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Lecture

Advanced Laser Systems

In course

PHYS-449: Optics III

Réaliser un système d'optique complexe. Comprendre l'interaction de la lumière avec la matière en optique nonlinéaire et optique pulsé. Comprendre les méthodes de génération, d'amplification e de compression des impulsions courtes. Connaitre les techniques ...

Description

This lecture covers advanced laser systems such as gas lasers, solid-state lasers, and dye lasers. Topics include pulse amplification, optical fibers, diffraction gratings, and the generation of short pulses without 'mode-locking'. The instructor discusses concepts like group speed dispersion, self-phase modulation, femtosecond pulse lasers, and the optical Kerr effect.

Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Physics

Optics: Lasers

Related concepts (32)

Laser

A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word laser is an anacronym that originated as an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. The first laser was built in 1960 by Theodore Maiman at Hughes Research Laboratories, based on theoretical work by Charles H. Townes and Arthur Leonard Schawlow. A laser differs from other sources of light in that it emits light that is coherent.

Dye laser

A dye laser is a laser that uses an organic dye as the lasing medium, usually as a liquid solution. Compared to gases and most solid state lasing media, a dye can usually be used for a much wider range of wavelengths, often spanning 50 to 100 nanometers or more. The wide bandwidth makes them particularly suitable for tunable lasers and pulsed lasers. The dye rhodamine 6G, for example, can be tuned from 635 nm (orangish-red) to 560 nm (greenish-yellow), and produce pulses as short as 16 femtoseconds.

Ultrashort pulse

In optics, an ultrashort pulse, also known as an ultrafast event, is an electromagnetic pulse whose time duration is of the order of a picosecond (10−12 second) or less. Such pulses have a broadband optical spectrum, and can be created by mode-locked oscillators. Amplification of ultrashort pulses almost always requires the technique of chirped pulse amplification, in order to avoid damage to the gain medium of the amplifier. They are characterized by a high peak intensity (or more correctly, irradiance) that usually leads to nonlinear interactions in various materials, including air.

Pulsed laser

Pulsed operation of lasers refers to any laser not classified as continuous wave, so that the optical power appears in pulses of some duration at some repetition rate. This encompasses a wide range of technologies addressing a number of different motivations. Some lasers are pulsed simply because they cannot be run in continuous mode. In other cases the application requires the production of pulses having as large an energy as possible.

Laser diode

A laser diode (LD, also injection laser diode or ILD, or diode laser) is a semiconductor device similar to a light-emitting diode in which a diode pumped directly with electrical current can create lasing conditions at the diode's junction. Driven by voltage, the doped p–n-transition allows for recombination of an electron with a hole. Due to the drop of the electron from a higher energy level to a lower one, radiation, in the form of an emitted photon is generated. This is spontaneous emission.

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Nonlinear Effects in Laser Systems

Explores nonlinear effects in laser systems, focusing on pulse generation and frequency modulation using gas and dye lasers.

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Explores semi-conductor lasers, beam quality, direct vs. indirect bandgap, and M2 parameter significance.

Femtosecond Laser Pulses

Explores femtosecond laser pulse generation, nonlinear optics, pulse compression, and laser systems for ultrafast pulses.

Rate equations, gain saturation, different lasers

Explores rate equations, gain saturation, and various laser types and applications.

Mode Locking Techniques: Generating High Power Lasers