An apparatus and method of indirectly cooling an optomechanical resonator, comprising impinging a laser on an optomechanical resonator attached to a substrate, wherein the optomechanical resonator comprises a cantilever, a cooling end of the cantilever, having a cooling end comprising a laser-induced cooling element, an attachment end of the cantilever, attached to a substrate, and wherein the laser has a peak wavelength in the near-infrared band.

A solid-state optical refrigerator for cryogenic cooling of a payload, the solid-state optical refrigerator including a laser cooling crystal including a first material and a dopant material; a thermal link including a second material, the thermal link being bonded to the laser cooling crystal and the thermal link being configured to be thermally linked to the payload to transfer heat conductively from the payload to the laser cooling crystal via the thermal link; and a vacuum chamber housing the laser cooling crystal and the thermal link, the vacuum chamber and thermal link having a combination of shape and coating such that laser and fluorescence light reflected off a wall of the vacuum chamber and laser and fluorescence light propagating within the thermal link are not incident on the payload.

A method of emitting photons at a desired wavelength, including: providing a material having a first region of high absorption of radiation at a first set of wavelength of radiation, contiguous with a second region of low absorption of radiation at a shorter set of wavelengths, and a third region of high emission at a further shorter set of wavelengths; applying energy to the material at the first region, such that most of an effective black body radiation of said material at a temperature of the material would fall within the second region and be configured to transfer energy to said third region and not overlap with the first region; and emitting energy from the material at the third region, powered by said applying energy.

Fiber-based gain elements, such as fiber lasers, fiber amplifiers, and the like, that have higher power and better frequency stability than can be achieved in the prior art are presented. Embodiments include a fiber-based gain element having a first portion in which anti-Stokes fluorescence (ASF) reduces its temperature below that of an ambient environment and a second portion whose temperature is not reduced below that of the ambient environment, which are thermally coupled so heat can flow from the second portion into the first portion, thereby reducing the average temperature of the gain element. In some embodiments, a core configured to provide optical gain is thermally coupled with a first cladding configured to exhibit ASF cooling via an intervening cladding layer that acts to confine a first pump signal to the core.

A semiconductor device comprising a waveguide having a core, said core having inserted therein one or more layers of nanoemitters.

A device for cooling locally, including a cooling member, a crystal having the capacity to cool via absorption of a near-infrared exciting light signal, an illuminating system intended to deliver an exciting light signal, the crystal having an elongate shape about a longitudinal axis between a near end and a far end and having a closed constant outside cross section and containing a central channel formed, from its far end, over at least some of its length, the cooling member including a rod embedded via a first end into the central channel of the crystal and including a protruding second end that forms a cooling finger.

A method of emitting photons at a desired wavelength, including: providing a material having a first region of high absorption of radiation at a first set of wavelength of radiation, contiguous with a second region of low absorption of radiation at a shorter set of wavelengths, and a third region of high emission at a further shorter set of wavelengths; applying energy to the material at the first region, such that most of an effective black body radiation of said material at a temperature of the material would fall within the second region and be configured to transfer energy to said third region and not overlap with the first region; and emitting energy from the material at the third region, powered by said applying energy.

This disclosure enables laser-based gain elements, such as fiber lasers, fiber amplifiers, and the like, that have higher power and better frequency stability than can be achieved in the prior art. Embodiments disclosed herein include a fiber-based gain element having a first portion in which anti-Stokes fluorescence (ASF) reduces its temperature below that of an ambient environment and a second portion whose temperature is not reduced below that of the ambient environment. The fiber-based gain element is arranged such that the first and second portions are thermally coupled so heat can flow from the second portion into the first portion, thereby reducing the average temperature of the gain element. In some embodiments, a core configured to provide optical gain is thermally coupled with a first cladding configured to exhibit ASF cooling via an intervening cladding layer that acts to confine a first pump signal to the core.

An apparatus and method of indirectly cooling an optomechanical resonator, comprising impinging a laser on an optomechanical resonator attached to a substrate, wherein the optomechanical resonator comprises a cantilever, a cooling end of the cantilever, having a cooling end comprising a laser-induced cooling element, an attachment end of the cantilever, attached to a substrate, and wherein the laser has a peak wavelength in the near-infrared band.

The present invention provides a rotating chalcogenide gain media ring to provide un-precedented power generation with minimal thermal lensing for CW lasing in the mid-IR spectrum.