Ultrashort-pulse generation in excimer lasers by fast mode locking using electrooptic deflector

Author

Badziak, Jan ; Jablonski, Slawomir

Author_Institution

Inst. of Plasma Phys. & Laser Microfusion, Warsaw, Poland

Volume

33

Issue

3

fYear

1997

fDate

3/1/1997 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

490

Lastpage

499

Abstract

A novel method for ultrashort-pulse (USP) generation in excimer lasers employing fast mode locking with the use of an electrooptic deflector (EOD) is investigated numerically. In this method, a USP is formed by a train of very short high-contrast-ratio transmission windows produced in a cavity by a modulator composed of an EOD and a diaphragm. The potential of this method and fundamental properties of USP generation with its use are demonstrated taking a KrF laser as an example. It is shown that the application of the EOD driven with both sine and square wave of voltage enables one to obtain high-contrast-ratio light pulses of duration in the range 1-10 ps at the gain duration of only 50-100 ns. The pulses produced with this method are two orders of magnitude shorter than those attainable with conventional mode locking. The method is capable of being an efficient way for USP generation also in other short-gain-duration lasers

Keywords

electro-optical deflectors; electro-optical modulation; excimer lasers; high-speed optical techniques; krypton compounds; laser accessories; laser cavity resonators; laser mode locking; laser theory; optical windows; 1 to 10 ps; 50 to 100 ns; KrF; KrF laser; USP generation; electrooptic deflector; excimer lasers; fast mode locking; high-contrast-ratio light pulses; laser cavity resonators; mode locking; ps gain duration; short-gain-duration lasers; sine wave; square wave; ultrashort-pulse generation; very short high-contrast-ratio transmission windows; Bandwidth; Electrooptic deflectors; Laser mode locking; Laser theory; Lasers and electrooptics; Optical pulse generation; Optical pulses; Oscillators; Production; Pulse amplifiers;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/3.556020

Filename

556020