We will discuss some of our recent results on fractional scalar and vector vortex beams representing the Hilbert Hotel paradox. Using full Poincare Bessel beams (FPB), we showed that one can create an infinite series of C-point singularities. We have also devised a novel method to measure the polarization coverage of Poincare beams and showed that the FPBs are the superposition of an infinite number of Poincare beams.
We present a Geometric Phase (GP)-based Sagnac Anti-Resonant Ring (ARR) interferometer mirror (GP-mirror) for achieving tunable optimum output coupling in Continuous Wave (CW) Doubly Resonant Optical parametric oscillator (DRO). The DRO is designed using a nonlinear crystal MgO: PPsLT of 30 mm length and a grating period of 7.97 μm with a GP mirror in one arm of the standing wave cavity. The GP mirror is constructed using a quarter wave-plate (λ/4), half wave plate (λ/2), and quarter wave-plate(λ/4) at +45◦, θ, -45◦ with respect to vertical polarization, respectively. The DRO output transmission can be varied continuously from 0.6% to 50%, attaining optimum output coupling of 1.4% for maximum power extraction of 2.45 W when pumped with an incident power of 5 W at 47◦C crystal temperature at signal and idler wavelength of 1054 nm and 1074 nm, respectively. The maximum pump depletion of 89% is obtained with a conversion efficiency of 49%. The transmission through a GP-based mirror delivers the tunable optimum output power across the tuning wavelength range ⪆ 90 nm. This showcased GP-mirror concept presents an avenue for enhancing the capabilities and management of coherent sources adjustable across various spectral ranges and across all time scales, ranging from continuous-wave to ultrafast femtosecond domains.
Using a 4.5-W average power Cr2+:ZnS laser having a pulse width 43 fs and a spectral bandwidth of 138 nm centred at 2360 nm with a repetition rate of 80 MHz, we have produced femtosecond pulses in yellow wavelength. Using a 1 mm long Type 0 MgO: PPLN crystal in the first stage of our experiment, we have generated a maximum of ~ 2.43 W power of ~ 60 fs pulse width and ~ 39 nm spectral bandwidth centred at 1180 nm with a maximum conversion efficiency as high as ~ 65%. In the second stage, two different crystals, MgO:PPLN and BIBO were used to generate ultrafast coherent yellow source. The 1.18 μm radiation is first frequency-doubled in a multigrating 1 mm long Type 0 MgO:PPLN crystal with grating periods Λ=8.9 - 9.45 μm. A coherent yellow source with wavelength tunability from 577- 589 nm with a spectral bandwidth of ∼ 2 nm and temporal pulsewidth of ∼ 913 fs was achieved. At optimum focussing, we obtained a maximum power of 0.92 W for 2.2 W of pump power having a conversion efficiency of 40%. In order to address the large GVM between 1180 nm and 590 nm wavelength, we used another 1.2 mm long nonlinear crystal BIBO for birefringent phase matching. With BIBO crystal, the near-IR radiation was efficiently frequency doubled into yellow range (~ 591 nm) with average power of ~ 1 W and having a maximum conversion efficiency as high as 47%. The generated beam has a pulse width of ~ 130 fs in Gaussian shaped and ~ 4 nm spectral bandwidth with a time-bandwidth product of 0.45 showing almost no chirp. The output beam is a Gaussian shaped transverse beam profile with measured M2 values of M2x ∼ 1.07 and M2y ∼1.01.
Nonlinear frequency conversion processes depend on the polarization state of interacting beams. On the other hand, vector-vortex beams have space-variant polarization in beam transverse plane. In light of these two points, it is challenging to do nonlinear frequency conversion of vector vortex beam in single-pass geometry and retain the polarization characteristics of the beam. Here, we report an experimental scheme for single-pass second harmonic generation (SHG) of vector-vortex beams. Using two contiguous bismuth borate crystals with optic axis orthogonal to each other, we have frequency-doubled the near-IR vector-vortex beam into visible vector-vortex beams with order as high as lsh=24.
We report on efficient, two stage single-pass second harmonic generation of ultrafast Cr2+:ZnS laser with spectral bandwidth of 138 nm centered at ~2360 nm and pulse width of ~43 fs at a repetition rate of 80 MHz into tunable yellow radiation across 577 - 589 nm in multi-grating MgO:PPLN crystals. A maximum average output power ~940 mW at 589 nm wavelength with a single-pass conversion efficiency as high as 41% was achieved. The yellow radiation has a spectral bandwidth of 2 nm and pulse-width of ~913 fs in absence of any pulse compression with a time-bandwidth product of 1.58.
Structured coherent optical beams including optical vortices, hollow Gaussian beam, and Airy beam have found wide range of applications in variety of fields in science and technology. All existing techniques used to date to generate such beams suffer from different limitations including lower output power and restricted wavelength coverage. On the other hand, interactions of such beams with nonlinear media are mostly unexplored. We have been involved in the study of nonlinear interaction of optical beams with different spatial structures. Here, we discuss our recent results on nonlinear generation of various structured laser beams including optical vortices, perfect vortices, Airy beam, and hollow Gaussian beam and some of their applications
We report on development of tunable, cw, single frequency ultraviolet (UV) source based on intra-cavity frequency
doubling of an optical parametric oscillator (OPO). The singly resonant OPO (SRO) is realized using 25 mm long MgOdoped
periodically poled stoichiometric lithium tantalite (MgO:sPPLT). The SRO, pumped in the green, is intra-cavity
frequency doubled using two different crystals β-BaB2O4 (BIBO) and periodically poled KTiOPO4 (PPKTP) to generate
tunable UV radiation. The BIBO based source produces UV radiation with output power as much as 770 mW at 398.24
nm in elliptic (0.66) spatial beam while pumping at 8W of green power. The UV source can be tuned across 355.2-418
nm with a continuous wavelength tunability of 62.8 nm in single frequency radiation with instantaneous line-width of
14.5 MHz. On the other hand, the PPKTP based UV source generates maximum UV power of 336 mW at 398.28 nm and
wavelength tunability of 18.1 nm in a TEMOO spatial mode with ellipticity of 0.93 for 5W of green pump power. The
line-width of the UV radiation is measured to be 18.5 MHZ. In comparison, PPKTP based UV source provides better
performance than BIBO in terms of beam quality and power stability.
We report a novel technique for the generation of mode-locked pulses from a continuous-wave (cw) optical parametric
oscillator (OPO). The technique is based on the deployment of an electro-optic phase modulator (EOM) in combination
with an antiresonant ring (ARR) interferometer internal to a cw OPO. The scheme is implemented in a doubly-resonant
cw OPO based on MgO:sPPLT, configured in a standing-wave cavity and pumped at 532 nm by a cw laser. With careful
adjustment of the cavity length, modulation frequency and modulation depth, under different conditions, we achieved
stable train of 730 ps and 450 ps pulses at a repetition rate of 160 MHz and 80 MHz, respectively. At degeneracy,
spectral broadening of ~38 nm and ~20 nm has been observed corresponding to pulses of 160 MHz and 80 MHz
repetition rate, respectively. We have confirmed true mode-locked operation by verifying ~4 times enhancement in
second-harmonic-generation power under mode-locked operation at both 160 MHz and 80 MHz, compared to that in cw
operation, for a fixed average fundamental power.
We report the first experimental demonstration of a high-power Ti:sapphire laser pumped by an efficient, compact and cost-effective continuous-wave (cw) fiber-laser-green source at 532 nm. The green source is obtained by direct singlepass second-harmonic-generation (SHG) of a Yb-fiber laser in MgO:sPPLT crystal, providing 11 W of green power in TEM00 spatial profile. The Ti:sapphire laser is continuously tunable across 743-970 nm and can deliver an output power up to 2.7 W with a slope efficiency as high as 32.8% under optimum output coupling of 20%. The laser output has a TEM00 spatial profile with M2<1.44 across the tuning range and exhibits a peak-to-peak power fluctuation below 5.1% over 1 hour.
We report a simple, compact and novel implementation for single-pass second-harmonic-generation (SP-SHG) of continuous-wave laser radiation based on a cascaded multi-crystal scheme, which can provide the highest conversion efficiency at any given fundamental power. By deploying a suitable number of identical 30-mm-long MgO:sPPLT crystals in a cascade, and a 30-W cw Yb-fiber laser at 1064 nm as the fundamental source, we demonstrate SP-SHG into
the green with a conversion efficiency as high as 56% in the low as well as high-power regime, providing a 5.6 W of green output for 10 W and 13 W green output for 25.1 W of input pump power. The multi-crystal scheme permits substantial increase in cw SP-SHG efficiency compared to the conventional single-crystal scheme, without compromising performance with regard to power stability and beam quality.
We describe new sources of tunable, high-power radiation in the blue and ultraviolet. Continuous-wave (cw), singlefrequency
blue radiation tunable across 425-489 nm and femtosecond ultraviolet (UV) radiation tunable across 250-355
nm is generated by intracavity frequency-doubling of resonant signal radiation in cw and ultrafast optical parametric
oscillators (OPOs) in singly-resonant oscillator (SRO) configuration. The cw SRO, pumped in the green, uses a 30-mm
MgO:sPPLT as the nonlinear material and a 5-mm BiB3O6 (BIBO) crystal for internal doubling. Using this approach, we
generate 1.27 W of cw blue power with a linewidth of 8.5 MHz and a TEM00 profile. The device also generate a singlefrequency
signal output of ~100 mW across 850-978 nm and up to 2.6 W of idler power in the 1167-1422 nm spectral
range. The femtosecond SRO, based on a 400-μm BIBO crystal and pumped at 415 nm in the blue, can provide visible
femtosecond signal pulses across 500-710 nm. Using a 500-μm crystal of β-BaB2O4 internal to the SRO cavity, efficient
frequency doubling of the signal pulses into the UV is achieved, providing tunable femtosecond pulses across 250-355
nm with up to 225 mW of average power at 76 MHz. Cross-correlation measurements result in UV pulses with durations
down to 132 fs for 180 fs blue pump pulses.
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