Engineering Research Equipment Grant: A Spectra Physics Argon Laser

这项工程研究设备补助金将用于购买替代高功率氩离子激光器，供伯克利量子电子学小组使用（由Whinnery， Wang， Gustafson和Smith教授领导）。目前的研究用途包括抽运碰撞脉冲模型锁定（CPM）飞秒激光系统，抽运染料激光头以产生可调谐探头光束，用于直接测量半导体激光器中模式的增益耦合，并在光学神经网络的背景下测量光折变晶体的性能。几个以高功率氩离子激光器为中心的实验利用飞秒脉冲装置。用连续波氩离子激光器泵浦的被动模型锁定CPM激光器实现了迄今为止证明的最短光脉冲，然而，与光学和/或电气设备的低抖动定时同步是困难的。伯克利小组开发了一种利用脉冲光学锁相环的机制，该机制利用增益开关半导体激光器，该激光器在其前缘与飞秒脉冲串交叉相关，从而产生仅为50飞秒的时间抖动。这种独特的脉冲光学锁相环（POPLL）是亚皮秒光学采样系统的核心。目前，它被用于测量和模拟皮秒光学器件，并在同步微波信号提供刺激的量子阱中观察刺激和探针实验。

This Engineering Research Equipment Grant will enable purchase of a replacement high-power argon ion laser for use by the quantum electronics group at Berkeley (headed by professor Whinnery, Wang, Gustafson and Smith). Current research uses include pumping a colliding-pulse-modelocking (CPM) femtosecond laser system, pumping a dye laser head for generation of a tunable probe beam for making direct measurements of gain coupling of modes in a semiconductor laser, and measurement of the performance of photorefractive crystals in a context of an optical neural network. Several experiments centered around the high power argon ion laser utilize the femtosecond pulse facility. Passively modelocked CPM lasers which are pumped with CW argon ion lasers achieve the shortest optical pulses demonstrated to date, however, low jitter timing synchronication with optical and/or electrical devices is difficult. The Berkeley group has developed a mechanism using a pulsed optical phaselock loop that utilizes a gain switched semiconductor laser which is cross correlated with the femtosecond pulse train at its leading edge, resulting in a time jitter of only 50 femtoseconds. This unique pulsed optical phase lock loop (POPLL) is at the heart of a subpicosecond optical sampling system. It is currently being used to measure and model picosecond optical devices, and to look at stimulus and probe experiment in quantum wells where the stimulus is provided by a synchronous microwave signal.