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Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE

Wide-bandwidth adjustable Q-switch based on rubidium vapor

B. Glushko, Vladimir Krupkin, David G. Sarkisyan

Published Aug 13, 1993• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A sealed leucosapphire cell containing rubidium vapor was used as an effective Q switching element for a flash lamp pumped Nd:YAG laser. The control of the laser parameters such as output energy, pulse length, and repetition rate by simple vapor temperature exchange has been demonstrated. Single giant pulses with energy 100 mJ and duration 20 ns were observed. Trains of 40 ns pulses separated by 6 microsecond(s) intervals were generated at the lowered temperature of the cell. The experiment was verified using a LiF Q switch. The cell is proposed for Q switching of high power and wide spectral range lasers.

DOI
10.1117/12.150999

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Optics and Spectroscopy•Nov 1, 2018•2 citations
A sealed leucosapphire cell containing rubidium vapor was used as an effective Q switching element for a flash lamp pumped Nd:YAG laser. The control of the laser parameters such as output energy, pulse length, and repetition rate by simple vapor temperature exchange has been demonstrated. Single giant pulses with energy 100 mJ and duration 20 ns were observed. Trains of 40 ns pulses separated by 6 microsecond(s) intervals were generated at the lowered temperature of the cell. The experiment was verified using a LiF Q switch. The cell is proposed for Q switching of high power and wide spectral range lasers.
We study ultrabroadband slow light in a warm rubidium vapor cell. By working between the D1 and D2 transitions, we find a several-nanometer window centered at 788.4 nm in which the group index is highly uniform and the absorption is small (<1%). We demonstrate that we can control the group delay by varying the temperature of the cell, and we observe a tunable fractional delay of 18 for pulses as short as 250 fs (6.9 nm bandwidth) with a fractional broadening of only 0.65 and a power leakage of 55%. We find that a simple theoretical model is in excellent agreement with the experimental results. Using this model, we discuss the impact of the pulse’s spectral characteristics on the distortion it incurs during propagation through the vapor.
Abstract Laser oscillation is obtained in caesium and rubidium atoms with wavelengths in the range of 2 – 5.5 μm under pumping to high-lying energy levels. Longitudinal resonant pumping is implemented using the second harmonic of radiation from an optical parametric oscillator. The pump wavelength is tuned over discrete levels from 8P to 10P in caesium atoms and from 6P to 8P in rubidium atoms. The width of the pump radiation spectrum is 12 cm−1. When caesium atoms are pumped, the pump pulse energy is no more than 10 mJ; when rubidium atoms are pumped, it does not exceed 3 mJ. The pulse repetition rate is 10 Hz. The maximum output energy of IR laser radiation upon pumping the 9P3/2 level of caesium atoms is about 100 μJ at a cell temperature of ∼170°C, while the efficiency of pump conversion into radiation energy with a wavelength λ ∼ 3.1 μm turns out to be ∼1 %. For rubidium atoms, an estimate of the output energy of IR radiation gives a value of ∼80 μJ at a cell temperature of 180 °C, which corresponds to an energy efficiency of ∼2.7 %.
Abstract We present experimental results of an exciplex-pumped alkali laser (XPAL) at 780 nm based on the 5 2 P 3/2 → 5 2 S 1/2 transition of the Rb atom in mixtures of Rb vapor and Ar. A laboratory-built Ti:sapphire laser with a pulse repetition rate of 3 kHz and a pulse width of 100 ns is used as the pump source. The maximum laser pulse energy of 0.26 µJ at 780 nm is obtained under an absorbed pump pulse energy of 42 µJ at 755 nm in mixtures of Rb vapor and Ar at a temperature of 423 K, corresponding to an optical conversion efficiency of 0.62%. Further experiments show that the output laser at 780 nm can always be detected for pump wavelengths ranging from 754 to 759 nm, indicating that Rb–Ar mixtures can be effectively pumped by commercial laser diodes (LDs) with a bandwidth of 5 nm.
Abstract Laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) in the spectral range of 400–1000 nm has been investigated in rubidium vapor excited by narrowband diode laser radiation at 780 nm and 795 nm, resonant with the 5 S 1 / 2 → 5 P 1 / 2 , 3 / 2 transitions. Experiments were performed using three specially fabricated all-sapphire cells with thicknesses of L = 1 cm, 10 μ m, and 500 nm. Multiple fluorescence channels were observed, and it is shown that many LIF signals are suppressed with decreasing cell thickness due to enhanced atom–wall collisions leading to quenching of excited states. Nevertheless, for a nanocell of thickness L = 500 nm at temperatures of ∼ 300 ∘ C, blue fluorescence at 420 nm remains observable, and its intensity is compared with results available in the literature. It is further demonstrated that LIF spectroscopy enables detection and estimation of residual cesium vapor in rubidium cells via energy-transfer processes. In addition, the Rb vapor cell can operate as an efficient optical filter and frequency up-converter, converting radiation at 780 nm or 795 nm into shorter wavelengths, notably 420 nm. These results highlight the potential of broadband LIF spectroscopy in alkali vapors for applications in precision measurements, optical frequency standards, and quantum technologies.
Abstract For the first time, it is demonstrated that the magnitude and sign of the effect of “spectral condensation” of a laser pulse at the resonant-transition frequency of a dense medium can be controlled by changing the driving-pulse parameters (chirp, pulse width, and pulse amplitude). In the process of this, importantly, the driving-pulse energy and spectrum remain unchanged. Direct time-resolved measurements revealed an oscillatory character of the induced superradiance of rubidium vapors representing a long train of decaying short pulses. The width and repetition rate of the pulses in the train are determined by atomic density N0 of the medium, while the width of an entire superradiance pulse (10 ps) is considerably larger than that of the driving laser pulse (50 fs).