Jijiang Xie

Limiting pump intensity for sulfur-doped gallium selenide crystals

High optical quality undoped and sulfur-doped gallium selenide crystals were grown from melts by the modified vertical Bridgman method. Detailed study of the damage produced under femtosecond pulse exposure has shown that evaluation of the damage threshold by visual control is unfounded. Black matter spots produced on crystal surfaces do not noticeably decrease either its transparency or its frequency conversion efficiency as opposed to real damage identified as caked well-cohesive gallium structures. For the first time it was demonstrated that optimally sulfur-doped gallium selenide crystal possesses the highest resistivity to optical emission (about four times higher in comparison with undoped gallium selenide).

Facile synthesis of a continuous thin Cu(bipy)2(SiF6) membrane with selectivity towards hydrogen

Cu(bipy)2(SiF6) is a highly porous metal–organic framework (MOF) and represents a prototypal “pillared sheet” platform offering opportunities to control the pore sizes. Its structural features, low cost and facile synthesis make it a great candidate to fabricate membranes for gas separation. The key to obtaining thin, continuous Cu(bipy)2(SiF6) membranes is to control the Cu(bipy)2(SiF6) crystal growth and enhance the binding between membrane and substrate. Here we explored a new route by direct synthesis and successfully obtained a continuous thin Cu(bipy)2(SiF6) membrane on a macroporous glass-frit disk with high robustness. It is speculated that the SiF62− used to construct the Cu(bipy)2(SiF6) membrane came from the fluorinated substrate. The Cu(bipy)2(SiF6) membrane shows the separation factors of H2–CO2, H2–CH4 and H2–N2 are 8.0, 7.5, and 6.8 respectively at 293 K and 1 bar with H2 permeance of 2.7 × 10−7 mol m−2 s−1 Pa−1 as well as high thermal stability. We expect to explore more membranes of Cu(bipy)2(SiF6) analogues with tuneable pore sizes using this route and to obtain membranes with higher gas separation performance.

Characterization of Bridgman grown GaSe:Al crystals

Centimeter-sized Al-doped nonlinear GaSe crystals were grown by the modified Bridgman method with heat field rotation. The alumina distribution coefficient in the grown crystals was estimated to be about 8 × 10−2 for GaSe:Al (≥0.1 at%) crystals. GaSe:Al (≤0.5 at%) crystals possess optical properties suitable for non-linear applications. For the first time the increase in the ordinary refractive index of GaSe crystals with doping was demonstrated to be different to other doped GaSe crystals.

High power 4.65 μm single-wavelength laser by second-harmonic generation of pulsed TEA CO2 laser in AgGaSe2 and ZnGeP2

A high power 4.65 μm single-wavelength laser by second-harmonic generation (SHG) of TEA CO2 laser pulses in silver gallium selenide (AgGaSe2) and zinc germanium phosphide (ZnGeP2) crystals is reported. Experimental results show that the average output power of SHG laser is not only restricted by the damage threshold of the nonlinear crystals, but also limited by the irradiated power of fundamental-wave laser depending on the operating repetition-rate. It is found that ZnGeP2 can withstand higher 9.3 μm laser irradiation intensity than AgGaSe2. As a result, using a parallel array stacked by seven ZnGeP2 crystals, an average power of 20.3 W 4.65 μm laser is obtained at 250 Hz. To the best of our knowledge, it is the highest output power for SHG of CO2 laser by far.

Interaction of high intensity optical pulses with modified nonlinear GaSe crystals

The modified Bridgman method with heat field rotation was used to grow ε-polytype single crystals of pure and 1, 2 and 10 mass % S-doped GaSe or solid solution crystals GaSe1-xSx, x = 0.002, 0.091, 0.412. The interaction of ultrashort laser pulses of ∼ 100 fs duration at 800 nm and 2 μm with the grown crystals was studied at room temperature. Up to 3.4-fold advantage of S-doped crystals in limit pump intensity (no decrease in the transmission) was found under 800 nm pump at S-content increase up to 10 mass %. The advantage became a half less at 2 μm pump due to a decrease of two-photon absorption in pure GaSe crystals. The spectral dependence of transient absorption is recorded with 37 fs resolution and interpreted. It was ascertained that first observable damage of high quality crystals is caused by dissociation of submicrometer thick surface layer to initial elements and do not influence the frequency conversion efficiency until alloying of dissociated Ga. Local microdefects, multiphoton absorption and transient transmission processes are identified as key factors responsible for damage threshold.

High power repetitive TEA CO2 pulsed laser

A high power repetitive spark-pin UV-preionized TEA CO2 laser system is presented. The discharge for generating laser pulses is controlled by a rotary spark switch and a high voltage pulsed trigger. Uniform glow discharge between two symmetrical Chang-electrodes is realized by using an auto-inversion circuit. A couple of high power axial-flow fans with the maximum wind speed of 80 m/s are used for gas exchange between the electrodes. At a repetitive operation, the maximum average output laser power of 10.4 kW 10.6 μm laser is obtained at 300 Hz, with an electro-optical conversion efficiency of 15.6%. At single pulsed operation, more pumping energy and higher gases pressures can be injected, and the maximum output laser energy of 53 J is achieved.

Stability and Hydrocarbon/Fluorocarbon Sorption of a Metal-Organic Framework with Fluorinated Channels

The stabilities and hydrocarbon/fluorocarbon sorption properties of a zeolite-like metal-organic framework (MOF) Zn(hfipbb) with fluorinated channels has been studied. By the combination of thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) measurements, we confirm that Zn(hfipbb) has exceptionally high hydrothermal and thermal stabilities. The adsorption behaviors of water and methanol by Zn(hfipbb) indicate that it is highly hydrophobic but with high adsorption of alcohols. Hexane and perfluorohexane adsorption measurements show that the fluorinated channels in Zn(hfipbb) have high affinity with hydrocarbon and fluorocarbon. The high fluorophilic nature of the channels and the high stability of the compound suggest its potential utility in practical separation applications.

Computer modeling and experimental study of non-chain pulsed electric-discharge DF laser

Computer simulation and experimental study of a pulsed electrical-discharge DF laser pumped by the SF(6)-D(2) non-chain reaction are presented. The computer model encompassing 28 reactions is based on laser rate equations theory, and applied to approximately describe the chemical processes of non-chain DF laser. A comprehensive study of the dependence of number density on time for all particles in the gain area is conducted by numerical calculation adopting Runge-Kutta method. The output performance of non-chain pulsed DF laser as a function of the output mirror reflectivity and the mixture ratio are analyzed. The calculation results are compared with experimental data, showing good agreement with each other. Both the theoretical analysis and experimental results present that the laser output performance can be improved by optimizing the mixture ratio and output mirror reflectivity. The optimum values of mixture ratio and output mirror reflectivity are respectively 10:1 and 30%. The single pulse energy of 4.95J, pulse duration of 148.8ns and peak power of 33.27 MW are achieved under the optimum conditions.

Study on key operating parameters of diode-pumped Cs vapor laser

Kilowatts class diode-pumped Cs vapor laser (DPCL) has been realized and this kind of lasers have military applications potentially for its high output power with high efficiency. Pumped by a fiber coupled laser diode, the key operating parameters of a DPCL are studied, including the spot size of focused pumping light, pressure ratio of buffer gases, vapor cell length, temperature of Cs vapor and reflectivity of output coupler. The spot size is properly chosen in the consideration of both the intensity scalability and mode matching. Pressure ratio is optimized under a modest pressure of mixed gases of helium and ethane. Under the optimized pressure ratio, the Cs vapor can absorb the pumping energy and convert it into laser energy efficiently. Besides, the temperature and reflectivity are also optimized to operate the DPCL in optimum state. The results have significant instructions for the experimental design of DPCL.

Experimental study on non-chain electric-discharge pulsed DF laser

The working mechanism of the non-chain pulsed DF laser is analyzed in this paper, then the glow discharge with the method of UV-preionized discharge is displayed, and finally the experimental investigation on the output characteristics of non-chain pulsed DF laser is done. With SF6, which is non-toxic and non-corrosive, and D2 as the active medium, the dependence of the output characteristics of pulsed DF laser on the gas mixture ratio and the total pressure are investigated. In the experiment, the optimal gas mixture ratio of SF6-D2 and total pressure are 10:1 and 10.5kPa, respectively. At the same time, by making a measurement on the output spectrum of DF laser with a DF laser spectrum analyzer, 17 P-branch transition lines are achieved and the majority of output energy is concentrated on several lines near the 3.876μm line. The laser beam divergence angles in horizontal and vertical directions are 1mrad by using the laser spot ablation method. At the charging voltage of 39kV, under the best working condition(SF6: D2 = 10:1, Ptotal= 10.5kPa), the maximum single pulse output energy of 3.58J, pulse duration of 215ns, peak power of 16.65 MW, and electro-optical conversion efficiency of 2.08%, are obtained.