Weijie Nie

Femtosecond laser written waveguides with MoS 2 as satuable absorber for passively Q-switched lasing

This work reports on the passively Q-switched waveguide laser system based on Nd:YAG crystal and MoS2 satuable absorber. A depressed cladding waveguide with circular cross-sectional geometry has been produced in Nd:YAG crystal by direct femtosecond laser writing at low-repetition rate. The confocal microscopic investigation of the structure reveals the well-preserved microphotoluminescence features in the waveguide core. With chemical-vapor-deposition (CVD) MoS2 membrane as satuable absorber, the passive Q-switching of the Nd:YAG waveguide system has been achieved under optical pump, reaching maximum average output power of 85.2 mW, corresponding to single-pulse energy of 112 nJ, at wavelength of 1064 nm. The repetition rate of the pulsed waveguide laser system is tunable from 0.51 to 1.10 MHz, and the obtained minimum pulse duration is 203 ns.

Efficient Second Harmonic Generation in 3D Nonlinear Optical-Lattice-Like Cladding Waveguide Splitters by Femtosecond Laser Inscription

Integrated photonic devices with beam splitting function are intriguing for a broad range of photonic applications. Through optical-lattice-like cladding waveguide structures fabricated by direct femtosecond laser writing, the light propagation can be engineered via the track-confined refractive index profiles, achieving tailored output beam distributions. In this work, we report on the fabrication of 3D laser-written optical-lattice-like structures in a nonlinear KTP crystal to implement 1 × 4 beam splitting. Second harmonic generation (SHG) of green light through these nonlinear waveguide beam splitter structures provides the capability for the compact visible laser emitting devices. With Type II phase matching of the fundamental wavelength (@ 1064 nm) to second harmonic waves (@ 532 nm), the frequency doubling has been achieved through this three-dimensional beam splitter. Under 1064-nm continuous-wave fundamental-wavelength pump beam, guided-wave SHG at 532 nm are measured with the maximum power of 0.65 mW and 0.48 mW for waveguide splitters (0.67 mW and 0.51 mW for corresponding straight channel waveguides), corresponding to a SH conversion efficiency of approximately ~14.3%/W and 13.9%/W (11.2%/W, 11.3%/W for corresponding straight channel waveguides), respectively. This work paves a way to fabricate compact integrated nonlinear photonic devices in a single chip with beam dividing functions.

Dual-wavelength waveguide lasers at 1064 and 1079 nm in Nd:YAP crystal by direct femtosecond laser writing

Low-loss depressed cladding waveguides have been produced in Nd:YAP laser crystal by using direct femtosecond laser writing. Under optical pump at 812 nm at room temperature, continuous-wave simultaneous dual-wavelength laser oscillations at 1064 and 1079 nm, both along TM polarization, have been realized in the waveguiding structures. It has been found that, with the variation of pump polarization, the intensity ratio of 1064 and 1079 nm emissions varies periodically, while the polarization of output dual-wavelength laser remains unchanged. The maximum output power achieved for the Nd:YAP waveguide lasers is ∼200  mW with a slope efficiency of 33.4%.

Optical lattice-like cladding waveguides by direct laser writing: fabrication, luminescence, and lasing.

We report on the fabrication of optical lattice-like waveguide structures in an Nd:YAP laser crystal by using direct femtosecond laser writing. With periodically arrayed laser-induced tracks, the waveguiding cores can be located in either the regions between the neighbored tracks or the central zone surrounded by a number of tracks as outer cladding. The polarization of the femtosecond laser pulses for the inscription has been found to play a critical role in the anisotropic guiding behaviors of the structures. The confocal photoluminescence investigations reveal different stress-induced modifications of the structures inscribed by different polarization of the femtosecond laser beam, which are considered to be responsible for the refractive index changes of the structures. Under optical pump at 808 nm, efficient waveguide lasing at ∼1  μm wavelength has been realized from the optical lattice-like structure, which exhibits potential applications as novel miniature light sources.

Room-temperature subnanosecond waveguide lasers in Nd:YVO 4 Q-switched by phase-change VO 2 : A comparison with 2D materials

We report on room-temperature subnanosecond waveguide laser operation at 1064 nm in a Nd:YVO4 crystal waveguide through Q-switching of phase-change nanomaterial vanadium dioxide (VO2). The unique feature of VO2 nanomaterial from the insulating to metallic phases offers low-saturation-intensity nonlinear absorptions of light for subnanosecond pulse generation. The low-loss waveguide is fabricated by using the femtosecond laser writing with depressed cladding geometry. Under optical pump at 808 nm, efficient pulsed laser has been achieved in the Nd:YVO4 waveguide, reaching minimum pulse duration of 690 ps and maximum output average power of 66.7 mW. To compare the Q-switched laser performances by VO2 saturable absorber with those based on two-dimensional materials, the 1064-nm laser pulses have been realized in the same waveguide platform with either graphene or transition metal dichalcogenide (in this work, WS2) coated mirror. The results on 2D material Q-switched waveguide lasers have shown that the shortest pulses are with 22-ns duration, whilst the maximum output average powers reach ~161.9 mW. This work shows the obvious difference on the lasing properties based on phase-change material and 2D materials, and suggests potential applications of VO2 as low-cost saturable absorber for subnanosecond laser generation.

Laser-writing of ring-shaped waveguides in BGO crystal for telecommunication band

We report on the fabrication of ring-shaped waveguides operating at the telecommunication band in a cubic Bi4Ge3O12 (BGO) crystal by using technique of femtosecond laser writing. In the regions of laser written tracks in BGO crystal, positive refractive index is induced, resulting in so-called Type I configuration. The modal profiles are within the designed track cladding with ring-shaped geometries, which are analogous to circular optical lattices. The homogenous guidance along both TE and TM polarizations has been obtained at telecommunication wavelength of 1.55 μm. Both straight and S-curved waveguiding structures have been produced with ring-shaped configurations. This work paves the way to fabricate complex photonic networks for telecommunications by using ring-shaped waveguides in compact chips.

Dual-line optical waveguides in Cu:KNSBN crystal fabricated by direct femtosecond laser writing

Abstract. We report on dual-line waveguides fabricated by direct femtosecond laser writing in Cu:KNSBN crystal. Two different sizes have been designed with the separation between lines of 20 and 30  μm, respectively. The detailed structure of the dual-line waveguide has been imaged by means of micro-Raman analysis, indicating that the microstructure of the Cu:KNSBN crystal has no significant change after direct femtosecond laser writing. The dual-line waveguides support single-mode guidance along both transverse electric and transverse magnetic polarization at the wavelengths of 632.8 and 1064 nm, and show insensitivity to polarization of light. We suggest the potential application of the laser-written Cu:KNSBN waveguides as new integrated optical devices.

All-laser-micromachining of ridge waveguides in LiNbO 3 crystal for mid-infrared band applications

The femtosecond laser micromachining of transparent optical materials offers a powerful and feasible solution to fabricate versatile photonic components towards diverse applications. In this work, we report on a new design and fabrication of ridge waveguides in LiNbO3 crystal operating at the mid-infrared (MIR) band by all-femtosecond-laser microfabrication. The ridges consist of laser-ablated sidewalls and laser-written bottom low-index cladding tracks, which are constructed for horizontal and longitudinal light confinement, respectively. The ridge waveguides are found to support good guidance at wavelength of 4 μm. By applying this configuration, Y-branch waveguiding structures (1 × 2 beam splitters) have been produced, which reach splitting ratios of ∼1:1 at 4 μm. This work paves a simple and feasible way to construct novel ridge waveguide devices in dielectrics through all-femtosecond-laser micro-processing.