Continuous-wave upconversion lasing with a sub-10 W cm−2 threshold enabled by atomic disorder in the host matrix

Microscale lasers efficiently deliver coherent photons into small volumes for intracellular biosensors and all-photonic microprocessors. Such technologies have given rise to a compelling pursuit of ever-smaller and ever-more-efficient microlasers. Upconversion microlasers have great potential owing to their large anti-Stokes shifts but have lagged behind other microlasers due to their high pump power requirement for population inversion of multiphoton-excited states. Here, we demonstrate continuous-wave upconversion lasing at an ultralow lasing threshold (4.7 W cm−2) by adopting monolithic whispering-gallery-mode microspheres synthesized by laser-induced liquefaction of upconversion nanoparticles and subsequent rapid quenching (“liquid-quenching”). Liquid-quenching completely integrates upconversion nanoparticles to provide high pump-to-gain interaction with low intracavity losses for efficient lasing. Atomic-scale disorder in the liquid-quenched host matrix suppresses phonon-assisted energy back transfer to achieve efficient population inversion. Narrow laser lines were spectrally tuned by up to 3.56 nm by injection pump power and operation temperature adjustments. Our low-threshold, wavelength-tunable, and continuous-wave upconversion microlaser with a narrow linewidth represents the anti-Stokes-shift microlaser that is competitive against state-of-the-art Stokes-shift microlasers, which paves the way for high-resolution atomic spectroscopy, biomedical quantitative phase imaging, and high-speed optical communication via wavelength-division-multiplexing.

Influence of Liquid Quenching on Phase Composition and Properties of Be-Si Eutectic Alloy

By the method of quenching from the liquid state (splat-quenching), it is first revealed the formation of mixture of metastable supersaturated substitutional solid solutions in the eutectic alloy Be-33at.% Si. Cast samples are obtained by pouring melt into a copper mold. High cooling rates during liquid quenching are achieved throw the well-known splat-cooling technique by spreading a drop of melt on the inner surface of a rapidly rotating, heat-conducting copper cylinder. The maximum cooling rates are estimated by the foil thickness. The melt cooling rates (up to 108К/s), used in the work, are sufficient to form amorphous phases in some eutectic alloys with similar phase diagrams, but it is found those rates are insufficient to obtain them in the Be-Si eutectic alloy. The X-ray diffraction analysis is carried out on a diffractometer in filtered Cobalt Ka radiation. Microhardness is measured on a micro-durometer at a load of 50 g. The electrical properties, namely the temperature dependences of relative electrical resistance, are studied by the traditional 4-probe method of heating in vacuum. The accuracy of determining the crystal lattice period of the alloy, taking into account extrapolation of the reflection angle by 900, is ± 3•10-4 nm. It is found that even at extremely high rate of quenching from the melt, instead of the amorphous phase formation, the occurrence of two supersaturated substitutional solid solutions, based on Beryllium and Silicon, is revealed. This fact is established by the obtained dependences of their lattice periods values on the alloying element content. So, during the formation of metastable eutectic structure, a supersaturated with Beryllium solid solution of Silicon has period a = 0.5416 nm, and a supersaturated with Silicon solid solution of low-temperature hexagonal Beryllium has periods a = 0.2298 nm, c = 0.3631 nm. The positive role of the liquid quenching method in increasing the level of mechanical characteristics (microhardness and microstresses) in rapidly cooled Be-Si films is shown. It has been demonstrated that the difference in the atomic radii of the elements significantly affects the distortion of crystal lattices of the formed supersaturated solid solutions, and a significant value of microstresses (second-order stresses) in the Silicon lattice supersaturated with Beryllium is estimated, which, of course, leads to a significant increase in the microhardness, namely: there is an increase in microhardness in the Be-Si alloy under the conditions of applied method of quenching from the liquid state by more than 1.7 times compared to cast eutectic alloy and more than 6 times higher in comparison with the eutectoid cast Iron-Carbon alloy. The obtained polytherm of electrical resistance of the alloy under conditions of continuous heating in vacuum confirms the metastable nature of obtained new phases during quenching from the liquid state.

Improvement in Quenching Uniformity through Flow Conditioning

Historically, the design of liquid quenching systems has relied on providing a set amount of agitation power for the size of the tank (horsepower/gallon). With the advent of computer flow analysis tools, it has been increasingly possible to refine the quench system design to ensure that the flow created by the agitation system is effectively delivered to the load, resulting in an increase in quench performance.The current paper considers the effect of one element of a quench system design, an egg-crate flow straightener, on the uniformity of quenching a production intent differential pinion gear load. Size change data is combined with CFD analyses of two variations of a single quench system to determine the flow attributes that result in improved quench performance.