Fully-correlated multi-mode pumping for low-noise dual-frequency VECSELs.

We report a fully-correlated multi-mode pumping architecture optimized for dramatic noise reduction of a class-A dual-frequency Vertical External Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VECSEL). Thanks to amplitude division of a laser diode, the two orthogonally polarized modes emitted by the VECSEL oscillating at 852 nm are separately pumped by two beams exhibiting fully in-phase correlated intensity noises. This is shown to lead to very strong and in-phase correlations between the two lasing modes intensities.

140 W peak power laser system tunable in the LWIR.

We present a high peak power rapidly tunable laser system in the long-wave infrared comprising an external-cavity quantum cascade laser (EC-QCL) broadly tunable from 8 to 10 µm and an optical parametric amplifier (OPA) based on quasi phase-matching in orientation-patterned gallium arsenide (OP-GaAs) of fixed grating period. The nonlinear crystal is pumped by a pulsed fiber laser system to achieve efficient amplification in the OPA. Quasi phase-matching remains satisfied when the EC-QCL wavelength is swept from 8 to 10 µm with a crystal of fixed grating period through tuning the pump laser source around 2 µm.

Multi-kW peak power acousto-optically tunable thulium-doped fiber laser system.

We demonstrate a core-pumped Q-switched thulium-doped fiber laser system with fast tunability capability over 100 nm without any movable part. With up to 7 kW peak power in a diffraction-limited beam, this source is well adapted for pumping a frequency agile mid-IR parametric oscillator or amplifier based on Quasi-Phase-Match single-period crystals.

Solid-state ring laser gyro behaving like its helium-neon counterpart at low rotation rates.

Nonlinear couplings induced by crystal diffusion and spatial inhomogeneities of the gain have been suppressed over a broad range of angular velocities in a solid-state ring laser gyro by vibrating the gain crystal at 168 kHz and 0.4 microm along the laser cavity axis. This device behaves in the same way as a typical helium-neon ring laser gyro, with a zone of frequency lock-in (or dead band) resulting from the backscattering of light on the cavity mirrors.

Suppression of nonlinear interactions in resonant macroscopic quantum devices: the example of the solid-state ring laser gyroscope.

We report fine-tuning of nonlinear interactions in a solid-state ring laser gyroscope by vibrating the gain medium along the cavity axis. We demonstrate both experimentally and theoretically that nonlinear interactions vanish for some values of the vibration parameters, leading to quasi-ideal rotation sensing. We eventually point out that our conclusions can be mapped onto other subfields of physics such as ring-shaped superfluid configurations, where nonlinear interactions could be tuned by using Feshbach resonance.