shows a new niche for photonics device development, in which the screen becomes an active component integrated into the device. The sensor itself is a near-surface waveguide, sensitive to refractive index changes, enabling the analysis of liquids directly on the screen of a smartphone, without the need for any add-ons, thus opening this part of the device to advanced functionalization. The primary function of the screen is unaffected, since the sensor and waveguide are effectively invisible to the naked eye. We fabricated a waveguide just below the glass surface, directly written without any surface preparation, in which the change in refractive index on the surface-air interface changes the light guidance, thus the transmission of light. This work reports on sensor fabrication, using a femtosecond pulsed laser, and the light-interaction model of the beam propagating at the surface is discussed and compared with experimental measurement for refractive indexes in the range 1.3-1.7. A new and improved model, including input and output reflections due to the effective mode index change, is also proposed and yields a better match with our experimental measurements and also with previous measurements reported in the literature.