Efficient Compound-Cavity Eye-Safe KTP OPO at 1.57 μupm Pumped by an Electro-Optic Q-Switched Nd:YAG Laser

An efficient high-energy eye-safe optical parametric oscillator (OPO) based on a type-II non-critically phase-matched KTP crystal is demonstrated. The KTP OPO is pumped by a quasi-cw diode side-pumped electro-optic Q-switched Nd:YAG laser in a compound-cavity configuration. The maximum output energy of the signal wavelength at 1.57 μm is 66.5mJ, corresponding to an electrical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 4.47% and an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 12.1%. The pulse width (FWHM) is about 3.6ns with a peak power of 18.5MW. The output energy is insensitive to repetition rate and demonstrates good stability.     

Low Threshold and High Conversion Efficiency Nanosecond Mid-Infrared KTA OPO

Based on a Type II non-critically phase-matched KTA crystal, a low-threshold and high conversion efficiency mid-infrared optical parametric oscillator （OPO） pumped by a diode-end-pumped Nd：YVO4 laser is demonstrated. The OPO threshold is only 0.825W. The maximum output power of 435mW at 3.47μm is achieved with the repetition rate of 30kHz, corresponding to an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 4.4%. The photon conversion efficiency is as high as about 64%. The pulse width is 3.5ns with a peak power of 4kW for the maximum output power.     

Intracavity optical parametric oscillator at 1.57-μm wavelength pumped by passive Q-switched Nd：GdVO4 laser

A high-repetition-rate eye-safe optical parametric oscillator （OPO）, using a non-critically phase-matched KTP crystal intracavity pumped by a passively Q-switched Nd：GdVO4/Cr^4＋ ：YAG laser, is experimentally demonstrated. The conversion efficiency for the average power is 7% from pump diode input to OPO signal output and the slope efficiency is up to 10.3%. With an incident pump power of 7,3 W, the compact intracavity OPO （IOPO） cavity, operating at 15 kHz, produces an average power of 0.57 W at 1570 nm with a pulse width as short as 6 ns. The peak power at 1570 nm is higher than 6.3 kW.     

A ZnGeP2 Optical Parametric Oscillator with Mid-IR Output Power 3W Pumped by a Tm,Ho:GdVO4 Laser

We report an efficient mid-infrared optical parametric oscillator （OPO） pumped by a pulsed Tm,Ho-codoped GdVO4 laser. The IO-W Tm,Ho：GdVO4 laser pumped by a 801 nm diode produces 20ns pulses with a repetition rate of lO kHz at wavelength of 2.0481μm. The ZnGeP2 （ZGP） OPO produces 15-ns pulses in the spectral regions 3.65-3.8μm and 4.45-4.65μm simultaneously. More than 3 W of mid-IR output power can be generated with a total OPO slope efficiency greater than 58% corresponding to incident 2μm pump power. The diode laser pump to mid-IR optical conversion efficiency is about 12%.     

High power 1.57-μm OPO pumped by MOPA with SBS

A Nd:YAG master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) system, pumped by a pulse flash-lamps as the pump source of optical parametric oscillator (OPO), is employed to improve the pump beam quality of OPO pump source. A back amplifying configuration with stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) phase conjugation mirror is used. OPO pump laser energy of 611 mJ/pulse with 30-ns pulse duration is obtained, and near diffraction limited beam quality is achieved. Based on the type Ⅱdegenerate non-critically phase-matched KTP crystal, the OPO is used to convert pump beam from 1.064 μm to 1.57 μm, eye-safe near infrared laser range source. 1.57-μm output energy of 209 mJ/pulse with 18-ns pulse duration is attained with a short cavity KTP OPO, when pump laser energy is approximately 611 mJ. OPO conversion efficiency is up to 38.7% when pump laser energy is approximately 200 mJ.     

High power 1.57-μm OPO pumped by MOPA with SBS

A Nd:YAG master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) system, pumped by a pulse flash-lamps as the pump source of optical parametric oscillator (OPO), is employed to improve the pump beam quality of OPO pump source. A back amplifying configuration with stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) phase conjugation mirror is used. OPO pump laser energy of 611 mJ/pulse with 30-ns pulse duration is obtained, and near diffraction limited beam quality is achieved. Based on the type Ⅱ degenerate non-critically phase-matched KTP crystal, the OPO is used to convert pump beam from 1.064μm to 1.57μm, eye-safe near infrared laser range source. 1.57-μm output energy of 209 mJ/pulse with 18-ns pulse duration is attained with a short cavity KTP OPO, when pump laser energy is approximately 611 mJ. OPO conversion efficiency is up to 38.7% when pump laser energy is approximately 200 mJ.     

Period Continuous Tuning of an Efficient Mid-Infrared Optical Parametric Oscillator Based on a Fan-out Periodically Poled MgO-Doped Lithium Niobate

We report a period continuously tunable, efficient, mid-infrared optical parametric oscillator （OPO） based on a fan-out periodically poled MgO-doped congruent lithium niobate （PPMgLN）. The OPO is pumped by a Nd：YAG laser and a maximum idler output average power of 1.65W at 3.93μm is obtained with a pump average power of 10.5W, corresponding to the conversion efficiency of about 16% from the pump to the idler. The output spectral properties of the OPO with the fan-out crystal are analyzed. The OPO is continuously tuned over 3.78-4.58μm （idler） when fan-out periods are changed from 27.0 to 29.4μm. Compared with temperature tuning, fan-out period continuous tuning has faster tuning rate and wider tuning range.     

A compact and efficient 4.25 μm BaGa_4Se_7 optical parametric oscillator

We report an efficient mid-infrared extracavity optical parametric oscillator(OPO) based on the nonlinear crystal BaGa_4Se_7 pumped by a diode-side-pumped Q-switched Nd:Y_3 Al_5O_(12)(Nd:YAG) laser. The maximum pulse energy of 1.03 mJ at 4.25 μm is obtained with the repetition rate of 10 Hz and pulse width of 12.6 ns when the pump energy was 13.5 m J, corresponding to an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 7.6% from 1.064 μm to 4.25 μm. The idler wave slope conversion efficiency was 12%. To the best of our knowledge, it is the highest reported conversion efficiency for the compact BaGa_4Se_7 OPO driven by the Nd:YAG laser.     

Eye-Safe Raman Laser at μm Based on BaWO4 Crystal

Using an external couple cavity and a pump beam compression system, efficient 1.5 μm eye-safe Raman laser is obtained based on BaWO4 crystal. The largest output energy is 8.5mJ, corresponding to an electric-optical conversion efficiency of 47%.     

Green-Beam Generation of 40W by Use of an Intracavity Frequency-Doubled Diode Side-Pumped Nd:YAG Laser

A cw diode side-pumped Nd：YAO laser is frequency doubled to 532nm with an intracavity KTP crystal in a Vshaped arrangement, achieving an output power of 40 W corresponding to an optical-optical conversion efficiency of 9.7%. The instabilities and the M2-parameters of the laser are measured at different output powers after the beam is filtered.     

Wildly Tunable,High-Efficiency MgO：PPLN Mid-IR Optical Parametric Oscillator Pumped by a Yb-Fiber Laser

We demonstrate a wildly tunable, high-eFficiency mid-infrared （mid-IR） output-coupled single resonant optical parametric oscillator （OC-SRO） pumped by a Yb-fiber laser. The compact mid-infrared source employs a 50- mm-long, multi-grating MgO-doped periodically poled lithium niobate （MgO-PPLN） crystal, providing as much as 1.73 W idler power at 3.012#m, and 1.27W signal power at 1645nm, corresponding to an overall conversion efficiency of 41.7% and a slope efficiency of 77.9%. In particular, the mid-infrared output power of 1.03 W and 0.67W are obtained at 3.7μm and 3.9μm, respectively, with an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 14.3% and 9.3%. Furthermore, the idler light is tunable from 3 μm to 3.9 μm by changing the periods from 31 to 28.5μm, with the output power 〉1 W over 78% of the tuning range. Our experimental results are pump power limited and further mid-IR power and conversion efficiency could be obtained with a suitable high-power pump source. The total OC-SRO output power rms at 2.6 W is about 0.6% during 2 h measurement.     

High-peak-power, high-repetition-rate intracavity optical parametric oscillator at 1.57μm

We report a high-peak-power, high-repetition-rate diode-side-pumped Nd:YAG Q-switched intracavity optical parametric oscillator (IOPO) at 1.57μm with a type-Ⅱnon-critically phase-matched x-cut KTP crystal. The average power of 1.15 W at 1.57μm is obtained at 4.3-kHz repetition rate. The peak power of the pulses amounts to 33.4 kW with 8-ns duration. The average conversion efficiency from Q-switched 1.064-μm-wavelength input power to OPO signal output power is up to 10.5%.     

An efficient intracavity-pumped KTP optical parametric oscillator at 1572 nm

We demonstrate an efficient and eye-safe wavelength intracavity optical parametric oscillator (OPO), based on a KTP crystal inside a Q-switched Nd:YVO4 laser end pumped by a fiber-coupled diode laser. In the acousto-optic Q-switched operation with the pulse repetition rate of 10 kHz, a 1572-nm eye-safe laser with the average power of 237 mW at the incident pump power of 5.64 W is obtained. Under the pulse repetition rate of 5 kHz, the signal light with pulse width of 2 ns and peak power of 18.5 kW is achieved. The conversion efficiency of the average power is 4.2% from pump diode to OPO signal output and the signal pulse duration is about 13 times shorter than that of the depleted pump light.     

Efficient intracavity optical parametric oscillator with diode side-pumped electro-optic Q-switched laser

An efficient intracavity single-resonant optical parametric oscillator (OPO) at 1.571-μm eye-safe range using a non-critically phase-matched KTP crystal is reported. The OPO is excited by a diode side-pumped electro-optic Q-switched Nd:YAG laser at 1.064μm. Signal pulse of 97 mJ and 3.56 ns is obtained under the input electric energy of 2.3 J, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 4.2%, and a repetition rate range of 1-30 Hz.     

PUMP-TUNING KTP OPTICAL PARAMETRIC OSCILLATOR WITH CONTINUOUS OUTPUT WAVELENGTH PUMPED BY A PULSED TUNABLE Ti:SAPPHIRE LASER

We report on the implementation of a KTP optical parametric oscillator pumped by a pulsed tunable Ti:sapphire laser. Two major improvements were achieved, including the connection of the signal and idler tuning ranges and the high-output conversion efficiency through the signal and idler tuning ranges. Both in the signal and idler, the continuous output wavelength from 1.261 to 2.532μm was obtained by varying the pump wavelength from 0.7 to 0.98μm. The maximum output pulse energy was 27.2mJ and the maximum conversion efficiency was 35.7% at 1.311μm (signal).     

Generation of high power laser at 1314 nm from a diode-side-pumped Nd:YLF module

We demonstrate a high power continuous-wave （CW） and acoustic-optically （AO） Q-switched 1314-nm laser with a diode-side-pumped Nd：YLF module. A maximum CW output power of 21.6 W is obtained with a diode pump power of 180 W, corresponding to an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 12.0% and a slope efficiency of 16.1%. In the Q-switching operation, a highest pulse energy of 3.8 mJ is obtained at a pulse repetition rate of 1 kHz. The shortest pulse width and maximum single peak power are 101.9 ns and 37.3 kW, respectively.     

Fluorescence spectrum,thermal properties,and continuous-wave laser performance of the mixed crystal Nd：Lu0.99La0.01 VO4

The fluorescence spectrum and thermal properties of the mixed crystal Nd：Luo.gvLa~.o1VO4 are determined. The strongest emission peak located at 1065.6 nm had a full width at half maximum （FWHM） of 2.1 nm. Continuous-wave （CW） laser performance is demonstrated by a compact planar planar cavity that is end- pumped by a diode laser. The laser output characteristics are investigated by using output couplers with different transmissions. A maximum CW output power of 8.09 W was obtained at an incident pump power of 19.4 W, which corresponds to an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 41.7% and a slope efficiency of 54.6%. The dependence of optimum transmission on pump power is calculated theoretically and is found to be consistent with experimental results.     

10-W cladding-pumped fiber laser with single transverse mode output

A Yb-doped double-clad fiber laser is demonstrated with a measured power output of 10.6 W and a fundamental spatial mode. The optical-to-optical conversion efficiency is 44% and the slope efficiency is 86% closed to quantum efficiency of optical conversion. In our laser system, a D-shape (340 μm/400 μm) inner cladding Yb-doped fiber is used as the gain material within the Fabry-Perot cavity. Multimode diode pump radiation is injected into the cladding through an end facet of the composite fiber.     

Experimental study of electro-optical-switched pulsed Nd:YAG laser

We report the specification of a compact and stable side diode-pumped Q-switched pulsed Nd:YAG laser. We experimentally study and compare the performance of the pulsed Nd:YAG laser in the free-running and Q-switched modes at different pulse repetition rates from 1 Hz to 100 Hz. The laser output energy is stabilized by using a special configuration of the optical resonator. In this laser, an unsymmetrical concave–concave resonator is used and this structure helps the mode volume to be nearly fixed when the pulse repetition rate is increased. According to the experimental results in the Q-switched operation, the laser output energy is nearly constant around 70 m J with an FWHM pulse width of 7 ns at100 Hz. The optical-to-optical conversion efficiency in the Q-switched regime is 17.5%.     

Efficient and compact diode-end-pumped conductively cooled Q-switched Nd:YLF laser operating at 527 nm

A novel, compact diode-end-pumped conductively cooled Q-switched Nd:YLF laser is developed. A diode-end-pumped pair of Nd:YLF slabs and an intracavity-frequency-doubled configuration are adopted to increase conversion efficiency. Using 49.8-mJ incident pump pulse energy at 500-Hz repetition rate, the laser obtains 11-mJ pulse energy and 5.5-W average output power at 527-nm wavelength, achieving an optical-optical conversion efficiency of 22%. The pulsewidth is less than 15 ns, and the beam quality factors are Mx2=1.28 and M y2=1.12.