Parametric fluorescence in A D P and K D P excited by a 2573 Å CW Pump

Temperature tunable, 90° phase matchable, parametric fluorescence has been observed in ADP and KDP crystals. The fluorescence was pumped by 2573 Å CW radiation obtained from a second harmonic argon-ion laser. Fluorescence was observed in ADP over the complete visible spectrum by temperature tuning through the range —12 to+40° C. The measurements demonstrate the usefulness of these materials for visible parametric oscillators. The values of d(n _2v ^e –n _v ^o )/dT deduced from these and other measurements are found to disagree with values in the literature.     

红宝石相位共轭激光器泵浦的KTP光学参量振荡器

光参量振荡器的阈值与泵浦光的光束质量有极大的关系,为降低光学参量振荡器起振阈值,本实验将受激布里渊散射相位共轭效应引入光学参量振荡器的泵浦源中,以改善光束质量,使光学参量振荡器振荡阈值降低到原来的２５％－７％。     

Linear and nonlinear optical properties of dye-doped KDP crystals: Effect of thermal treatment

Potassium dihydrogen phosphate crystals (KDP, KH₂PO₄) doped with the organic xylenol orange (XO) dye are grown, the XO concentration in the crystal matrix is about 10 ppm. The spectral and luminescent properties of nominally pure, dye-doped and dye-doped/annealed at 150 °C crystals (KDP, KDP:XO and KDP:XO_an) were measured. The annealing temperature effect on the degree of dye protonation in the crystal matrix is established. Analysis of the IR-absorption spectra reveals a strong interaction between the incorporated dye molecules and the hydrogen subsystem of the matrix. The nonlinear optical (NLO) properties of KDP, KDP:XO and KDP:XO_an crystals are studied within the self-action effect of picosecond laser pulses at 532 nm. The mechanism of photoinduced bleaching and the effects of laser beam self-focusing (in KDP) and self-defocusing (in KDP:XO and KDP:XO_an) are supposed to be due to resonance excitation of the subsystems of intrinsic defects and dye molecules, correspondingly. For KDP:XO_an it is shown that thermal annealing of intrinsic crystal defects leads to domination of more effective NLO response of the subsystem of dye molecules that is correlated with photoluminescence data.     

Kinetics of electron tunneling transfer in KH<Subscript>2</Subscript>PO<Subscript>4</Subscript> and NH<Subscript>4</Subscript>H<Subscript>2</Subscript>PO<Subscript>4</Subscript> crystals with hydrogen bonds

A model of electron transfer by tunneling between trapped electron and hole centers in crystals with hydrogen bonds under the conditions of thermostimulated mobility of one carrier type in the recombination process has been developed. The proposed model describes all features in the kinetics of induced optical density relaxation observed in nonlinear optical crystals of KH₂PO₄ (KDP) and NH₄H₂PO₄ (ADP) on a wide temporal scale (10⁻⁸–10 s) under pulsed irradiation. The results of model calculations have been compared with experimental data on the photoinduced transient optical absorption (TOA) in KDP and ADP crystals in the visible and UV ranges. The nature of the radiation-induced defects, which account for the TOA, and the dependence of the TOA decay kinetics on the temperature, excitation power, and other experimental conditions have been considered.     

Raman gains of ADP and KDP crystals

In this paper, the Raman gain coefficients of ammonium dihydrogen phosphate(ADP) and potassium dihydrogen phosphate(KDP) crystals are measured. By using a pump source of a 30-ps, 532-nm laser, the gain coefficients of ADP and KDP are 1.22 cm/GW, and 0.91 cm/GW, respectively. While for a 20-ps, 355-nm pump laser, the gain coefficients of these two crystals are similar, which are 1.95 cm/GW for ADP and 1.86 for KDP. The present results indicate that for ultra-violet frequency conversion, the problem of stimulated Raman scattering for ADP crystal will not be more serious than that for KDP crystal. Considering other advantages such the larger nonlinear optical coefficient, higher laser damage threshold,and lower noncritical phase-matching temperature, it can be anticipated that ADP will be a powerful competitor to KDP in large aperture, high energy third-harmonic generation or fourth-harmonic generation applications.     

Frequency tripling of convergent beam employing crystals tiling in large-aperture high-energy laser facilities

In inertial confinement fusion, ultraviolet laser damage of the fused silica lens is an important limiting factor for load capability of the laser driver. To solve this problem, a new configuration of frequency tripling is proposed in this paper. The frequency tripling crystal is placed on downstream of the focusing lens, thus sum frequency generation of fundamental frequency light and doubling frequency light occurs in the beam convergence path. The focusing lens is only irradiated by fundamental light and doubling frequency lights. Thus, its damage threshold will increase. LiB₃O₅ (LBO) crystals are employed as frequency tripling crystals for its larger acceptance angle and higher damage threshold than KDP/DKDP crystals’. With the limitation of acceptance angle and crystal growth size are taken into account, the tiling scheme of LBO crystals is proposed and designed optimally to adopt to the total convergence angle of 36.0 mrad. Theoretical results indicate that 3 LBO crystals titling with different cutting angles in θ direction can meet the phase matching condition. Compared with frequency tripling of parallel beam using one LBO crystal, 83.8% (93.1% with 5 LBO crystals tiling) of the frequency tripling conversion efficiency can be obtained employing this new configuration. The results of a principle experiment also support this scheme. By employing this new design, not only the load capacity of a laser driver will be significantly improved, but also the fused silica lens can be changed to K9 glass lens which has the mature technology and low cost.     

Superradiative rare gas halide lasers excited by electric discharge

Nd_xLa_1−xP₅O₁₄ (0.25≦x≦1) single crystals, placed within a confocal optical resonator, were pumped with ruby laser fundamental and second-harmonic nanosecond pulses. In both cases laser oscillations at 1.05 μm exceeding in duration many times the pumping pulse were obtained.     

Broadband four-wave optical parametric amplification in bulk isotropic media in the ultraviolet

We report on four-wave optical parametric amplification of the ultrashort ultraviolet light pulses in bulk fused silica and CaF₂. Exact phase-matching in these isotropic media is achieved by means of non-collinear interaction with cylindrical beam focusing. Four-wave optical parametric amplifier efficiently operates in the UV spectral range with 1-ps laser pulses, delivering amplified signal energy exceeding 50 μJ using millijoule pump pulses in the visible (527 nm). Results of scanning of the parametric gain profile suggest that broad amplification bandwidth as wide as ∼20 nm (at FWHM) under these experimental settings is achieved, which might support amplification of sub-10-fs ultraviolet pulses with central wavelength around 330 nm. It is also shown experimentally and verified theoretically that the parametric gain profile exposes a distinct inhomogeneity and its bandwidth notably broadens due to effects of self- and cross-phase modulation imposed by the intense pump beam.     

A powerful broad band tunable dye laser

Perchloric acid solutions of 4 methylumbelliferone pumped by a second harmonic of ruby provide a high efficiency (20% conversion yield of pumping source) broad band (5600-4600 Å) tunable dye laser. Some effects of chemical quenching on the efficiency of this protonic exciplex laser were investigated.     

The nonlinear refractive indices and nonlinear third-order susceptibilities of quadratic crystals

The third-order nonlinear susceptibilities and nonlinear refractive indices of KDP, BBO, and LiNbO₃ crystals at wavelengths of 1064 and 532 nm are measured using the Z-scan technique. The measurements are made for different energies of incident radiation and different focusing conditions and crystal lengths. It is found that, as the angle between the light beam and the principal optic axis of a KDP crystal increases, the nonlinearity drops, with its magnitude at a wavelength of 1064 nm being higher than at 532 nm. For a BBO crystal, the nonlinearity dispersion is normal. The mechanisms of nonlinear losses in KDP, BBO, and LiNbO₃ crystals are identified. The values of the nonlinear susceptibilities thus obtained are analyzed and compared with the results of calculations based on an empirical model and with the data of other authors.     

Diffraction grating fabrication in lithium niobate and KDP crystals with femtosecond laser pulses

We report studies of the modifications induced inside lithium niobate and KDP crystals by Yb:KGW ultrafast laser pulses, having 300-fs pulse duration and operating at 100-kHz repetition rate. By focusing the laser beam with a 0.42 numerical-aperture objective, we have recorded homogeneous volume Bragg gratings in the bulk of the niobate crystal that showed excellent diffraction efficiencies, reaching up to 87%, and remained permanent after thermal annealing for one hour at 150°C. The refractive index modification level was found to be 0.002 in lithium niobate. The results show that lithium niobate is a very promising crystal candidate for microphotonics applications. On the contrary, in the KDP crystal no smoothly modified refractive index zones were created.     

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.     

Femtosecond continuum generation in bulk laser host materials with sub-μJ pump pulses

We report a comprehensive investigation of femtosecond continuum generation in single crystals of several common laser host materials. The absolute spectral energy density, pulse-to-pulse stability, pump threshold, and beam profile are studied in dependence on the focusing conditions, crystal thickness, pump pulse energy, and pump wavelength (775–1600 nm). Continuum generation is shown at repetition rates of up to 80 MHz and for pump pulse durations of up to 350 fs. In yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG), yttrium vanadate (YVO₄), gadolinium vanadate (GdVO₄), and potassium-gadolinium tungstate (KGW) thresholds below 50 nJ, plateau-like visible and infrared spectra, and higher infrared photon flux as compared to conventional materials like sapphire are found. We discuss the particular advantages of these materials for application in parametric amplification, femtosecond spectroscopy, and carrier-envelope phase stabilization.     

Retardation calculation for achromatic and apochromatic quarter and half wave plates of gypsum based birefringent crystal

This paper presents retardation calculations for achromatic and apochromatic half and quarter wave retarders of gypsum based birefringent crystal. The calculations indicate that an achromatic wave plates can be obtained by combining gypsum crystal with KDP, ADP, MgF₂, sapphire and calcite birefringent crystals. The residual variation percentages of retardations as a function of wavelength for gypsum/KDP, gypsum/ADP, gypsum/MgF₂, gypsum/sapphire and gypsum/calcite were found to be ± 1.7%, ± 3%, ± 12.2%, ± 12.0% and ± 7.2%, respectively. To reduce the spectral variation of retardations, a third layer (apochromatic) of birefringet material is added to the aforementioned achromatic wave plates. The proposed apochromatic wave plates are gypsum/KDP/quartz, gypsum/ADP/quartz, MgF₂/ADP/gypsum, MgF₂/KDP/gypsum and gypsum/sapphire/MgF₂. The addition of a third layer has reduced spectral residual variation percentages of retardations of the aforementioned apochromatic designs to ± 0.27, ± 0.33, ± 0.3, ± 0.17 and ± 0.45, respectively.     

KDP晶体相位匹配角理论预测模型及其验证分析

在高功率固体激光器的终端光学组件内, 大口径薄型KDP (KH₂PO₄)晶体的精密装配和校准是实现惯性约束核聚变的关键技术之一. 为了达到晶体在线安装高效高精度的要求, 需要测量高功率激光三次谐波转换效率达到最高时的晶体相位匹配角分布. 本文针对Ⅰ/Ⅱ类大口径薄型KDP晶体三次谐波转换的方式, 根据晶体的非线性光学属性获得了晶体不同位置相位匹配角之间的关系; 根据激光束在晶体内的传输路径分析得到了晶体面形、相位匹配角与激光三次谐波转换效率达到最高时 晶体最佳偏转角之间的相互关系. 在此基础上, 建立了Ⅰ/Ⅱ类KDP晶体相位匹配角的理论预测模型, 并利用实验进行了验证和分析. 实验结果表明, 晶体相位匹配角的预测值与实验值之差在10.0 μrad以内, 验证了Ⅰ/Ⅱ类KDP晶体相位匹配角理论预测模型的正确性, 为获得晶体全口径相位匹配角分布提供了简单、高效的预测方法.     

Impurities detection by optical techniques in KH2PO4 crystals

In this paper we examine how optical techniques can be used for impurities (or defects) detection and identification in KH₂PO₄ (KDP) components. This is important in so far as some of these defects are responsible for a much weaker than expected Laser-Induced Damage Threshold (LIDT) in these materials, i.e. for a weaker resistance to a laser shot. KDP materials are investigated by photothermal deflection, fluorescence and photoexcitation with the aim of localizing and identifying the laser-induced damage precursors. The rapidly grown KDP crystals are shown to be heterogeneous from the absorption, fluorescence and composition point of view. Impurities concentrations are measured directly by Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometry (ICP-AES) and tentatively correlated to some optical characteristics and to the LIDT of KDP materials.     

Conical parametric scattering of a single extraordinary beam in BaTiO3 crystal

In this paper, the parametric scattering of a single extraordinary polarized beam of laser in BaTiO₃ photorefractive crystal has been investigated experimentally and theoretically. The resulting pattern consists of beam fanning, isotropic ring, and anisotropic one. Among all parts of scattering pattern, isotropic ring has not been studied as much as beam fanning and anisotropic ring, and there still are some differences in reports about it. Therefore, the study has mainly focused on this part. In this experimental configuration, isotropic ring is just visible in positive angles although the other parts of parametric scattering pattern can be visible from behind and in front of the crystal. In addition to steady state pattern in forward and backward directions, its transient behavior with the rotation of crystal has been studied. The results of experiments have been analyzed carefully, and their theoretical explanations have been presented based on the standard theory of parametric scattering in photorefractive crystals. It has been shown that this configuration corresponds to the so called parametric B-process scattering.     

Optical inhomogeneities in ruby crystals

The optical inhomogeneities in ruby laser crystals, resulting from inhomogeneity of the chromium concentration, from various glide paths, and from the presence of disoriented blocks, are investigated. It is shown that the most harmful influence on the characteristics of laser damage is exerted by the axially asymmetrical part of the refractive index distortion due to residual mechanical stresses. A correlation is obtained between the inhomogeneity of the refractive index and the laser beam divergence. A method is proposed for improving the optical inhomogeneity of the ruby laser crystals by high-temperature (diffusion) annealing.Translated from Trudy Ordena Lenina Fizicheskogo Instituta im. P. N. Lebedeva, Vol. 101, pp. 130–147, 1978.     

Influence of pumping laser bandwidth on the quantum fluctuation chracteristic of non-degenerate optical parametric amplifier

Usually the quantum fluctuation characteristic of the non-degenerate optical parametric amplifier is analysed under the assumption of monochromatic pumping. However, in experiments, the driving beam with finite bandwidth is used to obtain the non-degenerate signal and idler beam amplifications. On account of that, we derive an analytical solution for the non-degenerate optical parametric amplification system with finite bandwidth laser pumping, and evaluate the associated quantum fluctuation. Finally, the application of the V₁ criterion to the bipartite entanglement is discussed.     

A new walk-off compensated multipass scheme for large enhancement of conversion efficiency for fourth harmonic generation

A significant enhancement is treated in the energy of a fourth harmonic generated beam (266 nm) by employing the new technique of walk-off compensated multipass configuration without any change either in the beam parameters or in the intensity of the input fundamental laser radiation. As much as 56% conversion efficiency is obtained in twin lithium tetraborate crystals, even though the effective nonlinear coefficient of the crystal is as low as 1/6th that of KDP. Apart from crystals that have large walk-off angles, low effective nonlinear coefficients, or both, the simple experimental set-up would also be quite suitable for those crystals, especially infrared crystals that have large effective nonlinear coefficients but low laser damage thresholds.