A Tm:germanate fiber laser produced >0.25 mJ/pulse in a 45 ns pulse. It is capable of producing multiple Q-switched pulses from a single pump pulse. With the addition of a diffraction grating, Tm:germanate fiber lasers produced a wide, but length dependent, tuning range. By selecting the fiber length, the tuning range extends from 1.88 to 2.04 μm. These traits make Tm:germanate lasers suitable ...

We describe a low-cost diode-pumped Cr:LiSAF laser, mode-locked using a broadband saturable Bragg reflector. The laser produces continuously tunable sub-200-fs pulses from 800 nm to 905 nm. 2010 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: (140.3600) Lasers, tunable; (140.3480) Lasers, diode pumped; (140.4050) Mode-locked lasers Lasers having Cr-doped colquiriite gain media (Cr:LiCAF, Cr:LiSAF and C...

We report the basic luminescence properties and the continuous-wave (CW) laser operation of a Pr(3+)-doped KYF(4) single crystal in the Red and Orange spectral regions by using a new pumping scheme. The pump source is an especially developed, compact, slightly tunable and intra-cavity frequency-doubled diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser delivering a CW output power up to about 1.4 W around 469.1 nm. At ...

A modified tuning element for a Littrow external cavity laser is demonstrated using microelectromechanical systems technology. The device combines a vertically etched blazed grating, a compound flexure suspension and drive elements for translating and rotating the grating. Tuning is linearized by linking the grating to a remote actuator by a flexible linkage. A simple theoretical model of the l...

We demonstrate broadband tuning of an optomechanical microcavity optical resonance by exploring the large optomechanical coupling of a double-wheel microcavity and its uniquely low mechanical stiffness. Using a pump laser with only 13 mW at telecom wavelengths we show tuning of the silicon nitride microcavity resonances over 32 nm. This corresponds to a tuning power efficiency of only 400 mW/nm...

ABSTRACT We show that QC laser could improve capillary Gas Chromatography Infrared spectroscopy resolution significantly, i.e. both Doppler limited and Doppler free resolution could be achieved. To achieve these goals, we report our latest efforts in characterizing the tuning and noise properties of Quantum Cascade (QC) lasers; novel schemes on modulation to gain largest tuning range as well as...

Due to a very distinct spectrum of resonant frequencies, the characterization of optical microcavities calls for widely tunable sources of continuous wave laser light, offering suitably narrow linewidths and single-mode operation over the entire tuning range. This is why external cavity diode lasers, which allow for mode-hop free wavelength tuning, often over more than a hundred nanometers, hav...

We demonstrate a wavelength-tunable, passively mode-locked erbium-doped fiber laser based on graphene and chirped fiber Bragg grating. The saturable absorber used to enable passive mode-locking in the fiber laser is a section of microfiber covered by graphene film, which allows light-graphene interaction via the evanescent field of the microfiber. The wavelength of the laser can be continuously...

We report the observation of light-enhanced electro-optic spectral tuning in annealed proton-exchanged, asymmetric domain-duty-cycle periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) channel waveguides for second-harmonic generation. The spectral tuning rate was increased rapidly from 0.07 nm/(kV/mm) to a saturated value of 0.32 nm/(kV/mm) in a 30%/70% domain-duty-cycle PPLN waveguide when the fundamen...