Highly efficient difference-frequency generation in KTP

A conversion efficiency as high as 22%from dye-laser radiation to the near infrared with difference-frequency mixing of Nd:YAG laser radiation and its second-harmonic-pumped dye laser in an only 5 mm long KTP crystal is reported for the generation of tunable near infrared radiation.     

Study of second harmonic generation by non-linear crystals with phase conjugation

We present the correction of the phase distortion which occurs during the second harmonic generation by non-linear crystals, such as KDP and KTP at high average power laser. This is due to the optical quality and thicknesses of the crystals which in turn influence the quality of the incident laser beam. This phase distortion is corrected by reflecting back the laser beam into the crystal using a phase conjugate mirror. It is found that the conversion efficiency of second harmonic generation without phase conjugation is more than that with phase conjugation. Far field pattern shows that the distortion of the laser beam can be corrected by using the phase conjugate mirror. Fidelity of the beam profile increases significantly with phase conjugation in the case of KDP crystal.     

Optical second harmonic generation from Pt nanowires

We have measured optical second harmonic intensity from arrays of Pt nanowires of 20 nm and 9 nm average widths, as a function of the incident and output light polarizations, the azimuthal angle, and the excitation photon energy. The nanowires were fabricated through shadow deposition on self-organized NaCl(1 1 0) faceted templates. The anisotropy of the SH intensity from the Pt nanowires was found to be stronger than that from the Au nanowires reported previously. The effective nonlinear susceptibility element , with the suffix 2 indicating the direction , was observed for Pt nanowires, although it was not observed for Au nanowires. This difference is suggested to be due to the weaker suppression of the incident fundamental fields by the depolarization field in the Pt nanowires and the larger anisotropy in the nonlinearity of Pt nanowires due to the thinner widths.     

Anomalous second harmonic generation in iron-doped barium titanate

The temperature evolution of the angular dependence of the second harmonic intensity in iron-doped barium titanate is measured in the region of the transition from the cubic to the tetragonal phase. An unusual asymmetry of the angular distribution of this intensity is found in the temperature range corresponding to the peak in the temperature dependence of the integral intensity. The possible physical mechanisms of these anomalies are discussed. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 64, No. 4, 247–249 (25 August 1996)     

Modal phase-matching second harmonic generation in Bragg fiber

Modal phase-matching second harmonic generation in uniformly poled Bragg fiber is theoretically proposed. The very low group velocity of the modes in Bragg fiber near the in-band cutoff frequencies leads to high nonlinear conversion efficiency comparable to that of the periodically poled conversional fiber. The subsequence phase-matched bandwidth reduction by slow light can be retrieved in a certain degree through structure parameters optimization.     

Transmission second harmonic generation in CdTe at 1.064 μm

Transmission geometry measurements of the efficiency of second harmonic generation in various thicknesses of CdTe samples were made to determine the conversion efficiency dependence on material thickness. Neglecting pump depletion, it is found that for samples of well-defined symmetry, the second harmonic conversion efficiency scales with film thickness, with no observed enhancement owing to coherence length effects. The angular dependence of the observed second harmonic light in films of well-defined symmetry is consistent with second harmonic generation originating in the bulk.     

Molecular enhanced four-wave parametric generation in sodium atom

A number of resonances have been observed in the excitation spectrum of the uv resonance lines of sodium. The mechanism proposed includes absorption by molecular states, energy transfer to excited atomic levels and four-wave parametric generation enhanced by radiative decay of the excited states.     

Phase conjugation in potassium vapour using subnanosecond laser pulses

Phase conjugated waves (PCW) were generated for the first time by degenerate four-wave mixing with subnanosecond laser pulses in potassium vapour near the D ₁ transition at 7699 Å. The light source was a long cavity grazing incidence dye laser. The pulses had a duration of 700–800 ps and a linewidth of 0.2 Å. The experiments were performed in a temperature range of 400–550° C. A maximum reflectivity of 57% has been observed together with temporal pulse shortening. PCW reflectivity has been measured as a function of the temperature, and the backward pump intensity.     

Phase effects at second harmonic generation in the layer media

An analysis is made of quasi-phase-matched interaction at second harmonic generation in a regular domain structure with accounts for losses and change of phases of all the interacting waves. The constant-intensity approximation of basic radiation is applied for this purpose, not to regular domain structure as a whole, but to each separately taken domain. It allows to carry out more strict analysis of quasi-synchronous interaction during the frequency conversion to the polydomain consisting of n layers, forming “grating” periods of modulation of the nonlinear susceptibility. With this, the values of complex amplitudes of basic radiation and second harmonic wave at the outlet of each domain are entrance values of the corresponding complex amplitudes to the following domain. The analytical expression is given for the case of n domains and the factors limiting the efficiency of the process of frequency conversion are analyzed. In the constant-intensity approximation, in contrast to the constant field approximation, the coherent length of domain depends on pump intensity. With increasing pump intensity the optimum length decreases. In a regular domain structure at frequency conversion from a layer to a layer, intensity of the basic radiation changes. Also the optimum length of domains at which conversion efficiency is maximal therefore changes. Thus, it is possible to obtain the high values of conversion frequency at the outlet of a regular domain structure by choice of optimum parameters of a task (length of domains, phase mismatch, pump intensity), as well as using the layers-domains of high quality.     

Phase effects at second harmonic generation of powerful laser radiation in noncentrosymmetrical media

There has been developed the theory of second harmonic generation of the intensive laser fields in the existence of both quadratic and cubic polarization in medium in the constant-intensity approximation accounting for the reverse effect of the excited wave on the exciting one and simultaneously allowing us to take into account phase mismatch and the damping of all the interacting waves. It is shown that the changes of pump intensity through self-phase and cross-phase modulation processes effect optimum phase relationship between interacting waves, the change of the spatial beating period. The conditions of compensating undesirable phase shifts between interacting waves have been determined, the analytical expressions for calculation of optimum values of phase mismatch, length of noncentrosymmetrical medium and the spatial beating period are offered. It is shown that in the absence of linear phase mismatch with an increase of basic radiation intensity the spatial beating period is being reduced. The numerous analysis has been made of frequency doubling process efficiency for KDP and LiNbO₃ crystals.     

A new method of assessing the efficiency of second harmonic generation by small samples of organic crystals

The intensity of optical second harmonic generation was measured from pressed KCl disks containing low concentrations (1%) of non-linear optical (NLO) materials. Comparison of the signals at 532 nm, with the known second order NLO coefficients exhibited a monotonic relationship. An estimate was made of the effect of light scattering at 532 nm, on the results.     

Broadband frequency doubler for femtosecond pulses

A highly efficient frequency doubler is developed for femtosecond pulses. Design aspects of the device are discussed. Doubling bandwidth calculations have shown, that with one millimeter long crystals pulses as short as 10 fs can be frequency doubled. Experimental results testing the doubler with 300 fs, 496 nm pulses are presented showing no spectral narrowing.This work has been partially carried out at Max-Planck-Institut für biophysikalische Chemie, Abt. Laserphysik, Göttingen, Fed. Rep. Germany     

A generalized Ginzburg-Landau approach to second harmonic generation

We develop a generalized Ginzburg-Landau theory for second harmonic generation (SHG) in magnets by expanding the free energy in terms of the order parameter in the magnetic phase and the susceptibility tensor in the corresponding high-temperature phase. The non-zero components of the SHG susceptibility in the ordered phase are derived from the symmetries of the susceptibility tensor in the high-temperature phase and the symmetry of the order parameter. In this derivation, the dependence of the SHG susceptibility on the order parameter follows naturally, and therefore its nonreciprocal optical properties. We examine this phenomenology for the magnetoelectric compound Cr₂O₃ as well as for the ferroelectromagnet YMnO₃. Received 27 August 1999     

Tunable infrared generation using the 6s−5d Raman transition in caesium vapour

Coherent infrared radiation tunable between 1.6 and 3.2 μm was generated with a pulsed dye laser by 6s−5d _5/2 stimulated electronic Raman scattering in caesium vapour. We describe a technique using thermal dissociation to reduce the density of caesium dimers in a heat-pipe oven, which produced a factor of 7 reduction in Raman threshold. The threshold displayed a marked dependence on pump bandwidth.     

A way for enhancing second harmonic generation in one-dimensional nonlinear photonic crystals

We investigate one-dimensional nonlinear photonic crystals consisting of ferroelectric domains with the modulated polarization directions. Significant enhancement of second harmonic generation (SHG) is observed from numerical simulations when the frequency of fundamental wave is aimed at the photonic band edge. We devise the model structure with optimal configuration of the polarization directions of the ferroelectric domains in terms of simulated annealing algorithm. The conversion efficiencies of the ‘forward’ and ‘backward’ SHGs can be engineered.     

Coupled cavity modelocking of a Nd:YAG laser using second-harmonic generation

The modelocking of a Nd:YAG laser using second-harmonic generation in an external cavity as the only pulse shortening process is reported. The output of a long pulse Nd:YAG laser was simultaneously modelocked and Q-switched. The average pulse duration was 30–50 ps and the peak power was in the range 60–160 kW.     

Efficient generation of tunable VUV laser radiation below 205 nm by SFM in BBO

Design and performance characteristics of a tunable dye laser system for sum frequency mixing (SFM) in a BBO crystal are presented. The system is composed of two tunable pulsed dye lasers pumped synchronously by the second harmonic of a commercial Nd:YAG laser. The radiation produced by the first dye laser is frequency doubled by second-harmonic generation (SHG) in KDP and subsequently mixed by SFM in BBO with the light of the second dye laser. The interest was focussed on generation of tunable laser radiation below 205 nm with high output power and long-time wavelength stability. High conversion efficiencies enable output energies of 100 J (20 kW) at 196 nm using only moderate Nd:YAG pump energies of 67 mJ. Altogether, a laser system with very good specifications for analytical application in the near VUV spectral region is reported.     

High efficiency second harmonic generation with a low power diode laser

\valunit{8}{mW} ( corrected for the output mirror reflection) of the cw coherent blue light around by frequency doubling of only from a diode laser. With IR power of we reach the doubling efficiency of . The overall conversion efficiency from the electrical power into the blue light is . By the way of careful analysis of the Blue Light Induced IR Absorption (BLIIRA) in the potassium niobate based external doubling cavity we obtain good agreement with the theoretical conversion efficiency. Received: 29 November 1996     

Noncollinear ultraviolet generation in a lithium borate crystal

Nd:YAG and a Nd:YAG-pumped dye laser are used to generate tunable deep ultraviolet radiation down to 240 nm in a lithium triborate crystal (LBO) by noncollinear sum-frequency mixing. All longer wavelengths can be generated by a combination of harmonic generation of the dye laser and sum-frequency mixing, 240 nm being the near noncritical limit. A set of versatile Sellmeier dispersion equations is derived to satisfactorily predict phase-matching in LBO.