Laser-based Mid-infrared Sources and Applications E-Book

Konstantin L. Vodopyanov

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Serie: A Wiley-Science Wise Co-Publication
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 558

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Beschreibung

An important guide to the major techniques for generating coherent light in the mid-infrared region of the spectrum Laser-based Mid-infrared Sources and Applications gives a comprehensive overview of the existing methods for generating coherent light in the important yet difficult-to-reach mid-infrared region of the spectrum (2-20 mum) and their applications. The book describes major approaches for mid-infrared light generation including ion-doped solid-state lasers, fiber lasers, semiconductor lasers, and laser sources based on nonlinear optical frequency conversion, and reviews a range of applications: spectral recognition of molecules and trace gas sensing, biomedical and military applications, high-field physics and attoscience, and others. Every chapter starts with the fundamentals for a given technique that enables self-directed study, while extensive references help conduct deeper research. Laser-based Mid-infrared Sources and Applications provides up-to-date information on the state-of the art mid-infrared sources, discusses in detail the advancements made over the last two decades such as microresonators and interband cascade lasers, and explores novel approaches that are currently subjects of intense research such as supercontinuum and frequency combs generation. This important book: * Explains the fundamental principles and major techniques for coherent mid-infrared light generation * Discusses recent advancements and current cutting-edge research in the field * Highlights important biomedical, environmental, and military applications Written for researchers, academics, students, and engineers from different disciplines, the book helps navigate the rapidly expanding field of mid-infrared laser-based technologies.

Leseprobe

Laser‐based Mid‐infrared Sources and Applications

Konstantin L. Vodopyanov

University of Central FloridaOrlando, FL, USA

This edition first published 2020© 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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Library of Congress Cataloging‐in‐Publication data applied for

ISBN: 9781118301814

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In memory of Feliciana Ignatievna Vergunas

About the Author

Konstantin L. Vodopyanov is an Endowed Chair and Professor of Optics and Physics at CREOL, the College of Optics and Photonics at the University of Central Florida. He is a Fellow of The Optical Society of America (OSA), the International Optical Engineering Society (SPIE), the American Physical Society (APS), and the UK Institute of Physics (IOP). K.L. Vodopyanov is a world expert in mid‐IR lasers, laser–matter interactions, nonlinear optics, and laser spectroscopy. He has pioneered several new laser sources, optical parametric devices, and methods for mid‐IR and THz wave generation, including generation of ultrabroadband frequency combs; he is the author of more than 400 technical publications on the subject and a co‐editor of the book Solid‐State Mid‐Infrared Laser Sources (Springer, 2003). His research interests include the use of nonlinear effects for mid‐IR and THz generation, spectroscopic applications of frequency combs, nano‐IR spectroscopy, and biomedical applications of lasers.

Preface

The field of mid‐infrared (mid‐IR) photonics is rapidly expanding driven by a growing number of applications in fundamental science, technology, defense, medicine, biology, environmental monitoring, among others. The last 25 years have seen remarkable advances in the field of mid‐IR lasers starting with the quantum cascade laser pioneered by Lucent Technologies in 1994 and followed by a growing number of diverse innovative approaches to coherent light generation in this spectral range. Because the last comprehensive book on the subject, Solid‐State Mid‐Infrared Laser Sources, which I coedited with I. Sorokina, was published by Springer in 2003, it was both my and the publisher's understanding that this material needed to be significantly updated to include the impressive number of new techniques and applications.

The main goal of this book is to introduce the reader to the state‐of‐the‐art technologies used to generate coherent mid‐IR light, and to discuss their most important applications. The book assembles an array of methods developed by several scientific communities, which include solid‐state physics, semiconductor physics, materials science, crystal growth, nonlinear optics, and nanofabrication, in their search to create an efficient and inexpensive solid‐state mid‐IR laser source.

The book loosely defines mid‐IR range as 2–20 μm. It examines a variety of state‐of‐the‐art approaches from diverse areas of photonics: solid‐state lasers based on rare‐earth and transition metals; fiber lasers; semiconductor lasers including intra‐ and intersubband cascade lasers; nonlinear‐optical frequency converters including difference frequency generators, optical parametric oscillators and amplifiers, and Raman converters. It also discusses several emerging technologies such as “white light” and frequency combs generation in microresonators, waveguides, and microstructured fibers. In the final chapter, the book provides an overview of the most significant applications of mid‐IR, such as chemical sensing and imaging including nano‐imaging, medical and defense applications, plasmonics, extreme nonlinear optics, attosecond science, and particle acceleration. Such mature fields as free‐electron lasers, CO2 and CO gas lasers, synchrotron radiation, and cryogenic lead‐salt semiconductor lasers are outside of the scope of this book, since the reader can find published material on these subjects.

The book is based on the short courses that I taught at major laser conferences, including the Conference on Lasers and Electro‐Optics (CLEO) and SPIE Photonics West. Each chapter begins with a self‐contained description of the underlying principle for a given method, and gradually brings the reader to the discussion of the latest achievements. I made every effort to make the narrative comprehensible to a broader community. However, it is assumed that the reader is familiar with basic concepts of laser physics, such as population inversion, Q‐switching, and mode‐locking, as well as of nonlinear optics, such as frequency mixing and nonlinear refraction.

The book should be useful to students, academics, researchers, and engineers, and to those who would like to learn about state‐of‐the‐art and major trends in the development of mid‐IR laser sources, and their current and upcoming applications.

I would like to thank Dr. Sergey Vasilyev, Prof. Sergey Mirov, Prof. Ken Schepler, Prof. Stuart Jackson, Prof. Gregory Belenky, Prof. Leon Shterengas, Dr. Jerry Meyer, Dr. Igor Vurhaftman, Prof. Arkadiy Lyakh, and Prof. Jerome Faist for reading the book chapters and making valuable suggestions. Finally, my wife Mila has earned my endless gratitude for her optimism, continuous support, helpful edits of the text, and for her bearing my spending long late‐night and weekend hours on writing this book.

Konstantin L. Vodopyanov

Orlando, Florida

January 2020

Notes

1

https://www.britannica.com/science/infrared-radiation

2

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrared_vision