Facilities and equipment
The Laser Lab is located at AlbaNova.
The KTH laser lab has extensive capabilities for design, fabrication, characterization and applications of nonlinear optical materials, custom coherent light sources, THz time-domain spectroscopy, material processing using lasers, multifunctional optical fibers, and others. The lab also has spectroscopy facilities that maintains state-of-the-art capabilities for characterization of ultrafast response in solid state materials by employing time-resolved angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy, ultrafast electron microscopy, photoluminescence dynamics and time-resolved scanning near-field optical microscopy.
Key laser systems
CO2 lasers
Laser type: CW and pulsed CO2 lasers
Parameter summary: Repetition rate CW-50 kHz, Wavelength 9.2 -10.9 µm, Output power up to 60W.
Lasers from Synrad and Taufenbach, suitable for material processing, annealing, additive manufacturing.
Contact person:
Michael Fokine
Impress 213
Laser type: Nd:YVO4, MOPA with 5HG
Parameter summary: Repetition rate 0.1-30 kHz, Wavelength 213 nm, Pulse length 7 ns, Pulse energy 15 µJ, Average power 170 mW at 11 kHz, beam M2<1.6
Deep-UV pulsed source from Xiton. Suitable for applications in Raman spectroscopy, fabrication of fiber Bragg gratings, material structuring.
Contact person:
Michael Fokine
Legend
Laser type: Ti:Sapphire CPA
Parameter summary: Repetition rate up to 1 kHz, Wavelength 780 nm-950 nm, Pulse length 100 fs - 200 ps, Pulse energy 1 mJ @ 1 kHz, Average power 1 W
Tunable Ti:Sapphire chirped pulse amplifier system from Coherent. Can be operated in fs and ps transform-limited pulse regimes. Adjustable repetition rate up to 1 kHz.
Contact person:
Valdas Pasiskevicius
Vitara
Laser type: Ti:Sapphire oscillator
Parameter summary: Repetition rate 80 MHz, Wavelength 810 nm, Average power 540 mW, Pulse bandwidth 125 nm, Compressed pulse length 12 fs
Ultrashort pulse Ti:Sapphire oscillator from Coherent. Used for seeding Astrella CPA system and as a source for ultrashort reference pulses in pump-probe and THz spectroscopy.
Contact person:
Valdas Pasiskevicius
Topas-Prime Plus
Laser type: Optical Parametric Amplifier
Parameter summary: Repetition rate 1 kHz, Wavelength 1160 nm-2600 nm, Pulse length 50 fs, Pulse energy 1.7 mJ signal and idler at peak, Average power 1.7 W
Tunable optical parametric amplifier for time-resolved pump-probe spectroscopy, Mid-infrared generation.
Contact person:
Valdas Pasiskevicius
Spitlight
Laser type: Nd:YAG, single-frequency Q-switched master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA)
Parameter summary: Repetition rate up to 100 Hz, Wavelength 1064 nm, Pulse length 10 ns, Pulse energy 200 mJ @ 100 Hz, Average power 20 W, Pulse bandwidth: transform-limited
Injection-seeded, Q-switched diode-pumped laser from Innolas. Employed for generation of mid-infrared with optical parametric systems and THz. Suitable for LIDAR emitter prototyping.
Contact person:
Valdas Pasiskevicius
Tsunami
Laser type: Ti:Sapphire oscillator
Parameter summary: Repetition rate 80 MHz, Wavelength 750 nm-1000 nm, Average power 1.5W @ 800 nm, Pulse length 80 fs
Tunable Ti:Sapphire oscillator from Spectra Physics. A general-purpose old-school femtosecond source used for seeding chirped pulse amplifier, for THz time-domain spectroscopy and others.
Contact person:
Valdas Pasiskevicius
Astrella
Laser type: Ti:Sapphire CPA
Parameter summary: Repetition rate 1 kHz, Wavelength 800 nm, Pulse length 33 fs, Pulse energy 7.5 mJ @ 1 kHz, Average power 7.5 W
Short pulse Ti:Sapphire chirped pulse amplifier system from Coherent. A general light engine used to pump Optical parametric amplifiers, THz generation, filamentation and other applications.
Contact person:
Valdas Pasiskevicius
Pharos 1
Laser type: Yb-femtosecond laser
Parameter summary: Wavelength center 1030nm, Average power 10W, repetition rate up to 1MHz, pulse energy up to 1mJ, pulse length 190fs to 20ps.
Femtosecond laser from Light Conversion, with highly tunable repetition rates, pulse energies, and pulse lengths and excellent beam quality
Contact person:
Valdas Pasiskevicius
Pharos 2
Laser type: Yb-femtosecond laser
Parameter summary: Wavelength center 1030nm, Average power 10W, repetition rate up to 1MHz, pulse energy up to 1mJ, pulse length 190fs to 20ps.
Femtosecond laser from Light Conversion, with highly tunable repetition rates, pulse energies, and pulse lengths and excellent beam quality. The maser oscillator has fine-tuning for advanced pulse synchronization options.
Contact person:
Jonas Sellberg
DUV laser
Laser type: Single-mode frequency quadrupled Nd:YVO4 laser
Parameter summary: Wavelength 266 nm, CW power 120 mW, M2<1.2
532nm Verdi laser from Coherent, frequency doubled in an external ring cavity
Contact person:
Carlota Canalias
Tangerine HP
Laser type: Yb-fiber MOPA
Parameter summary: Repetition rate 0 - 2 MHz, Wavelength 1030 nm, Pulse length 300 fs - 10 ps, Pulse energy 100 µJ @ 350 kHz, Average power 35 W
Fiber laser from Amplitude Systemes. Equipped with 2nd and 4th harmonic generation module. Used together with the ultrafast-TEM.
Contact person:
Jonas Weissenrieder
Tangerine HP2
Laser type: Yb-fiber MOPA
Parameter summary: Repetition rate 0 - 2 MHz, Wavelength 1030 nm, Pulse length 300 fs - 10 ps, Pulse energy 200 µJ @ 250 kHz, Average power 50 W
Fiber laser from Amplitude Systemes. Equipped with 2nd and 3rd harmonic generation module. Equipped with a Fastlite OPA for 650nm to 9µm with pulse energies up to 12µJ.
Contact person:
Oscar Tjernberg
Tangor
Laser type: Yb-fiber MOPA
Parameter summary: Repetition rate 0 - 2 MHz, Wavelength 1030 nm, Pulse length 500 fs - 10 ps, Pulse energy 300 µJ @ 350 kHz, Average power 105 W
Fiber laser from Amplitude Systemes. Equipped with 2nd and 3rd harmonic generation module. The output is 25W at 343nm.
Contact person:
Oscar Tjernberg
MIRA/OPO
Laser type: Ti:Sapphire oscillator with optical parametric oscillator
Parameter summary: Spectral tuning range: 750 -900 and 1100-1300 nm, pulse duration 150-200 fs, average power 1 W@800 nm, 200 mW@1200 nm.
Ti:Sapphire mode-locked oscillator-optical parametric oscillator system delivering tunable femtosecond pulses in the near-infrared.
Contact person:
Saulius Marcinkevicius
Chameleon Ultra II
Laser type: Ti:Sapphire oscillator with pulse selector and harmonics generator
Parameter summary: Repetition rate 80 MHz, Tuning range 680 nm-1080 nm, Average power 2.5W @ 800 nm, Pulse length 200 fs. Harmonics generator: tuning range 210 nm -530 nm, power 200 mW @260 nm, 500 mW @ 400 nm.
Automated tunable Ti:Sapphire oscillator from Coherent. Used for excitation and probing luminescence and as a pump source for near-field optical scanning microscopy.
Contact person:
Saulius Marcinkevicius
Key experimental stations
Material laser processing lab
Type of experiment: Glass preform fabrication, 3D laser printing, laser cutting and scribing, sample annealing
Description: 3D printing of structures in different glasses, composite glass-semiconductor preform fabrication and processing, material cutting and scribing
Beam parameters: CO2 lasers and CO laser with power up to 200W
Auxiliary equipment: Computerized precision high-speed translation stages, high-accuracy high-temperature measurements.
Contact person:
Michael Fokine
Fiber Bragg grating writing station
Type of experiment: Custom fiber Bragg grating fabrication in optical fibers
Description: Fabrication of custom fiber Bragg gratings and fiber optic components such as Fabry-Perot interferometers for lasers and distributed sensors
Beam parameters: Repetition rate 0.1-30 kHz, Wavelength 213 nm, Pulse length 7 ns, Pulse energy 15 µJ, Average power 170 mW at 11 kHz, beam M2<1.6
Auxiliary equipment: Home-built computer-controlled laser interferometer
Contact person:
Michael Fokine
Nonlinear optics lab
Type of experiment: Nonlinear pulse compression, generation of near-, mid- and far-infrared ultrashort pulses using custom nonlinear materials, characterization of the nonlinear optical materials
Description: Design and realization of ultrashort pulse coherent sources from near-to far infrared using engineered nonlinear materials. Characterization of the nonlinear materials in terms of damage threshold, conversion efficiency, light-induced color-center dynamics.
Beam parameters: Pump energies up to 200 mJ, pulse lengths from 10 ns to 30 fs, repetition rate up to 1 KHz, adjustable
Auxiliary equipment: Spectrometers, frequency-resolved optical gating (FROG), cross-correlation FROG, autocorrelators, upconversion detectors, power meters
Contact person:
Valdas Pasiskevicius
THz time domain spectrometry
Type of experiment: Reflection and transmission THz spectroscopy using femtosecond pump-probe approach
Description: Home-built spectrometers suitable for measuring spectra of complex dielectric constant of any material within the spectral range up to 3 THz.
Beam parameters: Frequency range 3 THz, Dynamic range >50 dB, spectral resolution 5 GHz. Employs photoconductive antenna emitter and electrooptic detection.
Auxiliary equipment: Home-built computer-controlled fully automated system for data collection and parameter extraction.
Contact person:
Valdas Pasiskevicius
Deep-UV laser lithography and crystal poling lab
Type of experiment: Laser interference lithography, Periodical poling of crystals for non-linear optics. Material chemistry.
Description: DUV laser interferometer for producing line patters below 400 nm over large sample areas. Crystal engineering
Beam parameters: CW, wavelength 266 nm, power - 120 mW
Auxiliary equipment: Home-built laser interferometer
Contact person:
Carlota Canalias
Laser development lab
Type of experiment: Development of custom lasers according to the requirements of an application, customization of commercial lasers to suit user's needs
Description: Design and prototyping of CW, Q-switched and mode-locked solid state and fiber lasers and amplifiers, design and realization of frequency conversion stages. The work is performed on a project basis.
Beam parameters: -
Auxiliary equipment: All design tools and equipment in the lab can be deployed as needed. This includes pump lasers, fiber processing equipment, and spectrometers.
Contact person:
Fredrik Laurell
High rep rate XUV Beamline for time-resolved-ARPES
Type of experiment: Time- and Angle Resolved PhotoElectron Spectroscopy (tr-ARPES)
Description: High-order harmonic generation (HHG) in tight focusing geometry using continuous gas jet. Followed by spectral selection and spectroscopy stations. Sample preparation and handling.
Beam parameters: 250 kHz - 1 MHz, 7 - 40 eV photon energy, time resolution< 300 fs, ~10^3 photons/pulse @ 500 kHz
Auxiliary equipment: ARPES end station featuring, Time-of-Flight spectrometer THEMIS, cryo-cooled manipulator <10 K, preparation chamber with LEED and fast entry load-lock. Vacuum system <10^-10mbar, Pump-probe with pump wavelength 650nm-9µm.
Contact person:
Oscar Tjernberg
Ultrafast Electron Microscopy (UEM)
Type of experiment: Time resolved electron microscopy, spectroscopy and diffraction
Description: Time-resolved transmission electron microscopy (pump probe). Total electron resolution < 1 ps, energy resolution < 2 eV, lateral resolution 1 nm in imaging and 1 Å in diffraction
Beam parameters: Rep. Rate: Single shot - 2 MHz
Wavelength: 258, 515, and 1030 nm, Pulse duration: < 300 fs, Pulse energy: 100 µJ @ 350 kHz
Auxiliary equipment: Modified JEOL JEM 2100 transmission electron microscopy, Gatan Quantum SE imaging electron analyzer
Contact person:
Jonas Weissenrieder
Time-resolved photoluminescence and pump-probe spectroscopy
Type of experiment: Time-resolved photoluminescence with temporal resolution of 5ps, differential transmission and reflection measurements with temporal resolution of 200 fs.
Description: Time-resolved photoluminescence and differential transmission/reflection measurements integrated over the sample area of tens µm2.
Beam parameters: Spectral tuning ranges 210 nm -530 nm, 680 nm-1080 nm, 1100-1300 nm. Repetition rate 80 MHz. Pulse length 200 fs.
Auxiliary equipment: Hamamatsu synchroscan streak camera for time-resolved PL measurements, Montana Instruments Cryostation (3-350 K) for sample cooling, spectrometers, time-correlated single photon counting system.
Contact person:
Saulius Marcinkevicius
Time- and spatially resolved near-field photoluminescence microscopy
Type of experiment: Time- and spatially resolved near-field photoluminescence and surface morphology measurements.
Description: Mapping of PL properties (spectra, dynamics) as well as surface morphology over a certain area with 100 nm spatial and 50 ps temporal resolution.
Beam parameters: Spectral tuning ranges 210 nm -530 nm, 680 nm-1080 nm, 1100-1300 nm. Repetition rate 80 MHz. Pulse length 200 fs.
Auxiliary equipment: Nanonics scanning near-field optical microscope MultiView 4000 time-correlated single photon counting system.
Contact person:
Saulius Marcinkevicius
