High-performance optical filters specifically designed, our precision-engineered filters enable astronomers to achieve clearer views of celestial objects.

“To the best of our knowledge, these are over 25 times the highest pulse energies reported by any laser architecture operating near 2-micron wavelength in the world,” said LLNL physicist Issa Tamer, lead author of a paper featuring these results that was published in Optics Express. The paper was selected as an editor’s pick in the publication’s Dec. 19 edition.

In the consumer electronics market, optical filters offer enhanced imaging capabilities for displays, cameras, and smartphones.

State-of-the-art equipment ensures the quality of optical components by conducting in-house testing for imaging performance.

Manufacturing capabilities for high-performance optical filters involve precision techniques like thin-film coating and optical design.

He studied optics at the University of Arizona and as an undergraduate worked at Lasertel (now known as Leonardo Electronics US Inc.), which manufactures specialized high-power laser diodes. He then earned his Ph.D. in laser physics from Friedrich Schiller University Jena in Germany.

“In true LLNL fashion and in a manner appropriate for the Big Aperture Thulium concept name,” Tamer said, “the APT group procured the largest Tm:YLF boule ever grown to withstand the potential world-record-breaking pulse energies extractable from this laser material.”

“It is both exciting and gratifying to discover and develop a previously under-appreciated laser material and then to work with a high-performing team to unlock its full potential,” said Tom Spinka, the program element leader for laser development of NIF’s Advanced Photon Technologies program.

Tm:YLF is not a newly discovered material, but it took advanced laser diode technology to harness its potential. Tm:YLF emits in a broad spectrum near 1.9-micron wavelength that supports femtosecond pulses with superior energy storage and extraction capabilities. An energy storage lifetime of 15 milliseconds and peak absorption near 800 nanometers enables it to be pumped with commercially available continuous wave laser diodes.

Joining Tamer and Spinka on the DR LDRD team and the paper were LLNL colleagues František Batysta, Andrew Church, Justin Galbraith, Thomas Galvin, Zbyněk Hubka, Glenn Huete, Leily Kiani, Hansel Neurath, Brendan Reagan, Kathleen Schaffers, Emily Sistrunk, and Drew Willard.

The researchers are now working to demonstrate femtosecond pulse durations (currently 100 millijoules with ultrashort compressible pulses), with upcoming experiments planned to achieve joule-level pulses compressed to sub-300 femtoseconds.

An extensive range of solutions, from the ultraviolet to the infrared, for major microscope brands and custom-built systems.

In addition, the experiment demonstrated efficient, high-power multi-pulse extraction in Tm:YLF—through an amplification of a multi-kHz pulse train burst up to 3.6kW with 19 percent optical-to-optical efficiency—as well as high-energy chirped-pulse amplification in Tm:YLF for the first time.

LLNL’s research and development of the Big Aperture Thulium (BAT) laser has been living up to its name, delivering big results in a small package.

Filters play a crucial role in enhancing clarity, color accuracy, and contrast in machine vision applications where details matter.

If you don’t see what you are looking for, please contact us. We have a large inventory of filters and a knowledgeable staff ready to help you design and build a filter to meet your specifications.

In the dynamic landscape of rapid product development, transforming ideas into prototypes swiftly is essential across diverse applications.

We manufacture high-quality, narrow-band spectral line filters for detecting ionized sulfur, oxygen, and other elements.

Furthermore, amplification occurs in a steady-state manner through the multi-pulse extraction technique, thereby allowing for efficient energy extraction at a high average intensity achieved using low individual pulse fluences and a high-repetition-rate pulse train. With continuous pumping and effectively continuous extraction, the BAT laser exhibits true average power behavior, allowing for a free exchange of energy and repetition rate to utilize the same system for various applications.

Raman filters are ideal when you need higher transmission values, fast transitions, and superior blocking to keep out unwanted photons.

After modeling predicted that Tm:YLF’s advantageous material characteristics could enable next-generation high peak and average power performance, LLNL funded the majority of the work through a Disruptive Research Laboratory Directed Research and Development (DR LDRD) project.

Tamer fits the profile of an upcoming scientist. He  came to LLNL in 2020 as a postdoc and became a full-time employee in 2022. His path to becoming a laser scientist began when he was a teenager in Arizona, doing computer installation and repair as a side job.

Satellite imaging, remote sensing, or aircraft instrumentation, our optical filters ensure precision and clarity, vital for navigation, reconnaissance, and scientific exploration.

Our filters optimize industrial processes like machine vision and quality control, fostering efficiency and innovation across diverse sectors.

As a powerful and compact laser, the BAT laser architecture could potentially prove transformative for applications like laser-plasma acceleration, proton acceleration for cancer therapy, laser shock peening to repair microcracks in critical aircraft components, and EUV lithography for high-volume chip manufacturing.

“I was at a customer’s house, and he happened to have the Wikipedia page for the National Ignition Facility open on his monitor,” he recalled. “I was intrigued, so on my own time I learned more about NIF and decided that’s where I wanted to work.”

“The LDRD ecosystem at LLNL, and the Disruptive Research track in particular, is key to enabling the kind of high-risk, high-reward research that can leapfrog existing technologies and evolutionary developments,” added Spinka, the DR LDRD project’s principal investigator. “It’s also a great opportunity for upcoming scientists and thought leaders to hone their skills and prepare for larger roles in programmatic work.”

10 Imtec LaneBellows Falls, VT 05101 USTel 800-824-7662Fax 802-428-2525sales@chroma.comMedia Queries: media@chroma.comTerms of Use Privacy Policy

Expert guidance and comprehensive support from initial consultation to final implementation, including customized solutions.

The DR LDRD team constructed a compact Tm:YLF laser system, taking up a small portion of an optical table. After a successful first test using a 4-pass amplifier, they made simple modifications, including increasing pump power by stacking laser diode arrays. They demonstrated more than 20 joules in nanosecond-duration pulses, and more than 100 joules in millisecond-duration pulses with nearly 100J/cm3 of extractable energy density—more than two orders of magnitude higher than a more traditional Nd:Glass amplifier.

Despite the large difference in pump and seed photon energies, which often leads to large heat loads within the laser material, Tm:YLF can instead be operated at a low quantum defect due to a two-for-one cross-relaxation interaction that can result in two excited Tm3+ ions induced for each pump photon absorbed.

Optical Engineering for design and manufacturing needs, we’re building unique and innovative OEM manufacturing solutions today.

Tailored for life sciences applications, offering precision and reliability to enhance imaging solutions such as fluorescence microscopy and cellular imaging.

All transmission and blocking (OD) data are actual, measured spectra of representative production lots. Spectra varies slightly from lot to lot. Optical density values in excess of 6 may appear noisy because such evaluations push the resolution limit of low light level measurements.

Expertise in optical filter technology, a deep understanding of applications in life sciences and clinical instrumentation.

Experienced in serving the scientific, biomedical, and photonics communities we know how to design and deliver optical filters.

Optical filters play a crucial yet often overlooked role in semiconductor manufacturing, where nanoscale precision can make or break a product.

“We believe that these results highlight the promising capabilities of Tm:YLF as the leading material candidate for the BAT laser concept,” Tamer said, “and open the path to continued development of high peak and average power mid-infrared solid-state lasers.”

BAT is a novel petawatt-class laser conceptual design using thulium-doped yttrium lithium fluoride (Tm:YLF) as the laser gain medium, theoretically allowing it to efficiently deliver petawatt-class, ultra-short laser pulses at hundreds of kilowatts of average power—by far surpassing the current state of the art of similar lasers.