Intracavity second-harmonic generation of chemical oxygen-iodine laser emission using a LBO crystal

Intracavity second-harmonic generation of continuous-wave chemical oxygen-iodine laser emission has been studied. A chemical oxygen-iodine laser with a maximum fundamental-wave output power of about 10 W in a concentric cavity was used. Experiments were performed for three types of optical cavities using an 1 cm LBO crystal. Second-harmonic output of 12.4 W, 6.2 W, and 5.2 W, effective extraction efficiencies of 155.0% 65.9%. and 55.3%, and single-pass conversion efficiencies of 0.615%, 0.685%, and 0.655% were obtained for the respective cavities. A comparison of these results of coupling by frequency doubling with the results of fundamental-wave output coupling of this system is also presented.     

高效转换的大功率皮秒脉冲激光器

本文描述我们设计的带抗共振环(ARR)的对撞脉冲锁模(CPM)非稳腔Nd:YAP和Nd:YAG激光器,该激光腔结合了CPM腔脉宽窄、工作稳定和非稳腔输出能量高的特点,是一理想的高功率激光器同时选择了KTP、BBO和LBO等优良非线性晶体作为腔内倍频元件,实现高效倍频转换获得×10mJ和5GW/cm²的高能量和高功率绿光皮秒脉冲输出,倍频转换效率高达(50～70)%.     

A Highly Efficient SHG in CPM, Nd:YAG/LBO Laser

An energy conversion efficiency of 65.3% for second harmonic generation (SHG) from 1.06 μm to 0.53 μ m has been achieved by intracavity frequency doubling (IFD) in LiB 3O 5(LBO) crystal and a colliding pulse mode locked (CPM) Nd:YAG pulsed laser with a convex antiresonant ring (ARR) unstable resonator. For a fundamental wave with 20.2 mJ energy, 10 ps duration and a energy stability of 96.4%, a green output energy of 13.2 mJ was obtained. The energy conversion efficiency in IFD is much higher than that in extracavity frequency doubling (EFD) which is only 33.87%.     

Studies on the SFD Properties of NdxGd1-xCa4O(BO3)3 Solid-solution Crystal

NdxGd1-xCa4O(BO3)3 (NdGdCOB) is a new self-frequency-doubling (SFD) solid-solution crystal. The second-harmonic generation (SHG) phase-matching (PM) curves were calculated by using refractive indices. The deff of NdGdCOB crystal along different PM directions were calculated according to the sellmeier equation and dijk data in which the (θ=66.8°, φ=132.6°) PM direction has the highest deff. SFD experiments were carried out with Ti:sapphire CW laser and pulsed dye-laser. A green laser output power up to 225 mW at 530 nm was achieved from a 7×3×3 mm3 crystal sample pumped by 1560 mW CW Ti:sapphire laser. The lasing threshold of SFD was lower than 1.8 mW along the PM direction (66.8°,132.6°). The optical-optical conversion efficiency was 14.4%. The conversion efficiency was 7.7% when 10×3×3 mm3 sample was side-pumped by the pulsed dye-laser tuned to 595.4 nm with 17.5 mJ energy and the lasing threshold is 1.2 mJ.     

Studies on the SFD Properties of Nd_xGd_(1-x)Ca_4O(BO_3)_3 Solid-solution Crystal

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Tunable visible solid-state lasers based on second-harmonic generation of LiF:F(2) in potassium titanyl phosphate

A new broadly tunable visible solid-state laser is reported. Wavelengths between 550 and 610 nm are generated by intracavity frequency doubling of tuned and free-running room-temperature pulsed LiF:F(2)(-) lasers in potassium titanyl phosphate. Second-harmonic energy of 1.3 mJ has been achieved, corresponding to a fundamental-to-second-harmonic conversion efficiency of 20%. Operation is optimized with respect to LiF:F(2)(-) laser parameters.     

Diode-pumped Q-switched Nd:GdVO4/KTP green laser formed with a flat–flat resonator

A diode-pumped acousto-optically Q-switched intracavity frequency-doubled Nd:GdVO₄/KTP green laser formed with a flat–flat resonator was demonstrated. 3.05 W of average green output power at pulse repetition frequency (PRF) of 40 kHz was obtained with an optical conversion efficiency of 18.4%, the effective intracavity frequency-doubling efficiency was 57%. At the incident pump power of 15 W, the shortest laser pulse occurred at PRF of 25 kHz with FWHM width of 14 ns, yielding the highest peak power of 7.44 kW; while the largest pulse energy of 0.14 mJ was achieved at PRF of 15 kHz.     

Efficient intracavity second-harmonic generation at 1.06 μm in a BiB3O6 (BIBO) crystal

We report, for the first time, efficient intracavity second-harmonic generation (SHG) at 1.06 μm in a non-linear optical crystal, BiB₃O₆ (BIBO), at a type-I phase-matching direction of (θ,ϕ)=(168.9°,90°), performed with a LD end-pumped cw Nd:YVO₄ laser. A cw SHG output power of 364 mW has been obtained using a 1.9-mm-thick BIBO crystal. The optical conversion efficiency was 12.2% and the corresponding effective intracavity SHG efficiency was determined to be 32.4%. It was found that the intracavity SHG efficiency is greater than that obtained with a type-II phase-matching KTiOPO₄ (KTP) crystal with a thickness of 3 mm. The effective non-linear optical coefficient (d_eff) ratio of BIBO to that of KTP, determined experimentally, is 1.23:1. Received: 7 May 2001 / Revised version: 6 July 2001 / Published online: 19 September 2001     

Comparative studies of eye-safe intracavity and extracavity optical parametric oscillators with an unstable telescopic cavity

We have experimentally studied the lasing characteristics of an eye-safe optical parametric oscillator (OPO) with an unstable telescopic cavity when it is placed inside (intracavity OPO) and outside (extracavity OPO) the plane-parallel cavity of a pulsed, nearly single-mode KGW:Nd pump laser. We used a KTP crystal as the nonlinear medium for the OPO. We have shown that the intracavity OPO has the higher lasing efficiency. We have observed that the distribution of nonlinear losses introduced by the intracavity OPO, nonuniform over the cavity cross section, leads to an increase in the diameter and divergence of the radiation beam from the pump laser and a dependence of its temporal lasing dynamics on the transverse beam coordinate. We propose a physical model qualitatively explaining the spatial and temporal lasing dynamics of a radiation source with an intracavity OPO. Both OPO versions generate beams of radiation with about the same divergence. When the KGW:Nd laser has an electrical pumping energy of 7.3 J and a cavity length of 77 cm, the intracavity OPO and the extracavity OPO emit pulses with energies of 14.5 mJ and 12.0 mJ and duration 18 nsec and 13 nsec respectively. The divergence of the eye-safe radiation (λ = 1.578 μm) at 86.5% of the total pulse energy is no greater than 5.5 mrad for an OPO output beam diameter of = 2 mm. __________ Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Spektroskopii, Vol. 73, No. 4, pp. 535–543, July–August, 2006.     

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.     

Three-level operation of a diode-bar-pumped Yb:S-FAP laser

We present an all solid-state Yb:S-FAP laser system running on the three-level laser transition at 985 nm. The pump source was a high fill-factor laser diode bar, with the output reformatted using a two-mirror beamshaping system to produce a rectangular pump beam that focused to a square spot. A nearly on-axis multipassing system was used to obtain four pump passes through a 1.6 mm Yb:S-FAP laser crystal. Gain-switched three-level laser output was achieved with an efficiency of 4.3% with respect to incident pump power. Electro-optic Q-switching produced 0.12 mJ pulses for a pump pulse energy of 11 mJ. Intra-cavity second-harmonic generation yielded a maximum pulse energy at 492.5 nm of 12 μJ.     

Diode-pumped acousto-optically Q-switched high-repetition-rate Nd:YAG lasers at 946 and 473 nm by intracavity frequency-doubling

A diode-pumped acousto-optically (AO) Q-switched high-repetition-rate Nd:YAG lasers at 946 and 473 nm by intracavity frequency-doubling were reported in this paper. Using a compact V-type laser cavity, a maximum average output power of 4.5 W 946 nm laser was obtained at an operating repetition rate of 10 kHz, corresponding to an optical conversion efficiency of 10.5% and a slope efficiency of 15.6%. With a BiBO crystal as the intracavity frequency-doubler, 1.35 W 473 nm pulsed laser was achieved at 10 kHz. The peak power of the Q-switched blue pulse was up to 4.1 kW, with a pulse width of 33.1 ns. Then, the long-term power instability was less than 1%. Moreover, stable pulsed operation of 946 nm and 473 nm lasers can even reach 50 kHz.     

基于光参量振荡器的重频人眼安全激光器技术研究

 对KTP-OPO的相位匹配进行了理论分析和计算,并绘制了角度调谐曲线。基于光参量振荡器,选用KTP非线性晶体,在1.57μm人眼安全激光波段进行了实验研究。将脉冲氙灯侧面泵浦Nd∶YAG 1.064 μm激光应用于腔内KTP-OPO设计中,在工作频率5 Hz时,输出激光能量32 mJ,脉冲宽度7.22 ns,光 光转换效率为41%。这一结果使重频远距离人眼安全激光测距成为可能。     

Investigation on intracavity second-harmonic generation of a new Li-doped GdCa4O(BO3)3 crystal

Efficient intracavity second-harmonic generation (SHG) has been realized in a new Li-doped GdCa₄O(BO₃)₃ (GdCOB) crystal. 2.55 W CW SHG output power was obtained with an optical conversion efficiency of 19.6%, while the effective intracavity SHG efficiency was determined to be 44%. Compared to that of undoped GdCOB crystal, the effective SHG efficiency of the Li-doped GdCOB crystal was found to increase by 12.5%.     

高功率全固态绿光激光技术研究进展

 报道了高功率全固态腔内和腔外倍频两种绿光激光器研究进展。腔内倍频绿光激光器采用L型腔双棒串接结构,在重复频率10 kHz时,用三硼酸锂晶体倍频获得绿光功率186 W,光-光效率达15.8%。腔外倍频绿光激光器采用主振荡和功率放大器,在重复频率400 Hz时,获得基频激光单脉冲能量1.2 J,采用Ⅱ类相位匹配KTP晶体腔外倍频,获得525 mJ的绿光输出,倍频效率为43.7%。采用偏振合成技术获得了单脉冲能量大于1 J的绿光输出。在该激光放大器实验装置上,进行了双模块热效应补偿技术和受激布里渊散射相位共轭技术实验研究,改善了激光光束质量。     

Dye-laser-pumped Nd:GdCOB Self-frequency-doubling Laser

Nd:Ca4GDO(BO3)3, abbreviated as Nd:GdCOB, is a new multifunctional material for self-frequency-doubling green lasers. By using datachroom-5000 pulsed dye-laser as pumping source, we have achieved green laser output at 530.2 nm from a Nd:GdCOB crystal (7 mol-% Nd3+) uncoated HT film for 1.06 μm and 0.53 μm. The threshold energy is lower than 1.2 mJ. When the pumping energy is 17.5 mJ, the output energy of the green laser is 1.35 mJ and the corresponding conversion efficiency is 7.7%.     

High-stability single-frequency green laser with a wedge Nd:YVO4 as a polarizing beam splitter

The effect of the large power depletion of the fundamental wave in the phase-matched polarization on the stability of the second-harmonic wave output from an intracavity frequency-doubled ring laser is discussed. It has been demonstrated that the instability resulting from the unbalanced power depletion of the fundamental waves can be eliminated by using a wedge laser rod. The function dependence of the wedge angle and the laser power is concluded. An intracavity frequency-doubled ring laser with a wedge Nd:YVO₄ laser crystal and a LBO doubler is designed and built. Comparing with similar lasers but without using the wedge laser crystal, the frequency-conversion efficiency, the power stability and the polarization purity of the second-harmonic wave output from the laser with a wedge laser rod are significantly improved. The single-frequency green laser of 6.5 W at 532 nm, with the polarization degree more than 500:1 and the power stability better than ±0.3% for 3 h, was experimentally achieved.     

脉冲氧碘化学激光器的动力学模拟研究

根据氧碘化学激光器的反应机理建立了一维预混脉冲出光理论模型,从理论上研究了碘原子密度、单重态氧密度及产率、其他组分密度和光学参量(输出耦合率、增益长度等)对单脉冲能量及脉宽的影响.分析了影响单脉冲能量和激光脉宽的内部动力学过程.讨论了出光过程中增益开关效应.计算的结果为优化脉冲氧碘化学激光器提供了理论依据.     

Widely tunable optical parametric oscillator driven by a pulsed diode-pumped nonlinear-mirror mode-locked Nd:YAG laser

We report on the development of a pulsed diode end-pumped Nd:YAG laser mode-locked by a nonlinear mirror and stabilized by an acousto-optical modulator. With the introduction of appropriate intracavity loss, the laser is able to generate 22.8 ps pulses with the energy of 4.5 μJ. After amplification and frequency doubling stages, the second harmonic radiation is used to non-collinearly synchronously pump a β-barium borate optical parametric oscillator in a walk-off compensated scheme. The system demonstrates a wide-tuning range from 635 nm to 2.55 μm for the signal output, with maximum average conversion efficiency as high as 42%.     

High power and high beam quality CW green beam generated by diode-side-pumped intracavity frequency doubled Nd:YAG laser

We report a stable high power and high beam quality diode-side-pumped CW green laser from intracavity frequency doubled Nd:YAG laser with LBO crystal. By using a advanced resonator, a large fundamental mode size in the laser crystal and a tight focus in the nonlinear crystal could be obtained simultaneously, which are favorable for high power and high beam quality CW green laser generation. The green laser delivered a maximum 532 nm output power of 40 W. The corresponding optical-to-optical conversion efficiency and electrical-to-optical conversion efficiency were 8.6% and 5.0%, respectively. Under 532 nm output power of 34 W, the beam quality factor was measured to be 1.6.