The Stanford Photonics Research Center

September 17, 2008

The Tm:fiber laser, operating in a broadly tunable region around 2000 nm, can be operated efficiently when the fiber core is heavily doped. In that case, one pump photon at 790 nm can generate two laser photons, due to a cross relaxation process between pairs of Tm ions. We will discuss scaling efforts with Tm:silica fibers, where we have generated cw powers as his as 885 W. Applications of the laser system include eyesafer directed energy, high-power mid-IR sources and laser-driven electron accelerators for high-energy physics investigations.
 
Peter Moulton was born in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1946.  He received an A.B. in Physics from Harvard College in 1968 and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from M.I.T. in 1972 and 1975 respectively. After finishing graduate school he was employed in the Quantum Electronics Group at M.I.T. Lincoln Laboratory, Lexington, Massachusetts.  In 1985 he joined a start-up company, Schwartz Electro-Optics, as Vice-President and managed the founding of the company's Research Division in Concord, Massachusetts. He became Senior Vice-President of SEO in 1997 and was involved in spinning out the Research Division as a separate company, Q-Peak, in 1998, and in the sale of Q-Peak to its current parent company, Physical Sciences Inc. in 2001. At present he is the Vice-President and Chief Technology Officer of Q-Peak.
 
Moulton's technical work began in the field of bulk solid state lasers, and in recent years has extended to include nonlinear optics and fiber lasers. Some of his work has been motivated by defense applications, including infrared countermeasures, detection of chemical and biological weapons, advanced ladar and targeting systems, laser communications and directed-energy systems. He has also been involved in scientific applications, including global monitoring of atmospheric water vapor, ozone aerosols and wind, in commercial applications in the semiconductor industry, in laser systems for medical treatment and diagnostics, and in the development of lasers for large-screen color displays.
 
Dr. Moulton is a Fellow of the Optical Society of America (OSA.) He was awarded the R.W. Wood Prize from the OSA and the William Streifer Scientific Achievement Award from IEEE/LEOS, both in 1997, and in 2000 he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering.