No Arabic abstract
Random lasers use radiative gain and multiple scatterers in disordered media to generate light amplification. In this study, we demonstrate a random laser based on diamond nanoneedles that act as scatterers in combination with fluorescent dye molecules that serve as a gain medium. Random lasers realized using diamond possess high spectral radiance with angle-free emission and thresholds of 0.16 mJ. The emission dependence on the pillar diameter and density is investigated, and optimum lasing conditions are measured for pillars with spacing and density of 336 nm and ~ 2.9x10^10 cm-2. Our results expand the application space of diamond as a material platform for practical, compact photonic devices and sensing applications.
We address the problem of achieving a random laser with a cloud of cold atoms, in which gain and scattering are provided by the same atoms. In this system, the elastic scattering cross-section is related to the complex atomic polarizability. As a consequence, the random laser threshold is expressed as a function of this polarizability, which can be fully determined by spectroscopic measurements. We apply this idea to experimentally evaluate the threshold of a random laser based on Raman gain between non-degenerate Zeeman states and find a critical optical thickness on the order of 200, which is within reach of state-of-the-art cold-atom experiments.
Advancement of diamond based photonic circuitry requires robust fabrication protocols of key components, including diamond resonators and cavities. Here, we present 1D (nanobeam) photonic crystal cavities generated from single crystal diamond membranes utilising a metallic tungsten layer as a restraining, conductive and removable hard mask. The use of tungsten instead of a more conventional silicon oxide layer enables good repeatability and reliability of the fabrication procedures. The process yields high quality diamond cavities with quality factors (Q factors) approaching 10$^$4. Finally, we show that the cavities can be picked up and transferred onto a trenched substrate to realise fully suspended diamond cavities. Our fabrication process demonstrates the capability of diamond membranes as modular components for broader diamond based quantum photonic circuitry.
We report on pulsed-laser induced generation of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond facilitated by a solid-immersion lens (SIL). The SIL enables laser writing at energies as low as 5.8 nJ per pulse and allows vacancies to be formed close to a diamond surface without inducing surface graphitization. We operate in the previously unexplored regime where lattice vacancies are created following tunneling breakdown rather than multiphoton ionization. We present three samples in which NV-center arrays were laser-written at distances between ~1 $mu$m and 40 $mu$m from a diamond surface, all presenting narrow distributions of optical linewidths with means between 62.1 MHz and 74.5 MHz. The linewidths include the effect of long-term spectral diffusion induced by a 532 nm repump laser for charge-state stabilization, thereby emphasizing the particularly low charge-noise environment of the created color centers. Such high-quality NV centers are excellent candidates for practical applications employing two-photon quantum interference with separate NV centers. Finally, we propose a model for disentangling power broadening from inhomogeneous broadening in the NV center optical linewidth.
Energy-efficient programmable photonic integrated circuits (PICs) are the cornerstone of on-chip classical and quantum optical technologies. Optical phase shifters constitute the fundamental building blocks which enable these programmable PICs. Thus far, carrier modulation and thermo-optical effect are the chosen phenomena for ultrafast and low-loss phase shifters, respectively; however, the state and information they carry are lost once the power is turned off-they are volatile. The volatility not only compromises energy efficiency due to their demand for constant power supply, but also precludes them from emerging applications such as in-memory computing. To circumvent this limitation, we introduce a novel phase shifting mechanism that exploits the nonvolatile refractive index modulation upon structural phase transition of Sb$_{2}$Se$_{3}$, an ultralow-loss phase change material. A zero-static power and electrically-driven phase shifter was realized on a foundry-processed silicon-on-insulator platform, featuring record phase modulation up to 0.09 $pi$/$mu$m and a low insertion loss of 0.3 dB/$pi$. We further pioneered a one-step partial amorphization scheme to enhance the speed and energy efficiency of PCM devices. A diverse cohort of programmable photonic devices were demonstrated based on the ultracompact PCM phase shifter.
Laser cooling of a solid is achieved when a coherent laser illuminates the material, and the heat is extracted by resulting anti-Stokes fluorescence. Over the past year, net solid-state laser cooling was successfully demonstrated for the first time in Yb-doped silica glass in both bulk samples and fibers. Here, we improve the previously published results by one order of magnitude and report more than 6K of cooling below the ambient temperature. This result is the lowest temperature achieved in solid-state laser cooling of silica glass to date to the best of our knowledge. We present details on the experiment performed using a 20W laser operating at 1035nm wavelength and temperature measurements using both a thermal camera and the differential luminescence thermometry technique.