This paper presents a post-packaging tuning process for microresonators by PLD (pulsed laser deposition). The microresonators are first hermetically packaged using a RTP (rapid thermal processing) aluminum-to-silicon nitride bonding process. The resonator mass is then altered by adding materials on the surface of the structure using PLD to achieve the desired resonant frequency. The demonstrate...

The amplitude of the photoacoustic effect for an optical source moving at the sound speed in a one-dimensional geometry increases linearly in time without bound in the linear acoustic regime. Here, use of this principle is described for trace detection of gases, using two frequency-shifted beams from a CO2 laser directed at an angle to each other to give optical fringes that move at the sound s...

We study the mechanical effects of light on an atom trapped in a harmonic potential when an atomic dipole transition is driven by a laser and it is strongly coupled to a mode of an optical resonator. We investigate the cooling dynamics in the bad cavity limit, focussing on the case in which the effective transition linewidth is smaller than the trap frequency, hence when sideband cooling could ...

We study the continuous-wave (cw) operation of a semiconductor laser subject to optical feedback from a Fabry-Perot resonator in a case where the emission is resonant to a reflection minimum of the resonator. This configuration is treated in the framework of Lang-Kobayashi equations. The nature of bifurcations and the stability of steady state solutions is analyzed in terms of the dependence on...

An ultrasonic particle concentrator based on a standing-wave hemispherical resonator is combined with confocal laser-scanning fluorescence detection. The goal is to perform ultrasensitive biomedical analysis by concentration of biologically active microspheres. The standing-wave resonator consists of a 4 MHz focusing ultrasonic transducer combined with the optically transparent plastic bottom o...

We characterize thermally-induced effects in an optical resonator illuminated with high-power laser radiation. From thermoelastic deformation of a mirror’s surface, we observe degeneracy of higher-order spatial modes with the fundamental mode that leads to power transmission limits and thermally-induced power fluctuations using a ring resonator with calibrated absorption loss. A model used to p...

We have doubled the frequency of a single mode distributed Bragg reflection (DBR) semiconductor laser. The laser is optically locked to an external enhancement ring resonator that contains an antireflection coated potassium niobate crystal. Unlike Fabry-Perot cavity lasers the DBR laser is found to operate in only one longitudinal mode and allows stable second harmonic generation. We present th...

This thesis describes a theoretical and experimental investigation of the intensities, linewidths, and frequencies of radiation by an atom in an optical resonator. It is found that the atom's spontaneous emission rate may be enhanced or inhibited, depending on the tuning of the resonator, and its transition frequencies shifted. A simple classical description of these effects is given in which t...

High-power high-brightness unstable-resonator edge-emitting semiconductor laser diodes with dry-etched curved mirrors were fabricated and characterized. The epitaxial structure was optimized for high output power operation and consists of a GaAs/AlGaAs gradedindex separate-confinement heterostructure (GRINSCH) with a single 980-nm-emitting InGaAs quantum well. The curved mirrors of the unstable...

We report on efficient intracavity coherent addition of several single high-order mode distributions in a multichannel laser resonator. The phase locking and coherent addition is achieved by using an intracavity interferometric beam combiner. The principle, configuration, and experimental results with pulsed Nd:YAG Laguerre-Gaussian TEM01 and TEM02 laser beam distributions are presented. The re...