Nonlinear optics with broad-band lasers. Progress report, July 15, 1982-July 14, 1983

Technical Report · Tue Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1983

OSTI ID:6308062

Raymer, M G

Experiments directed at understanding the fundamental nature of broad-band laser radiation and the consequences of using such radiation in non-linear optics are reported. Unexpected, exciting results were found in our measurements of intensity fluctuations in a broad-band cw dye laser, in which a new type of laser instability was observed. Its properties led us to tentatively identify the instability as a phase transition in a nonlinear system, a topic of great current interest in statistical mechanics and physics in general. Improvements have been made in our methods for making intensity autocorrelation measurements of pulsed dye lasers, and interesting properties of such lasers have been discovered. A system based on a high resolution detector array has been designed and constructed for the purpose of making single-shot measurements of pulsed laser spectra and of field cross-correlations in Raman scattering. The single-shot laser spectra are being observed with a novel Fizeau interferometer which we designed and constructed. The justification of our design for the proposed field cross-correlator has been further strengthened by a detailed theoretical analysis of this new measurement technique. Also, progress has been made on the theory of stimulated Raman scattering of broad-band, chaotic laser radiation.

• Research Organization: Rochester Univ., NY (USA). Inst. of Optics
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-81ER10979
• OSTI ID: 6308062
• Report Number(s): DOE/ER/10979-2; ON: DE83008369
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
420300* -- Engineering-- Lasers-- (-1989)
CORRELATIONS
DYE LASERS
FLUCTUATIONS
LASERS
LIQUID LASERS
NONLINEAR OPTICS
OPTICS
RAMAN EFFECT
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
VARIATIONS