PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

Arlee V Smith

Publications and source records attributed to Arlee V Smith.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

Peak-power limits on fiber amplifiers imposed by self-focusing.

We have numerically investigated the behavior of the fundamental mode of a step-index, multimode (MM) fiber as the optical power approaches the self-focusing limit (P(crit)). The analysis includes the effects of gain and bending (applicable to coiled fiber amplifiers). We find power-dependent, stationary solutions that propagate essentially without change at beam powers approaching P(crit) in straight and bent fibers. We show that in a MM fiber amplifier seeded with its fundamental eigenmode at powers <<P(crit), the transverse spatial profile adiabatically evolves through a continuum of stationary solutions as the beam is amplified toward P(crit).

Journal Article↗

Polarization-mixing optical parametric oscillator.

We report the experimental realization of a new type of optical parametric oscillator in which oscillation is achieved by polarization rotation in a linear retarder, followed by nonlinear polarization mixing. The mixing is performed by a type II degenerate parametric downconversion in a periodically poled KTP crystal pumped by a 1064 nm pulsed Nd:YAG pump. A single, linearly polarized beam, precisely at the degenerate wavelength is generated. The output spectrum has a narrow linewidth (below the instrumentation bandwidth of 1 nm) and is highly stable with respect to variations in the crystal temperature.

Journal Article↗

Generation of radially polarized beams with an image-rotating resonator.

We show how a passive image-rotating optical resonator can be used to convert a linearly polarised, lowest-order Gaussian beam into a radially polarized beam. The image and polarization rotation of the cavity removes the frequency degeneracy of the modes, making it possible to select the radially polarized mode by cavity tuning. With the addition of gain, the same cavity should operate as a radially polarized laser when injection seeded at the proper wavelength.

Journal Article↗