Laiming Zhang

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.

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.

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.

High-energy long duration frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser and application to venous occlusion

Laser treatment represents an attractive option to other methods of vessel diseases especially varicose veins. A long pulse (30~50ms) 532nm laser (Fig.1) is used in our experiments with the pulse duration matching the thermal relaxation time of the vessels and the green laser matching the absorption spectrum peak of the blood. Laser irradiates nude vein vessels directly or exterior skin to finish operation faster and to acquire the practical data for upper enteron varicose vein treatment in several animal experiments performed in vivo. The 5J-energy pulse allows us to finely occlude rabbit or dog’s vein vessels up to 2 mm in diameter when irradiating them off external skin (Fig.2). Blood vessels are occluded at once and later biopsy specimens show the immediate and long-term lasting occlusion effect. While irradiating vessels directly (Fig.3), the vessels are usually irradiated to perforate, detailed causes are still under investigation. Animal experiments show long pulse green laser therapy is a safe and effective solution to the vein’s occlusion, which promises such laser with high energy of each pulse and 30~50 ms duration is an ideal candidate for vessel diseases treatment.

GaSe damage threshold under IR pulse pumping

Damage threshold of non-linear GaSe crystals under IR fs (Ti:Sapphiere 800 nm laser and 1.1-2.9μm OPG) and ns (2. 79 Er3+:YSGG and 10.6μm CO2 laser) pulse pumping is studded in details. Local micro defects and field induced effects (GaSe dissociation, multiphoton absorptions and transient transparency origin effects) are identified as responsible for damage threshold in this case. Local (including nano scaled) defects and thermal effects are identified as reason of damage threshold under ns pulse pumping.

Influence of the helium-pressure on diode-pumped alkali-vapor laser

Diode-pumped alkali-vapor laser (DPAL) is a kind of laser attracted much attention for its merits, such as high quantum efficiency, excellent beam quality, favorable thermal management, and potential scalability to high power and so on. Based on the rate-equation theory of end-pumped DPAL, the performances of DPAL using Cs-vapor collisionally broadened by helium are simulated and studied. With the increase of helium pressure, the numerical results show that: 1) the absorption line-width increases and the stimulated absorption cross-section decreases contrarily; 2) the threshold pumping power decreases to minimum and then rolls over to increase linearly; 3) the absorption efficiency rises to maximum initially due to enough large stimulated absorption cross-section in the far wings of collisionally broadened D2 transition (absorption transition), and then begins to reduce; 4) an optimal value of helium pressure exists to obtain the highest output power, leading to an optimal optical-optical efficiency. Furthermore, to generate the self-oscillation of laser, a critical value of helium pressure occurs when small-signal gain equals to the threshold gain.

Research on animal laser varicose treatment in CIOMP, CAS

The work on laser varicose treatment carried out in CIOMP, CAS cooperating with The First Clinical Hospital, Jilin University is summarized. Dozens of animal experiments adopting dog and rabbit samples are made in a long time of several years. Different lasers are used, including long pulse frequency-doubled Nd:YAG(532nm) and semiconductor laser(808nm). Dozens of animal experiments show that laser has good efficacy to occlude the vein vessels. It has precise adjustability and relatively short treatment time only needing outpatient office setting with high cost and effect rate; It provides minimal invasion, often under local anesthesia and intravenous sedation thereby eliminating the need for general anesthesia, greatly shortens postoperative recovery term, and it is highly safe with no side effects and no serious complications.