Vertical External Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (VECSELs) have become well established in recent years for their design flexibility and promising power scalability. Recent efforts in VECSEL development have focused heavily on expanding the medium into the ultrafast regime of modelocked operation. Presented in this thesis is a detailed discussion regarding the development of ultrafast VECSEL devices. Achievements in continuous wave (CW) operation will be highlighted, followed by several chapters detailing the engineering challenges and design solutions which enable modelocked operation of VECSELs in the ultrafast regime, including the design of the saturable absorbers used to enforce modelocking, management of the net group delay dispersion (GDD) inside the cavity, and the design of the active region to support pulse durations on the order of 100 fs. Work involving specific applications - VECSELs emitting on multiple wavelengths simultaneously and the use of VECSEL seed oscillators for amplification and spectral broadening - will also be presented. Key experimental results will include a novel multi-fold cavity design that produced record-setting peak powers of 6.3 kW from a modelocked VECSEL, an octave-spanning supercontinuum with an average power of 2 W generated using a VECSEL seed and a 2-stage Yb fiber amplifier, and two separate experiments where a VECSEL was made to emit on multiple wavelengths simultaneously in modelocked and highly stable CW operation, respectively. Further, many diagnostic and characterization measurements will be presented, most notably the in-situ probing of a VECSEL gain medium during stable modelocked operation with temporal resolution on the order of 100 fs, but also including characterization of the relaxation rates in different saturable absorber designs and the effectiveness of different methods for managing the net GDD of a device.

The ultrashort chirped pulse amplification (CPA) laser technology opens the path to high intensities of 10^21 W/cm² and above in the laser focus. Such intensities allow laser-matter interaction in the relativistic intensity regime. Direct diode-pumped ultrashort solid-state lasers combine high-energy, high-power and efficient amplification together, which are the main advantages compared to flashlamp-pumped high-energy laser systems based on titanium-doped sapphire. Development within recent years in the field of laser diodes makes them more and more attractive in terms of total costs, compactness and lifetime. This work is dedicated to the Petawatt, ENergy-Efficient Laser for Optical Plasma Experiments (PENELOPE) project, a fully and directly diode-pumped laser system under development at the Helmholtz–Zentrum Dresden – Rossendorf (HZDR), aiming at 150 fs long pulses with energies of up to 150 J at repetition rates of up to 1 Hz. The focus of this thesis lies on the spectral and width manipulation of the front-end amplifiers, trivalent ytterbium-doped calcium fluoride (Yb3+:CaF2) as gain material as well as the pump source for the final two main amplifiers of the PENELOPE laser system. Here, all crucial design parameters were investigated and a further successful scaling of the laser system to its target values was shown. Gain narrowing is the dominant process for spectral bandwidth reduction during the amplification at the high-gain front-end amplifiers. Active or passive spectral gain control filter can be used to counteract this effect. A pulse duration of 121 fs was achieved by using a passive spectral attenuation inside a regenerative amplifier, which corresponds to an improvement by a factor of almost 2 compared to the start of this work. A proof-of-concept experiment showed the capability of the pre-shaping approach. A spectral bandwidth of 20nm was transferred through the first multipass amplifier at a total gain of 300. Finally, the predicted output spectrum calculated by a numerical model of the final amplifier stages was in a good agreement with the experimental results. The spectroscopic properties of Yb3+:CaF2 matches the constraints for ultrashort laser pulse amplification and direct diode pumping. Pumping close to the zero phonon line at 976nm is preferable compared to 940nm as the pump intensity saturation is significantly lower. A broad gain cross section of up to 50nm is achievable for typical inversion levels. Furthermore, moderate cryogenic temperatures (above 200K) can be used to improve the amplification performance of Yb3+:CaF2. The optical quality of the doped crystals currently available on the market is sufficient to build amplifiers in the hundred joule range. The designed pump source for the last two amplifiers is based on two side pumping in a double pass configuration. However, this concept requires the necessity of brightness conservation for the installed laser diodes. Therefore, a fully relay imaging setup (4f optical system) along the optical path from the stacks to the gain material including the global beam homogenization was developed in a novel approach. Beside these major parts the amplifier architecture and relay imaging telescopes as well as temporal intensity contrast (TIC) was investigated. An all reflective concept for the relay imaging amplifiers and telescopes was selected, which results in several advantages especially an achromatic behavior and low B-Integral. The TIC of the front-end was improved, as the pre- and postpulses due to the plane-parallel active-mirror was eliminated by wedging the gain medium.

No description available.

Présent dès les premiers instants de la combustion, les Hydrocarbures Aromatiques Polycycliques (HAP) jouent un rôle prépondérant dans la formation des suies avant d’être adsorbés par les particules ainsi formées. Les HAP influencent ainsi la quantité, la composition et la morphologie des suies émises pendant la combustion. L'étude de l'évolution de la phase adsorbée de ces particules au sein de la flamme doit permettre de mieux comprendre leur mécanisme de formation ainsi que leur impact sur la santé et l’environnement. Une expérience originale dédiée à une telle étude et basée sur le couplage des techniques de Désorption Laser, Ionisation Laser et Spectrométrie de Masse a été développée pendant cette thèse. Des suies collectées dans des flammes sont irradiées par un laser à 532 nm permettant ainsi la libération des HAP adsorbés. Les HAP sont ionisés par un deuxième laser à 266 nm avant d'être finalement analysés dans un spectromètre de masse à temps de vol. L’interprétation des spectres ainsi obtenus a fait l’objet d’une analyse très approfondie afin de caractériser les étapes de désorption et d’ionisation. Les analyses, réalisées dans différents types de flammes permettent d’identifier les HAP présents à la surface des suies à différents stades de leur formation, l’étendue des spectres variant fortement dans la zone de nucléation des suies. Afin de distinguer les HAP gazeux de ceux adsorbés, une nouvelle méthode de collecte basée sur le dépôt des suies et des HAP gazeux sur des substrats différents a été développée. Par ce biais, l’implication de réactions hétérogènes entre les HAP gazeux et les suies dans la croissance de ces dernières a pu être mise en évidence. / Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) are important precursors of carbonaceous soot particles, thus influence the quantity and morphology of particulate emission of combustion processes. Furthermore the PAH adsorbed on the surface of the soot particles contribute to the carcinogenicity of the particles, so there is scientific interest in characterising and quantifying those species to provide key information on the mechanism of soot formation and to understand their impact on environment and human health. An original setup based on the coupling of Laser Desorption, Laser Ionisation and Time-Of-Flight Mass Spectrometry techniques has been dedicated to the analysis of PAH desorbed from soot. Briefly, soot is sampled from flames using an extractive vacuum probe and deposed on porous filters. The samples are irradiated with a 532 nm laser beam to promote the desorption of neutral molecules. The ejecta are then ionised with a 266 nm laser beam, and the positive ions produced this way are mass analysed in a TOF-MS. The complete characterisation of the desorption and ionisation process has been the first goal of this work. The acquired expertise allowed investigations on different flames in which the PAH have been identified and studied at different level of their formation. Particularly, relevant differences in the mass spectra have been detected in the soot inception region. A new method based on the deposition of soot on different substrates is proposed in order to distinguish the PAH belonging to the gas-phase during the sampling from those adsorbed on soot particles, hence the role of the heterogeneous reactions between gaseous PAH and soot particles has been highlighted.

L'accélération laser plasma (ALP) est le produit de l'interaction non linéaire entre un faisceau laser intense (≈10¹⁸ W/cm²) et une cible gazeuse. Sous certaines conditions, l’onde plasma générée peut piéger et accélérer des électrons jusqu’à des énergies très importantes grâce à des champs accélérateurs élevés (≈ 50 GV/m). Ce processus très prometteur fait l'objet de nombreux travaux au sein de la communauté, qui, après avoir identifié les mécanismes de base, cherche aujourd’hui à améliorer les propriétés de la source (énergie, divergence, reproductibilité...).Les applications de ces faisceaux d'électrons issus de sources ultra-compactes sont variées. Parmi celles-ci, la physique des hautes énergies pour laquelle a été conçu le schéma d'accélération multi-étages. Il s’agit d’un concept basé sur la succession d’étages accélérateurs pour répondre à la problématique de l’augmentation de la longueur d’accélération en vue d’augmenter l’énergie des électrons. Dans sa version de base, un premier étage (injecteur) fournit un faisceau d'électrons d'énergie modérée doté d’une charge très importante. Ce faisceau est alors accéléré vers de plus hautes énergies dans un second étage appelé accélérateur. Cette thèse s'inscrit dans une série de travaux préliminaires aux expériences d'accélération laser-plasma double étages prévues sur la plateforme expérimentale CILEX autour du laser APOLLON 10 PW.Dans ce cadre, une nouvelle cible a été conçue et caractérisée avec le laser UHI100. Les propriétés du faisceau d'électrons ont ensuite été modifiées par mise en forme optique du faisceau laser produisant l'onde de plasma, ainsi que par mise en forme magnétique.Ce dernier dispositif nous a permis de pouvoir utiliser la source pour une application visant à mettre au point un système de dosimétrie adapté au fort débit de dose associé aux électrons issus de l'ALP. / Laser plasma acceleration (LPA) comes from the nonlinear interaction between an intense laser beam (≈10¹⁸ W/cm²) and a gas target. The plasma wave which is generated can, trap and accelerate electrons to very high energies due to large accelerating fields (≈ 50 GV/m). Numerous studies have been done on this promising process among our scientific community aiming at understanding the basic mechanisms involved. As a second step, we now try tries to improve the properties of the source (energy, divergence, reproducibility…).Such ultra-compact electronic sources can be used for various applications. Among them, high energy physics for which a specific scheme was designed, based on the multi-stage acceleration. The scheme relies on the addition of successive accelerating modules to increase the effective accelerating length and therefore the final electron energy. In its basic version, a first stage (injector) delivers an electron beam at moderate energy including a high charge. This beam is then further accelerated to high energy through a second stage (accelerator). This thesis is part of preliminary studies performed to prepare the future 2-stages laser plasma accelerator that will be developed on platform CILEX with APOLLON 10 PW laser.In this context, a new target has been designed and characterized with the UHI100 laser. Then the electron beam properties have been adjusted by optical shaping of the laser generating the plasma wave, and also by magnetic shaping.The electron beam, magnetically shaped, has been used for a specific application devoted to the set-up of a new dosimetric diagnostic, dedicated to the measurement of high dose rate delivered by these electrons from LPA.

The ultrashort chirped pulse amplification (CPA) laser technology opens the path to high intensities of 10^21 W/cm² and above in the laser focus. Such intensities allow laser-matter interaction in the relativistic intensity regime. Direct diode-pumped ultrashort solid-state lasers combine high-energy, high-power and efficient amplification together, which are the main advantages compared to flashlamp-pumped high-energy laser systems based on titanium-doped sapphire. Development within recent years in the field of laser diodes makes them more and more attractive in terms of total costs, compactness and lifetime. This work is dedicated to the Petawatt, ENergy-Efficient Laser for Optical Plasma Experiments (PENELOPE) project, a fully and directly diode-pumped laser system under development at the Helmholtz–Zentrum Dresden – Rossendorf (HZDR), aiming at 150 fs long pulses with energies of up to 150 J at repetition rates of up to 1 Hz. The focus of this thesis lies on the spectral and width manipulation of the front-end amplifiers, trivalent ytterbium-doped calcium fluoride (Yb3+:CaF2) as gain material as well as the pump source for the final two main amplifiers of the PENELOPE laser system. Here, all crucial design parameters were investigated and a further successful scaling of the laser system to its target values was shown. Gain narrowing is the dominant process for spectral bandwidth reduction during the amplification at the high-gain front-end amplifiers. Active or passive spectral gain control filter can be used to counteract this effect. A pulse duration of 121 fs was achieved by using a passive spectral attenuation inside a regenerative amplifier, which corresponds to an improvement by a factor of almost 2 compared to the start of this work. A proof-of-concept experiment showed the capability of the pre-shaping approach. A spectral bandwidth of 20nm was transferred through the first multipass amplifier at a total gain of 300. Finally, the predicted output spectrum calculated by a numerical model of the final amplifier stages was in a good agreement with the experimental results. The spectroscopic properties of Yb3+:CaF2 matches the constraints for ultrashort laser pulse amplification and direct diode pumping. Pumping close to the zero phonon line at 976nm is preferable compared to 940nm as the pump intensity saturation is significantly lower. A broad gain cross section of up to 50nm is achievable for typical inversion levels. Furthermore, moderate cryogenic temperatures (above 200K) can be used to improve the amplification performance of Yb3+:CaF2. The optical quality of the doped crystals currently available on the market is sufficient to build amplifiers in the hundred joule range. The designed pump source for the last two amplifiers is based on two side pumping in a double pass configuration. However, this concept requires the necessity of brightness conservation for the installed laser diodes. Therefore, a fully relay imaging setup (4f optical system) along the optical path from the stacks to the gain material including the global beam homogenization was developed in a novel approach. Beside these major parts the amplifier architecture and relay imaging telescopes as well as temporal intensity contrast (TIC) was investigated. An all reflective concept for the relay imaging amplifiers and telescopes was selected, which results in several advantages especially an achromatic behavior and low B-Integral. The TIC of the front-end was improved, as the pre- and postpulses due to the plane-parallel active-mirror was eliminated by wedging the gain medium.

Le déploiement des réseaux optiques d'accés et métropolitains à crée un besoin incessant de débits élevés et de portées étendues. Une demande pour des sources optiques compactes, polyvalentes, de bas coût et de consommation réduite a vu le jour dans ce contexte. Le but de cette thèse consiste à étudier expérimentalement et par la simulation deux techniques pour combattre les effets de la dispersion chromatique à travers l’ingénierie du chirp de la source. La première technique concerne les lasers DFB (Distributed Feedback Laser) modulés directement. Premièrement, un modèle complet et flexible d’un laser DFB développé au cours de la thèse a été exploité pour confirmer l’étude expérimentale des effets de phases du réseau de Bragg aux facettes sur le comportement du chirp. Les résultats ont montré l’existence de deux familles de lasers définies suivant la position du mode d’émission par rapport à la bande interdite. Deuxiémement, une étude théorique et expérimentale a montré la stabilisation et le contrôle du chirp des lasers DFB via la présence d'une rétroaction optique externe bien ajustée. La deuxième technique concerne le concept de la modulation duale des lasers modulateurs intégrés (D-EML : Dual Electroabsorption Modulated Laser) exploitant l’ajustement de la dérive en fréquence résultant de la juxtaposition d’une modulation de fréquence appliquée sur le laser et une modulation d’intensité appliquée sur le modulateur. L’évaluation expérimentale et théorique des performances du D-EML a permis de prouver sa compatibilité aux hauts débits (20, 25 et 40 Gb/s) ainsi que son efficacité par rapport à la modulation simple de l’EAM (Electro-Absorption Modulator). / Today, new higher-speed, low cost and low consumption optical sources are becoming a necessity for the deployment of access and metropolitan networks.The aim of this thesis is to study experimentally and by simulation two techniques in order to combat the chromatic dispersion effects through the chirp engineering of the source. The first technique concerns directly modulated DFB (Distributed FeedBack) lasers. First, a complete and flexible model of a DFB laser developed during the thesis has been used to confirm the experimental study of the facet phase effect on the chirp behavior. The results showed the existence of two laser’s families according to the position of the lasing mode with respect to the bandgap. Second, a theoretical and experimental study showed the chirp stabilization and control of DFB lasers due to the presence of a well adjusted external optical feedback.The second technique concerns the dual modulation concept of integrated modulated laser (D-EML : Dual Electroabsorption Modulated Laser) exploiting the adjustment of the chirp resulting from the juxtaposition of the frequency modulation applied to the laser and the intensity modulation applied to the modulator. Experimental and theoretical evalutation of D-EML performances has proven its compatibitlity with high bit-rates (20, 25 and 40 Gb/s) and its effectiveness with respect to the simple modulation of the EAM (Electroabsorption Modulator).

Ti: sapphire femtosecond laser ablation of dielectrics (fused silica and BK7 glass) and metals (Cu, Fe, Al) is presented. Results of laser -induced breakdown experiments in fused silica and BK7 glass employing 130 fs -1.7 ps, 790 nm laser pulses are reported. The fluence ablation threshold does not follow the scaling of ~ when pulses are shorter than 1 ps. Single-shot and multi-shot (130 fs pulse) ablation of selected materials are investigated with laser wavelengths of 395 nm, 790 nm, and 1300 nm. The ablation threshold is almost independent of the laser wavelength. The surface morphologies in metals after ultrashort pulse ablation are very different from dielectrics and semiconductors. The roughness of the ablated surface depends on the thermal properties of the metal target. The preliminary TEM result from Cu single crystal that was irradiated by single laser pulses shows few defects in the center region of the ablated crater. Single-shot ablation of single-crystal Fe induces much different surface features than on selected samples of poly-crystal Fe metal. / Thesis / Master of Engineering (ME)

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