Three-Dimensional Laser Creation of a Near-IR Laser-Gain Medium Based on Hydride Donor/Acceptor Complexes Made of Coupled Laser-Induced Silver Nanoclusters with Ytterbium Ions.

Femtosecond laser inscription in a ytterbium-doped silver-containing phosphate glass is demonstrated by achieving 3D highly localized laser-induced silver photochemistry. The produced fluorescent silver nanoclusters lead to high optical contrast in the visible range, showing that the coinsertion of Yb ions is not detrimental to the silver-based photochemistry. We demonstrate efficient energy transfer from these silver nanoclusters to the rare-earth Yb ions, leading to near-IR background-free fluorescence emission.

Demonstration of Type A volume Bragg gratings inscribed with a femtosecond Gaussian-Bessel laser beam.

To our knowledge, we report on the first demonstration of Type A VBGs inscribed in silver-containing phosphate glasses by femtosecond laser writing. The gratings are inscribed plane-by-plane by scanning the voxel of a 1030 nm Gaussian-Bessel inscription beam. This results in a refractive-index modification zone, induced by the appearance of silver clusters, extending over a much larger depth than those obtained with standard Gaussian beams.

Individual design of aberration-free intraocular lenses.

An analytical tool capable of easily calculating a new aspheric intraocular lens (IOL) (shape factor, aspherization) chosen to be designed as "aberration free" in terms of spherical aberration and/or coma is reported. In terms of retinal image quality, the theoretical performances given by the new proposed IOLs compare well with commercial IOLs.

Direct-laser-written integrated mid-IR directional couplers in a BGG glass.

The development of coherent sources and other optical components for the mid-infrared has been hampered by the lack of sturdy materials that can withstand high power radiation or exposition to harsh environment. BGG glasses are robust materials transmitting over the 2.5-5 μm region.

Five-Dimensional Optical Data Storage Based on Ellipse Orientation and Fluorescence Intensity in a Silver-Sensitized Commercial Glass.

Five-dimensional (5D) recording and decoding is demonstrated by using femtosecond direct laser writing in a silver-containing commercial glass. In particular, laser intensities and ellipse orientations generated by anamorphic focusing are employed to produce 5D data storage unit (3D for XYZ, 1D for the orientation of the elliptically-shaped data storage unit and 1D for its fluorescence intensity). In the recording process, two different images of a 4-bit bitmap format were simultaneously embedded in the medium by multiplexing the elliptical orientation of the laser focus and its intensity so as to access oriented elliptical patterns with independent fluorescence intensity.