To meet the semiconductor industry’s demands for accurate measurements on excimer lasers, we have developed a system using the correlation method to measure the nonlinear response of pulse energy detectors of excimer laser at 193 nm. The response of the detector under test to incident laser pulse energy is compared to the corresponding response of a linear monitor detector. This method solves the difficulties caused by large pulse-to-pulse instability of the excimer laser and delivers measurement results with an expanded uncertainty (k=2) of 0.8 %.
We have constructed a prototype calorimeter that will serve as a primary standard for measurements of 157 nm excimer laser power and energy. The construction and performance of the prototype will be discussed. In addition, we have performed a series of thermal characterization measurements on the prototype. From these measurements, we deduce that the uncertainty in the prototype's electrical calibration factor is less than 0.2 percent. This number is less than or comparable to the uncertainty of the NIST primary standards for use with 193 and 248 nm excimer lasers. The 157 nm standards are part of a beamsplitter-based measurement system for laser power and energy calibrations. To control and determine the ambient measurement conditions, we have constructed a nitrogen-purged enclosure for this system. We are able to achieve O2 concentrations of less than 3 parts per million (ppm) inside the enclosure.
We determined the damage thresholds and lifetimes of several materials using 157- and 193-nm excimer lasers and a beam profile technique similar to that described in ISO 11254-2. We made these measurements to select an appropriate absorbing material for use in our primary standard laser calorimeter for 157-nm excimer laser energy measurements. The materials we tested were nickel-plated sapphire, chemically-vapor-deposited silicon carbide (CVD SiC), nickel-plated copper, and polished copper. Applied pulse energy densities (or dose) ranged from 80 to 840 mJ/cm2. We determined the applied dose from a series of laser beam profile measurements. Silicon carbide had the highest damage threshold: 730 mJ/cm2 per pulse. For this reason, and because of its high thermal and electrical conductivities, we have chosen silicon carbide as the absorber material for the 157-nm calorimeter. We also conducted long-term exposure studies in cooperation with MIT Lincoln Laboratory at a pulse energy density of 5 mJ/cm2 to simulate typical calorimeter operating conditions. No aging effects or other surface changes were observed at these dose levels after 500 million pulses, corresponding to a projected calorimeter lifetime of 50 years.
Detailed laser beam characterization is essential for the proper choice of lasers source according to the respective application as well as for the optimization of optical systems. Since most lasers generate partially coherent beams, intensity and phase distributions are not enough to describe them. In addition the knowledge of the coherence distribution is necessary. So far different setups have been used to measure phase and coherence distribution with limited accuracy. Here we demonstrate a new measurement procedure which is based on the retrieval of the Wigner distribution, from which all relevant information can be derived. The setup is very simple and the results seems to be fairly accurate.
KEYWORDS: Semiconductor lasers, Diodes, Telescopes, Cylindrical lenses, Beam propagation method, Beam shaping, High power diode lasers, High power lasers, Laser systems engineering, Solid state lasers
For fiber coupling and end-pumping of solid-state lasers, the astigmatic beam emitted from high power diode lasers has to be transformed into a beam with rotational symmetry. In this paper we present the result of beam transformation of a high power laser diode stack. The transformation optics consists of rotated cylindrical lenses, originally used in generating twisted beams from coherent and partially coherent fields. The astigmatic beam emitted from a 500 W 2D laser diode stack is transformed into a rotationally symmetric beam. The symmetrized beam has equal beam widths, equal beam divergences in x,y-directions and the same waist positions.
Hermite-Gaussian, Laguerre-Gaussian and complex Hermite- Gaussian modes are solutions of the paraxial wave equation. Using an astigmatic optical system each type of beams can be transformed into the others. This allows a generation of complex Hermite-Gaussian modes with twist whose propagation behavior is investigated in detail.
Multipath resonators are well known as optical delay lines. By many zick-zack rays between two mirrors large optical path lengths can be obtained. This passive system can be converted into a laser oscillator by closed ray paths and a Nd:YAG crystal at one mirror. Optical pumping occurs by directly coupled diodes at the reflection points. Very efficient (more than 40% optical/optical) and compact systems up to 20 W, with the beam propagation factor m2 < 3 were generated. Q-switching and internal frequency doubling were also demonstrated. The fundamental physics of this system including the transverse mode-locking at the degeneration points of the resonator was investigated, experimentally and theoretically.
We have conducted thorough analysis of a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) diode which produces TEM01* (donut) and higher-order modes. Our analysis includes the following quantities as a function of drive current: optical power, spectral content, relative intensity noise (RIN) up to 100 MHz, and beam characterization parameters. While this VCSEL produces higher-order modes which are not affected by optical feedback, its optical power (0.05 mW for TEM01*), long term stability, and sensitivity to collimating lens position make it a doubtful candidate for use in a beam characterization round robin. Also, we hope to present recently acquired data from the diode-pumped tunable transverse mode laser developed in Berlin and tested at NIST.
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