Jiang Yugang

Optical Constants of SiO2 Films Deposited on Si Substrates

SiO2 films were deposited on single-crystalline silicon substrates by ion beam sputtering technology. Optical constants of SiO2 films are calculated from spectroscopic ellipsometry data, transmittance spectra and reflectance spectra by WVASE32 software, and the best fitted method is obtained for calculating optical constants of dielectric materials in the ultraviolet-visible-infrared (UV-VIS-IR) range. In the UV-VIS-NIR spectral range, refractive indices of SiO2 films are calculated separately by both ellipsometry data and reflectance spectra, and the obtained results are almost the same. Complex dielectric functions of SiO2 films in the IR spectral range are accurately calculated with infrared transmission spectra using the GenOsc model. The obtained accuracy complex refractive index of SiO2 films in the wavelength region from 0.19 μm to 25 μm is of great importance for the design of high quality coatings, such as ultra-low loss coating.

Solid Dye Lasers Based on 2-Hydroxypropyl Methacrylate and Methyl Methacrylate Copolymers

Polymers are a kind of attractive hosts for laser dyes because of their superior optical homogeneity, and high transparency in pumping and lasing range. Copolymers usually have higher damage threshold and better photostability than mono-polymers. Solid dye samples based on copolymer of methyl methacrylate (MMA) with 2-hydroxypropyl methacrylate (HPMA) doped with 1-, 3-, 5-, 7-, 8-pentamethyl-2, 6-diethylpyrromethene-BF2 (PM567) are prepared. Spectra and lasing properties of the samples are studied. Compared to the samples based on monopolymer polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), enhanced slope efficiency and photostability are obtained in the copolymers. The highest slope efficiency is 45.1%, and nearly one-fold increase of photostability is obtained. The longest useful lifetime of 4390 pumping pulses is presented with the pump energy as high as 183 mJ per pulse at repetition rate of 10 Hz. The results indicate that the laser performances of solid dye mediums can be greatly increased using copolymer of MMA with HPMA as host.

Solid State Dye Lasers Based on Coumarin 440 and Pyrromethene 567 Codoped Polymethyl Methacrylate

Laser dye coumarin 440(C440) is codoped with pyrromethene 567 (PM567) into polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA). The effects of C440 concentration on the performance of the solid state dye medium, including spectra property, slope efficiency and photostability, are studied. When C440 is codoped with PM567 at the same concentration 1 × 10−4 mol/L, the highest efficiency and photostability can be obtained. Compared with the medium based on pure PM567 doped PMMA, about 50% increase in slope efficiency and at least five-fold enhancement in the photostability are observed.

Tunable solid-state laser based on modified polymethyl methacrylate with methanol doped with Pyrromethene 580

Solid-state dye material was fabricated by doping a laser dye Pyrromethene 580 (PM580) into the polymer host polymethyl methacrylate. Methanol was also injected into the host to improve the optical properties. The broadband and narrowband laser performances of the sample were studied in this paper. When the selected solid-state dye PM580 was placed in a Shoshan-type oscillator, narrow linewidth operation with a tuning range of 52 nm and good photostability was demonstrated. The narrowband laser output slope efficiency of 42.7% was obtained, and the corresponding broadband laser slope efficiency was 66.0%. To the best of our knowledge, the narrowband slope efficiency and tunable range are the best under similar conditions so far. For broadband and narrowband lasers, the beam quality factors were estimated to be M(y)(2)=10.7 and 3.9 in the vertical direction.