Photon extrabunching in ultrabright twin beams measured by two-photon counting in a semiconductor

For many years twin beams originating from parametric down-converted light beams have aroused great interest and attention in the photonics community. One particular aspect of the twin beams is their peculiar intensity correlation functions, which are related to the coincidence rate of photon pairs. Here we take advantage of the huge bandwidth offered by two-photon absorption in a semiconductor to quantitatively determine correlation functions of twin beams generated by spontaneous parametric down-conversion. Compared with classical incoherent sources, photon extrabunching is unambiguously and precisely measured, originating from exact coincidence between down-converted pairs of photons, travelling in unison. These results strongly establish that two-photon counting in semiconductors is a powerful tool for the absolute measurement of light beam photon correlations at ultrashort timescales.

Influence of Surface Defects on the Characteristics of GaN Schottky Diodes

We have studied the fabrication of Pt/Au Schottky diodes on n-type GaN. We show that the electrical characteristics of the diodes are strongly dependent on the surface chemical treatment before the metal deposition. Lowest leakage currents were obtained by the use of a HC1 solution. We also show that annealing the diode at a moderate temperature (400°C) leads to reduced reverse currents. In order to explain these results, we measured the density of deep levels in the Schottky diode depletion region before and after the annealing process. We did not observe any significant difference in the bulk density of defects due to the anneal. We also studied the temperature dependence of the reverse currents and found a low activation energy. Our results are interpreted in terms of electrical defects at the metal-GaN surface.

Metalorganic vapor phase epitaxial growth of GaInN/GaN hetero structures and quantum wells

GaInN/GaN heterostructures and quantum wells have been grown by low pressure metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy on sapphire using an AIN nucleation layer. We found a significant In incorporation only for growth temperatures of 700°C, although still very high In/Ga ratios in the gas phase had to be adjusted. The In content could be increased by reducing the H2/N2 flow ratio in the main carrier gas. GaInN layers typically show two lines in low temperature photoluminescence which are identified as excitonic-like (high energy peak) and impurity-related-like (low energy) by time-resolved spectroscopy. Quantum wells with a thickness between 8 and 0.5 nm showed only one emission line. The peak of the thinnest wells shows excitonic-like behaviour, whereas we found a smooth transition to an impurity-related-like type with increasing thickness. By scanning transmission electron microscopy studies we found indications for composition fluctuations in these thicker quantum wells which may cause localization effects for the excitons and thus be responsible for the observed optical spectra.

Passive mode locking of optical parametric oscillators: an efficient technique for generating sub-picosecond pulses

We show that optical parametric generation in a nonlinear crystal with a large group velocity mismatch between the pump and nearly-degenerate signal and idler is analogous to laser amplification in the medium with a gain recovery time comparable to the walk-off time. Based on this conclusion we propose to combine an OPO with a nonlinear saturable absorber or Kerr lens to generate directly high peak power sub-picosecond pulses using pump pulses ranging from tens of picoseconds to quasi-CW. Our analytical model predicts better than 80% photon conversion efficiency and pulse lengths that are of the order of a few hundred femtoseconds. Numerical simulations confirm our predictions and show that repetitive passive mode locking is feasible with a quasi-CW pump.

Passively mode-locked slow pump optical parametric oscillators

We predict that employing a Bragg grating to simultaneously phase match and induce large temporal walk-off between the signal and slow propagating pump in a nonlinear crystal can be conducive to development of passively mode locked optical parametric oscillators in which cw near-infrared pump is efficiently converted into short middle-infrared pulses.

Optical transitions in single-wall boron nitride nanotubes

Optical transitions in single-wall boron nitride nanotubes are investigated by means of optical absorption spectroscopy. Three absorption lines are observed. Two of them (at 4.45 and 5.5 eV) result from the quantification involved by the rolling up of the hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) sheet. The nature of these lines is discussed, and two interpretations are proposed. A comparison with single-wall carbon nanotubes leads one to interpret these lines as transitions between pairs of van Hove singularities in the one-dimensional density of states of boron nitride single-wall nanotubes. But the confinement energy due to the rolling up of the h-BN sheet cannot explain a gap width of the boron nitride nanotubes below the h-BN gap. The low energy line is then attributed to the existence of a Frenkel exciton with a binding energy in the 1 eV range.

Mid-infrared high-resolution absorption spectroscopy by use of a semimonolithic entangled-cavity optical parametric oscillator

By recording low-pressure absorption lines of N2O around 3.9 microm, we fully qualify a pulsed entangled-cavity doubly resonant optical parametric oscillator as a power tool for high-resolution spectroscopy. This compact source runs at a high repetition rate (>10 kHz) with a low threshold of oscillation (<8 microJ), is mode-hop-free tunable over 5 cm(-1), and displays single-frequency Fourier-transformed-limited operation (linewidth <0.005 cm(-1)). A high potential for nonlinear spectroscopy is also expected given the high peak power (70 W) and the good quality (M2 < 2) of the output beam.

Random quasi-phase-matching in bulk polycrystalline isotropic nonlinear materials

Three-wave mixing in nonlinear materials--the interaction of two light waves to produce a third--is a convenient way of generating new optical frequencies from common laser sources. However, the resulting optical conversion yield is generally poor, because the relative phases of the three interacting waves change continuously as they propagate through the material. This phenomenon, known as phase mismatch, is a consequence of optical dispersion (wave velocity is frequency dependent), and is responsible for the poor optical conversion potential of isotropic nonlinear materials. Here we show that exploiting the random motion of the relative phases in highly transparent polycrystalline materials can be an effective strategy for achieving efficient phase matching in isotropic materials. Distinctive features of this 'random quasi-phase-matching' approach are a linear dependence of the conversion yield with sample thickness (predicted in ref. 3), the absence of the need for either preferential materials orientation or specific polarization selection rules, and the existence of a wavelength-dependent resonant size for the polycrystalline grains.

Tunable ultraviolet intracavity tripled Ti:sapphire laser

We present what we believe to be the first intracavity tripled Ti:sapphire laser. This source is tunable in the 275-285-nm range and will be useful for applications in the detection of important atmospheric species such as OH and NO radicals. Single-frequency operation and high optical yield (>50%) are obtained in this system after it has been injected by a laser diode.

Entangled-cavity optical parametric oscillator for mid-infrared pulsed single-longitudinal-mode operation

We report a pulsed doubly resonant optical parametric oscillator that uses an original entangled-cavity geometry. This compact source (total volume of 1 L, including the pump laser) displays single-frequency operation (linewidth, <100 MHz), a high repetition rate (>10 kHz), low threshold (<10 muJ), and wide tuning in the mid-infrared. These properties qualify pulsed doubly resonant optical parametric oscillators as powerful tools for applications in such fields as nonlinear spectroscopy, lidar, and pollutant detection.

Widely tunable single-frequency pulsed optical parametric oscillator

The spectral output of a nanosecond dual-cavity doubly resonant optical parametric oscillator has been investigated versus the relative length of the signal and idler cavities. Regions of stable single-frequency operation are determined by use of a type II phase-matched KTP crystal and compared with the predictions of a mode-overlap model. A wide mode-hop-free tuning range is obtained over 40 GHz, limited only by piezoelectric biases. Furthermore, discrete tuning is investigated over the full parametric gain curve. For demonstration purposes, experiments are performed in the domain that is most inclined to multifrequency emission, i.e., near degeneracy.

Analysis of optically amplified mid-infrared parametric generation in AlGaAs waveguides

Based on the recent breakthroughs in oxidized AlGaAs technology, a considerable improvement in IR generation through merging of optical amplification and three-wave mixing is predicted. Amplification of one of the two input fields is shown to strongly relax the phase-matching condition for difference-frequency generation in AlGaAs waveguides. This effect is potentially crucial for the realization of an integrated semiconductor optical parametric oscillator.

Surface emitted second-harmonic generation from a quasi-phase matched waveguide in an Al(x)Ga(1-x)As/Al(2)O(3) microcavity

A nonlinear Al(x)Ga(1-x)As waveguide consisting of a quasi-phase matched heterostructure embedded in a microcavity has been designed and fabricated. The microcavity resonator is formed by Al(2)O(3)/Al(0.32)Ga(0.68)As multilayer mirrors located above and below the waveguide core. The cavity resonantly enhances the surface emitting second-harmonic generation. The SH conversion efficiency has been measured for wavelengths between l = 1525 and 1575 nm. A simple waveguide loss measurement technique based on the SH autocorrelation of short optical pulses in a III-V waveguide is also demonstrated.

5.2-5.6-microm source tunable by frequency conversion in a GaAs-based waveguide

A tunable mid-IR source obtained by difference-frequency generation is demonstrated in a selectively oxidized GaAsAlAs multilayer waveguide. We designed the waveguide to present the required form birefringence for phase matching of the nonlinear interaction. We took special care to lower losses for the mid-IR radiation. IR tunability from 5.2 to 5.6 mum was achieved by variation of the waveguide temperature and one pump wavelength. IR output power as great as 0.12 muW was obtained with the product of two pump powers of 7 mW(2). Losses of ~50 cm(-1) were measured for the mid-IR radiation. These losses are attributed to surface scattering.

Saturation of second-harmonic generation in GaAs-AlGaAs asymmetric quantum wells

The saturation of second-harmonic generation is observed for the first time to our knowledge in GaAs-GaAlAs asymmetric quantum wells. The sample, which consists of 200 periods of a 30-nm Ga(0.6)Al(0.4)As barrier, a 4.5-nm Ga(0.4)Al(0.09)As step barrier, and a 6-nm GaAs well, is pumped by a CO(2) TEA laser. The saturation of second-harmonic conversion is found to occur near 16 MW/cm(2). The power conversion efficiency is measured to be of the order of 3.4 x 10(-4). These results are in good agreement with theoretical predictions from a density matrix treatment.