Jason W. Sickler

High repetition rate, low jitter, low intensity noise, fundamentally mode-locked 167 fs soliton Er-fiber laser

A fundamentally mode-locked soliton Er-fiber laser generating 167 fs pulses at 194 MHz via polarization additive-pulse mode locking is demonstrated. This simple, compact, and high repetition rate source exhibits a low timing jitter of 18 fs [1 kHz, 10 MHz] and the lowest relative intensity noise of less than 0.003% [1 kHz, 10 MHz] observed from an Er-fiber laser.

Generation of low-timing-jitter femtosecond pulse trains with 2 GHz repetition rate via external repetition rate multiplication

Generation of low-timing-jitter 150 fs pulse trains at 1560 nm with 2 GHz repetition rate is demonstrated by locking a 200 MHz fundamental polarization additive-pulse mode-locked erbium fiber laser to high-finesse external Fabry-Perot cavities. The timing jitter and relative intensity noise of the repetition-rate multiplied pulse train are investigated.

Scaling of passively mode-locked soliton erbium waveguide lasers based on slow saturable absorbers

We assess the scaling potential of high repetition rate, passively mode-locked erbium-doped soliton lasers. Our analysis focuses on three recently demonstrated lasers using saturable Bragg reflectors (SBR) as the mode-locking element. We use the soliton Area theorem to establish the limitations to increasing the repetition rate based on insufficient intracavity pulse energy, SBR properties, and dispersion engineering. Finally, we examine possible approaches to alleviate these limitations by changing the lasers structure and composition.

Silicon photodiodes with high photoconductive gain at room temperature

Silicon photodiodes with high photoconductive gain are demonstrated. The photodiodes are fabricated in a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS)-compatible process. The typical room temperature responsivity at 940 nm is >20 A/W and the dark current density is ≈ 100 nA/cm2 at 5 V reverse bias, yielding a detectivity of ≈ 10(14) Jones. These photodiodes are good candidates for applications that require high detection sensitivity and low bias operation.

Fundamentally mode-locked 3 ghz femtosecond erbium fiber laser

Proceedings of the 16th International Conference, Palazzo dei Congressi Stresa, Italy, June 9--13, 2008

High Repetition Rate, Low Jitter, Fundamentally Mode-locked Soliton Er-fiber Laser

Generation of low jitter 167 fs pulses at a fundamental repetition rate of 194 MHz from a passively mode-locked soliton Er-fiber laser via nonlinear polarization rotation is reported. Performance of the laser and potential applications are discussed.

Nano-scale photonic crystal microcavity characterization with an all-fiber based 1.2–2.0 µm supercontinuum

The use of ultra-broadband supercontinuum generated by an all-fiber system to characterize high-index contrast photonic circuits over the wavelength range 1.2 - 2.0 microm is demonstrated. Efficient, broadband waveguide coupling techniques and sensitive normalized detection enable rapid and high-resolution measurements of nano-scale one-dimensional photonic crystal microcavities. Experimental mappings of bandgaps and cavity mode resonances with a wavelength resolution of 0.1 nm compare well with computer simulations.

High repetition rate, high average power, femtosecond erbium fiber ring laser

A 301 MHz fundamentally mode-locked erbium fiber ring laser generating 108 fs pulses is demonstrated. Novel combination of gain fiber with anomalous group-velocity dispersion and intra-cavity silicon with normal group-velocity dispersion yields a stretched-pulse operation.

IR CMOS: infrared enhanced silicon imaging

SiOnyx has developed visible and infrared CMOS image sensors leveraging a proprietary ultrafast laser semiconductor process technology. This technology demonstrates 10 fold improvements in infrared sensitivity over incumbent imaging technology while maintaining complete compatibility with standard CMOS image sensor process flows. Furthermore, these sensitivity enhancements are achieved on a focal plane with state of the art noise performance of 2 electrons/pixel. By capturing light in the visible regime as well as infrared light from the night glow, this sensor technology provides imaging in daytime through twilight and into nighttime conditions. The measured 10x quantum efficiency at the critical 1064 nm laser node enables see spot imaging capabilities in a variety of ambient conditions. The spectral sensitivity is from 400 to 1200 nm.

Supercontinuum generation and its applications

In this paper, we describe the design theory for the supercontinuum spectrum generation in an optical fiber. To generate a wideband supercontinuum spectrum, the balance between fiber nonlinearity and the amount of group velocity dispersion is important. Secondly, the experimental results of supercontinuum generation are shown. A few kinds of optical fibers such as a highly nonlinear dispersion-shifted fiber and a highly nonlinear bismuth-oxide fiber are tested. Finally several applications of supercontinuum light are described. We demonstrate multi-wavelength light source, wavelength conversion, multiplexing format conversion, and optical characterization using a supercontinuum light source.