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Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Waterfall Lasers, Lee W. Casperson Nov 1997

Waterfall Lasers, Lee W. Casperson

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Laser concepts can be applied to a broad range of physical phenomena. One of the closest parallels occurs with the fluttering oscillations that are sometimes observed in the falling sheets of water associated with fountains, dams, and natural waterfalls. In many respects these fluid feedback oscillations are similar to the electromagnetic modes of typical lasers, and recognition of this similarity led to the interpretation of the waterfall behavior. Gain profiles for the waterfall oscillations are developed, and the relationship of experimental waterfall data to the laser-like models is considered in detail.


A Unified Green's Function Analysis Of Complicated Dfb Lasers, Jim D. Freeze, Michael A. Jensen, Richard H. Selfridge Aug 1997

A Unified Green's Function Analysis Of Complicated Dfb Lasers, Jim D. Freeze, Michael A. Jensen, Richard H. Selfridge

Faculty Publications

An efficient full-wave analysis technique for one-dimensional optical domains, known as the recursive Green's function method (RGFM), is presented for evaluation of distributed feedback (DFB) laser cavities with arbitrary material profiles. The method first constructs the Green's function of an inhomogeneous domain and subsequently uses Green's theorem to determine the laser optical field, lasing wavelength, and threshold gain. The technique is applied to investigate the performance of three DFB laser structures: a chirped-grating configuration, a modulated stripe width design, and a reduced duty cycle complex-coupled device. These structures are evaluated in terms of their single-mode lasing behavior and the uniformity …


Generalized Beam Matrices. Iv. Optical System Design, Anthony A. Tovar, Lee W. Casperson Apr 1997

Generalized Beam Matrices. Iv. Optical System Design, Anthony A. Tovar, Lee W. Casperson

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Systematic procedures are presented for determining the optical components needed to produce an arbitrary transformation of a Gaussian light beams's spot size, radius of curvature, displacement, and direction of propagation. As an example, an optical system is considered that spatially separates the two coincident Gaussian beams produced by a high-diffraction-loss resonator that uses a Gaussian variable-reflectivity output coupler. In addition, an ABCDGH reverse matrix theorem and an ABCDGH Sylvester theorem are also derived. These matrix theorems may be used to satisfy special constraints inherent in the design of multipass and periodic optical systems.