Diode-pumped solid-state lasers for practical applications

Dr. Graeme Malcolm
M Squared Lasers Ltd.
John Arbuthnott Building, Room SB151
2.30p.m. Friday 4 th June 2010

This talk will discuss several different diode-pumped solid-state laser technologies and their applications in "real-world" practical applications.  Wavelengths from the deep UV to THz range will be discussed, whilst applications will range from biomedical and microscopy, through advanced frontier research and environmental monitoring to oil and gas and defence.  The links between academic research and fast translation to commercial applications and the benefits of close co-operation between academia and commercial companies will be viewed from the speaker's own personal perspective

Friday 30th April 2010

Detection and use of single photons

Prof. Gerald S. Buller
Heriot-Watt University
At 2.30pm in lecture theatre SB151 in the John Arbuthnott Building, University of Strathclyde

Abstract: Optical detection using photon timing has enjoyed a recent upsurge in interest as application areas such as quantum key distribution (or quantum cryptography), time-of-flight ranging and three-dimensional imaging have emerged from the laboratory. In addition, other research areas critically relying on photon correlation, such as quantum or ghost imaging, may also find applications in the future. This presentation will discuss time-correlated photon counting, applications areas and the emerging detector technologies that underpin growth in this field. These technologies include semiconductor based single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) detectors, SPAD detector arrays, and superconducting nanowire detectors.

Ultrafast lasers in the thin disk geometry

Dr. Thomas Südmeyer
ETH Zurich
At 2.30pm in lecture theatre SB151 in the John Arbuthnott Building, University of Strathclyde

Abstract: One of the major technology trends in laser research is the progress of ultrafast laser sources from complicated laboratory systems towards compact and reliable instruments. SESAM-modelocked ultrafast lasers using the thin disk geometry are a promising technology for this task. The first part of the presentation focuses on femtosecond ion-doped solid-state thin disk lasers, which recently exceeded pulse energies above 10 µJ at multi-megahertz repetition rates and average power levels >140 W. With this development, many applications that previously relied on complex and expensive amplifier systems are now within reach of simple and cost-efficient laser oscillators. The high average output power bears a considerable potential for reducing processing speeds and increasing throughput in material processing applications. The second part focuses on ultrafast vertical external cavity surface-emitting lasers (VECSELs), which are semiconductor lasers using the thin disk laser geometry. Ultrafast VECSELs access a different operation regime than ion-doped solid-state thin disk lasers, generating pulse energies in the pico- to nanojoule regime, but with repetition rates in the gigahertz range. They have a number of compelling advantages, including power scaling and their ability to access wavelengths regions that are not easily accessible with established ion-doped solid-state laser materials. Such performance in combination with the potential for cost-efficient mass production makes these lasers a promising alternative for many applications, which currently rely on more bulky and expensive laser systems. We present an overview on the current state-of-the-art and discuss a further integration step towards compact and low-cost ultrafast lasers, which we refer to as the modelocked integrated external-cavity surface emitting laser (MIXSEL). MIXSELs achieve more than 4 W average output power, which is higher than any other modelocked semiconductor laser. Such devices appear highly attractive for numerous large-scale applications such as optical clocking of multi-core microprocessors, frequency metrology, biomedical imaging, or telecommunication.