Laser-driven inertial fusion has emerged as a promising approach towards achieving controlled fusion energy. However, deploying this technology as a commercial power source requires addressing technical challenges in optical component design. Optical components in fusion power plants are subjected to extreme conditions, including high energy densities, intense radiation fluxes, demanding temporal and spatial characteristics, and extended operational lifespans. This paper will discuss the stringent requirements imposed on optical materials, coatings, thermal management, and overall system design. Additionally, anticipated challenges in the supply chain will be explored.

Using frugal innovation to focus only on the mandatory features given by a particular application, we have developed a femtosecond laser that provides 900 fs, 12 µJ pulses at 1030 nm at the end of a 3 m long perfectly single-mode glass fiber. This system is battery powered and the output beam is easily movable in any direction and position within a 6 m diameter sphere. Our system relies on an innovative monolithic compressor including a CVBG. The compressor is 20 x 20 mm and weight a few grams. We will present the design and performances of the monolithic pulse compressor as well as the source attached to it. This device is presently used in a handheld laser instrument developed and sold by Ilasis Laser for cataract surgery.

UV holographic recording of Chirped Volume Bragg gratings (CBGs) in photo-thermo-refractive (PTR) glass made possible commercial production of pulse stretchers and compressors commonly deployed in high power and/or high energy ultrashort laser systems. The improved holographic technology enabled fabrication of CBGs with spectral bandwidth above 40 nm for a spectral region covering 800 to 2500 nm and providing dispersion ranging from few ps/nm up to 5000 ps/nm. In this presentation temporal and spatial shaping of ultrashort pulses by means of chirped VBGs will be presented and discussed.

Rotated chirped Bragg gratings (r-CBGs) are an innovative optical component that spatially resolves spectra of optical beams redirecting spectral components in orthogonal planes along direction of beam propagation, and eliminating the need for free-space propagation. This enables ultra-compact spectrometers and pulse transformers. This concept was further extended by multiplexing r-CBGs and creating an X-CBG which enables compact multi-band spectroscopy. We will demonstrate different applications of r-CBGs including the synthesis of space-time wave packets with exceptional spectral resolution. This compact and versatile technology holds great promise for advancing optical systems in various fields, from materials identification to quantum optics.

We present a investigation of non-linearity and damage of dispersive mirror at the high intensity and wavelength around 1030 nm. The optics is produced by MF magnetron- sputtering methods. We compare different layer materials like Ta2O5, HfO2, SiO2. All compared mirrors provide -200 fs2 in range 930-1120 nm. The dispersive mirror with Ta2O5/SiO2 has laser induced damage of 0.12J/cm2. As result of our research, we were able to produce mirror with HfO2/SiO2 with improved value of 0.21 J/cm2 for 190fs, 1kHz, in vacuum.

A new integrated SPAD detector is presented. The detector features increased collection efficiencies due to the use of an immersion lens system. Attainable collection improvement factors and application examples are presented.

The transparency region of Photo-Thermo-Refractive (PTR) glass extends from the near UV up to 2.5-micron spectral region. Recent advances in the technology of PTR glass and Volume Bragg Grating (VBG) recording enables fabrication of optical filters and intra-cavity mode selecting optical elements in the spectral region of 400-600 nm with bandwidth from 200 GHz down to 20 GHz. VBGs with reduced spectral bandwidth can be used for fabrication of lasers with extended coherence and improved wavelength accuracy. Filters with narrow spectral bandwidth (below 50 GHz) and high diffraction efficiency (>90%) are suitable for signal to pump separation, single photon detection, or other quantum applications.

Soft glass fibers are emerging as an attractive alternative to silicate fibers for visible and mid-infrared lasers. The paper reports on the inscription of Bragg gratings with characteristic suitable for the realization of monolithic laser cavities in some soft glass fibers, in particular in a custom developed fluoride fiber. The first results have been obtained at around 1550 nm for simplicity of characterization, but the approach can be extended to other wavelengths

We report on the investigation of realization limits of ultrashort pulse written volume-Bragg-gratings with respect to the laser pulse repetition rate. The VBGs are directly inscribed in fused silica by applying ultrashort laser pulses and the phase mask scanning technique. In order to investigate the scaling potential of the realization process of such gratings by means of higher repetition rates we investigate the fundamentally given material constraints. These investigations will help to pave the way of this realization scheme for VBGs beyond the prototype regime.

Bragg grating recorded in PTR glass could have large aperture and long length which enables the engineering of local Bragg elements in 3D. It is well known that holograms encode phase information through relative local phase shifts of the gratings created by the interfering beams. For uniform reflecting Bragg grating adding a 𝜋 phase-shift modifies the element's properties, creating a transmission notch at the Bragg wavelength. Here we investigate a new optical element which combines a transversely chirped Bragg grating with incorporated phase shift. This element operates as a wavelength-tunable transmission notch filter and could have applications in lasers and spectroscopy.

We present power stable fiber Bragg gratings for linear fiber lasers in the 2 µm wavelength range. The FBG were inscribed through the coating material using infrared femtosecond laser pulses. By improved inscription parameters signal light scattering at the induced structure resulting in heating and shifting of the resonance laser was minimized. A stable linear polarized fiber laser at 2 µm with an output power of 50 W was implemented.

We present a high-power DFB technology that meets the performance and volume demands of consumer automotive applications. Our DFB design is hardened and intended for use at extreme environmental conditions and operates at peak current density of 8 kA/cm2 - approximately 4 times higher than more conventional DFB lasers intended for use in telecommunication and sensing applications. We demonstrate that the risks associated with placing these components into high volume production with high yield can be managed through careful control of the laser design and manufacturing processes. To date, we show >90% of our DFB lasers fall within our control limits as defined by three sigma of the mean. This is the first high-power DFB laser suitable for widespread deployment into the consumer automotive market space.

Examples of automated die bonding of photonic chips such as laser diodes and MEMS devices are presented. The stress-sensitive nature of these chips, issues of post-placement and post-cure alignment shifts, and of maintaining consistent bond lines are discussed. Selected aspects of assembly reliability are addressed.

Non-classical light will be used in a variety of quantum-enhanced measurements such as imaging and metrology, and quantum measurements and quantum networking. One example is the discrete single or entangled photon source, a light source that provides at most one photon or one entangled photon pair at a time. One of the brightest of these sources is engineered from epitaxial single semiconductor quantum dots in optical cavities. I will discuss how these sources are made and characterized — particularly their nonclassical characteristics.

The demonstrator for a highly integrated tunable Laser Diode is presented. The demonstrator is fiber coupled to a polarization-maintaining fiber and hermetically sealed in a 14-pin butterfly package. Options for higher levels of integration are presented.

All-fiber taper-fused pump/signal (N+1) x 1 combiners are widely used in high power fiber laser/amplifier systems. There exist two types of (N+1) x1 combiners: end-pumped and side-pumped. The side-pump type is superior in many ways, especially for backward-pumping. In this work, we introduce a system for fabricating (6+1) x 1 side-pumped combiners. Except for fiber loadings, the entire process is automated under the control of a programmable central control board. Samples of (6+1) x1 combiners fabricated on this system have shown low signal loss of <0.1dB (forward or backward) and high pump coupling efficiency ≥ 95%.