At transmission power of 42 mW, coupling 60%, we see fundamental mode with a degeneracy

The D-shape motors were moved to a position 2 000 000 steps (in theory they should be the max position)

but no change appeared on the 00 mode or the higher order mode.

We will break the vacuum and check the position of the D-shaped mirrors.

Power increased in the amplifier

reflective filters added at the transmission point to be able to have signal on the Beam Profiler, Transmission diode and power meter

at max stage we reached at 2.5 A on the diodes we have

8000 gain , coupling ~ 60% , with power inside the cavity 50 kW

The higer order mode that was observed today,

it was also observed on Friday  along the other higher order mode recorded on the logbook.

after cutting it with the D-shaped mirror we recorded the shape (image attached)

The cavity was locked under vacuum, coupling is approximately < 10%

The lock was relatively easy and the usual sign (oscillations on the transmission tail) of high finesse on the transmission signal was not seen.

We improved the lock using the alignment, polarization and CEP , the maximum we got was ~ 12% coupling

only the second stage is on !

Decision : this is the maximum we can obtain using the M1 from mighty laser

tomorrow we break the vacuum and try with shifting M1 from ThomX position to avoid the damaged spot

Measurements of lot of points with D-shape mirrors well positionned.

Power not optimized to the best but almost. (@4A could have 350 mW).

Optimization of the polarization has been made the 03/10/18. Checked in reflection of the cavity in reflection&transmission of a PBS, locked and unlocked. Only with 2nd stage.

Ratio values are reflection of PBS divided by transmission or the opposite.

Today, Ronic and I lock the cavity on the other polarization and achieved 50kW with 22W injection.

- After we optimize and lock the cavity in vertical polarization, we rotate the waveplate at the transmission to minimize the signal, then rotate the waveplate at the injection laser to maximize the signal. We lock the cavity in this horizontal polarization and optimize CEP and alignment. The results are: when injected at 10W, the circulating power in vertical polarization is 21.4kW and in horizontal polarization is 23.3kW. The coupling are both ~30%.

- The cavity reflection signal obtained in horizontal polarization is weaker than that in vertical polarization (1/10), so we usually lock on vertical polarization first.

- We then increase the power to see the change in coupling. From current 2A to 3A, coupling change from 30% to 40%. Finally, we obtained a circulating power of 50kW with 22W injection (3A current). In the initial stage of locking, high-order modes appear, but in stable locking, there is only fundamental mode and no mode degeneration. Although there are many fluctuations in transmission and reflection.

- Tomorrow, we will optimize the coupling and add removable stages under the telescope.

These days, Ronic, Aurélien, Fatematuj and I have been doing some tests on polarization issue, trying to see if it is possible to obtain higher gain under other polarization conditions.

• We installed an additional half-wave plate + PBS + PD at the transmission. By rotating the waveplate of the injection laser, we can compare the resonance signals of single and full polarization. Figures 1 and 2 demonstrate this comparison. The yellow curve is full polarization and the green one is single polarization. The intensity ratio of the different polarizations is unstable in the open-loop state.
• Based on PZT scan frequency = 3.1 Hz, amplitude = 10 V, sensitivity = 3.7 Hz/V, time difference between two polarization peaks = 100 us, we can calculate △Frep = 10mHz and △v = 42kHz, which means the frequency variation between two polarizations. We see two polarizations only at the main resonance.
• By the way, we found two spots behind the M3 window (see Figure 3) and the power of both is related to the intra-cavity power. We moved the position of D-shaped mirror and the second spot became weaker and larger like mirror's edge. Maybe the D-shaped mirror is causing a part of laser to be reflected through the window, but it's unclear exactly how the optical path works.

Next steps:

• We will lock the cavity in different polarization and see if there is higher gain.
• We will move D-shaped to the maximum and see if the second spot disappears.
• We will check the coupling value and try to optimize the telescope using adjustable stages.

just to add some details :

about the S and P polarization frequency shift:
the PZT scan is 10Vpp at 3.1Hz => the slope is 62 V/s because of the triangle shape of the PZT scan.
so 100µs of separation of the 2 polarization is equivalent to 6.2mV on the PZT.
as the PZT sensitivity is 3.7Hz/V on Frep, the separation of the 2 polarization is equivalent to 23mHz on Frep.
△Frep/Frep = △v/v =>  △v = 41.8 kHz

about the possibility to separate S and P polarization states on secondary resonances:
the total spectral width is ~2nm which is equivalent to 565GHz and contain about 3500 laser harmonics at 160MHz.
the central spectral harmonic is roughly the number n0=1.82M, so with the first secondary resonance condition, the Frep/FSR detuning corresponds to n0*Frep = (n0+1) FSR
so (Frep - FSR) = FSR/n0 ~ 88Hz.
then if the central frequency, related to n0, is on an S-polarization resonance, the harmonics at (n0+475) will be on the P-polarization resonance and so on...
the conclusion is the power detected by a photodiode on secondary resonances are a mix of S and P polarizations (if the laser input beam is also a combination of S and P polarizations)
and we cannot make an observation of different peaks with different polarizations in transmission of the FP-cavity.
for that, it is mandatory to be on the main resonance with Frep = FSR (CEP~0) as condition of resonance.

Check of the frequency of the onefive locked on each polarization of the cavity (tilt a waveplate by 45°).

Frequency repetition rate : 133.335 MHz on spectrum analyzer for both polarization locked.

Measurement on 30/10/18.

2 measurement.

First one locked, in transmission of M2 with 2nd stage 0A.Total 89 cm from the big waist (planar mirrors). 2 wedges used.

Second one at input beam with the same power. Datas taken at the same equivalent position than the first one. 3 wedges used.

* Loic has to fix the number of files (3) regarding the number of measurements (2)

* splitted Intensity and phase HASO files

* image for each file

with just intensity, the coupling is 98%, and with phase, x direction coupling is 95%, y direction 97%, so the telescope is good.

Today, we received the Origami SN2440 133MHz oscillator from repair (NKT mentioned a defective wire inside the controller....)

We immediately installed it behind an isolator (Faraday rotator+PBS+halfwave plate).

the output power is around 60mW.
the spectrum is around 1030nm
the repetition rate is around 133.33MHz

we received from NKT the Origami SN2440 133MHz oscillator from repair on 2020/12/17
and we measured the power trend from 2020/12/21 until the whole winter Hollyday, during 14 days and 17h (1 273 334 s).
the power was quite constant, about 58mW (the measurement has been done with the OD2 filter and using a (x20) factor in the software to compensate for it),
except for some peaks at the beginning of the measurement to 60.7mW.
I tried to reproduce these peaks by switching on several lights in the room and the airflow ceil but the effect is neglectable,
thus these peaks seem to really come from the oscillator power.

at the beginning of January, the oscillator suffered a back reflection from the rugged anodized convex surface of the power meter (apparently not from the OD2 filter itself) and the laser stopped immediately to modelock.
the laser power dropped to 0 and the laser controller led started to blink red. NKT has been contacted and they think it could be the laser pump diodes that have been damaged.

for the future, we will have to install a fixed optical isolator from the start, even for short operations.

We placed a PBS + 2 photodiodes (PhD1, PhD2) at the output of the amplifier to check how the polarization of the amplifier changes with power.

example with 2nd stage @ 6A :
PhD1 = 24.7 mV
PhD2 = 8.9 mV
PhD1/PhD2 = 2.78

and with 3rd stage @ 2A :
PhD1 = 353 mV
PhD2 = 82.8 mV
PhD1/PhD2 = 4.26

Conclusion : we must adapt the quarter and half waveplates for each input power to be always matched with cavity polarization !!!
One could also study how the amplifier polarization changes during time and temperature.

The polarimeter was giving a strange 50% of DOP of the light coming from the cavity.
we had to calibrate (LONG calibration process with care) the polarimeter to get a proper 100% of DOP !
the polarimeter needs also a good alignment with 2 mirrors, a colimated beam and a max power on photodiode between 0.7 and 0.8 (use electronic gain to adapt the level)

at low power (1.5kW inside cavity), the cavity is almost vertically polarized (89°).

polarization state of the cavity at higher power : 20kW, 30kW  and 33kW (slight CEP and alignment optimization) :
the polarization state changes only a little to ~ 87° and is almost linear.