We report the formation dynamics of periodic ripples on Ga As induced by femtosecond laser pulses(800 nm, 50 fs) via a collinear time-resolved imaging technique with a temporal resolution of 1 ps and a spatial resolution of 440 nm. The onset of periodic ripples emerges in the initial tens of picoseconds in the timescale of material ejection. The periodic ripples appear after irradiation of at least two pump pulses at surface defects produced by the first pulse and the ripple positions kept stable until the formation processes complete. The formation mechanisms of laser-induced periodic ripples are also discussed.
Transverse mode instability(TMI)has become the major limitation for power scaling of fiber lasers with nearly diffraction-limited beam quality.Compared with a co-pumped fiber laser,a counter-pumped fiber laser reveals TMI threshold enhancement through a semi-analytical model calculation.We demonstrated a 2 kW high-power counter-pumped all-fiberized laser without observation of TMI.Compared with the co-pumped scheme,the TMI threshold is enhanced at least 50%in counter-pumped scheme,moreover,stimulated Raman scattering and four-wave mixing are suppressed simultaneously.
The up-conversion luminescence tuning of rare-earth ions is an important research topic for understanding luminescence mechanisms and promoting related applications. In this paper, we experimentally study the up-conversion luminescence tuning of Er^(3+)-doped ceramic glass excited by the unshaped, V-shaped and cosine-shaped femtosecond laser field with different laser powers. The results show that green and red up-conversion luminescence can be effectively tuned by varying the power or spectral phase of the femtosecond laser field. We further analyze the up-conversion luminescence tuning mechanism by considering different excitation processes, including single-photon absorption(SPA), two-photon absorption(TPA), excited state absorption(ESA), and energy transfer up-conversion(ETU). The relative weight of TPA in the whole excitation process can increase with the increase of the laser power, thereby enhancing the intensity ratio between green and red luminescence(I_(547)/I_(656)). However, the second ETU(ETU2) process can generate red luminescence and reduce the green and red luminescence intensity ratio I_(547)/I_(656), while the third ESA(ESA3) process can produce green luminescence and enhance its control efficiency. Moreover, the up-conversion luminescence tuning mechanism is further validated by observing the up-conversion luminescence intensity, depending on the laser power and the down-conversion luminescence spectrum under the excitation of 400-nm femtosecond laser pulse. These studies can present a clear physical picture that enables us to understand the up-conversion luminescence tuning mechanism in rare-earth ions, and can also provide an opportunity to tune up-conversion luminescence to promote its related applications.
This Letter reports the formation of periodic surface structures on Ni–Fe film irradiated by a single femtosecond laser pulse. A concave lens with a focus length of-150 mm is placed in front of an objective(100×, NA=0.9),which transforms the Gaussian laser field into a ring distribution by the Fresnel diffraction. Periodic ripples form on the ablation area after the irradiation of a single femtosecond laser pulse, which depends on the laser polarization and laser fluence. We propose that the ring structure of the laser field leads to a similar transient distribution of the permittivity on the sample surface, which further launches the surface plasmon polaritons. The interaction of the incident laser with surface plasmon polaritons dominates the formation of periodic surface structures.
It has been shown that the femtosecond laser polarization modulation is a very simple and well-established method to control the multi-photon absorption process by the light–matter interaction. Previous studies mainly focused on the multiphoton absorption control in the weak field. In this paper, we further explore the polarization control behavior of multiphoton absorption process in the intermediate femtosecond laser field. In the weak femtosecond laser field, the secondorder perturbation theory can well describe the non-resonant two-photon absorption process. However, the higher order nonlinear effect(e.g., four-photon absorption) can occur in the intermediate femtosecond laser field, and thus it is necessary to establish new theoretical model to describe the multi-photon absorption process, which includes the two-photon and four-photon transitions. Here, we construct a fourth-order perturbation theory to study the polarization control behavior of this multi-photon absorption under the intermediate femtosecond laser field excitation, and our theoretical results show that the two-photon and four-photon excitation pathways can induce a coherent interference, while the coherent interference is constructive or destructive that depends on the femtosecond laser center frequency. Moreover, the two-photon and fourphoton transitions have the different polarization control efficiency, and the four-photon absorption can obtain the higher polarization control efficiency. Thus, the polarization control efficiency of the whole excitation process can be increased or decreased by properly designing the femtosecond laser field intensity and laser center frequency. These studies can provide a clear physical picture for understanding and controlling the multi-photon absorption process in the intermediate femtosecond laser field, and also can provide a theoretical guidance for the future experimental realization.
A detailed study of the fluorescence emission properties and energy transfer mechanism in Er^(3+)/Tm^(3+) co-doped lead silicate glasses was reported. Enhanced near infrared 1.8 μm and visible up-conversion emissions were investigated under 808 and 980 nm excitations, respectively. The energy transfer mechanism between Er^(3+) and Tm^(3+) was analyzed according to the absorption spectra, the emission spectra and the level structures of Er^(3+) and Tm^(3+). The energy transfer efficiency between Er^(3+) and Tm^(3+) reached 68.1% in the Er^(3+)/Tm^(3+) co-doped lead silicate glasses when pumped by 808 nm laser diode. Based on the absorption spectra, the Judd-Ofelt parameters, spontaneous emission probability, absorption and emission cross sections, gain coefficients were calculated and analyzed. It was found that the calculated emission cross section and the maximum gain coefficient around 1.8 μm were 4.9×10^(–21)cm^2 and 1.12 cm^(–1), respectively. These results indicated that the Er^(3+)/Tm^(3+) co-doped lead-silicate glasses had potential application in near infrared lasers.
