A few-cycle Cr⁴⁺:YAG laser and optical studies of photonic crystals

A prismless Cr4+:YAG laser was used to generate 20 fs pulses at 1450 nm with a bandwidth of 190 nm FWHM. Intracavity group velocity dispersion was compensated with double-chirped mirrors. Pulse spectrum was observable from 1140 to >1700 nm. Broadband saturable Bragg reflectors were designed and used to ensure self-starting of 35 fs pulses in the ultrafast Cr4+:YAG laser or to generate picosecond pulses tunable from 1400 to 1525 nm. The mirrors were a 7-pair GaAs/AlxOy quarter-wave dielectric stack, and the absorber consisted of a InGaAs quantum well centered in a half-wave InP layer. Transmission was measured through a photonic bandgap crystal microcavity resonant near 1550 nm. Cavity quality factors as high as 360 were observed for cavities with a modal volume of only 2([lambda]/2n)3. Photonic crystals were used to enhance the total emission of a light emitting diode at 980 nm by 8-fold. At particular wavelengths, collected photoluminescence enhancements larger than 100 were observed.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Physics.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2002

Author dc:creator

• Ripin, Daniel Jacob, 1973-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Erich P. Ippen.

• Physics.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/8291

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/8291