Laser systems

It is advantageous if the laser system pemiits rotation of the optical polarization. Detached electrons correlated witii different final electronic states of the neutral molecule will generally be emitted with different angular distributions about the direction of polarization. Measurement of the angular distribution helps in the interpretation of complex photoelectron spectra. The angular distribution/(0) of photoelectrons is [50]... 

Seifert F, Petrov V and Woerner M 1994 Solid-state laser system for the generation of midinfrared femtosecond pulses tunable from 3.3-Mu-M to 10-Mu-M Opt. Lett. 19 2009-11... 

Figure Bl.4.7. Top THz generation by optieal-heterodyne eonversion in low-temperature GaAs. (a) The tluee DBR laser system that synthesizes a preeise differenee frequeney for the THz photomixer speetrometer, (b) the MOPA system and the set-up for speetroseopy. Bottom seeond-derivative absorption speetnim of the...

Matsuura S, Chen P, Blake G A, Pearson J and Pickett H M 1999 A tunable, cavity-locked diode laser system for terahertz photomixing IEEE Micro. Theory Technol. 48 380-7... 

In a typical time-resolved SHG (SFG) experiment using femtosecond to picosecond laser systems, two (tlnee) input laser beams are necessary. The pulse from one of the lasers, usually called the pump laser, induces the... 

At low laser powers, the fluorescence signal is Imearly proportional to the power. Flowever, the power available from most tunable laser systems is suflFicient to cause partial saturation of the transition, with the result that the fluorescence intensity is no longer linearly proportional to the probe laser power. While more... 

A wide variety of metliods has been used to pump laser systems. Altliough optical pumping has been implied, tliere is an array of collisionally or electron impact pumped systems, as well as electrically pumped metliods. The efficiency of tire pumping cycle in many ways defines tire utility and applications of each scheme. The first... 

The He-Ne laser system was the first efficient CW laser. It is still one of the most common systems in use today. 

Yttrium is also finding application in laser systems and as a catalyst for ethylene polymerization. 

It was shown above that the normal two-level system (ground to excited state) will not produce lasing but that a three-level system (ground to excited state to second excited state) can enable lasing. Some laser systems utilize four- or even five-level systems, but all need at least one of the excited-state energy levels to have a relatively long lifetime to build up an inverted population. 

Population inversion is difficult not only to achieve but also to maintain. Indeed, for many laser systems there is no method of pumping which will maintain a population inversion continuously. For such systems inversion can be brought about only by means of a pumping source which delivers short, high-energy pulses. The result is a pulsed laser as opposed to a continuous wave, or CW, laser which operates continuously. 

A small but artistically interesting use of fluorspar is ia the productioa of vases, cups, and other ornamental objects popularly known as Blue John, after the Blue John Mine, Derbyshire, U.K. Optical quaUty fluorite, sometimes from natural crystals, but more often artificially grown, is important ia use as iafrared transmission wiadows and leases (70) and optical components of high energy laser systems (see Infrared and RAMAN spectroscopy Lasers) (71). 

Personal communication, E. Eoster, AppHed Laser Systems, Inc., Santa Clara, Calif., 1981. 

A versatile Laser-SNMS instrument consists of a versatile microfocus ion gun, a sputtering ion gun, a liquid metal ion gun, a pulsed flood electron gun, a resonant laser system consisting of a pulsed Nd YAG laser pumping two dye lasers, a non-resonant laser system consisting of a high-power excimer or Nd YAG laser, a computer-controlled high-resolution sample manipulator on which samples can be cooled or heated, a video and electron imaging system, a vacuum lock for sample introduction, and a TOF mass spectrometer. 

So far powerful lasers with picosecond to nanosecond pulse duration have usually been used for the ablation of material from a solid sample. The very first results from application of the lasers with femtosecond pulse duration were published only quite recently. The ablation thresholds vary within a pretty wide interval of laser fluences of 0.1-10 J cm , depending on the type of a sample, the wavelength of the laser, and the pulse duration. Different advanced laser systems have been tested for LA ... 

Several laser systems have been used in our time-resolved PM measurements. For the ultrafast measurements, a colliding pulse mode-locked (CPM) dye laser was employed [11]. Its characteristic pulsewidth is about 70 fs, however, its wavelength is fixed at 625 nin (or 2.0 cV). For ps measurements at various wavelengths two synchronously pumped dye lasers were used (12], Although their time resolution was not belter than 5 ps, they allowed us to probe in the probe photon energy range from 1.25 cV to 2.2 cV. In addition, a color center laser... 

The layout of the experimental set-up is shown in Figure 8-3. The laser source was a Ti sapphire laser system with chirped pulse amplification, which provided 140 fs pulses at 780 nm and 700 pJ energy at a repetition rate of 1 kHz. The excitation pulses at 390 nm were generated by the second harmonic of the fundamental beam in a 1-nun-thick LiB305 crystal. The pump beam was focused to a spot size of 80 pm and the excitation energy density was between 0.3 and 12 ntJ/crn2 per pulse. Pump-... 

Control Laser systems have Ar+ and Kr+ plasma tubes which can be interchanged rapidly. For other laser systems, the interchange may also be carried out. 

Relalive Performance of a Spectrometer-Laser System Using Various Laser Sources ... 

It is worth comparing the relative performance of a spectrometer-laser system using various laser types. The data are summarized in Table V 26). The data, though typical, depend considerably on the characteristics of the individual components of the spectrometer. 

Safety Considerations. High-power lasers raise a number of safety issues. There are the flammability and the toxicity of dye solutions. Most importantly, the eye hazards of laser radiation require careful shielding of the beam, and interlocks that restrict access to the laser room and to the dome. The laser could also dazzle aircraft pilots if they look directly down the beam. It is therefore necessary to close a shutter in the beam when a plane comes too close, either manually by human spotters, or automatically by use of radar, thermal IR or CCD cameras. Care must also be taken to avoid hitting overhead satellites in the case of pulsed or high power laser systems. 

Mt. Wilson Observatory. The UnISIS excimer laser system is deployed on the 2.5 m telescope at Mt. Wilson Observatory (Thompson and Castle, 1992). A schematic of the system layout is shown in Fig. 11. The30W, 351 nm excimer laser is located in the coude room. The laser has a 20 ns pulse length, with a repetition rate of 167 or 333 Hz. The laser light is projected from the 2.5 m mirror and focused at 18 km. A fast gating scheme isolates the focused waist. A NGS is needed to guide a tip-tilt mirror. Even with relatively poor seeing, UnISIS has been able to correct a star to the diffraction limit. 

Ar+ lasers are robust, but the efficiency is low, f 0.05%. The heat generating additional turbulence near the telescope is a serious problem. They are now replaced with frequency doubled YAG lasers. These cannot yet deliver quite the same power at 532 nm, but they are much more efficient. CW dye laser systems have now been used to demonstrate Na LGSs at several observatories. 

System Design. For the Keck AO, LGS requirements are 0.3 ph/cm /ms for the return flux and 0.6 arcsec for the spot diameter. The resulting laser system specifications are given in Table 2. The repetition rate was increased by a factor of 2 relative to the Lick system to improve the sodium return. 

The overall conceptual layout of the pulsed dye laser LGS system is shown in Fig. 18. A thermally insulated room located on the dome floor houses much of the laser system to minimize vibrations on the telescope and the heat dissipated within the dome. The enclosure houses 6 frequency-doubled Nd YAG pump lasers, the DM0, the associated laser electronics and diagnostics, the... 

Safety Systems. A safety system is provided with built in safety shutdowns and emergency stop buttons. Crash buttons are located in the laser room, the laser table enclosure and the dome. The laser system is tied into the Observatory emergency stop system. Included both in the laser room and on the laser table are surveillance cameras, heat exchangers, alcohol sensors and fire detectors. In addition to personnel safety features, extensive interlocks have been installed in the laser to prevent the operator from inadvertently damaging it. 

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