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Applied Sciences
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Laser Cooling of Solids: Novel Advances and Applications
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Laser Cooling of Solids: Novel Advances and Applications

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Applied Physics General".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 November 2021) | Viewed by 11092

Printed Edition Available!
A printed edition of this Special Issue is available here.

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Galina Nemova

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Guest Editor
Department of Engineering Physics, Polytechnique Montréal, P.O. Box 6079, Station Centre-ville, Montréal, QC H3C 3A7, Canada
Interests: fiber optics; optical fibers; applied optics; radiation-balanced fiber lasers and amplifiers; nanophotonics; nonlinear optics; laser cooling of solids; quantum optics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It is my pleasure and honor to present this Special Issue of Applied Sciences, Laser Cooling of Solids: Novel Advances and Applications. I kindly invite you to submit your original research or review papers to this Special Issue. All papers will be subject to the normal standards and peer-review processes of the journal.

The laser cooling of solids, also known as optical refrigeration, is one of the most interesting and promising areas of laser physics. In 1929, Ernst Pringsheim proposed the use of anti-Stokes fluorescence to cool sodium vapor. Since the first observation of net optical cooling in a rare-earth-doped solid (Yb3+-doped ZBLANP glass) in 1995 by Epstein’s research team, this area of laser physics has attracted widespread attention from researchers because of the wide range of its applications including optical cryocoolers for airborne and space-based applications, heat suppression in high-power lasers, and the cooling of nanoparticles for biological and mesoscopic physics.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to provide an overview of recent experimental and theoretical achievements in the laser cooling of solids and its applications. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

  • Laser cooling rare-earth-doped solids;
  • Laser cooling of semiconductors;
  • Radiation-balanced (athermal) lasers and amplifiers;
  • New materials for laser cooling;
  • New methods of laser cooling;
  • Thermodynamics of laser cooling of solids;
  • Optical cryocoolers;
  • Laser cooling of rare-earth-doped photonic crystals;
  • Laser cooling of nanoparticles;
  • Thermometry techniques for laser cooling.

Dr. Galina Nemova
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • laser cooling of rare-earth-doped solids
  • laser cooling of semiconductors
  • radiation-balanced (athermal) lasers and amplifiers
  • new materials for laser cooling
  • new methods of laser cooling
  • thermodynamics of the laser cooling of solids
  • optical cryocoolers
  • laser cooling of rare-earth-doped photonics crystals
  • laser cooling of nanoparticles
  • thermometry techniques for laser cooling

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Editorial

Jump to: Research, Review

2 pages, 372 KiB  
Editorial
Editorial for the Special Issue: “Laser Cooling of Solids: Novel Advances and Applications”
by Galina Nemova
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(15), 7951; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app12157951 - 08 Aug 2022
Viewed by 1057
Abstract
Laser cooling, or refrigeration, is a physical process in which a substance is maintained at a temperature below that of its surroundings [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Laser Cooling of Solids: Novel Advances and Applications)
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Research

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10 pages, 1691 KiB  
Article
Accurate Characterization of the Properties of the Rare-Earth-Doped Crystal for Laser Cooling
by Xuelu Duan, Biao Zhong, Yongqing Lei, Chaoyu Wang, Jiajin Xu, Ziheng Zhang, Jingxin Ding and Jianping Yin
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(9), 4447; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app12094447 - 28 Apr 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1466
Abstract
We present a method for calibrating a commercial thermal camera adopted to accurately measure the temperature change of the sample in a laser-induced temperature modulation spectrum (LITMoS) test, which is adopted for measuring two crucial parameters of the external quantum efficiency [...] Read more.
We present a method for calibrating a commercial thermal camera adopted to accurately measure the temperature change of the sample in a laser-induced temperature modulation spectrum (LITMoS) test, which is adopted for measuring two crucial parameters of the external quantum efficiency ηext and the background absorption coefficient αb for assessing the laser cooling grade of the rare-earth-doped materials. After calibration, the temperature resolution of the calibrated thermal camera is better than 0.1 K. For the cooling grade Czochralski-grown 5% Yb3+:LuLiF4 crystal, the corresponding values of ηext and αb are LITMoS = measured to be ηext=99.4 (±0.1)% and αb=1.5 (±0.1)×10−4 cm−1, respectively. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Laser Cooling of Solids: Novel Advances and Applications)
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12 pages, 821 KiB  
Article
Laser Cooling beyond Rate Equations: Approaches from Quantum Thermodynamics
by Conor N. Murphy, Luísa Toledo Tude and Paul R. Eastham
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(3), 1620; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app12031620 - 03 Feb 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1558
Abstract
Solids can be cooled by driving impurity ions with lasers, allowing them to transfer heat from the lattice phonons to the electromagnetic surroundings. This exemplifies a quantum thermal machine, which uses a quantum system as a working medium to transfer heat between reservoirs. [...] Read more.
Solids can be cooled by driving impurity ions with lasers, allowing them to transfer heat from the lattice phonons to the electromagnetic surroundings. This exemplifies a quantum thermal machine, which uses a quantum system as a working medium to transfer heat between reservoirs. We review the derivation of the Bloch-Redfield equation for a quantum system coupled to a reservoir, and its extension, using counting fields, to calculate heat currents. We use the full form of this equation, which makes only the weak-coupling and Markovian approximations, to calculate the cooling power for a simple model of laser cooling. We compare its predictions with two other time-local master equations: the secular approximation to the full Bloch-Redfield equation, and the Lindblad form expected for phonon transitions in the absence of driving. We conclude that the full Bloch-Redfield equation provides accurate results for the heat current in both the weak- and strong- driving regimes, whereas the other forms have more limited applicability. Our results support the use of Bloch-Redfield equations in quantum thermal machines, despite their potential to give unphysical results. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Laser Cooling of Solids: Novel Advances and Applications)
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25 pages, 4334 KiB  
Article
Saturation, Allowed Transitions and Quantum Interference in Laser Cooling of Solids
by Laura B. Andre, Long Cheng and Stephen C. Rand
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(3), 953; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app12030953 - 18 Jan 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1716
Abstract
New methods for the rapid cooling of solids with increased efficiency are analyzed and demonstrated experimentally. The advances offered by optical saturation, dipole-allowed transitions, and quantum interference for improved laser cooling of solids are highlighted. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Laser Cooling of Solids: Novel Advances and Applications)
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8 pages, 1557 KiB  
Article
Safe and Scalable Polyethylene Glycol-Assisted Hydrothermal Synthesis and Laser Cooling of 10%Yb3+:LiLuF4 Crystals
by Elena A. Dobretsova, Anupum Pant, Xiaojing Xia, Rachel E. Gariepy and Peter J. Pauzauskie
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(2), 774; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app12020774 - 13 Jan 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1751
Abstract
Rare earth doped lithium fluorides are a class of materials with a wide variety of optical applications, but the hazardous reagents used in their synthesis often restrict the amount of product that can be created at one time. In this work, 10%Yb3+ [...] Read more.
Rare earth doped lithium fluorides are a class of materials with a wide variety of optical applications, but the hazardous reagents used in their synthesis often restrict the amount of product that can be created at one time. In this work, 10%Yb3+:LiLuF4 (Yb:LLF) crystals have been synthesized through a safe and scalable polyethylene glycol (PEG)-assisted hydrothermal method. A combination of X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and photoluminescence (PL) measurements were used to characterize the obtained materials. The influence of reaction temperature, time, fluoride source, and precursor amount on the shape and size of the Yb:LLF crystals are also discussed. Calibrated PL spectra of Yb3+ ions show laser cooling to more than 15 K below room temperature in air and 5 K in deionized water under 1020 nm diode laser excitation measured at a laser power of 50 mW. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Laser Cooling of Solids: Novel Advances and Applications)
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Review

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23 pages, 6167 KiB  
Review
Radiation-Balanced Lasers: History, Status, Potential
by Galina Nemova
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(16), 7539; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app11167539 - 17 Aug 2021
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 2458
Abstract
The review of history and progress on radiation-balanced (athermal) lasers is presented with a special focus on rare earth (RE)-doped lasers. In the majority of lasers, heat generated inside the laser medium is an unavoidable product of the lasing process. Radiation-balanced lasers can [...] Read more.
The review of history and progress on radiation-balanced (athermal) lasers is presented with a special focus on rare earth (RE)-doped lasers. In the majority of lasers, heat generated inside the laser medium is an unavoidable product of the lasing process. Radiation-balanced lasers can provide lasing without detrimental heating of laser medium. This new approach to the design of optically pumped RE-doped solid-state lasers is provided by balancing the spontaneous and stimulated emission within the laser medium. It is based on the principle of anti-Stokes fluorescence cooling of RE-doped low-phonon solids. The theoretical description of the operation of radiation-balanced lasers based on the set of coupled rate equations is presented and discussed. It is shown that, for athermal operation, the value of the pump wavelength of the laser must exceed the value of the mean fluorescence wavelength of the RE laser active ions doped in the laser medium. The improved purity of host crystals and better control of the transverse intensity profile will result in improved performance of the radiation-balanced laser. Recent experimental achievements in the development of radiation-balanced RE-doped bulk lasers, fibre lasers, disk lasers, and microlasers are reviewed and discussed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Laser Cooling of Solids: Novel Advances and Applications)
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