In this paper, the preparation and spectral properties of large mode field double-clad (LMA) fiber two-dimensional fiber gratings are studied. Firstly, a new compact grating analysis model for writing fiber gratings with different periods in different regions of the fiber core is theoretically proposed, and the spectral characteristics of the gratings written in different regions of the fiber core are studied based on the transfer matrix method. A three-wavelength two-dimensional fiber grating with a designed wavelength interval of 1.57 nm was successfully fabricated using a 248 nm excimer laser in a large mode field double-clad fiber laser. The research results show that the spectral characteristics of the two-dimensional fiber grating can be changed flexibly by changing the masking parameters, and the structure is compact. The experimentally obtained two-dimensional fiber grating spectrum is consistent with the theoretical analysis. The research results provide a theoretical reference for the design, fabrication and application of two-dimensional fiber gratings.
Laser energy sealing systems have attracted much attention over the past decade given the general shift in surgical paradigm toward less invasive surgical approaches. Given this, it is paramount to have an objective method with which the quality of energy seals can be evaluated. Current methodologies used for this purpose can be problematic in the evaluation of small vessel seals. A methodology employing Doppler optical coherence tomography (DOCT) for the evaluation of energy seals is introduced. Avian chorioallantoic membrane vessels were subjected to thulium laser irradiation and were then scanned via OCT. Outcomes were classified based on several markers, predominantly the presence or absence of flow postirradiation. Vessel diameter and general morphology were also taken into consideration. Vessels were classified into four groups: seal (29%), rupture (30%), partial seal (19%), and unaffected (22%). All vessels were also evaluated visually by a trained neurovascular surgeon, and these visually classified outcomes were compared with DOCT evaluated outcomes. It was found that whether the vessel was considered sealed or not sealed was dependent on the evaluation method (p = 0.01) where visual classification resulted in 18% more seals than DOCT classification. Further, the specificity of visual classification was found to be strongly dependent on the number of partial seals (p < 0.0001). DOCT has shown to be an indispensable method for the evaluation of energy seals not only solely due to its high velocity resolution but also due to valuable microscopic morphological insight regarding the biological mechanisms responsible for energy sealing.
Single-frequency fiber laser has attracted a lot of interest in recent years due to its numerous application potentials in telecommunications, LIDAR, high resolution sensing, atom frequency standard, etc. Phosphate glass fiber is one of the candidates for building compact high gain fiber lasers because of its capability of high-concentration of rare-earth ions doping in fiber core. Nevertheless, it is challenging for the integration of UV-written intra-core fiber Bragg gratings into the fiber laser cavity due to the low photosensitivity of phosphate glass fiber. The research presented in this paper will focus on demonstration of UV-written Bragg gratings in phosphate glass fiber and its application in direct-written short monolithic single-frequency fiber lasers. Strong π-phase shift Bragg grating structure is direct-inscribed into the Er/Yb co-doped gain fiber using an excimer laser, and a 5-cm-long phase mask is used to inscribe a laser cavity into the Er/Yb co-doped phosphate glass fibers. The phase mask is a uniform mask with a 50 μm gap in the middle. The fiber laser device emits output power of 10.44 mW with a slope efficiency of 21.5% and the threshold power is about 42.8 mW. Single-longitudinal mode operation is validated by radio frequency spectrum measurement. Moreover, the output spectrum at the highest power shows an excellent optical signal to noise ratio of about 70 dB. These results, to the best of our knowledge, show the lowest power threshold and highest efficiency among the reports that using the same structure to achieve single-longitudinal mode laser output.
Inline optical coherence tomography (OCT) has proven to be an ideal feedback mechanism for real-time depth control of high-power ablation lasers. This has found use in industrial laser ablation applications, but it has the potential to truly change the use of laser ablation in medicine. Previously, we have presented a novel design that is able to place the OCT beam ( λc = 1310nm) coaxially with the beam of a high-powered fiber laser (λ = 1064nm, Pavg=10W, Ppeak = 1kW) without the need of a dichroic mirror on the output stage. This design successfully demonstrated real-time ablation depth feedback. Development of this design was continued and further refinements have been made to improve performance and form factor, with the ultimate goal being to create a compact, low-cost, high-precision laser scalpel to be used for various surgical osteotomies. We present an improved design that, unlike before, removes the need for bulk optics in the entire system other than a single collimator and doublet lens on the output. Strategies for dispersion mismatch compensation will be discussed to optimize resolution of OCT feedback. Initial results for depth-controlled ablation of tissue is presented.
Tissue removal using electrocautery is standard practice in neurosurgery since tissue can be cut and cauterized simultaneously. Thermally mediated tissue ablation using lasers can potentially possess the same benefits but with increased precision. However, given the critical nature of the spine, brain, and nerves, the effects of direct photo-thermal interaction on neural tissue needs to be known, yielding not only high precision of tissue removal but also increased control of peripheral heat damage. The proposed use of lasers as a neurosurgical tool requires that a common ground is found between ablation rates and resulting peripheral heat damage.
Most surgical laser systems rely on the conversion of light energy into heat resulting in both desirable and undesirable thermal damage to the targeted tissue. Classifying the distribution of thermal energy in neural tissue, and thus characterizing the extent of undesirable thermal damage, can prove to be exceptionally challenging considering its highly inhomogenous composition when compared to other tissues such as muscle and bone. Here we present the characterization of neural tissue ablation rate and heat affected zone of a 1.94 micron thulium doped fiber laser for neural tissue ablation. In-Vivo ablation of porcine cerebral cortex is performed. Ablation volumes are studied in association with laser parameters. Histological samples are taken and examined to characterize the extent of peripheral heat damage.
This study presents the design of a system used to monitor laser ablation in real-time using Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT). The design of the system involves a high-powered fiber laser (wavelength of 1064nm, 1kW peak power) being built directly into the sample arm of the OCT system (center wavelength 1310). It is shown that the OCT laser light and subsequent backscatter pass relatively unaffected through the fiber laser. Initial results are presented showing monitoring of the ablation process at a single point in real time using m-mode imaging.
This paper presents the development of a compact, desktop laser-cutting system capable of cutting materials such as wood, metal and plastic. A re-commissioned beheaded MakerBot® Replicator 2X is turned into a 3-DOF laser cutter by way of integration with 800W (peak power) fiber laser. Special attention is paid to tear-down, modification and integration of the objective lens in place of the print head. Example cuts in wood and metal will be presented, as well as design of an exhaust system.
In this work an all-fiber linearly-polarized Yb-doped double-clad fiber laser is proposed, in which the resonance cavity is
composed of a pair of polarization maintaining fiber Bragg gratings (PM-FBGs). The polarization hole burning is
enhanced by the selective polarization feedback by the PM-FBGs. A three-port polarization beam splitter with fiber
pigtail was inserted into the laser cavity to select different polarization states. The laser features wavelength of 1069.72
nm and 1069.98 nm, output power of 125 mW, SNR of 45 dB, slope efficiency of 52%, as well as linewidth of 30.7 pm.
The polarization characteristics of the laser are studied by measuring the laser power transmitted through a rotating Glan-
Thomson polarizer. The degree of polarization of each lasing line is over 12 dB under different pump levels.
Tm3+-doped fluoride (ZBLAN) fibers offer amplification and lasing in a wide variety of wavelength ranges, including 810 nm, 1480 nm, 1900 nm, and 2300 nm.1 Amplification and lasing around 1480 nm through the 3H4→3F4 transition is of interest for extending the capacity of WDM transmission systems, as well as developing sources for pumping erbium-doped fiber and fiber Raman amplifiers. The 3H4→3F4 transition, however, poses a challenge due to its self terminating nature. As such, the 3F4 level can be depleted either by colasing at 1900 nm2 or by using upconversion pumping at 1064 nm. High-power 1480 nm Tm3+:ZBLAN fiber lasers with upconversion pumping at 1064 nm have been demonstrated.3-6 Recent research has focused on improving further the power conversion efficiency as well as the development of monolithic fiber lasers, e.g., by incorporating fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) directly within the Tm3+: ZBLAN fiber gain medium.
Dual-wavelength and multi-wavelength sources can have many applications in instrumentation (e.g., component testing), LIDAR systems, and fiber optics sensing. There have been several reports of dual-wavelength Tm3+-doped fiber lasers. For example, Androz et al. demonstrated operation at 785 nm and 810 nm, corresponding to the 1G4→3H5 and 3H4→3H6
transitions, respectively, with a Tm3+:ZBLAN fiber gain medium.7 Wang et al. obtained dual-wavelength lasing around 2 μm with a tunable wavelength spacing from 1 nm – 40 nm in a Tm3+:silica fiber laser.8 We realized oscillation at 805 nm and 810 nm through the 3H4→3H6 transition in a Tm3+:ZBLAN fiber laser; we also reported wavelength switching capability as well as bistable operation in both single cavity and cascaded cavity configurations.9 In this paper, we
extend our work further and report a dual-wavelength Tm3+:ZBLAN fiber laser operating in the S-band. Wavelength spacings of 11 nm and as narrow as 0.6 nm are achieved in a linear cascaded cavity configuration with bidirectional upconversion pumping at 1064 nm.
A novel fiber laser configuration based on a polarization-maintaining fiber Sagnac loop mirror is proposed for generating
linearly polarized light. The polarization-dependent reflectivity of the loop mirror provides the necessary polarization
discrimination between the slow and fast axes. A robust linearly polarized all-fiber laser oscillator is demonstrated with a
polarization extinction ratio better than 27 dB. After an integrated fiber amplifier, a 14.6 W narrow linewidth
single-mode fiber laser at 1070 nm is obtained with an optical efficiency of 68% and a polarization extinction ratio of
22.4 dB.
The inscription method of FBGs on large-mode-area double-clad fibers (LMA-DCFs) with phase mask technique was
described. A pair of LMA FBGs was prepared and the center wavelengths of them were both around 1076nm with 3 dB
bandwidths of about 0.5nm. The reflectivities of them are 99% and 10% in the fundamental mode, respectively. In order
to be protected and to withstand high-power laser, the FBGs were metally packaged, and then applied to an Yb3+-doped
LMA-DCF laser as the laser cavity. An output power of 314 W centered at 1075.71 nm with a slope efficiency of 60%
was achieved.
To our knowledge, we report the first Fourier domain modelocked laser (FDML) constructed using optical parameter
amplifier (OPA) in conjunction with an erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA), centered at ~1556nm. We utilized a onepump
OPA and a C-band EDFA in a series configuration with a polygon-grating wavelength filter to generate a hybrid
FDML spectrum. Results demonstrate a substantially higher output power, better spectral shape and significantly more
stable bandwidth than individual configurations. We believe this technique has the potential to enable several amplifiers
to complement individual deficiencies resulting in improved spectral shapes and power generation for imaging
applications such as optical coherence tomography (OCT).
In this study, a cascaded Raman fiber laser in Fourier domain mode lock operation (FDML) is presented. This
laser utilizes a Ytterbium doped twin core pump laser source at 1109 nm. The pump light is directed to a
cascaded Raman cavity, which consists of multiple cascaded fiber Bragg grating pairs and 3.86 km of dispersion
compensation fiber, which provides Raman gain. The output wavelength of a cascaded Raman laser is determined
by the Stoke's shift (≈ 60 to 70 nm in optical fiber) and the pump laser wavelength. The power build up in the
cascaded Raman cavity and shift to higher Stoke's orders produce multiple spectral peaks. At higher Stoke's
orders, the overlapping Raman peaks create broad bandwidth gain with relatively large gain ripples. FDML
operation using a polygon-based tunable filter helps to suppress the ripples. The overall laser in linear operation
has a bandwidth of 316 nm with a center wavelength of 1445 nm. An output optical power was measured to be
(> 10 mW). On the other hand, the sweeping bandwidth was 35 nm with an output power in the micro-watt
range. The utilization of broadband tunable lasers are important in applications such as swept-source optical
coherence tomography for use in biomedical imaging.
We demonstrate high efficiency and wide bandwidth gain in a Ytterbium doped fiber amplifier. The highpowered
amplifier has potential applications for use with a swept-source fiber ring laser in multi-channel optical
coherence tomography (OCT) system. The ring cavity design includes a 976nm pumped dual core Yb doped fiber as the
gain medium, where a rotating polygon mirror is used as a wavelength-sweeping filter for this source. The amplified
spontaneous emission (ASE) had a spectral bandwidth of 1037-1145nm at -60dBm, where a tunable lasing bandwidth of
the ring cavity ranged from 1057-1115nm. The highest output power, for both the ASE and lasing spectrum, with this
configuration was ~200mW, however it is possible to have a larger bandwidth and a larger output power. Higher power,
in the wattage range is achievable if free space components are employed. Pumped with 976nm light at 1.27W, the use
of this novel dual core Yb doped fiber as an amplifier has been successfully demonstrated, as it provided a small signal
gain of 29.6 dB at 1085nm, where the gain medium was successfully saturated during operation. This is important for the
spectral shaping requirements of OCT to improve image quality. The gain was demonstrated for several different
wavelengths and for several pumping powers at a 1085nm wavelength. Fourier domain mode locked operation (FDML)
was achieved with a bandwidth of 15nm and a sweep rate of 51.4kHz. This laser source offers a low-cost, high power
alternative for biomedical imaging with multi-channel optical coherence tomography.
KEYWORDS: Cladding, Beam shaping, Single mode fibers, Fiber lasers, High power fiber lasers, Laser applications, Laser therapeutics, Near field optics, Computer engineering, Medical laser equipment
Laser beam shaping is an important subject in industrial and medical applications of lasers since different applications
may require different laser intensity distributions. Recently we demonstrated successfully an all-fiber laser beam shaping
device that could transform a Gaussian shaped laser beam into a uniform or ring-shaped beam in 1.5 μm wavelength
region. In this paper we present the work of the beam shaping in 1.0 μm wavelength region to make it compatible to Yb-doped
high power fiber laser. The device uses a long-period grating to couple a portion of core-mode, LP01 into a low-order
mth-radial cladding mode LP0m. Interference of the two modes could reduce field at the centre and enhance the field
in the first or second ring of the cladding mode to transform the Gaussian-shaped laser beam to an intensity uniform
beam. The design parameters that affect the beam shaping will be discussed and the results of the interference from two
cladding modes, LP03 and LP04 will be presented.
Optical pulse shaping finds many important applications in the area of ultrafast photonics. For example, in ultrafast all-optical switching, temporal shaping of the control pulses can be used to create a wide flat-top switching window with sharp rise and fall times. Such switching windows are more jitter-tolerant than simple Gaussian windows, and can therefore achieve a lower bit-error rate. Previously reported pulse shaping methods using linearly chirped Fibre Bragg Gratings (FBGs) take advantage of the direct correspondence between the spatial distribution of the grating periods and the temporal distribution of the spectral contents of the grating impulse response (space-to-frequency-to-time mapping). However, they have two major drawbacks: first, they are only valid for high-dispersion gratings, and therefore are unsuitable for producing short pulses; second, due to the inherent impulse response assumption, the power conversion efficiency is very low since the grating bandwidth needs to be much smaller than that of the input pulse. The numerical conversion efficiency demonstrated for this method is about a few percent. We report a versatile technique for temporal pulse shaping using a simple linearly chirped FBG and an amplitude mask. Unlike previous pulse shaping methods, ours is also applicable for low-dispersion gratings with bandwidths comparable to that of the input pulse (i.e., taking into account of finite input pulse duration). The chirped grating is used to stretch the incoming pulses to the desirable temporal width, while the amplitude mask modifies the shape of the pulses. We developed a novel optimization algorithm to obtain an amplitude mask that significantly increases the conversion efficiency. Pulse shaping using linearly chirped FBGs in the low dispersion regime is simulated using two methods. For weak gratings, the direct relationship between the spatial grating profile and the grating impulse response was used in tandem with a forward-correction deconvolution algorithm to solve for the optimum amplitude mask. For strong gratings, an optimization algorithm based on the partial validity of space-time mapping, as well as the causal relationship between the reflected temporal response and the grating apodization profile was used to design the amplitude mask. We experimentally demonstrated the conversion of 1-ps transform-limited Gaussian pulses to 10-ps pulses with a target shape at a high conversion efficiency of ~20% (measured) using a 1.5-mm-long grating. The spectral width of the pulses is 3.5 nm, centered at 1.55μm. As the reflected pulse shape is controlled by the shape of the amplitude mask, our method can be easily adapted to produce any arbitrary temporal pulse shape by designing an appropriate amplitude mask. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of this technique of arbitrary pulse shaping using the combination of a linearly chirped fiber grating and an amplitude mask in the low-dispersion regime.
In a microwave fiber wireless communication system, reducing optical carrier-to-sideband ratio can improve the receiving sensitivity and dynamic range of the system. However, at lower modulation frequencies corresponding to cellular radio (900 MHz), personal communication system (1.8 GHz) and IEEE 802.11g (2.4 GHz), separating the signals from the carrier and reducing carrier power in optic domain is a rather challenging task. In this paper, we have presented a new method to improve the transmission efficiency in microwave fiber-optic link by suppressing the optical carrier using a sub-picometer bandpass filter. The filter we designed and fabricated has a −3dB bandwidth of 120 MHz, capable of even filtering out a microwave signal as low as 900 MHz. We compared the transmission performance between filtered signals and unfiltered signals. The experimental results showed that the receiver sensitivity was improved significantly, 4.4dB for the 900MHz signal, and up to 8.7dB for the 1.8GHz at bit-error-rate of 10-9, by optical carrier suppression.
Subcarrier multiplexed transmission of cellular (900 MHz),
personal communications systems (1.8 GHz) and wireless LAN (2.4
GHz) over the fiber has interesting applications. These multi
channel radio over fiber links can connect enhanced wireless
hot-spots that will support high speed wireless LAN services or
low speed cellular services to different customers from the same
antenna. Optical pre-filtering of SCM signals allows the use of
inexpensive photodetector and increases network flexibility with
fiber based optical filters. However, realizing optical
demultiplexing at such low frequencies necessitates optical
filters with high selectivity and low insertion loss. In this
paper, we implemented a fiber wireless access system, where
demultiplexing of subcarrier multiplexed cellular and WLAN signals
was demonstrated in optical domain using a sub-picometer bandpass
filter. Our novel fiber Bragg grating based bandpass filter has a
bandwidth of 120 MHz at -3dB, 360 MHz at -10 dB and 1.5 GHz at -20
dB respectively. We experimentally verified that this filter
could adequately isolate signals at as low as 900 MHz from 2.4
GHz. Experimental results show that the designed all optical
demultiplexer provides about 25 dB isolation between 900 MHz and
2.4 GHz radio signals.
Actuators with large strokes and fine resolution have many applications, such as precise positioning, high resolution lithographing, sub-micro machining and fine manipulation of cells in biomedical fields. In this paper, a compact design of an elliptic-shaped actuator using 16 flexural hinges is presented. The device used two piezo stacks in long axis to generate amplified displacement in short axis. Overall displacement of more than 1 mm was obtained from a piezo-stack displacement of 40 μm. A feedback loop was designed to control the motion using a linear variable differential transformer (LVDT). The design achieved a fine resolution of ~20 nm. One unique feature of the design is its thermal stability. Its invar frame minimizes the change of the short axis length when temperature varies. The actuator was applied to drive an optical tunable filter. Wide tuning range and excellent wavelength tuning repeatability of ± 15 pm were achieved with the LVDT feedback loop.
Semiconductive ceramic humidity sensors based on ZnO2 * SiO2 * P2O5 doped with Y2O3 and Nb2O5 are prepared by the solid phase reaction at high temperature. Y2O3 and Nb2O5 change ZrO2 character from an isolator to N- and P-type semiconductor separately. The Y2O3-, Nb2O5- and non-doped samples have extremely different total resistance at the room temperature and a certain relative humidity. The former is far less than the later. By means of X-ray diffraction, Fourier infrared absorption and Raman backward scattering spectra, the microstructure of ZrO2 grain in non-doped and Y2O3- or Nb2O5-doped samples are known to belong respectively to monoclinic and tetragonal symmetrical crystal systems. On the basis of the standard absorption peak sites, four fundamental phonon energies of ZrO2 are calculated: TO equals 0.0457, LO equals 0.0365, TA equals 0.0069, LA equals 0.0249 ev. All the Fourier infrared absorption speaks of ZrO2 in each and every ZrO2 * SiO2 * P2O5 humidity sensor consist of two or more out of the four elementary phonons in different combinations. Any and every Raman backward scattering peak of ZrO2 is made up of two or more out of these phonons too.
Photonics Research Ontario (PRO) is an Ontario Provincial Center of Excellence supporting a broad range of laser- processing activities within its photonics program. These activities are centered at the University of Toronto, and split between an industrial-user facility and the individual research programs of principal investors. The combined effort furnishes forefront laser system and advanced optical tools to explore novel processing applications in photonic, biomedical, and microelectronic areas. Facilities include laser micromachining stations, excimer-based mask-projection stations, extremely short wavelength lasers such as the molecular fluorine laser, and ultrafast laser systems. The latter two advanced laser offer interesting advantages and contrast in processing 'difficult' materials through linear and nonlinear absorption processes, respectively. These laser systems provide fine precision and strong interaction with a wide range of materials, including 'transparent' glasses, and also ceramics and metals. Applications fall broadly into several areas: wafer-level circuit trimming, high-resolution ultrasonic transducers, and the shaping of optical waveguides and Bragg-gratings for photonic components. This paper summarizes the laser-processing infrastructure and research activities at PRO.
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