Lasers and Laser Systems
Since their invention just 40 years ago, lasers have progressed
from scientific curiosities, to essential tools for laboratory
investigation, finally becoming practical instruments in a wide
variety of applications. Today the laser is perhaps best known for
its use in supermarket scanners, laser printers, and compact disk
players. Industrial applications include welding and cutting,
materials processing, and analytical instruments.
SRI International and its subsidiary, Sarnoff Corporation,
have been leaders in many of these developments.
Table of Contents
- Excimer Lasers
- High Performance Laboratory Lasers
- Laser Sensor and Monitoring Systems
- Laser Technologies, Applications, and Markets
1. Excimer Lasers
SRI's pioneering work on the invention, mechanisms, modeling, and
performance of excimer lasers began in 1972 with the development of the
first kinetic model of electron-excited rare gases. Our efforts have
emphasized the identification and investigation of the fundamental
optical and kinetic processes that control laser performance. Of
particular interest
are mechanisms of energy deposition through electron excitation and
ionization; the chemical reactions of electrons, ions, and excited
states that lead to production of the upper laser level; and the
extraction of laser energy. We have made important contributions to
all of the high-energy visible and ultraviolet lasers that have been
discovered since 1972. Several of these were first demonstrated by us
or were based or our work.
Principal Investigators
Representative Projects and Publications
- D.C. Lorents and R.E. Olson, Excimer Formation and Decay
Process in Rare Gases (SRI International, Menlo Park, CA, 1972).
- W.K. Bischel, H.H. Nakano, D.J. Eckstrom, R.M. Hill, D.L. Huestis,
and D.C. Lorents, Appl. Phys. Lett. 34, 565 (1979).
- D.L. Huestis, Appl. Atomic Collision Phys. 3, 1 (Academic
Press, New York, 1982).
- D.J. Eckstrom, et al., Appl. Phys. 64 1679 (1988).
- A.P. Hickman, D.L. Huestis, and R.P. Saxon, J. Chem. Phys.
98, 5419 (1993).
2. High Performance Laboratorary Lasers
We have a wide variety of general and special purpose laser
systems and advanced optical diagnostics. Much of this equipment has
been developed during our own research and provides us with unique
capabilities. Our general purpose lasers include excimer, Nd:YAG, and
argon ion and krypton ion pump lasers, as well as pulsed and continuous
wave (cw) dye and Ti:sapphire tunable lasers. Three special purpose
laser systems are worthy of explicit description.
Our single-mode laboratory is equipped with an
argon-ion-laser-pumped cw single-mode ring dye laser and an
injection-seeded single-mode pulsed Nd:YAG laser. Both lasers are
state-of-the-art systems producing the narrow linewidths, good spatial
mode quality, and low intensity fluctuations needed for accurate
optical measurements. The Nd:YAG laser is especially unusual in that
it produces pulses as long as 80 ns, with a Fourier-limited bandwidth
under 20 MHz, and sufficient power for doubling, tripling, and
quadrupling, and for subsequent nonlinear optics experiments.
Our tunable-ultraviolet laboratory uses a Nd:YAG-pumped dye
laser and frequency-narrowed spatially-filtered tunable excimer laser
to produce continuously tunable laser light from
wavelengths as low as 120 nm to well over 1 micron, with sufficient
pulse energy for use in nonlinear optics experiments.
Our short-pulse laser laboratory investigates nonlinear optical
effects at very high intensity. Sub-picosecond duration laser pulses
are generated by a synchronously-pumped linear-cavity dye laser. Four
stages of amplification yield 4 mJ pulses, of less than 500 femtosecond
duration, tunable from 610 to 680 nm (easily doubled to 305 to 340 nm),
with peak intensities exceeding 100 terawatts per square centimeter.
Principal Investigators
Representative Projects and Publications
- Nonlinear Laser Diagnostics of Combustion and Plasma Processes
- G.W. Faris, L.E. Jusinski, M.J. Dyer, W.K. Bischel, and A.P.
Hickman, Opt. Lett. 15, 703 (1990).
- M.J. Dyer, L.E. Jusinski, H. Helm, and C.H. Becker,
Appl. Surf. Sci. 52, 151 (1991).
- G.W. Faris and M.J. Dyer, Opt. Lett. 18, 382 (1993).
- G.W. Faris and M.J. Dyer, J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 10, 2273
(1993).
- H. Helm, N. Bjerre, M.J. Dyer, D.L. Huestis, and M. Saeed, Phys.
Rev. Lett. 70, 3221 (1993).
- G.W. Faris, M.J. Dyer, and W.K. Bischel, Opt. Lett. 19, 1529
(1994).
3. Laser Sensor and Monitoring Systems
SRI pioneered remote measurements of aerosols and gases using
pulsed ruby laser systems. SRI has maintained its position as a
world leader through development of advanced lasers, laser
systems, and remote sensing and monitoring techniques.
Principal Investigators
Related Web Pages
4. Laser Technologies,
Applications, and Markets
SRI's scientists have decades of experience in contributing to
the advance of laser technology and in choosing lasers systems for
specific
applications. Clients can take advantage of our knowledge and
expertise through short-term consulting contracts. We provide
expert advice about future technology trends, market and application
opportunities, as well as cost and performance comparisons.
Principal Investigators
Representative Projecs
Related Web Pages
Send comments and suggestions to
david.huestis@sri.com
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(08/27/02)
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