Advanced Controllable Raman Lasers

在过去的十年里，固体激光器一直是人们非常感兴趣的主题，有着广泛的应用，这主要归功于它们优越的输出功率到墙上插头的效率。然而，这些激光器产生的颜色(波长)的可获得性有限，迫使用户妥协，使用不适合目标应用的波长。基于一种称为受激拉曼散射的非线性过程的激光系统为这一需求提供了一种简单的解决方案。然而，这些所谓的拉曼激光器的性能和可用性一直受到非线性过程固有的热失真的限制。本项目将首次研究在拉曼激光器内部实施自适应控制技术，以显著缓解这一热问题。通过这种方式，可以远程控制和优化激光器的行为和性能，从而在输出功率、光束质量和可用性方面实现卓越的性能。这带来了几项真正突破的前景，包括一系列世界第一和世界纪录，以及将这些以实验室为基础的系统转移到工程环境中。这些显著增强的系统将涉及广泛的应用，包括天文学、环境监测、化妆品和医学。例如，牛皮癣或葡萄酒污渍去除等各种皮肤病的治疗将从该项目中受益匪浅。最后，知识传授是该项目的一个重要特点，并有一系列专门的活动。这项技术的转让将在澳大利亚麦格理大学和斯特拉斯克莱德大学的两个备受瞩目的研究小组中进行。与M Squared激光公司的工业合作也将进行，特别是针对最终演示的商业化。

Over the last decade, solid-state lasers have been the subject of great interest with a wide range of applications thanks mostly to their superior output-power-to-wall-plug efficiency. However, the limited availability of colours (wavelengths) produced by these lasers forces the user to compromise by utilising a wavelength that is not ideal for the targeted application. Laser systems based on a nonlinear process, called Stimulated Raman Scattering, offer a simple solution to this need. However, the performance and usability of these so-called Raman lasers have traditionally been limited by thermal distortions inherent to the nonlinear process.This project will, for the first time, investigate the implementation of the adaptive control techniques - typically used in astronomy- inside Raman lasers to significantly alleviate this thermal issue. In this way, the behaviour and performance of the laser can be remotely controlled and optimised resulting in superior performance in terms of output power, beam quality and usability. This offers the prospect of several genuine breakthroughs including a range of world-firsts and world-records as well as the transfer of these laboratory-based systems into an engineering context.These significantly enhanced systems will address a wide range of applications including astronomy, environmental monitoring, cosmetics and medicine. For instance, the treatment of a variety of skin diseases such as psoriasis or port wine stain removal will strongly benefit from this project.Finally, knowledge transfer is an important feature of this project with a full strand of activity dedicated to it. The transfer of this technology will be performed within two high profile research groups at Macquarie University, Australia and at the University of Strathclyde. An industrial collaboration with M Squared Lasers will also take place, particularly targeting commercialisation of the final demonstrator.