Disclosure of Invention
The invention aims to provide a double-frequency laser for outputting high-frequency difference laser signals, and simultaneously, the power of double-frequency laser can be balanced and tuned.
Aiming at the purpose, the invention discloses a Nd-YVO-based material4/Nd:GdVO4A dual-frequency laser of composite crystal comprising Nd-YVO4/Nd:GdVO4The device comprises a combined crystal, a heat sink temperature control module, a pumping module, a laser resonant cavity and an output module; the pump module emits pump light, Nd: YVO4/Nd:GdVO4The combined crystal receives the pump light, the pump light is stimulated and amplified to form double-frequency laser after passing through the laser resonant cavity, and the output module receives and outputs the double-frequency laser adjusted by the laser resonant cavity; nd: YVO4/Nd:GdVO4The combined crystal is arranged in a heat sink temperature control module which is used for controlling Nd: YVO4/Nd:GdVO4The temperature of the crystal is combined to realize the power balance adjustment of the dual-frequency laser. Wherein, Nd is YVO4/Nd:GdVO4The composite crystal is neodymium-doped yttrium vanadate/neodymium-doped gadolinium vanadate composite crystal.
Further, Nd: YVO4/Nd:GdVO4YVO (YVO) with thickness of the combined crystal close to one end of the pumping module lower than that of Nd4/Nd:GdVO4The thickness of the combined crystal at the end away from the pumping module.
Further, Nd: YVO4/Nd:GdVO4The composite crystal comprises Nd: YVO4Laser crystal, Nd: GdVO4Laser crystal, Nd: YVO4/Nd:GdVO4The composite crystal is prepared by mixing Nd: YVO4(Neodymium-doped yttrium vanadate) laser crystal and Nd: GdVO4Carrying out crystal bonding on the (neodymium-doped gadolinium vanadate) laser crystal to obtain the crystal; nd: YVO4/Nd:GdVO4YVO (Nd: YVO) of composite crystal4One side of the laser crystal is arranged at one side close to the pumping module. Nd: YVO4/Nd:GdVO4The combined crystal is a gain medium in the laser resonant cavity and is used for realizing the stimulated radiation amplification of the dual-frequency laser signal. YVO is due to Nd4/Nd:GdVO4The wavelengths of the excited radiation of the composite crystal are respectively in Nd and YVO4Crystal and Nd: GdVO4The crystal emission spectrum (as shown in FIG. 1) is within the range, so that at 20 ℃, Nd: YVO4Excited radiation wavelength of crystal and Nd: GdVO4The difference of the excited radiation wavelength of the crystal exceeds 1.2nm, and the theoretical frequency difference is more than 300 GHz; on the other hand, when Nd: YVO4/Nd:GdVO4When the temperature of the combined crystal changes, the existence of different crystal emission spectrum peaks is cancelled, and the power balance of the output dual-frequency laser signal shows corresponding change.
Further, the heat sink temperature control module comprises a clamp holder, a water-cooling base, a semiconductor refrigerating piece, a temperature control probe, a front end controller and a PC control end, wherein the clamp holder clamps the combined crystal; the semiconductor refrigerating piece is arranged at the bottom of the holder; the water-cooling base is arranged at the bottom of the semiconductor refrigerating piece; the temperature control probe is arranged on the clamper; the front-end controller is electrically connected with the temperature control probe; the PC control end is electrically connected with the front-end controller.
Furthermore, the front-end controller is electrically connected with the temperature control probe through a lead, and the lead is a double-core copper lead.
Furthermore, the pumping module comprises a pumping source, an optical fiber and an input coupling mirror, wherein the pumping source is communicated with the optical fiber, and the optical fiber is communicated with the input coupling mirror. The pump source is used for emitting pump light, and the optical fiber and the input coupling mirror are used for transmitting and converging the pump light so as to improve the utilization rate of the pump light.
Furthermore, the laser resonant cavity comprises a front-end coating film and a reflector, the front-end coating film is coated on one side of the combined crystal close to the pumping module, and the reflector and the front-end coating film are arranged in parallel relatively so as to provide positive feedback for laser amplification.
Furthermore, the output module comprises an output coupling mirror and a tail fiber, the output coupling mirror and the reflecting mirror are arranged in parallel relatively, and the tail fiber is connected with the output coupling mirror. The output coupling mirror is used for improving the output coupling efficiency of the double-frequency laser and improving the output power.
Further, the temperature control range of the front-end controller is-10 ℃ to 100 ℃.
Further, the output frequency difference of the output module is not lower than 300 GHz.
The invention has the beneficial effects that:
the invention adopts Nd-YVO4/Nd:GdVO4The combined crystal is used as a gain medium and can generate a dual-frequency laser beam with the frequency difference larger than 300GHz when receiving the optical radiation of the pump. In addition, the temperature of the combined crystal can be adjusted in real time through the heat sink temperature control module, so that the adjustment of the power balance degree of the dual-frequency laser is realized. YVO based on Nd4/Nd:GdVO4The output frequency difference of the double-frequency laser output by the double-frequency laser of the combined crystal is not lower than 300GHz, and meanwhile, the heterodyne beat frequency efficiency can be improved by adjusting the power balance of the output double-frequency laser, so that the combined crystal has better applicability.
Example 1
The purpose of this embodiment is to provide a dual-frequency laser that can output high frequency difference, can carry out power balance tuning to the dual-frequency laser that outputs simultaneously in time. To achieve the object, referring to FIG. 3, this embodiment discloses a Nd: YVO based optical film4/Nd:GdVO4A dual-frequency laser of composite crystal comprising Nd-YVO4/Nd:GdVO4The device comprises a combined crystal 4, a heat sink temperature control module, a pumping module, a laser resonant cavity and an output module; the pump module emits pump light, Nd: YVO4/Nd:GdVO4The combined crystal 4 receives the pump light, is stimulated and amplified after passing through the laser resonant cavity to form dual-frequency laser, and the output module receives and outputs the dual-frequency laser adjusted by the laser resonant cavity; nd: YVO4/Nd:GdVO4The combined crystal 4 is arranged in a heat sink temperature control module which is used for controlling Nd: YVO4/Nd:GdVO4The temperature of the combined crystals 4.
Nd:YVO4/Nd:GdVO4YVO is smaller than Nd in thickness at one end of the combined crystal 4 close to the pumping module4/Nd:GdVO4The thickness of the combined crystal at the end away from the pumping module. Nd: YVO4/Nd:GdVO4The composite crystal is composed of Nd: YVO4Crystal 17 and Nd: GdVO4The crystal 18 is composed of Nd YVO4/Nd:GdVO4YVO (Nd: YVO) of composite crystal4One side of the laser crystal is arranged at one side close to the pumping module. The axial cross section dimension is 3mm multiplied by 3mm, all the axial cross section dimensions are a-axis cutting, each end face is coated with a film, and the optical axis is vertically arranged, as shown in figure 2.
Wherein, Nd is YVO4/Nd:GdVO4The combined crystal is a gain medium in the laser resonant cavity and is used for realizing the stimulated radiation amplification of the double-frequency laser. YVO is due to Nd4/Nd:GdVO4The wavelengths of the excited radiation of the composite crystal are respectively in Nd and YVO4Crystal and Nd: GdVO4CrystalEmission spectrum range (as shown in FIG. 1), therefore at 20 deg.C, Nd: YVO4Excited radiation wavelength of crystal and Nd: GdVO4The difference of the excited radiation wavelength of the crystal exceeds 1.2nm, and the theoretical frequency difference is more than 300 GHz; on the other hand, when Nd: YVO4/Nd:GdVO4When the temperature of the combined crystal changes, the existence of different crystal emission spectrum peaks cancels the long phenomenon, and the power balance of the output dual-frequency laser signal shows corresponding change.
The heat sink temperature control module comprises a clamp holder 7, a water-cooling base 9, a semiconductor refrigerating piece 8, a temperature control probe 11, a front end controller 10 and a PC control end 12, wherein the clamp holder 7 clamps the combined crystal 4; the semiconductor refrigerating piece 8 is arranged at the bottom of the clamping device 7; the water-cooling base 9 is arranged at the bottom of the semiconductor refrigerating piece 8; the temperature control probe 11 is arranged on the clamper 7; the front-end controller 10 is electrically connected with the temperature control probe 11; the PC control terminal 12 is electrically connected to the front-end controller 10. The water-cooling base 9 is used for realizing heat exchange, the temperature control probe 11 is used for detecting the temperature of the combined crystal, the front-end controller 10 is used for automatically adjusting the direction and the magnitude of the power supply current of the semiconductor refrigerating piece 8, and the PC control end 12 is used for setting the temperature control temperature and checking the real-time temperature of the combined crystal detected by the temperature control probe.
The holder 7 is a metal holder made of aluminum alloy material and is composed of an upper triangular prism and a lower triangular prism which are connected by screws, a square groove with the diameter of 3.5mm multiplied by 3.5mm is arranged at the splicing center and is used for placing indium foil wrapped Nd: YVO4/Nd:GdVO4The crystals are combined.
The semiconductor refrigerating piece 8 is a semiconductor refrigerating piece with the model number of TEC1-12708, and the maximum refrigerating power is 68.9W.
The water-cooling base 9 is a hollow aluminum alloy box body which is provided with a water outlet and a water inlet and is used for fixing the holder 7 and the semiconductor refrigerating piece 8 and improving the stability of temperature control in the heat exchange process.
The front-end controller 10 is a model TCB-NA semiconductor refrigeration chip temperature control board, and is based on a PID control algorithm to further realize temperature regulation and control from-10 ℃ to 100 ℃, and the temperature control precision can reach 0.1 ℃.
The temperature control probe 11 is a thermistor (NTC) having a resistance of 10K Ω, and its B value is 3950 (the B value is a parameter describing physical characteristics of the thermistor material, i.e., a thermal sensitivity index, and the larger the B value, the higher the sensitivity of the thermistor).
The PC control end 12 is a computer with serial port debugging software. The PC control end 12 is electrically connected with the front-end controller 10 through a data line 16, and the data line 16 is a serial port line from USB to RS-232.
The front-end controller 10 is electrically connected with the temperature control probe 11 through a lead 15, and the lead 15 is a double-core copper lead.
The pumping module comprises a pumping source 1, an optical fiber 2 and an input coupling mirror 3, wherein the pumping source 1 is communicated with the optical fiber 2, and the optical fiber 2 is communicated with the input coupling mirror 3. The pump source 1 is used for emitting pump light, and the optical fiber 2 and the input coupling mirror 3 are used for transmitting and converging the pump light, so that the utilization rate of the pump light is improved. The pumping source 1 is a semiconductor laser with the output center wavelength of 808nm, and the output power of the semiconductor laser is adjustable; the optical fiber 2 is a multimode optical fiber, and the core diameter thereof is 100 mu m; the input coupling mirror 3 is a self-focusing lens.
The laser resonant cavity comprises a front-end coating 5 and a reflector 6, wherein the front-end coating 5 is coated on the combined crystal, and the reflector 6 and the front-end coating 5 are arranged in parallel relatively so as to provide positive feedback for laser amplification. Wherein, the front end coating film 5 comprises a total reflection film 19 and an antireflection film 20; the reflecting mirror 6 is a plane reflecting mirror, and the mirror surface of the plane reflecting mirror close to the combined crystal side is plated with a part of high reflecting film (R ═ 90% @1064nm) and high reflecting film (HR @808 nm).
Referring to FIG. 2, Nd: YVO4/Nd:GdVO4One end of the composite crystal 4 is Nd: YVO4The other end of the laser crystal 17 is Nd: GdVO with larger thickness4And a laser crystal 18 having both end faces of the combined crystal coated with a film. Wherein, Nd is YVO4One side of the laser crystal close to the coupling input mirror is plated with a total reflection film (HR @1064nm)19 and an antireflection film (AR @808nm)20, Nd is YVO4Laser crystal and Nd: GdVO4The end face of the middle combination of the laser crystal is plated with an antireflection film (AR @808nm)&1064nm)21,Nd:GdVO4The end face of the laser crystal close to one side of the reflector is coated with an antireflection film (AR @1064nm) 22.
The output module comprises an output coupling mirror 13 and a tail fiber 14, wherein the output coupling mirror 13 is arranged opposite to and parallel to the reflecting mirror 6, and the tail fiber 14 is connected with the output coupling mirror 13. The output coupling mirror 13 is used to improve the coupling efficiency of the dual-frequency laser and improve the output power. The tail fiber 14 is a multimode fiber with a core diameter of 100 μm; the output coupling mirror 13 is an aspheric lens, and the coupling efficiency can reach 85%.
The temperature control range of the front-end controller 10 is-10 ℃ to 100 ℃.
The output frequency difference of the output module is not lower than 300 GHz.
In addition, the dual-frequency laser disclosed by the embodiment also needs auxiliary devices such as a base, a lens support and a screw to stabilize the whole dual-frequency laser device and keep the consistency of the central height of the optical path, and then the dual-frequency laser signal is smoothly output by adjusting the position of the pumping source and working parameters such as the position and the angle of the reflector. Finally, the dual-frequency laser in the embodiment can realize the output of the dual-frequency laser with the central wavelength of about 1060nm, the frequency difference of not less than 300GHz and the tunable power balance degree, and the temperature control characteristic of the dual-frequency laser at 5-40 ℃ is shown in fig. 4.
YVO based on Nd provided in the embodiment4/Nd:GdVO4The working principle of the dual-frequency laser of the combined crystal is as follows: YVO (Nd: YVO) cut under the action of 808nm laser pumping source4Crystal and Nd: GdVO4Due to the difference of emission cross-section spectrums in frequency, the output wavelengths of the crystal also show obvious difference, namely the output of the dual-frequency laser can be realized. YVO (Nd: YVO) obtained by cutting an a axis4Crystal and Nd: GdVO4YVO (Nd: YVO) formed by mutually and vertically combining crystal optical axes4/Nd:GdVO4The combined crystal is used as a gain medium of the laser and placed on the central line of pump light, the pump module is adjusted to select proper pump power, the heat sink temperature control module is used for adjusting the power balance degree of the double-frequency laser, the laser resonant cavity and the output module are used for controlling the beam quality of the double-frequency laser, and finally the large-frequency-difference double-frequency laser output with balanced power is obtained. It can also be adjusted in real time by presetting the temperature of temperature control through the PC control endThe temperature of the whole crystal realizes the purpose of balanced tuning of the power of the double-frequency laser.
The dual-frequency laser provided in the embodiment adopts Nd: YVO4/Nd:GdVO4The combined crystal is used as a gain medium, can generate a double-frequency laser beam with large frequency difference when receiving the radiation of the pump light, and adjusts the beam quality of the double-frequency laser through the laser resonant cavity and the output module. In addition, the temperature of the combined crystal can be adjusted in real time through the heat sink temperature control module, so that the adjustment of the power balance degree of the dual-frequency laser is realized. YVO based on Nd4/Nd:GdVO4The output frequency difference of the double-frequency laser output by the double-frequency laser of the combined crystal is not lower than 300GHz, and meanwhile, the heterodyne beat frequency efficiency can be improved by adjusting the power balance of the output double-frequency laser, so that the combined crystal has better applicability.
The specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the spirit of the invention. Various modifications or additions may be made to the described embodiments or alternatives may be employed by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit or ambit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.