SCHOOL OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING

COMMUNICATION STREAM

OPTICS AND OPTICAL COMMUNICATION [Eceg-4302]

Paper report

Single frequency injection laser

PEER-GROUP 3

GROUP MEMBER:

NAME ID

1. AYANE LEBETA ......04137/06

2. GEREMU TILAHUN 04513/06
3. AYANA GAROMA 04136/06
4. NIGIST MULATU RT4729/07

Submission date: 31/05/2017

Submitted to: instr-Getachew .A

Contents
SINGLE FREQUENCY INJECTION LASER .........................................................1

1.1 INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................1

1.2 SYSTEM DESCRIPTION ..................................................................................2

1.3 RESULTS ......................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

1.4 CONCLUSION ................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.

 OPTICS AND OPTICAL COMMUNICATION SINGLE FREQUENCY ENJECTION LASER

SINGLE FREQUENCY INJECTION LASER

1.1 INTRODUCTION

Single frequency injection lasers can be used for many applications, such as coherent
communications, wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) system, high-resolution atomic and
molecular spectroscopy and laser interferometer gravitational wave detector. In many
of these applications, narrow linewidth output from the lasers are essential. Single-frequency,
pulsed, eye-safe lasers are required for coherent detection in remote-sensing applications is merely
discussed here.

Although it is well known that Er:glass lasers operate in the eye-safe wavelength band from
1530nm to 1550 nm, these lasers have not been previously used for coherent detection. To the best
of our knowledge, we report here the first successful demonstration of injection seeding of Er:
glass resulting in a transform-limited, single frequency output pulse. We are developing the laser
as the coherent transmitter of a pulsed Doppler lidar for the measurement of wind velocities and
wind shear.

The neodymium systems are not eye safe at energies required for remote sensing, and although the
2-mm thulium and holmium lasers are eye safe, the Er:glass laser at1.54 mm is considered eye
safe at 10 times the energy of a 2-mm system. This makes the Er:glass system attractive for some
applications and partially offsets the limitations on the pulse repetition frequency that are due to
thermal effects in this host.An Er:glass laser system is also attractive because it can make use of
standard telecommunications components, including readily available diodes for laser pumping.

A requirement for a pulsed Doppler lidar system is a very narrow laser line width (1MHz) to permit
detection of the Doppler frequency shifts associated with backscatter from aerosols moving at
typical wind speeds approximately 1.3-MHz shift for 1m/s velocity change at this wavelength. We
devised a technique for injection seeding a flash-lamp-pumped Er:glass laser so that it oscillates
in a single longitudinal mode, producing coherent pulses of sufficient length for use in a pulsed
Doppler lidar system.

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 OPTICS AND OPTICAL COMMUNICATION SINGLE FREQUENCY ENJECTION LASER

1.2 SYSTEM DESCRIPTION

The Er:glass laser system is shown in Fig. 1. Part of the output of the cw master oscillator (MO)
is passed through an acousto-optic modulator (AOM) that shifts the frequency by 30 MHz. This
frequency shifted radiation is injected into the slave resonator through the Q-switch and is used to
seed the laser pulse. The remainder of the MO output is used as the local oscillator (LO), resulting
in a frequency difference of 30 MHz between the LO and the seed. In a pulsed Doppler lidar
system, this 30-MHz difference allows detection of a heterodyne beat even from a stationary target,
as well as providing direction sensing.

It also allows verification of successful seeding of the slave by mixing the LO with a portion of
the output pulse; a modulation of 30 MHz will be seen only when the seeding is successful. The
slave resonator regeneratively amplifies the seed radiation to produce a coherent laser pulse. The
lasing medium is a Kigre QXyEr thermally strengthened, erbium-doped phosphate glass rod. The
fluorescence spectrum of this gain medium is shown in Fig. 2. The rod is 3 mm in diameter and
50mm in length with parallel antireflection-coated ends and is enclosed in a water-cooled Kigre
flash-lamp pumping chamber. It is pumped by a Kigre K-2113 flash lamp with 18-J electrical
energy per flash, at a pulse repetition rate of 1 Hz. In as much as the QXyEr rod is thermally
strengthened, the power output could be increased to 15 Hz and 30 J/flash.

Fig. 1. Schematic of the injection-seeded laser system.

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The slave resonator is approximately 0.7 m long, giving a free spectral range of 210 MHz. It is a
two mirror telescopic resonator employing flat end reflectors. The resonator is folded with two
right angled prisms to allow Q-switching by use of the frustrated total internal reflection technique
and to produce a compact laser. This Q-switching technique employs a small block of glass
mounted on a piezoelectric translator, located close to the reflecting surface of one of the prisms
(Fig.2).

The reflectivity of the prism is varied by adjusting the air gap between the prisms reflecting
surface and this block of glass. A 45 flat on one corner of the Q-switch block forms an entry
window allowing the seed radiation to be injected into the slave resonator through the Q-switch.
With resonator end mirror reflectivitys of 98.6% and 86%, the slave resonator produces a 30-mJ,
400-ns pulse at 1535 nm (Fig. 4), corresponding to the peak of the fluorescence spectrum (Fig. 2).
This output energy produced by 18 J of pump energy is typical for an efficient, flash-lamp-pumped,
Q-switched Er:glass laser. The MO is a commercial, diode-pumped, single frequency cw Er:glass
laser producing 50 mW at 1552 nm.

Fig. 2. Frustrated total internal reflection Q-switch design showing injection port and lasing axis.
PZT, piezoelectric translator.

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Fig. 3. Schematic of the injection-seeded laser system.

The wavelength of this particular MO (and hence the seed) is fixed and is a long way from the
peak of the fluorescence curve, resulting in relatively little gain in the slave oscillator at that
wavelength. To prevent oscillation at wavelengths near the line center at 1535 nm, it was necessary
to replace one of the slave resonator mirrors with a diffraction grating in Littrow configuration.
This method for controlling the frequency of an Er:glass laser was also used by Petrov and
Fromzel, who used a diffraction grating to scan the operating frequency of their laser, although
without attempting to Q-switch or injection seed.

The grating is a high-efficiency, gold coated holographic grating with 1200 lines/mm, blazed for
Littrow configuration at 1550 nm. In Littrow configuration, we measured a reflectivity of
approximately 98% into the first order. The intracavity telescope, with a magnification of 1.5, not
only provided transverse mode control, but also expanded the beam to reduce the power density
on the grating to avoid damage. By adjusting the angle of the grating, we were able to scan the
wavelength of the slave resonator and achieved lasing from 1528 to 1558 nm. The laser emitted
30 mJ at line center, but only 12mJ at the seed wavelength of 1552 nm.

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1.3 RESULT

The diffraction grating was aligned using the seed beam to tune the slave resonator to the frequency
of the MO by observing the return of the seed from the grating back through the open Q-switch
~high resonator loss to the MO. By partially closing the Q-switch, the other mirror (out coupler)
of the slave oscillator was aligned by observing the corresponding increase in intracavity power
using a detector to detect the zeroth order beam out coupled by the grating. This approach
guaranteed that the slave resonator was aligned and tuned to the seed.

We obtained injection seeding by scanning the length of the slave resonator while simultaneously
observing the buildup time of the slave resonator pulse and the heterodyne beat between the output
and the LO. The buildup time of power in the slave resonator was observed by use of the detector
on the zeroth order beam from the grating. With an oscilloscope triggered by the Q-switch drive
pulse, the extinction of the intracavity seed power could be observed as the Q switch closed,
followed later (typically 10 ms) by the rapid and sharp increase in power that was due to the Q-
switched slave pulse.

Fig.
4. Free-running, Q-switched slave output pulse, close to seed wavelength, as a function of time.
Total energy is 2 mJ.

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Fig. 5. Injection-seeded, Q-switched slave laser pulse showing 30-MHz heterodyne modulation
with LO.
When the slave laser resonator length was correct for injection seeding, this buildup time was
reduced to a few microseconds, and the initial rise of the pulse appeared less sharp. Coincident
with this reduction in pulse buildup time, the heterodyne beat frequency changed from random
values, typically including the 210-MHz beat note from adjacent longitudinal modes, to a single
30-MHz signal as shown in Fig. 5. This indicates that the mode competition usually occurring
during pulse buildup was suppressed by the dominant seeded mode, and it remained so for the
duration of the pulse.
Note that the receiver bandwidth used was 500 MHz, and a 420-MHz signal was never observed.
These observations show that no more than two longitudinal modes lased when free running and
prove that the slave laser was operating on only a single frequency when injection seeded. The
shallow modulation depth in Fig. 5 is due to much more power in the sampled portion of the output
pulse than in the LO. A spectral analysis of this signal shows the modulation frequency to be 30
MHz and transform limited (Fig. 6). Calculations show the Fourier transform bandwidth of a pulse
of this shape to be 1.3 MHz, in good agreement with the measured value of 1.5 MHz.

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In our present research, seeding occurred only intermittently because the length of the slave
resonator was not actively controlled. In the future we plan to build a servo system that monitors
the pulse buildup time and adjusts the slave resonator length, as described, for example, by Rahn.
We found it necessary to include a 40-dB Faraday Effect optical isolator between the AOM and
the Q-switch. This prevented Q-switch leakage from propagating back through the AOM, where
it would be frequency downshifted, reflected from the front of the MO into the LO beam and
produce a spurious 30-MHz beat signal on the heterodyne detector for all slave oscillator pulses.
With the isolator in place, the 30-MHz signal was observed only when both the output of the
injection seeded slave and the output of the MO were incident on the heterodyne detector.

Fig. 6. Spectrum of seeded pulse. Shown is the Fourier transform of the pulse in Fig. 5,
indicating a transform-limited output pulse. FWHH, full width at half-height.

In recent research we also determined that injection seeding can be accomplished by injecting the
seed through the zeroth order beam path on the grating. This method worked and is advantageous
because it can be implemented with a standard electro-optic Q-switch instead of the frustrated
total internal reflection Q-switch. It has the additional advantage that the slave resonator can be
tuned accurately to the seed by closing the Q-switch completely and observing the high finesse
of the well-aligned slave resonator on a detector beyond the out coupler.

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This signal could be used as an alternative method for a length adjusting servo system. For this
seeding approach, we tuned the grating to the MO wavelength by demanding that the first-order
diffracted beam from the grating was accurately returned to the MO output aperture, and we
subsequently aligned the slave to the zeroth order injected beam as before. This approach
guarantees seed radiation in the slave oscillator at all times, also after the closure of the Q-switch,
but it allows less power to enter the slave before the Q-switch closes. We observed the reduction
in buildup time of the slave resonator to be consistently less (typically 3ms), in this seeding
arrangement, thus indicating that seeding was more readily achieved when injecting through the
Q-switch.

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1.4 CONCLUSIONS
We have demonstrated single-frequency operation of a pulsed Er:glass laser using injection
seeding. This was achieved by matching the resonant frequency of the slave resonator to the
frequency of the MO by use of a diffraction grating in Littrow configuration. The resultant
injection-seeded laser produces pulses that are suitable for use in a pulsed Doppler lidar system
for velocity and range sensing. The output energy was limited by the fixed wavelength of the MO.
In a further development, we plan to acquire a new cw MO to permit operation close to the peak
of the fluorescence curve to optimize laser efficiency and energy.