title: Monolithic crystalline cladding microstructures for efficient light guiding and beam manipulation in passive and active regimes.
abstract: Miniature laser sources with on-demand beam features are desirable devices for a broad range of photonic applications. Lasing based on direct-pump of miniaturized waveguiding active structures offers a low-cost but intriguing solution for compact light-emitting devices. In this work, we demonstrate a novel family of three dimensional (3D) photonic microstructures monolithically integrated in a Nd:YAG laser crystal wafer. They are produced by the femtosecond laser writing, capable of simultaneous light waveguiding and beam manipulation. In these guiding systems, tailoring of laser modes by both passive/active beam splitting and ring-shaped transformation are achieved by an appropriate design of refractive index patterns. Integration of graphene thin-layer as saturable absorber in the 3D laser structures allows for efficient passive Q-switching of tailored laser radiations which may enable miniature waveguiding lasers for broader applications. Our results pave a way to construct complex integrated passive and active laser circuits in dielectric crystals by using femtosecond laser written monolithic photonic chips.
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, State Key Laboratory of Crystal Materials, and Key Laboratory of Particle Physics and Particle Irradiation (Ministry of Education), Shandong University, 250100 Jinan, Shandong, China.
authors.forename: Yuechen
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, State Key Laboratory of Crystal Materials, and Key Laboratory of Particle Physics and Particle Irradiation (Ministry of Education), Shandong University, 250100 Jinan, Shandong, China.
authors.forename: Chen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Laser Microprocessing Group, Universidad de Salamanca, 37008 Salamanca, Spain.
authors.forename: Javier R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Vázquez de Aldana
authors.affiliation: Laser Microprocessing Group, Universidad de Salamanca, 37008 Salamanca, Spain.
authors.forename: Gabriel R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Castillo
authors.affiliation: Fluorescence Imaging Group, Departamento de Física de Materiales, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Blanca del Rosal
authors.initials: Bdel R
authors.lastname: Rabes
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, State Key Laboratory of Crystal Materials, and Key Laboratory of Particle Physics and Particle Irradiation (Ministry of Education), Shandong University, 250100 Jinan, Shandong, China.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Fluorescence Imaging Group, Departamento de Física de Materiales, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jaque
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, State Key Laboratory of Crystal Materials, and Key Laboratory of Particle Physics and Particle Irradiation (Ministry of Education), Shandong University, 250100 Jinan, Shandong, China.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Chen
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