High-power pulsed semiconductor lasers

5^th International Conference and Exhibition on Lasers, Optics & Photonics

November 28-30, 2016 Atlanta, USA

Robert Bedford, Joshua Myers, Christopher Kokoczka and Saima Husaini

Air Force Research Laboratory, USA

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Laser Opt Photonics

Abstract :

Over the past 15 years, vertical external cavity surface emitting lasers (VECSELs, a.k.a. optically pumped semiconductor lasers, or â�?�?OPSLsâ�?) have demonstrated remarkable powers over vast wavelengths from the near-UV to the short-wave infrared spectral regimes directly. Moreover, inclusion of intra-cavity nonlinear crystals has extended this region across the deep-UV through the mid-wave infrared spectrum. Utilization of other intracavity nonlinear elements such as saturable absorbers can additionally facilitate large peak-power pulses through passive mode-locking. This technique has been demonstrated and may have uses in applications such as high pulse-repetition-frequency clocks and cavity ring-down spectroscopy. Although mode-locking enables high peak power pulses, picosecond pulse lengths typically limit the pulse energy to below a nanojoule. With the advent of intracavity polarization control, it may be possible to achieve higher orders of magnitude pulse energy synergies. This approach relies on storing energy in the laser cavity rather than in the gain like solid state lasers. Like passive mode-locking, peak power can be electrically tunable through the pump power, however unlike passive mode-locking, the pulse train can be tuned electronically and is not limited to periodic pulses. Using such a technique, we can also access pulse timescales that are between the traditional gain-switched pulses on the microsecond scale and the mode-locked pulses that are nominally a picosecond long. This presentation will review our research in the area of pulsed VECSELs.

Biography :

Email: robert.bedford@us.af.mil