Goal of 10 GHz Mode locked mid-IR Microchip Waveguide Lasers
Abstract
Military electro-optic sources must be highly reliable in harsh environmental conditions.Waveguide structures provide insensitivity to vibration as well as changes in temperature and pressure. Waveguide devices can also be compact and in principle low cost. Throughout the course of our research into ZnSe we achieved a number of major milestones. The first permanent refractive index change in ZnSe using ultrafast laser inscription was attained [1]. This technology was then applied to Cr2+: ZnSe substrates and waveguides were built into a compact laser cavity to demonstrate the first waveguide Cr2+: ZnSe laser as well as the longest wavelength laser source ever fabricated through ultrafast laser inscription. This exciting result paves the way to power scaling current Cr2+: ZnSe sources and offers the prospect of a host of compact, integrated mid-infrared photonic devices. The achievement of lasing in a Cr2+: ZnSe waveguide [2,3] has been followed by the power scaling of laser output [4] as well as the demonstration of continuously tuneable laser emission from 2077–2777 nm [5]. We have also demonstrated the first waveguide laser operation in Fe2+:ZnSe [6]. CW lasing action in Ho:YAG [7] and 5.9 GHz Q-Switched mode locked operation of the same laser has been presented in CLEO 2017 [8] Recently we have also reported preliminary results on mode locking of Cr2+: ZnSe [9]. Recently Stites et. al. [10] has reported that hot isostatic pressing (HIP) of transition metal ions in ZnSe results in increased homogeneous broadening resulting in a reduction of the spectral linewidth by a factor of 350 compared to non HIP treated commercially available samples. Having pioneered the use of short pulsed laser material processing techniques we aim to develop compact, robust, monolithic directly written high repletion rate up to 10 GHz mode locked mid-infrared waveguide laser sources in HIP treated Cr2+: ZnSe.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jul 11, 2018
- Source ID
- FA95501810202
Entities
People
- Ajoy Kar
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- Heriot-Watt University
- United States Air Force