Non-collinear nanosecond optical parametric oscillator based on periodically poled LN with tilted domain walls

We report on a non-collinear, 1064 nm pumped, 10 kHz repetition rate ns-OPO which consists of a 13 mm long periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) crystal in a hemispherical optical cavity. The non-collinear phase-matching is achieved by tilting the domains by 60° with respect to the pump beam. This phase-matching avoids back conversion of signal and idler radiation into pump radiation and thus improves the spatial quality of the generated OPO radiation considerably. At a pump power of 5.5 W the OPO provided a conversion efficiency of up to 34%. The generated OPO pulses with a total power of up to 1.85 W were emitted in an almost diffraction limited beam with a M²-value of 1.1. The beam quality did not change when the pump power was varied in the range of 2–5 W. PACS 42.65.-k; 42.65.Yj     

Fast oscillations in an optical parametric oscillator

We report on the observation of fast oscillations at frequencies of a few MHz in a triply resonant optical parametric oscillator. These oscillations can appear alone, or superimposed on slow oscillations due to thermo-optical instabilities, and display a great variety of waveforms. The analysis of the regimes observed experimentally leads us to conjecture that the mechanism responsible for this instability is not the Hopf bifurcation of the single-mode mean-field model, but that it is based on the interaction of two signal fields oscillating in cavity modes with neighboring frequencies. This interpretation is supported by numerical simulations of the mean-field model with two coupled modes, which reproduce well the behaviors observed experimentally. We also find chaotic solutions of this model, which unveils another possible scenario leading to deterministic chaos in this system.     

Continuous-wave mid-infrared intracavity singly resonant optical parametric oscillator based on periodically poled lithium niobate

This paper reports a continuous-wave (CW) mid-infrared intracavity singly resonant optical parametric oscillator based on periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) pumped by a diode-end-pumped CW Nd:YVO$_{4}$ laser. Considering the thermal lens effects, it adopted an optical ballast lens and the near-concentric cavity for better operation. At the PPLN's grating period of 28.5\,$\mu$m and the temperature of 140\du, the maximum idler output power of 155\,mW at 3.86\,$\mu$m has been achieved when the 808\,nm pump power is 8.5\,W, leading to an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 1.82{\%}.     

Continuous-wave mid-infrared intracavity singly resonant optical parametric oscillator based on periodically poled lithium niobate

This paper reports a continuous-wave （CW） mid-infrared intracavity singly resonant optical parametric oscillator based on periodically poled lithium niobate （PPLN） pumped by a diode-end-pumped CW Nd：YVO4 laser. Considering the thermal lens effects, it adopted an optical ballast lens and the near-concentric cavity for better operation. At the PPLN＇s grating period of 28.5 μm and the temperature of 140℃, the maximum idler output power of 155 mW at 3.86 μm has been achieved when the 808 nm pump power is 8.5 W, leading to an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 1.82%.     

Mid-infrared generation based on a periodically poled LiNbO3 optical parametric oscillator

We report a nanosecond Nd:YVO_4-pumped optical parametric oscillator (OPO) based on periodically poled LiNbO_3 (PPLN). Tuning is achieved in this experiment by varying the temperature and period of the PPLN. The design of double-pass singly resonant oscillator (DSRO) and confocal cavity enables the OPO threshold to be lowered considerably, resulting in a simple, compact, all-solid-state configuration with the mid-infrared idler powers of up to 466mW at 3.41μm.     

Widely tunable, high-repetition-rate, dual signal-wave optical parametric oscillator by using two periodically poled crystals

This paper reports on a high-repetition-rate dual signal-wave (DSW) optical parametric oscillator (OPO) operating at the 1.5 μm band with tunable wavelength intervals from 2.5 nm to 69.1 nm. Two periodically poled crystals, a periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) with multiple gratings and a single grating MgO-doped PPLN (PPMgOLN), are cascaded in the same OPO cavity to generate dual signal-waves by using quasi-phase-matched (QPM) technique. The pump source was a Q-switched diode-pumped Nd:YVO₄ laser operating at 50 kHz. At an incident pump power of 3 W, an average output power of 169.6 mW at 1489.2 nm and 1558.3 nm has been achieved.     

周期性极化铌酸锂晶体光参量振荡调谐与容差特性分析

研究了周期性极化铌酸锂晶体光参量振荡的工作机理,并讨论了其波长调谐特性与极化反转光栅周期、抽运光波长与晶体温度的关系.在此基础上,通过对相位失配因子求微分的方案,分析了光参量振荡的增益与光栅周期、抽运光波长与晶体温度的关系,以及光栅周期、抽运光波长与晶体温度容差的关系 关键词： 准相位匹配 周期性极化铌酸锂 光参量振荡     

High-power picosecond optical parametric oscillator based on periodically poled lithium niobate

A high-power picosecond optical parametric oscillator (OPO) based on a 47-mm periodically poled lithium niobate crystal is described. More than 12 W of total average power-almost 8 W of signal power at 1.85 microm and more than 4 W of idler radiation at 2.5 microm -is simultaneously extracted from less than 18 W of average pump power. The OPO is synchronously pumped by 80-ps (FWHM) cw mode-locked pulses at 1.064 microm , and its output is tunable from 1.7 to 2.84microm . Nearly transform-limited signal pulses are obtained following the introduction of two intracavity etalons.     

Angle-tuned signal-resonated optical parametric oscillator based on periodically poled lithium niobate

We demonstrate an angle-tuned signal-resonated optical parametric oscillator (OPO) with periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) pumped by a diode-pumped Nd:YVO4 laser. 1499.8 - 1506.6 nm of signal wavelength is achieved at 140℃ by rotating a 29-μm period PPLN from 0° - 10.22° in the x-y plane while keeping the pump wave vertical to the resonator mirrors. Two pairs of the signal and idler waves of the same wavelengths can be achieved symmetrically for each pair of angles of rotation with same absolute value and opposite sign. Theoretical analyses on angle-tuned PPLN-OPO with pump wave vertical to the resonator mirrors are presented and in good agreement with our experimental results. It is also found that all interacting waves in the cavity (not inside the crystal) are always collineax for PPLN-OPO with the pump wave vertical to the resonator mirrors while phase-matching is noncollinear within the crystal.     

High efficiency continuous-wave tunable signal output of an intracavity singly resonant optical parametric oscillator based on periodically poled lithium niobate

In this paper we report on a continuous-wave (CW) intracavity singly resonant optical parametric oscillator (ICSRO) based on periodically poled LiNbO₃ (PPLN) pumped by a diode-end-pumped CW Nd:YVO₄ laser. Considering the thermal lens effects and diffraction loss, an optical ballast lens and a near-concentric cavity are adopted for better operation. Through varying the grating period and the temperature, the tunable signal output from 1406~nm to 1513~nm is obtained. At a PPLN grating period of 29~μ m and a temperature of 413~K, a maximum signal output power of 820~mW at 1500~nm is achieved when the 808~nm pump power is 10.9~W, leading to an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 7.51%.     

Period and temperature tuning of cascaded opticalparametric oscillator based on periodically poled LiNbO3

We report the broadly tunable source by a cascaded optical parametric oscillator in the periodically poled LiNbO_3 (PPLN) with domain grating period and temperature tuning. The optical parametric oscillator was pumped by a passive Q-switched Nd:YVO_4 laser. Multi-wavelength outputs from visible to infrared were obtained. The temperature of the PPLN crystal changed within the range of 70－150℃ with different periods of PPLN. The tunable range covered from 433 to 1657nm.     

Femtosecond optical parametric oscillator based on periodically poled KTiOPO(4)

We report a femtosecond optical parametric oscillator based on a periodically poled KTiOPO(4) crystal for which quasi-phase matching is achieved with a 24-microm poling period. The singly resonant parametric oscillator, synchronously pumped by a Ti:sapphire laser at a wavelength of 758 nm, generates a signal at 1200 nm and an idler at 2060 nm. The maximum signal power conversion efficiency of the device is 22% with a pump depletion of 69%. We tune the signal wavelength over a 200-nm band by changing the cavity length. In addition, pump wavelength tuning provides output tunability in the 1000-1235-nm range.     

Frequency-agile kilohertz repetition-rate optical parametric oscillator based on periodically poled lithium niobate

We report kilohertz repetition-rate pulse-to-pulse wavelength tuning from 3.22 to 3.7 mum in a periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) optical parametric oscillator (OPO). Rapid tuning over 400 cm(-1) with random wavelength accessibility is achieved by rotation of the pump beam angle by no more than 24 mrad in the PPLN crystal by use of an acousto-optic beam deflector. Over the entire tuning range, a near-transform-limited OPO bandwidth can be obtained by means of injection seeding with a single-frequency 1.5-mum laser diode. The frequency agility, high repetition rate, and narrow bandwidth of this mid-IR PPLN OPO make it well suited as a lidar transmitter source.     

Continuous-wave optical parametric oscillator based on periodically poled KTiOPO(4)

We report what is to our knowledge the first demonstration of a continuous-wave optical parametric oscillator (OPO) based on periodically poled KTiOPO(4) . The 10-mm-long flux-grown crystal had a quasi-phase-matched period of 9mum . The pump source was a miniature frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser, and the threshold power of this doubly resonant device was 51 mW. The OPO was operated near room temperature. The signal and the idler wavelengths could be tuned in the range 1037-1093 nm by variation of the crystal temperature (32-38 degrees C) and the cavity length. Unlike in other nonlinear crystals, green-induced infrared absorption was not observed up to the highest pumping intensity of approximately 4.5kW/cm(2) .     

Low-threshold operation of a 355-nm pumped nanosecond β-BaB2O4 optical parametric oscillator

We report the low-threshold operation of a nanosecond β-BaB₂O₄ optical parametric oscillator (OPO) pumped by the third harmonic of a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser. Using cylindrical focusing of the pump beam, a threshold pulse energy of 0.5 mJ is obtained at the signal wavelength of 560 nm, which is about sixteen times lower than that of a spherical focusing configuration. The importance of diffraction loss in the design of tightly focused OPOs is discussed in terms of a simple extension of the conventional OPO model.     

High repetition rate mid-infrared generation with singly resonant optical parametric oscillator using multi-grating periodically poled MgO:LiNbO3

A high repetition rate mid-infrared singly resonant optical parametric oscillator (OPO) using MgO-doped multi-grating periodically poled LiNbO₃ (MgO:PPLN) is demonstrated. A 1064 nm Q-switched Nd:YVO₄ laser at 10 kHz repetition rate and pulse width of 17.8 ns was used to pump the OPO. The period of the quasi-phase matched (QPM) grating in the multi-grating MgO:PPLN chip varied from 25.5 to 31.5 μm in steps of 0.5 μm. This corresponds to the generation of a signal beam from 1.37 to 1.64 μm and an idler beam from 3.0 to 4.8 μm, respectively. A maximum signal power of 250 mW and idler power of 140 mW has been obtained with an input pump beam of power 1.92 W, for a grating period of 30.5 μm. A maximum optic-optic conversion efficiency of 20% and 7.4% in the idler has been observed. It has been observed that the output power increases as the period of the grating increases.     

1-W, high-repetition-rate room temperature operation of mid-infrared optical parametric oscillator based on periodically poled MgO-doped LiNbO

In this paper a high-repetition-rate mid-infrared （mid-IR） optical parametric oscillator based on periodically poled MgO-doped LiNbO3 （PPMgLN） at room temperature was demonstrated. The maximum average mid-IR output power at 3.63μm was 1.02 W with the repetition rate of 60kHz and corresponding efficiency from the pump to the idler was 26.7%. The temperature tuning and the period tuning characteristics were also discussed.     

磷锗锌光学参量振荡器技术研究

 报道了一台高重复频率2 mm光学参量振荡器泵浦的磷锗锌光学参量振荡器。磷锗锌晶体(ZnGeP₂,简称ZGP)采用Ⅰ类相位匹配方式,切割角度q为55°,f为0°,尺寸5.5 mm×6 mm×18 mm,在4.0 kHz重复频率下,当注入5.2 W的2 mm圆偏振光时,获得310 mW中红外输出,p偏振态2 mm到3～5 mm光-光转换效率12%。通过调节晶体的角度,实验获得ZGP光学参量振荡器的波长调谐曲线,在误差范围内与理论变化规律相符。     

Green-pumped high-power optical parametric oscillator based on periodically poled MgO-doped stoichiometric LiTaO3

A high-power 532 nm-pumped multikilohertz nanosecond optical parametric oscillator using a periodically poled 1.0 mol.% MgO-doped stoichiometric lithium tantalate crystal that could be operated from room temperature to 200 degrees C without damage is reported. A broad continuous tuning range from 855 to 1410 nm was achieved within a single domain period. Efficient operation of high peak power and watt level average power with a power conversion of 62.5% was measured. These results show that a high-resolution high average power visible tunable source can be realized.     

Nanosecond optical parametric oscillator based on large-aperture periodically poled RbTiOAsO(4)

We report on optical parametric oscillators (OPO's) based on periodically poled RbTiOAsO(4) (PP RTA), which are pumped by Q -switched solid-state lasers. With a diode-pumped Nd:YVO(4) laser (pulse energy, 800microJ ; pulse duration, 5.5 ns; repetition rate, 1 kHz) the PP RTA OPO generated 1.58-microm signal and 3.26-microm idler radiation with a signal pulse energy of 45microJ . The large aperture of 3 mmx3 mm of the PP RTA crystal also permitted OPO operation with pump pulse energies as high as 65 mJ, provided by a flash-lamp-pumped Q -switched Nd:YAG laser (pulse duration, 20 ns; repetition rate, 10 Hz). With this pump source the OPO generated signal pulse energies as high as 17 mJ, corresponding to an efficiency of 26%. The performance of this OPO shows that large-aperture PP RTA crystals are well suited for pulsed nanosecond OPO operation with pump pulse energies of tens of millijoules.