Intracavity optical parametric oscillator at 1572-nm wavelength pumped by passively Q-switched diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser

An intracavity optical parametric oscillator (IOPO) based on bulk KTP crystal was constructed with a Nd:YAG slab as an active medium pumped by a 300-W diode array and Cr:YAG as a passive Q-switch. A signal pulse of 1.9-mJ energy at 1572-nm wavelength was demonstrated. In the cavity, optimized with respect to single-pulse energy, a five-fold shortening of signal-pulse duration with respect to 1064-nm pump radiation was observed. A twice as large level of signal peak power of 650 kW, compared to the pump laser in the same cavity without the IOPO, was achieved. A conversion efficiency of 44% with respect to the 1064-nm pump beam and 3.8% with respect to diode pump energy was demonstrated. Received: 15 October 2002 / Revised version: 19 February 2003 / Published online: 16 April 2003 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +48-22/666-8950, E-mail: wzendzian@wat.edu.pl     

Intracavity optical parametric oscillator pumped by an actively Q-switched Nd:YAG laser

A non-critically phase-matched KTiOPO₄ optical parametric oscillator (OPO) intracavity pumped by a laser diode end-pumped acousto-optically Q-switchedNd:YAG laser is experimentally demonstrated. The highest average power is obtained at the pulse repetition rate (PRR) of around 15 kHz, which is different from the widely reported Nd:YVO₄ laser pumped OPO in which the highest average power is obtained at a very high PRR, e.g. 80 kHz. With an incident laser diode power of 6.93 W and a pulse repetition rate of 15 kHz, an average signal power of 0.72 W is obtained with a peak power of 7.7 kW and an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 10.4%. PACS 42.65.Yj; 42.60.Gd; 42.55.Xi     

Intracavity optical parametric oscillator at 1.5-7-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/Cr4 :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.     

Intracavity KTiOAsO4 optical parametric oscillator pumped by an actively Q-switched Nd:YAG laser

A KTiOAsO₄ (KTA) intracavity optical parametric oscillator (IOPO) is achieved within a diode end-pumped acousto-optically Q-switched Nd:YAG laser. With a 25-mm-long X-cut KTA crystal, efficient parametric conversions to signal (1535 nm) and idler (3467 nm) waves are realized. At an incident diode power of 14.9 W, the highest output power of 1.83 W including 1.37 W of signal and 0.46 W of idler radiations are obtained at a repetition rate of 40 kHz, corresponding to a total optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 12.3%. Rate equations model are used to simulate this system, and the theoretical results agree with the experimental ones.     

Intracavity optical parametric oscillator based on GTR-KTP pumped by diode-side-pumped acousto-optically Q-switched Nd:YAG laser

With a non-critically phase-matched high gray-trace resistance KTP (GTR-KTP) crystal, a high-power intracavity optical parametric oscillator (IOPO) emitting at the wavelength of 1.5 μm and pumped by a diode-side-pumped acousto-optically Q-switched Nd:YAG laser is experimentally demonstrated. At the frequency repetition rate of 6 kHz, the maximum average power of 6.36 W at signal wavelength 1570 nm with a pulse width of 9.94 ns is obtained from IOPO based on GTR-KTP, corresponding to a peak power of 107 kW and a single-pulse energy of 1.06 mJ, respectively. We have compared the GTR-KTP IOPO with common KTP IOPO using the same scheme. At the same cavity design, frequency repetition rate and pump condition, only 5.42 W average output power with pulse width 13.82 ns is obtained from IOPO based on common KTP. Besides the higher output power, the output stability of GTR-KTP IOPO is much better than that of common KTP OPO. The output instability of GTR-KTP IOPO is 0.83% versus 6.7% of the common KTP IOPO.     

CW mode locked Nd:YVO4 laser pumped by 20-W laser diode bar

The efficient cw mode locking (cw-ML) regime was demonstrated in Nd:YVO₄ laser by means of saturable absorber mirror (SAM). The 0.3-at.% Nd³⁺ doped 10-mm-long YVO₄ crystal end pumped by 20-W diode module with a beam shaper was applied as a gain medium located in the close vicinity to the rear flat mirror of the first arm of Z-type resonator of 316 cm total length with two curved mirrors of 100-cm curvature radii. The SAM of 2%-saturable absorptance and saturation fluence of 50 μJ/cm² was mounted at the opposite end of a resonator. The developed “dynamically stable” cavity design mitigates detrimental role of thermal aberration in gain medium, enforcing clean perfect mode locking even for the highest pump densities. The cw-ML pulses with 47.5 MHz repetition rate and pulse durations in the range of 15–20 ps were observed for a wide range of pump powers and output coupler losses. In the best case, for 32% of output coupler transmission, up to 6.2 W of average power with near 35% slope efficiency was achieved. The thresholds for Q-switched ML, cw-ML regimes were 2.67 W and 6.13 W of pump power, respectively. For the maximum pump power of 20 W we obtained 133 nJ of pulse energy with 16-ps pulse duration, resulting in a peak power higher than 8 kW. The threshold energy density at SAM giving the QML regime was estimated to be about 30 μJ/cm², threshold of cw-ML regime was 220 μJ/cm².     

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.     

MQW-LDA泵浦Nd:YLF激光器调Q的动力学过程及双机制作用

本文报道了国产多量子阱半导体激光列阵(MQW-LDA)泵浦Nd:YLF调Q脉冲脉宽.峰值功率与输出耦合率、泵浦速率、调制深度及延迟时间之间关系的实验,得到稳定的(起伏<1%)调Q脉冲输出,脉冲能量为0.8μJ,FWHM为70ns,脉冲重复率为100Hz,光-光效率2.5%;利用增益开关和Q开关双机制作用,压窄了调Q脉宽,提高了输出功率.用速率方程理论对过程计算,与实验结果较符合.     

Intracavity parametric conversion of radiation from a pulsed Nd:YVO<Subscript>4</Subscript> laser with high-power diode pumping

We have achieved intracavity parametric conversion of the radiation from a laser based on Nd:YVO₄ with high-power diode pumping. An LiF^2- crystal was used as the passive Q-switch for the Nd:YVO₄ laser. We have shown that by using an active element in the master laser with a passive region, we can form pulsed laser beams at a wavelength of 1.57 μm with peak power 3.2 kW and repetition rates up to 80 kHz, with beam quality parameter 1.4–1.8. __________ Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Spektroskopii, Vol. 73, No. 1, pp. 5–8, January–February, 2006.     

Threshold characteristic of intracavity optical parametric oscillator pumped by all-solid-state Q-switched laser

We derive the threshold pump intensity for a singly resonant intracavity optical parametric oscillator (IOPO)based on a temporal coupled field model.Particular attention is Paid to the dependence of the intracavity singly resonant OPO(SRO)threshold intensity on the signal wave output coupling.Meanwhile,a Nd:YAG laser pumped KTiOPO4(KTP)IOPO for eye-safe laser output is studied experimentally.The experiment is performed with four signal wave output reflectivities of 60%,70%,80%,and 90%,respectively.The measured values are in good agreement with the theoretical results.With an output coupler reflectivity of 80%,a peak power of 70 kW at 1572 nm has been obtained at a repetition rate of 3.5 kHz.The pulse width is 4.9 ns.Such investigation is helpful to identifying suitable operational regime of low pump intensity.     

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。     

Microsecond pulsed optical parametric oscillator pumped by a Q-switched fiber laser

We report on what is to our knowledge the first optical parametric oscillator (OPO) pumped by microsecond pulses from a wavelength-tunable solid-state laser. The singly resonant OPO (SRO) is based on a periodically poled LiNbO3 crystal and pumped with 2.1-micros-long pulses from an actively Q-switched Yb fiber laser. At an average fiber laser power of 3.6 W, the SRO generates 1.9-micros-long pulses with a repetition rate of 25 kHz and an average power of 560 mW at 3360 nm. The SRO was tuned from 1518 to 1634 nm (signal) and from 3145 to 3689 nm (idler) via the crystal temperature and poling period. By all-electronic tuning of the fiber laser wavelength over 19 nm, tuning of the mid-infrared idler wavelength over 195 nm was achieved.     

High peak power eye-safe intracavity optical parametric oscillator pumped by a diode-pumped passively Q-switched ND:GGG laser

By exploiting the diode-end-pumped Nd:GGG/Cr⁴⁺:YAG laser as the pump source, a high peak power gray-trace resistance KTP intracavity optical parametric oscillator at eye-safe wavelength was first demonstrated (to our knowledge). Under the incident diode power of 10 W, the maximum average output power of 320 mW at 1567 nm was obtained with the T = 33% output coupler. The corresponding signal pulse width and repetition rate were respectively 1.4 ns and 5.8 kHz. Due to the greatly reduced pulse repetition rate and short pulse width, the signal peak power was estimated to be as high as 39.4 kW.     

Brewster-oriented passive Q-switch intracavity optical parametric oscillator

The behaviour of passively Q-switched solid-state lasers containing intracavity optical parametric oscillators (OPOs) is described, and a model to optimize this system‘s performance is developed. Meanwhile, an Nd:YAG laserpumped KTiOPO4 (KTP) intracavity OPO for eye safe laser output is studied experimentally. A Brewster-oriented bis-(4-dimethylaminodithiobenzil)-nickel (BDN) dye film is employed in laser cavity, which plays the double role of a passive Q-switch and a Brewster plate, to Q-switch the light to increase its intensity and polarize the light so that the polarization plane of fundamental irradiation is perpendicular to the Z-axis of KTP serving as the OPO nonlinear crystal, thereby providing type Ⅱ phase matching conditions to generate 1.572μm eye-safe signal laser. Eye-safe signal radiations of 6.6mJ per pulse at 1.572μm wavelength and pulse width as narrow as 6.0ns (FWHM) were obtained. Peak power was up to 1.1MW.     

Nd:LuYAG混晶1123 nm被动调Q激光器

文章报道了一个二极管激光抽运的1123 nm被动调Q激光器. 激光晶体为混晶Nd:LuYAG, 饱和吸收体选为Cr⁴⁺:YAG晶体. 在连续运转情况下, 最高输出功率为2.77 W, 对应的光-光转换效率为29.53%. 调Q运转时, 在9.38 W吸收抽运功率下, 最高输出功率为0.94 W. 脉冲宽度整体在105 ns左右. 在最高吸收抽运功率下, 1123 nm激光的输出重复频率为9.40 kHz, 对应的单脉冲能量可达100 μJ, 高于目前报道的单晶Nd:YAG 1123 nm单脉冲能量, 证明其在能量存储方面较单晶Nd:YAG更具优势. 另外, 据我们所知, 这是关于混晶Nd:LuYAG 1123 nm输出的首次报道.     

Simultaneous intracavity optical parametric oscillation and stimulated Raman scattering pumped by a doubly passively Q-switched Nd:GGG laser

By using a doubly passively Q-switched Nd:Gd₃Ga₅O₁₂(Nd:GGG) laser with Cr⁴⁺:YAG and GaAs as saturable absorbers as pump laser, simultaneous intracavity optical parametric oscillation and stimulated Raman scattering based on a single X-cut KTiOPO₄ (KTP) crystal have been realized. Under an incident diode pump power of 10.5 W, the output powers at the signal wave near 1,569 nm and the first Stokes emission near 1,094 nm were 218 and 72 mW, corresponding to the optical-to-optical conversion efficiencies of 2.08 and 0.69 %, respectively. The measured shortest pulse duration at the signal wave near 1,569 nm was 580 ps, generating a pulse peak power of 43.7 kW, while the minimum pulse duration at the first Stokes emission near 1,094 nm was 1.61 ns. By adjusting the tilt angle of the KTP crystal, up to the third Stokes scattering was also obtained.     

Efficient sub-nanosecond intracavity optical parametric oscillator pumped with a passively Q-switched Nd:GdVO<Subscript>4</Subscript> laser

An efficient diode-pumped passively Q-switched Nd:GdVO₄/Cr⁴⁺:YAG laser was employed to generate a high-repetition-rate, high-peak-power eye-safe laser beam with an intracavity optical parametric oscillator (OPO) based on a KTP crystal. The conversion efficiency for the average power is 8.3% from pump diode input to OPO signal output and the slope efficiency is up to 10%. At an incident pump power of 14.5 W, the compact intracavity OPO cavity, operating at 46 kHz, produces average powers at 1571 nm up to 1.2 W with a pulse width as short as 700 ps. PACS 42.60.Gd; 42.65.Yj; 42.55.X     

100W二极管泵浦Nd:YAG薄片激光器

报道了一台高效率二极管泵浦Nd:YAG薄片激光器,采用高效均匀泵浦耦合技术,在峰值功率1.008kW,占空比25％, 电-光效率大于45%的二极管激光阵列泵浦下,用一块1mm厚的Nd:YAG薄片激光介质,获得了峰值功率404W,平均功率101W的准连续激光输出,光-光效率达到40%,电-光效率超过18%。     

A diode end-pumped passively Q-switched Nd:YAG/KTA Raman laser

A diode end-pumped passively Q-switched Nd:YAG/KTA intracavity Raman laser is presented. A KTA crystal with a size of 5 mm × 5 mm × 25 mm is used as the Raman active medium and its 234 cm^?1 Raman mode is employed to finish the conversion from 1064 nm fundamental laser to 1091 nm Raman laser. A 2 mm thick Cr⁴⁺:YAG crystal is used as the saturable absorber. With an LD pump power of 7.5 W, the first-Stokes power of 250 mW is obtained with a pulse repetition frequency of 14.5 kHz. The corresponding diode-to-Stokes conversion efficiency is 3.3% and the pulse energy is 17.2 μJ. Pulse width is measured to be 12.6 ns and peak power is 1.4 kW.     

High peak power Nd:YAG laser pumped by 600-W diode laser stack

The Q-switched laser with triangle slab made of Nd:YAG crystal side pumped by 600-W quasi-cw diode laser stack has been designed. The multimode (M²≈2.6) output energy of about 42 mJ was demonstrated in free running mode for110-mJ pump energy. In Q-switch experiments, the KDDP Pockels cell was placed between the slab and rear mirror in plane-plane cavity with output coupler of 84% transmission. The energy of 8 mJ in 2.1-ns pulse duration was obtained for near TEM₀₀ output beam. For passive Q-switching by means of Cr:YAG crystal of 12.6% unsaturated transmission, the energy of 5.1 mJ in 2.5-ns pulse duration was obtained for output beam close to TEM₀₀ mode.