Tomasz M. Kardaś

Simple all-PM-fiber laser mode-locked with a nonlinear loop mirror

In this Letter, we present a figure-eight all-PM-fiber laser oscillator design with a nonlinear optical loop mirror as an artificial saturable absorber. Unlike previous constructions using the same mode-locking technique, our cavity is constructed entirely of polarization-maintaining (PM) fibers, making the oscillator more resistant to thermal and mechanical perturbations. Two simple and robust laser configurations that differ by the output coupling ratio (70% or 30%) are presented. The first configuration delivers high energy pulses of 3.5 nJ, and the second configuration delivers pulses of 1.6 nJ at a common repetition rate of 15 MHz. In either configuration, the pulsed operation is stable, and the laser operates in a single pulse train regime, even for pump powers approaching twice the power required for mode-locking. We have also observed that, at higher intracavity powers, stimulated Raman scattering plays a significant role.

Spectral compression of femtosecond pulses using chirped volume Bragg gratings

In this Letter, we demonstrate a 360 fold spectral bandwidth reduction of femtosecond laser pulses using the method of sum frequency generation of pulses with opposite chirps. The reduction has been achieved in a compact setup in which a single chirped volume Bragg grating replaces conventional stretcher and compressor units. Starting with 180 fs pulses, we have obtained, with a 30% overall efficiency, pulses longer than 100 ps with the spectral bandwidth of 0.23  cm-1 (7 GHz). We also discuss our method on theoretical grounds.

Full 3D modelling of pulse propagation enables efficient nonlinear frequency conversion with low energy laser pulses in a single-element tripler

Although new optical materials continue to open up access to more and more wavelength bands where femtosecond laser pulses can be generated, light frequency conversion techniques are still indispensable in filling the gaps on the ultrafast spectral scale. With high repetition rate, low pulse energy laser sources (oscillators) tight focusing is necessary for a robust wave mixing and the efficiency of broadband nonlinear conversion is limited by diffraction as well as spatial and temporal walk-off. Here we demonstrate a miniature third harmonic generator (tripler) with conversion efficiency exceeding 30%, producing 246 fs UV pulses via cascaded second order processes within a single laser beam focus. Designing this highly efficient and ultra compact frequency converter was made possible by full 3-dimentional modelling of propagation of tightly focused, broadband light fields in nonlinear and birefringent media.

The role of stimulated Raman scattering in supercontinuum generation in bulk diamond

We report on experimental results of supercontinuum generation in bulk diamond. The spectrum of supercontinuum generated with 800 nm pump extends up to 600 nm towards short wavelengths. We present the numerical model explaining the phenomenon, in which the role of different nonlinear effects including stimulated Raman scattering is discussed. Unlike in other materials, in diamond the feature of supercontinuum due to stimulated Raman response is apparently visible.

Automodulations in an extended cavity, passively modelocked Ti:Sapphire oscillator—period doubling and chaos

An extended cavity Ti:Sapphire oscillator exhibits stable operation for positively chirped pulses, while in the negative chirp regime multiple pulses are present in the cavity. At the border of these regimes automodulations, being an effect of the interplay between population inversion, laser medium polarization and the laser pulse field, appear. Two particular instabilities: period doubling and chaotic behavior of the pulse train envelope are observed. Complex temporal evolution of the pulse spectrum within the modulation period is investigated.

Ultrafast laser mode-locked using nonlinear polarization evolution in polarization maintaining fibers

We demonstrate an ytterbium laser oscillator mode-locked by means of Nonlinear Polarization Evolution realized in Polarization Maintaining (PM) fibers. The all-PM-fiber laser generates 150 fs pulses at 20.54 MHz repetition rate.

Different mode-locking methods in high energy all-normal dispersion Yb femtosecond all-fiber lasers

Ultrafast all-fiber oscillators are currently one of the most rapidly developing laser technologies. Many advantages like: environmental stability, low sensitivity to misalignment, excellent beam quality (intrinsic single transverse mode operation), high energy and an excellent active medium efficiency make them the lasers of choice for a variety of applications. In this paper the designs of all-fiber all-normal dispersion femtosecond lasers are described. Due to large positive chirp, the pulses inside the cavity are highly stretched in time and they can achieve higher energies with the same peak power as shorter pulses. High insensitivity to mechanical perturbations or temperature drift is another highly valued property of presented configurations. Two of reported lasers are extremely stable due to the fact that their cavities are built entirely of polarization maintaining fibers and optical elements. We used highly Yb3+ ions doped fibers as an active medium pumped by a fiber coupled 976 nm laser diode. The central wavelength of our laser oscillators was 1030 nm. Three methods of passive mode-locking in all-fiber cavities were studied. In particular, the designs with Nonlinear Polarization Evolution (NPE), Nonlinear Optical Loop Mirror (NOLM) and Nonlinear Amplifying Loop Mirror (NALM) as artificial saturable absorbers were investigated. The most attention was paid to all-PM-fiber configurations. We present two self-starting, high energy, all-fiber configurations: one delivering pulses with energy of 4.3 nJ and dechirped pulse duration of 150 fs based on the NALM and another with a 6.8 nJ, 390 fs pulses in configuration with the NOLM. The influence of different artificial saturable absorber on output pulse characteristics were studied and analyzed.

Low repetition rate, passively modelocked Ti:Sapphire oscillator

The paper presents the way that colour can serve solving the problem of calibration points indexing in a camera geometrical calibration process. We propose a technique in which indexes of calibration points in a black-and-white chessboard are represented as sets of colour regions in the neighbourhood of calibration points. We provide some general rules for designing a colour calibration chessboard and provide a method of calibration image analysis. We show that this approach leads to obtaining better results than in the case of widely used methods employing information about already indexed points to compute indexes. We also report constraints concerning the technique. Nowadays we are witnessing an increasing need for camera geometrical calibration systems. They are vital for such applications as 3D modelling, 3D reconstruction, assembly control systems, etc. Wherever possible, calibration objects placed in the scene are used in a camera geometrical calibration process. This approach significantly increases accuracy of calibration results and makes the calibration data extraction process easier and universal. There are many geometrical camera calibration techniques for a known calibration scene [1]. A great number of them use as an input calibration points which are localised and indexed in the scene. In this paper we propose the technique of calibration points indexing which uses a colour chessboard. The presented technique was developed by solving problems we encountered during experiments with our earlier methods of camera calibration scene analysis [2]-[3]. In particular, the proposed technique increases the number of indexed points points in case of local lack of calibration points detection. At the beginning of the paper we present a way of designing a chessboard pattern. Then we describe a calibration point indexing method, and finally we show experimental results. A black-and-white chessboard is widely used in order to obtain sub-pixel accuracy of calibration points localisation [1]. Calibration points are defined as corners of chessboard squares. Assuming the availability of rough localisation of these points, the points can be indexed. Noting that differences in distances between neighbouring points in calibration scene images differ slightly, one of the local searching methods can be employed (e.g. [2]). Methods of this type search for a calibration point to be indexed, using a window of a certain size. The position of the window is determined by a vector representing the distance between two previously indexed points in the same row or column. However, experiments show that this approach has its disadvantages, as described below. * E-mail: A.Nowakowski@ire.pw.edu.pl Firstly, there is a danger of omitting some points during indexing in case of local lack of calibration points detection in a neighbourhood (e.g. caused by the presence of non-homogeneous light in the calibration scene). A particularly unfavourable situation is when the local lack of detection effects in the appearance of separated regions of detected calibration points. It is worth saying that such situations are likely to happen for calibration points situated near image borders. Such points are very important for the analysis of optical nonlinearities, and a lack of them can significantly influence the accuracy of distortion modelling. Secondly, such methods may give wrong results in the case of optical distortion with strong nonlinearities when getting information about the neighbouring index is not an easy task. Beside this, the methods are very sensitive to a single false localisation of a calibration point. Such a single false localisation can even result in false indexing of a big set of calibration points. To avoid the above-mentioned problems, we propose using a black-and-white chessboard which contains the coded index of a calibration point in the form of colour squares situated in the nearest neighbourhood of each point. The index of a certain calibration point is determined by colours of four nearest neighbouring squares (Fig.1). An order of squares in such foursome is important. Because the size of a colour square is determined only by the possibility of correct colour detection, the size of a colour square can be smaller than the size of a black or white square. The larger size of a black or white square is determined by the requirements of the exact localisation step which follows the indexing of calibration points [3]. In this step, edge information is extracted from a blackand-white chessboard. This edge information needs larger Artur Nowakowski, Wladyslaw Skarbek Institute of Radioelectronics, Warsaw University of Technology, Nowowiejska 15/19, 00-665 Warszawa, A.Nowakowski@ire.pw.edu.pl Received February 10, 2009; accepted March 27, 2009; published March 31, 2009 http://www.photonics.pl/PLP

Simple all-PM-fiber laser system seeded by an all-normal-dispersion oscillator mode-locked with a nonlinear optical loop mirror

In this paper we report an all-PM-fiber laser amplifier system seeded by an all-normal-dispersion oscillator mode-locked with a Nonlinear Optical Loop Mirror (NOLM). The presented all-normal-dispersion cavity works in a dissipative soliton regime and delivers highly-chirped, high energy pulses above 2.5 nJ with full width at half maximum below 200 fs. The ultrafast oscillator followed by the all-PM-fiber amplifying stage delivered pulses with the energy of 42.5 nJ and time duration below 190 fs. The electrical field of optical pulses from the system was reconstructed using the SPIDER technique. The influence of nonlinear processes on the pulse temporal envelope was investigated.

Polarization-dependent diffraction in all-dielectric, twisted-band structures

We propose a concept for light polarization management: polarization-dependent diffraction in all-dielectric microstructures. Numerical simulations of light propagation show that with an appropriately configured array of twisted bands, such structures may exhibit zero birefringence and at the same time diffract two circular polarizations with different efficiencies. Non-birefringent structures as thin as 3 μm have a significant difference in diffraction efficiency for left- and right-hand circular polarizations. We identify the structural parameters of such twisted-band matrices for optimum performance as circular polarizers.