Swift carbon ion irradiated Nd:YAG ceramic optical waveguide amplifier

High-Gain of NdIII Complex Doped Optical Waveguide Amplifiers at 1.06 and 1.31 µm Wavelengths Based on Intramolecular Energy Transfer Mechanism

Chelate phosphine oxide ligand (9,9-dimethyl-9H-xanthene-4,5-diyl) bis (diphenylphosphineoxide) (XPO) is prepared as a neutral ligand to synthesize complex Nd (TTA)₃ (XPO) (TTA = 2-thenoyltrifluoroacetone). An appropriate energy gap between the XPO and TTA ligands, which can support two additional energy transfer routines from the first excited triplet state (T₁ ) energy level of the XPO to that of the TTA, improves energy transfer in the Nd complex. Based on intramolecular energy transfer mechanism, optical gains at 1.06 and 1.31 µm are demonstrated in Nd (TTA)₃ (XPO)-doped polymer waveguides with the excitation of low-power light-emitting diodes (LEDs) instead of semiconductor lasers as pump sources. Using the vertical top-pumping mode of a 365 nm LED, relative gains of 22.5 and 8.4 dB cm^-1 are obtained at 1.06 and 1.31 µm, respectively, in a 0.2 cm long embedded waveguide with a cross-section of 8 × 5 µm² . The active core layer is Nd (TTA)₃ (XPO)-doped SU-8 polymer. Moreover, relative gains are achieved in evanescent-field waveguide with a cross-section of 6 × 4 µm² . The 21.0 and 5.6 dB cm^-1 relative gains are achieved at 1.06 and 1.31 µm, respectively, with a net gain of 13.8 ± 0.3 dB cm^-1 obtained at 1.06 µm in a 0.9 cm long SU-8 waveguide with Nd (TTA)₃ (XPO)-doped polymethylmethacrylate as upper cladding.

Tailoring nonlinear optical properties of Bi2Se3 through ion irradiation

The nonlinear optical property of topological insulator bismuth selenide (Bi₂Se₃) is found to be well-tailored through ion irradiation by intentionally introducing defects. The increase of the optical modulation depth sensitively depends on the careful selection of the irradiation condition. By implementing the ion irradiated Bi₂Se₃ film as an optical saturable absorber device for the Q-switched wave-guide laser, an enhanced laser performance has been obtained including narrower pulse duration and higher peak power. Our work provides a new approach of tailoring the nonlinear optical properties of materials through ion irradiation, a well-developed chip-technology, which could find wider applicability to other layered two-dimensional materials beyond topological insulators, such as graphene, MoS₂, black phosphours etc.

High-gain optical waveguide amplifier based on proton beam writing of Nd:YAG crystal

We report on an optical amplifier based on a Nd:YAG channel waveguide, which was fabricated by proton beam writing. Under the pumping of a continuous wave laser, the high-gain optical amplifications at single wavelength of 1064 nm and wavelength band of 1300 nm -1360 nm were obtained. The maximum gain was 24 dB/cm at 1064 nm and 6 dB/cm at 1319 nm, respectively. This work paves a way to apply proton beam written Nd:YAG waveguides as integrated optical amplifiers for the efficient amplification.

Guided continuous-wave and graphene-based Q-switched lasers in carbon ion irradiated Nd:YAG ceramic channel waveguide

We demonstrate the lasing performance in the Nd:YAG ceramic channel waveguide produced by the carbon ion irradiation, including the continuous-wave (cw) and graphene Q-switched configurations. The highest slope efficiency of 56% and the lowest threshold of 40 mW have been obtained for the cw waveguide laser. With graphene as a saturable absorber, the Q-switched laser produces stable pulses with 57 ns pulse duration and 77 nJ pulse energy, respectively. Under the variation of the pumping power, the repetition of the pulse laser could be modified from 1.5 MHz to 4.1 MHz.

Q-switched pulse laser generation from double-cladding Nd:YAG ceramics waveguides

This work reports on the Q-switched pulsed laser generation from double-cladding Nd:YAG ceramic waveguides. Double-cladding waveguides with different combination of diameters were inscribed into a sample of Nd:YAG ceramic. With an additional semiconductor saturable absorber, stable pulsed laser emission at the wavelength of 1064 nm was achieved with pulses of 21 ns temporal duration and ~14 μJ pulse energy at a repetition rate of 3.65 MHz.