Table Of ContentNato ASI Series 132
Advanced Science Institutes Series
Neal B. Abraham · F. T. Arecchi
Aram Mooradian · Alberto Sona Editors
Physics of New
Laser Sources
Physics of
New Laser Sources
NATO ASI Series
Advanced Science Institutes Series
A series presenting the results of activities sponsored by the NATO Science Committee,
which aims at the dissemination of advanced scientific and technological knowledge,
with a view to strengthening links between scientific communities.
The series is published by an international board of publishers in conjunction with the
NATO Scientific Affairs Division
A Life Sciences Plenum Publishing Corporation
B Physics New York and London
C Mathematical D. Reidel Publishing Company
and Physical Sciences Dordrecht, Boston, and Lancaster
D Behavioral and Social Sciences Martinus Nijhoff rublishers
E Engineering and The Hague, Boston, and Lancaster
Materials Sciences
F Computer and Systems Sciences Springer-Verlag
G Ecological Sciences Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, and Tokyo
Recent Volumes in this Series
Volume 126-Perspectives in Particles and Fields: Cargese 1983
edited by Maurice Levy, Jean-Louis Basdevant, David Speiser,
Jacques Weyers, Maurice Jacob, and Raymond Gastmans
Volume 127-Phenomena Induced by Intermolecular Interactions
edited by G. Birnbaum
Volume 128-Techniques and Concepts of High-Energy Physics Ill
edited by Thomas Ferbel
Volume 129-Transport in Nonstoichiometric Compounds
edited by George Simkovich and Vladimir S. Stubican
Volume 130-Heavy lon Collisions: Cargese 1984
edited by Paul Bonche, Maurice Levy, Philippe Quentin, and
Dominique Vautherin
Volume 131- Physics of Plasma-Wall Interactions in Controlled Fusion
edited by D. E. Post and R. Behrisch
Volume 132-Physics of New Laser Sources
edited by Neal B. Abraham, F. T. Arecchi, Aram Mooradian, and
Alberto Sona
Series 8: Physics
Physics of
New Laser Sources
Edited by
Neal B. Abraham
Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
F. T. Arecchi
University of Florence and
National Institute of Optics
Florence, Italy
Aram Mooradian
Li nco In Laboratory
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Lexington, Massachusetts
and
Alberto Sona
C.I.S.E. (Center of Information, Studies and Experiments)
Segrate, Milan, Italy
SPRINGER SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, LLC
Proceedings of a NATO Advanced Study Institute on
Physics of New Laser Sources,
held July 11-21, 1984,
in San Miniato, Tuscany, Italy
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
NATO Advanced Study Institute on Physics of New Laser Sources (1984: San
Miniato, Italy)
Physics of new laser sources.
(NATO ASI series. Series B, Physics; v. 132)
"Proceedings of a NATO Advanced Study Institute on Physics of New Laser
Sources, held July 11-21,1984, in San Miniato, Tuscany, ltaly"-T.p. verso.
"Published in cooperation with NATO Scientific Affairs Division."
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Lasers-Congresses. 2. Quantum electronics-Congresses. I. Abraham,
Neal B. II. North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Scientific Affairs Division. Ill.
Title. IV. Series.
QC685.N39 1984 535.5'8 85-24386
ISBN 978-1-4757-6189-4 ISBN 978-1-4757-6187-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4757-6187-0
© 1985 Springer Science+Business Media New York
Originally published by Plenum Press, New York in 1985
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted, in any form or by any means. electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
microfilming, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher
PREFACE
This volume contains the lectures and seminars
presented at the NATO Advanced Study Institute on
"Physics of New Laser Sources", the twelfth course of
the Europhysics School of Quantum Electronics, held
under the supervision of the Quantum Electronics
Division of the European Physical Society. The
Institute was held at Centro "I Cappuccini" San
Miniato, Tuscany, July 11-21, 1984.
The Europhysics School of Quantum Electronics was
started in 1970 with the aim of providing instruction
for young researchers and advanced students already
engaged in the area of quantum electronics or for those
wishing to switch into this area after working
previously in other areas. From the outset, the School
has been under the direction of Prof. F. T. Arecchi,
then at the University of Pavia, now at the University
of Florence, and Dr. D. Roess of Heraeus, Hanau. In
1981, Prof. H. Walther, University of Munich and
Max-Planck Institut fur Quantenoptik joined as
co-director. Each year the Directors choose a subj~ct
of particular interest, alternating fundamental topics
with technological ones, and ask colleagues
specifically competent in the chosen areas to take the
scientific responsibility for that course.
The past courses were devoted to the following themes:
1) 1971: "Physical and Technical Measurements with
Lasers"
2) 1972: "Nonlinear Optics and Short Pulses"
3) 1973: "Laser Frontiers: Short Wavelength and
High Powers"
4) 1974: "Cooperative Phenomena in Multicomponent
Systems"
5) 1975: "Molecular Spectroscopy and
Photochemistry with Lasers"
6) 1976: "Coherent Optical Engineering"
v
7) 1977: "Coherence in Spectroscopy and Modern
Physics"
8) 1979: "Lasers in Biology and Medicine"
9) 1980: "Physical Processes in Laser Material
Interactions"
10) 1981: "Advances in Laser Spectroscopy"
11) 1982: "Laser Applications to Chemistry"
12) 1984: "Physics of New Laser Sources"
The first five courses were held in Erice,
Sicily, at the Centre for Scientific Culture "Ettore
Majorana", the next four were held at Villa Le
Pianore, Camaiore, Tuscany. Beginning in 1981,
thanks to generosity of Cassa di Risparmio di San
Miniato, we have held the school in a conference
center resulting from the restoration of an ancient
convent in the countryside, very close to the small
city of San Miniato, that is, just in the heart of
Tuscany (equidistant from Florence, Pisa and Siena).
Prof. F. T. Arecchi, Prof. N. B. Abraham of Bryn
Mawr College, Prof. A. Sana of CISE and Prof. A.
Mooradian of the Massachussetts Institute of
Technology undertook the scientific direction of the
present courses, selecting the specific topics and
lectures.
This Institute was classified by the NATO
Scientific Affairs Division as part of its "Double
Jump" Program because its topics seemed likely to be
of interest to scientists from national and
industrial laboratories as well as serving the needs
of the academic community. In fact, twenty-four
years after the operation of the first laser, we are
witnessing widespread implementation of laser
devices and laser technologies in industrial
processes and commercial systems. The needs of the
laser user-community have stimulated the search for
new classes of laser sources with some exotic
characteristics· in comparison with the now
"conventional" characteristics of the first
generation of lasers.
New laser sources are often rapidly incorporated
into certain research and technological applications
because they are designed for specific uses.
However, the broader scientific community is often
much slower to adopt new systems because they are of
uncertain reliability and, more importantly, because
the scientists are unfamiliar with the capabilities
of these new sources. Through this ASI we intended
to provide an understanding of the advantages and
potential applications of maturing new sources and
to provide the basis for participants to evaluate
vi
and explore uses of even more novel sources
currently under design or development.
The "double jump" character perceived by the
NATO sponsors also attracted many contributions from
industries which provided either lecturers from
among their experts or fellowships for other
participants. Hence, in addition to the support of
the NATO Scientific Affairs Division, we wish to
acknowledge the contributions and cosponsorship of
the Institute by the following organizations:
Allied Corporation
Apollo Lasers
AT&T Bell Laboratories
Cassa di Risparmio di San Miniato
Coherent GmbH
Coherent, Inc
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
CSELT
ENEA
FIAR
Fondazione Ugo Bordoni
Hughes Aircraft Co.
IBM - Italy
Istituto Nazionale di Ottica
Lambda-Physik
Laser Focus
Laser-Optronic GmbH
Nippon Electronic Co.
Quantel
Selenia
Spectra Physics GmbH
USAF European Office of Aerospace Research and
Development
u.s. Army European Research Office
W.C. Heraus GmbH
In addition, the Deutscher Akademischer
Austauschdienst contributed three fellowships for
the participation of German graduate students.
Finally, we offer our special thanks to Mrs. M.
Petrone of the Istituto Nazionale di Ottica for her
invaluable assistance in the organization of the
Institute, and to her, Miss A. Camnasio of Servizio
Documentazione, CISE, and Miss A. C. Arecchi for
their assistance during the course itself. In
addition, thanks are due to the staff of Cassa di
Risparmio di San Miniato for the operation of the
conference center and to Mrs. I. Arecchi for the
organization of the social events. Finally we thank
J. R. Tredicce for his able assistance in the final
editing of the manuscript.
vii
We note particularly that this volume includes
not only specially written tutorial lectures as is
the customary procedure, but in certain appropriate
instances reprints of selected articles are used to
present the highlights of fields or applications.
This approach, which amounts to a guided tour of the
most recent research literature, may ultimately
become the standard route to efficient surveys of
this type without the labor of preparing redundant
camera-ready manuscripts.
N. B. Abraham
F. T. Arecchi
A. Mooradian
A. Sona
viii
CONTENTS
Tunable Short-Wavelength Laser Sources • • . • • • 1
B. P. Stoicheff
Excimer Lasers: Practical Excimer Laser Sources. • 15
P. Burlamacchi
Excimer Laser Applications • 33
D. Basting and U. Sowada
Properties of Alexandrite Lasers 43
J.C. Walling
New Developments in CW Dye Lasers •• 69
B. Peuse
Selected Reprints on Pulse Compression
I. Temporal Compression of Light . • . . • . 79
J.K. Wigmore and D.R. Grischkowsky
II. Recompression of Optical Pulses Broadened
by Passage Through Optical Fibers . . . . 95
H. Nakatsuka and D. Grischkowsky
III. Nonlinear Picosecond-Pulse Propagation
Through Optical Fibers with Positive Group
Velocity Dispersion • • • • • • • • 101
H. Nakatsuka, D. Grischkowsky and
A.C. Balant
IV. Optical Pulse Compression Based on
Enhanced Frequency Chirping . • . • . . 109
D. Grischkowsky and A.C. Balant
V. Pulse Compression Using Optical Fibers. • 117
B. Nikolaus and D. Grischkowsky
Spectral Characteristics of Semiconductor
Diode Lasers. • •••••••••••• 123
A. Mooradian
ix
