Compact blue/green solid state lasers

for the OEM marketplace

David Piehler
Harmonic Lightwaves, Santa Clara, California
Talk SS6.1
IEEE/LEOS 1994 Annual Meeting
Boston, 3 November
Outline
The air-cooled argon laser
The OEM marketplace
Summary of compact blue/green solid state laser technologies
Commercial systems
- Frequency doubled diode pumped Nd:crystal lasers
- Directly doubled diode laser
Emerging technologies
- Frequency-doubled microchip lasers
- Frequency doubling in quasi-phase-matching waveguides
- Upconversion fiber lasers
Summary
The OEM market for air-cooled argon lasers
Major market segments ($40-50M in annual sales)
biotechnology
graphic arts
semiconductor inspection
confocal microscopy
Potential markets for INEXPENSIVE compact blue/green lasers:
optical storage
displays
pointing
Biotechnology - DNA sequencing / gel electrophoresis
Fluorescing dye molecules replace radioactive tags/photographic film
One laser (- 20 mW argon) can excite several different dyes
Fast, high volume sequencing
High startup costs ($100K) relative to photographic film
Laser wavelengths are matched to the dye chemistry
Laser is the most expensive single component
An INEXPENSIVE, compact laser could increase markets
Drive to develop red dyes
-inexpensive red laser diodes
-lower background (autofluorescence)
-more compatible with solid state detectors
Biotechnology - Flow cytometery
Laser light scatters of individual white blood cells in a flowing jet
Fluorescent dyes used for selective tagging of cells
Analysis of scattrerd light (angle, polarization, fluorescence) from each
individual cell
Machines are mainly used for research, cell sorting, moving into clinical
enviornments
Scientific users want 488 nm light because there is a great body of literature
on the subject
Single use machines have been developed - e.g. AIDS diagnosis
Autofluorescence is a problem; using green lasers (532,543 nm ) offer 5 X
increase sensitivity
Move to red dyes
The OEM marketplace
When laser is highest cost component in system, inconvenience of air-cooled
argon lasers will be tolerated (Flow cytometry (research), DNA sequencing)
When systems are costly (graphic arts, semiconductor inspection), want the
highest performing laser.
Everyone is sensitive to wavelength
Everyone would like to use diode lasers directly
- 18 months of development time before OEM brings product to market
OEM users have different requirements than scientific users
- Repeatability
- Beam quality, noise, pointing stability in adverse environments
blue laser
diodes
bulk, rare-earth
doped crystal
laser
SOLID STATE BLUE /
GREEN LASER
TECHNOLOGY
wavelength :j:::j!
conversion
waveguide
geometry
waveguide laser on a
rare-earth doped
crystal substrate
bulk, external
cavity resonant
SHG
birefringent
phase
matched SHG
waveguide
geometry
quasi-phase
matched SHG
DPSSL + laser
diode sources
intra-cavity
SHG
external cavity
resonant SHG
Cherenkov
phase
matched SHG
bulk, resonant
cavity SFG
Fig 1. Solid state blue/green laser technologies.
Commercial systems
Most based on frequency doubled diode pumped Nd:YAG lasers. (532 nm)

laser
diode
r Nd:YAG
mirror
HR@1064nm
HT@808nm
KTP
532nm
output
coupler
HR@1064nm
HT@532nm
"Green Problem"
Sum frequency generation between adjacent longitudinal modes is chaotic
Make laser single frequency to solve problem.
Single frequency solutions:
- Twisted mode cavity
- Ring laser
( C 0 h ~ rev'\t )
- External ring resonator
Pump
Diode
KTP
532 nm
Nd:YAG
~ Rotator Plate
Directly doubled diode laser
Isolator
860 nm
Resonant doubler
KNb03
Single
Frequency
Diode Laser
430 nm
Emerging technologies
Frequency-doubled microchip lasers
Frequency doubling in quasi-phase-matching waveguides
Upconversion fiber lasers
CLEO 194-
An Ultra-compact, Laser-diode-array-pumped,
Nd:YV04/KTP, Frequency-doubled,
Comp,osite-material Microchip Laser
N. MacKinnon, B. D. Sinclair and W. Sibbett,
University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews,
Fjfe, KY16 9SS,
Scotland
S. N. Jenny and 1. T. Jenks,
' ",
l. E. Optomech Ltd.,
Newnham,
Northants, NNII 6ET,
England
D. Craven and D. Piehler,
Uniphasc Corp.,
San Jose,
Ca., 9S] 34
Composite Material Microchip Laser Structure
and Longitudinal Excitation Scheme
0.5 mm thick Vanadate
Laser Diode
Array
Fluid Interface
2 mill thick KTP
Green Output
Dielectric Mirrors
High Power Composite-Material Device.
Pump source provided by 2 W laser-diode-array. (200 ~ l m x 1 m active area.)
Exactly the same device and coupling optics as used previously.
Brightness of pump source higher than that in previous lens-coupling.
130 mW of C. W. green power for 650 mW of incident pump. (200/0 conversion.)
140
Filled Squares: Green Power

120 Open Squares: Fundamental Power
....
100 -
r---.. -

~
S 80 -

'-..-/

\-;

Q)
0
~ 60
0
0 0
0
0
p... 0
0
40
~
0
0

0
20
0
0
n
- 0
o - " - ~ ~ ' - - - r ' - r - ~ i If! I til ii ' I -r-r-I I I I I I ill I Iii
o J 00 200 300 400 :')00 600 700
Incident Pump Power (mW)
/
Far-field Intensity Cross-section of High Power Device
In the far-field the intensity cross-section of the output was found to be
approximately Gaussian as may be seen below.
250 m W of incident pump power
(20 mWof green power)
650m W of incident plll11p power
( 130 m Wof green power) .
Spectral Purity of Infra-red output at 50 ill W of Green
Output Power.
Oscillation of two axial modes in the infra-red observed using Fabry-Perot.
Intensity ratio of stronger mode to weaker mode approxilnately 10 to 1.
Axial modes separated by 33 GHz (one device axial mode separation).
Intensity Stability of 50 m W of Green Output Power
Measured by R.F. spectrum analyser and fast photodiode
Two infra-red axial modes should, via a sum-frequency interaction, produce
a periodic intensity modlliation. (The "green-problem").
Apparatus capable of resolving intensity modulation 65 dB below C.W. green signal.
Lack of significant intensity modulation attributable to dominance of one mode
over the other and possibly relatively weak coupling between the axial modes.
--- - --T--==P-- - f--oo:=J
I A13L 1.1,1. --1"---1- L -- --l- --- -.1-. - __ J
i sTop i FREQ ENCY I ! i : I I ... i i
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[
--- --- -- ..
--1--- __ J __ J ____ .I. _
ST9R , 3 nz ST OP 1.000 MH 7
R.F. spectrum of 50 m W
green output up to ) MHz.
Resolution bandwidth is 10 kHz_
Sensitivity is 10 dB per division.
Advantages of microchip lasers
No sub-micron positioning
Mature materials
Passive suppression of relaxation oscillations
Disadvantages of microchip lasers
One flavor - green
Nonstandard laser output - 10 mrad divergence (vs. 1.2 for HeNe)
Divergence varies with power
No modulation
Future directions for frequency doubled microchip lasers
Other materials
Other transitions (wavelengths) (4F3/2 - 41
912
, e.g. the 946 nm transition in
Nd:YAG)
Higher powers (>200 mW)
Upconversion fiber lasers
Upconversion is a way of pumping visible laser transitions with infrared light.
4F 7/ 2
20000
970 nm
4 Hl1 / 2
0.45 ms (0.001 ms)
45
3
/
2
,,-...
15 000 .-
4F9/2 0.12 ms (0.0001 ms)
I
E
u
41
9/ 2
'--'
>-
10000

0::::

41,,/2
7 ms (0.007 ms)
lJ..J
Z
lJ..J 41 13/ 2 9 ms (12 ms)
nm 544 nm
i
r
5000
970

lsd\cO\)
o
41
,512
Best geometry is an optical waveguide which confines light to a small cross
section for a long distance.
Fluoride glass hosts are prefered to silica due to a relative abundance of
metastable laser levels. Single mode fibers have been fabricated.
Fiber laser device
pump
laser light
~
mirror 1 :
doped fluoride fiber
highly transmisive at Apump
high reflector at Aupconversion
upconversion
laser light
~
~ unabsorbed
pump light
mirror 2:
output coupler
for Aupconversion
Room-temperature visible upconversion fiber lasers in
rare-earth-doped fluoride glass
Dopant ion
Holmium
IErbium:
Praseodymium
Thulium
NeodV1 V1 IVlYV\
.
Laser wavelengths
(nm)
550
54$
::
490, 520, 540, .605 or 635
480
3 ~ o ) 410
Pump wavelengths
(nm)
645,750,890
800 ot 970
840 + 1020 t g,o tN/Yla )
1120
590
UNIPHASE:
BT 1993:
CNET 1992:
BT 1991:
also LANL:
Previous work: Ti:sapphire laser pumping
reen Er fiber lasers
...
----.
BT 1993
<:>
~ UNIPHASE
-S 15
(971 ~ )
(971 nm) <:> ...
'-
i"CNET 1992 00 Q)
<:>
~
.&. ... (971 nm)
0
0
~ 10 .&.
<Z>
0
Q)
.&.
...
(/)
... 0
ro <:>
c
.&.
*
BT 1991
Q)
5 .&.
<:> 0
(801 nm)
Q)
...
0
L-
.&.
**
CJ)
<:>
... *
0
0
100 200 300 400
launched pump power (mW)
....
2 I-lm core, 0.31 NA (Piehler, Craven and Kwong, Compact Blue/Green Lasers '94
paper CFA2.)
3 I-lm core, 0.20 NA (Brierley, et al., BT Tech. J . 11, 128 (1993))
5.5 I-lm core 0.18 NA (Allain, et al., Electron. Lett. 28 111 (1992))
3.4 I-lm core, 0.18 NA (Whitley, et al. , Electron Lett. 27 185 (1991))
paper CMK3
High NA fiber figures of merit
Gain for at given incident pump power in the "high pumping" regime
0.4
-
N
0'
Q) 0 . 3
:;:

:;:
+J
"G 0.2
Q)
6
Q) O. 1
\..l
;:J
0>
"rl
4-l
LPOl at 545 nm

core diameter (microns)
I
I
\
\
System Issues - Active noise reduction
1 0 ~ ~ ~ = = ~ = = - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - r
0
0000000000
0
0
0
0
-20
0
0
0
0
,.
0
-30 -'--------------------______ =-------1
N
::c:
o
o
......
N N N
::c: ::c: ::r:
...:.: ...:.: ...!.<:
......
0 0
......
0
-
InGaAs-laser modulation frequency
N
::r:
::;s
0
-45
--
en
(!)
(!)
5'0
-90
(!)
'"0
'-"
a::
-135
:.c
en
(!)
en
CO
\
-180 ;;.
-225
gain (boxes) and phase (solid line) of green upconversion fiber laser response
as a function of laser diode pump modulation frequency
Electronic feedback loop
r;:Er' -36.0 dBn> AT TEtl 1'J dB
...... /i'\ . . ........... . : . . <.1 '
.. .. , '" ".: . ............... .... ..... . . : ..... .... : . . . . . ... . :. ' " . . . .. .... . . ... .... . "
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...... .. ::":.:::.:: ... :":::.:::" ::.::: ..... :: ..... :: ... L ... : ... : ......... : ....
without loop
CEHTER :30C:O.6 kH= SPHt-1 588.8 i-"H::
#r;:ES 1. (I Hz 'JE,W 1 k H;;: 1. S;",,,
p (. ;:- - l; rj t11 t-\ T T (, H '1 d 8 -",
-:" '1 FL .. "'1\' .... .... . , ......... , ......... : .... ..... : ......... : ......... : .. ....... : ......... : ......... I L
.. .. ; ... ... ... : .... .. ... : ... ..... ......... .. , with loop
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. . .
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CEIl T E R3 ,) '3 Eo k H ;: S P t' SO,). 0 k H ::
RES 8 1/ 1. 8 k: H ;: \i 8 IJ 1 k H '! :3 W Pl. 5 ; .!' .:;
Noise (20 Hz - 10 MHz) is reduced from g% p-p ( 2.5% rms) to 1 % p-p (0.3%
rms)
Recent Data - diode pumping
(in collaboration with Tim Carrig, Los Alamos National Laboratory)
17.9 mW of green laser light from InGaAs-diode-pumped fiber laser
length = 2.5 m; output coupler: R = 4% (Fresnel reflection)
-. 20
~
e
-
-

~ 10
o
Q"




Er:fluoride upconversion fiber laser: 971-nm pump
Galileo: 1.6 micron, 0.39 NA



..... ~ ~
b.
. ~ ~
b. . ~
~
~
A green laser power
,A A A A
O ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
transmitted pump power
o 50 100 150 200
incident InGaAs laser power (mW)
-* ADVANTEST Q8344A Optical Spectrum Analyzer -, 1994 - 8- 27 14:05 :48
SPEC 386.559pW AVG: 14/64
1.0nW
0.5nW
O.lnW/D

O.OnW
O.5415)1m
AVERAGE: 11
IBlfF 12
0.5440)1m
AVERAGE in progress
14 18 116
O.50nm/ D
I
132

[ AVERAGE 1
164 I
ADVANTEST Q8344A Optical Spectrum Analyzer '* 1994- 8- 27 14:10:18
SPEC 54.0725pW AVG : 32/64

25.0pW
5 . 0pW/ D
O.OpWL-__ ____ __ __ __ __ ____ __ ____ __
0.9660)1m
SPAN: IO.Onm
IIBmI ISTART
1.00nm/ D 0.9760)1m
AVERAGE in progress I [SPAN(SPEC) 1
ISTOP ILldSPAN 10.4
N
l.05 10 . 8
N
1.75 IFULL I
Other recent data
Advantages of upconversion fiber lasers
Highly efficient process
Insensitive to pump laser wavelength, linewidth, mode hops
Circular diffraction limited output defined by single mode fiber
Thermal - absorption of pump light distributed
Disadvantages of upconversion fiber lasers
Fragile fluoride fiber
No modulation
Linewidth - 1 nm
Output polarization drift, noise
Requires sub-micron manufacturing tolerances
Imperfect coupling of diode to fiber
Future direction for upconversion fiber lasers
Materials development
Co-doping
UV
New architectures (e.g. fiber laser-pumped fiber lasers)
Emerging pump diode technology (1120 nm, 640 nm diode lasers)
Bragg grating mirrors
Frequency doubling in quasi-phase-matching waveguides
Waveguide geometry insures high intensity over a long interaction length
Periodically poling the ferroelectric domains in the waveguide modulates the
nonlinearity.
P2CJ) I
+X(2) I -x(2)
(0)
o
I
I
31c 41c Sic 61c
Engineering the phase-matching
By proper selection of the period of domain reversals, one can engineer the
phase matching wavelength.
The poling period can be defined to double any wavelength within the
transparancy range of the substrate.
QPM overcomes restrictions set by birefringent phase-matching
,,'
",'
,,'
",'
,,'
periodic domain reversals
",'
,,'
,,'
",'
",'
",'
.
~ - ~ - - - - - - - . - - - - - . - .
substrate may be KTP, LiNb0
3
, LiTa03
QPM waveguide system
Pump acceptance bandwidth is < 0.2 nm
QPM wavelength varies with waveguide temperature
Stable single frequency diode required
QPM waveguide
.-H-______ frequency
doubled
~ - 4 _ _ output
Frequency locking laser diode with optical feedback
Use periodic domain inversions as a Bragg mirror: adjust temperature such
that ASragg = Aphase-matching
867. 2 ... 851 . 6
E
867 0
.s
.r::.
Cl 866 8
c

<l>
>
866. 6
'"

a:
86 6.4
OJ
Cl

..
E
851 . 4 .s
851.2 1< \ S k .....
<l>
r ' <l>
>
8 51 . 0 '"


85 0. 8 c..
o
Use diffraction grating (I BM)
86 6 . 2
i.-...!----'"'---'----'i....--:----'_...I 850 . 6
5 10 15 20 25 3 0
Temperature (OC)
R-O. l% Waveplate
R-90% (1J2)
: .......... : I
1:::1 IZjW'l! , J1 0
Dichroic
Beamsplitter
KTP Waveguide R- O.2% /
/ 425 nm
Output
..........
\r-tO: , ,.iO 0
GaAlAs , :
SQW-GRINSCH : : / L--___
Laser Diode
Circularizing
Prism Pair
(3x)
R- O.2%
FIG. 1. Experimental configuration of the extended-cavity laser using a
bulk diffraction grating for feedback.
35 4 0
Best Results (TMoo TMoo)
cbrein invasi01
V\a\Ie9lide
p-ctile

L
narrelizej effidffOJ
littium riobate
Yara:Ia, a aI
Smy
E-field @ roon terrp
- - - -
+--7' - =:;::
,,/ /- //
/
/ / ,-
/
/ / /
/ ,/ '
17 rrW/170 rrW
3nm
680 o/d'N arQ
littium tartalate KTP
MiZLJCd1i, a aI Eger, etal
Matsushita
p-d01 exc:ha1ge + heat Ba/Rb
a1nea1ed pdoo excha1ge
II

--=-==-.
[22
iZl Izl
23rrW/121 rrW 3rrW/52rrW
10nm 3.8nm
1fi1OfcNVarQ 800 o/d'N arQ
Advantages of QPM waveguides
Access to arbitrary wavelengths
Use of large nonlinear coefficeints (d
33
)
single pass, no resonator
Polarized, diffraction limited output
Single frequency output
Disadvantages of QPM waveguides
Diode must be frequency stabilized, single frequency
Power limited to 20 -30 mW
Requires sub-micron manufacturing tolerances
Coupling diode to waveguide (diode is TE, waveguide wants TM)
Future direction for QPM waveguides
Consistency in waveguide processing*
E-field poling
Increasing acceptance bandwidth at the expense of efficiency
Modulation
Stable manufacturable architecture*
Infrared - DFG, OPOs etc
*Uniphase received $1.5M Department of Commere Advanced Technology
Award (21 Oct 94)
Summary of wavelengths
?


400 nm 450 nm 500 nm

Tm fiber laser
Pr fiber laser
Er fiber laser
Ho fiber laser
Frequency doubled Nd:crystal laser (-1060 nm)
Frequency doubled Nd:crystal laser (-973 nm)
Nd:YAG + KTP SFG
Bulk frequency doubling KNb03 + AIGaAs
Bulk frequency doubling KNb03 + InGaAs
QPM doubling (InGaAs)
QPM doubling (AIGaAs)
550 nm
Summary
For compact solid state blue/green lasers to impact the marketplace:
Prices must fall
A reliable blue laser must be developed
Wavelengths must be compatible with chemistry
Laser developers must beat synthetic chemists
Acknowledgments
upconversion fiber lasers
Dawn Craven (Lambda-Physik), Tom Waska(consultant), Herman
Ferier( consultant)
frequency doubled microchip lasers
Neil MacKinnon (University of St.Andrews, IE Optomech) , Dawn Craven
(Lambda-Physik), Simon Jenny (IE Optomech), Ian Jenks(IE Optomech), Bob
Jones (Uniphase)
QPM wave guides
Eric Lim (Uniphase), Suzanne Lau (Uniphase)