大功率半导体激光阵列远场光强分布研究

针对Bar和Stack两种类型激光器,运用双峰模型,对各个发光单元的光强进行非相干叠加,得出Bar和Stack两种激光器的远场光强模型,并根据此模型模拟出Bar和Stack的远场光强分布。分别定量描述了Bar和Stack光强分布均匀的区域以及开始出现类似单发光单元的双峰分布的位置,并给出了相应的经验计算公式。利用这些公式以及器件数据手册给出的参数即可方便的计算出Bar和Stack的均匀区域以及出现类似单发光单元的双峰分布的位置。理论分析与实验结果基本吻合。可为Bar和Stack在实际应用中设计光学系统以及光束质量评价提供理论依据。     

Skylab radar altimeter: short-wavelength perturbations detected in ocean surface profiles

Short-wavelength anomalies in sea surface topography, caused by the gravitational effects of major ocean bottom topographic features, have been detected by the radar altimeter aboard Skylab. Some features, such as deep ocean trenches, seamounts, and escarpments, displace the ocean surface by as much as 15 meters over 100-kilometer wavelengths. This experiment demonstrates the potential of satellite altimetry for determining the ocean geoid and for mapping major features of the ocean bottom.     

Free-electron lasers

Free-electron lasers are tunable, potentially powerful sources of coherent radiation over a broad range of wavelengths from the far-infrared to the far-ultraviolet regions of the spectrum. These unique capabilities make them suitable for a broad variety of applications from medicine to strategic defense.     

Detection of air pollutants with tunable diode lasers

Preliminary experiments indicate that tunable Pb(1-x)Sn(x)Te diode lasers will be useful in the identification and sensitive detection of most of the atmospheric pollutant gases. For point-sampling applications, concentrations in the parts-per-billion range should be measurable with very high specificity. For long-range atmospheric transmission techniques, the improved resolution capability and tunability of these diode lasers make them attractive replacements for spectrometers and fixed-frequency laser sources where operation at cryogenic temperatures is not a serious impediment. By using these lasers as tunable local oscillators in the infrared heterodyne configuration, remote passive detection of gases present in smokestack effluent appears possible. Finally, pulsed operation at temperatures available with simple cryogenic coolers permits immediate application to the fast detection of gases present in automobile exhaust and in chemical processing plants.     

Artificial airglow excited by high-power radio waves

High-power electromagnetic waves beamed into the ionosphere from ground-based transmitters illuminate the night sky with enhanced airglow. The recent development of a new intensified, charge coupled-device imager made it possible to record optical emissions during ionospheric heating. Clouds of enhanced airglow are associated with large-scale plasma density cavities that are generated by the heater beam. Trapping and focusing of electromagnetic waves in these cavities produces accelerated electrons that collisionally excite oxygen atoms, which emit light at visible wavelengths. Convection of plasma across magnetic field lines is the primary source for horizontal motion of the cavities and the airglow enhancements. During ionospheric heating experiments, quasi-cyclic formation, convection, dissipation and reappearance of the cavites comprise a major source of long-term variability in plasma densities during ionospheric heating experiments.     

Self-mode-locking of quantum cascade lasers with giant ultrafast optical nonlinearities

We report on the generation of picosecond self-mode-locked pulses from midinfrared quantum cascade lasers, at wavelengths within the important molecular fingerprint region. These devices are based on intersubband electron transitions in semiconductor nanostructures, which are characterized by some of the largest optical nonlinearities observed in nature and by picosecond relaxation lifetimes. Our results are interpreted with a model in which one of these nonlinearities, the intensity-dependent refractive index of the lasing transition, creates a nonlinear waveguide where the optical losses decrease with increasing intensity. This favors the generation of ultrashort pulses, because of their larger instantaneous intensity relative to continuous-wave emission.     

Diode laser--pumped solid-state lasers

Diode laser-pumped solid-state lasers are efficient, compact, all solid-state sources of coherent optical radiation. Major advances in solid-state laser technology have historically been preceded by advances in pumping technology. The helical flash lamps used to pump early ruby lasers were superseded by the linear flash lamp and arc lamp now used to pump neodymium-doped yttrium-aluminum-garnet lasers. The latest advance in pumping technology is the diode laser. Diode laser-pumped neodymium lasers have operated at greater than 10 percent electrical to optical efficiency in a single spatial mode and with linewidths of less than 10 kilohertz. The high spectral power brightness of these lasers has allowed frequency extension by harmonic generation in nonlinear crystals, which has led to green and blue sources of coherent radiation. Diode laser pumping has also been used with ions other than neodymium to produce wavelengths from 946 to 2010 nanometers. In addition, Q-switched operation with kilowatt peak powers and mode-locked operation with 10-picosecond pulse widths have been demonstrated. Progress in diode lasers and diode laser arrays promises all solid-state lasers in which the flash lamp is replaced by diode lasers for average power levels in excess of tens of watts and at a price that is competitive with flash lamp-pumped laser systems. Power levels exceeding 1 kilowatt appear possible within the next 5 years. Potential applications of diode laser-pumped solid-state lasers include coherent radar, global sensing from satellites, medical uses, micromachining, and miniature visible sources for digital optical storage.     

Atomic stabilization by super-intense lasers

Supercomputer simulations predict the creation of an unexpectedly stable form of atomic matter when ordinary atoms are irradiated by very intense, high-frequency laser pulses. In the rising edge of a very intense pulse of ionizing radiation, the atom's wave function distorts adiabatically into a distribution with two well-separated peaks. As the intensity increases, the peak spacing increases so that the atomic electron spends more time far from the nucleus and the ionization rate decreases. This leads to the surprising and counter-intuitive result that the atom becomes more stable as the ionizing radiation gets stronger.     

Terawatt to petawatt subpicosecond lasers

The application of the chirped-pulse amplification technique to solid-state lasers combined with the availability of broad-bandwidth materials has made possible the development of small-scale terawatt and now even petawatt (1000-terawatt) laser systems. The laser technology used to produce these intense pulses and examples of new phenomena resulting from the application of these systems to atomic and plasma physics are described.