Degenerate parametric frequency conversion of phase-modulated femtosecond laser pulses in crystals with a regular and chirped domain structure

A systematic theoretical analysis of the degenerate parametric frequency conversion in a LiNbO₃ crystal with a regular domain structure and a linearly varying domain thickness (chirped crystal) is presented for the pulses of a titanium-sapphire laser with a wavelength of 0.8 μm and durations of 100 and 50 fs in the presence and in the absence of phase modulation. The results are obtained with regard to the difference in the group velocities of interacting pulses and the group velocity dispersion. For an effective frequency conversion of the phase-modulated (PM) pump pulse, it is expedient to employ chirped crystals in which the domain thickness decreases from the entrance to the exit of the crystal. The pump energy is effectively converted into subharmonic energy when the pump carrier frequency decreases with time. It is demonstrated that the efficiency of the energy conversion to a subharmonic of 80% can be realized for PM pumping with a pulse duration of 100 fs in the chirped LiNbO₃ crystal. The efficiency of the parametric frequency conversion depends on the pump intensity as well as on the phase modulation of the pulse and the chirp of the crystal. Note that a variation in one of these parameters causes variations in the remaining parameters needed for the maximum efficiency of the parametric frequency conversion.     

飞秒脉冲的二次谐波理论和实验研究

本文分析了小信号情况下飞秒脉冲的倍频特性,在非耗尽近似下,得出了飞秒脉冲二次谐波波形及效率的解析解,在时间域内,对一般条件的耦合波方程进行了数值解,分析了相位失配对飞秒脉冲倍频波形及效率的影响。 用0.5mm厚的一类匹配LBO晶体对碰撞锁模激光器产生的80fs超短脉冲进行了腔外倍频实验,实验结果与理论计算符合得很好。     

Two-color pulse compression in aperiodically-poled lithium niobate

We experimentally demonstrate engineerable compression of two-colored pulses in a linearly-chirped quasi-phase-matching grating. Quadratic solitons generated from fundamental input are reshaped through cascaded parametric processes of second-harmonic generation (SHG) and the back-conversion. We use type-I (e: o + o) SHG geometry in a 50-mm-long aperiodically-poled MgO:LiNbO₃ device to satisfy the group-velocity matching condition. Simultaneously compressed fundamental and SH pulses of about 55-fs duration with small pedestal are generated from the fundamental input pulses of 95-fs duration.     

Wavelength conversion in a Ti:PPSMgLN channel waveguide

A periodically poled titanium (Ti)-diffusion waveguide in near-stoichiometric MgO:LiNbO₃ (SMgLN) was fabricated that exhibits a second harmonic generation (SHG) efficiency of 63%. The device shows very high resistance to photorefractive damage at room temperature. All optical wavelength conversion by difference frequency generation (DFG) has been demonstrated in a periodically poled SMgLN (PPSMgLN) with Ti-diffusion channel waveguides. The wavelength conversion efficiency was measured to be −7.3 dB with the pump power of 150 mW and the signal power of 50 mW at room temperature.     

Theoretical analysis of the TE mode Cerenkov type second harmonic generation in ion-implanted X-cut lithium niobate channel waveguides

Optical second harmonic generation (SHG) in the form of Cerenkov radiation from ion-implanted lithium niobate (LiNbO₃) channel waveguides is analyzed by directly resolving the wave equations. Useful formula of the SHG efficiency is derived and expressed in terms of waveguide parameters. Numerical examples are plotted for LiNbO₃ crystals. The results enable the optimization of waveguide design for efficient second harmonic generation in the Cerenkov configuration.     

Generation of tunable picosecond pulses in the ultraviolet region down to 197 nm

Tunable picosecond pulses in the ultraviolet region down to 197 nm with ? 20 kW peak power are generated by the sum frequency mixing of fourth or third harmonic pulses of a mode-locked YAG laser with tunable pulses produced by a LiNbO₃ parametric oscillator pumped by second harmonic pulses of the YAG laser by using a KB5 or KDP crystal.     

Study of narrow-band second harmonic generation from a broad-band fundamental pulse

This paper studies the type-I phase-matched second harmonic generation using 25-fs input laser pulses in a thick BBO crystal.The harmonic signal exhibits a narrow spectrum bandwidth,even though the input pulse has a broad bandwidth.The energy transfer efficiency and modulation of the fundamental spectrum are investigated.     

Half-cycle pulses in the mid-infrared from a two-color laser-induced filament

Four-wave mixing (FWM) of femtosecond near-infrared laser pulses and its second harmonic in the filamentation regime is shown to give rise to ultrashort field waveforms in the mid-infrared with pulse widths as short as a half of the field cycle and produce ultrabroadband supercontinuum spectra stretching from the mid-IR to the terahertz region. Generation of 7-fs pulses centered at 4.35 μm is demonstrated by a two-color filamentation experiment, where the 25-fs, 800-nm fundamental-wavelength output of a Ti: Sapphire laser is mixed with its second harmonic. The spectral and temporal properties of the mid-IR waveforms, as well as their emission pattern, are consistent with the FWM scenario of frequency conversion generalized to include the Kerr effect and ionization-induced refractive-index modulation.     

The effect of MgO doping on optical properties of LiNbO3 single crystals

Undoped and MgO doped Lithium niobate single crystals were grown by the Czochralski technique. Comparative study of the optical properties of undoped and 7 mol% MgO doped LiNbO₃ crystal was undertaken. The effect of doping on refractive indices as well as second harmonic generation has been experimentally analyzed. The results of the polarization characteristics of second harmonic generation (SHG) support the major contribution of Li-O bonds to optical nonlinearity. MgO doping reduces the number of localized excitons and the grown LiNbO₃ crystal approaches the stoichiometric composition. This causes blue shift in the absorption edge of the crystals.     

准晶非线性光子晶体中二次谐波波长和温度调谐的研究

在八重准周期极化的铌酸锂非线性光子晶体中,通过调节基频光波长实现了多个波长的同时共线准相位匹配倍频,最高转换效率达36%.同时,测量了准晶非线性光子晶体中二次谐波转换效率随晶体温度以及入射波长的变化,结果表明二次谐波在长波处具有更宽的温度以及波长调谐带宽.该项研究对于准周期非线性光子晶体在实际工作中的运用具有重要的指导意义. 关键词： 准周期 非线性光子晶体 温度调谐 波长调谐     

Ferroelectric domain inversion in near-stoichiometric lithium niobate for high efficiency blue light generation

LiNbO₃ single crystals with a composition close to stoichiometry ([Li]/[Li+Nb]=0.496), 16 mm in diameter and 40 mm in length were grown by the Czochralski method using K₂O flux. The domain reversal characteristics of near-stoichiometric LiNbO₃ single crystals were investigated. The switching field required for 180° ferroelectric domain reversal in the near-stoichiometric crystal at room temperature was 7.5 KV/mm. This is about one third of the switching field required for conventional LiNbO₃ crystals. Domain reversal (180°) in near-stoichiometric LiNbO₃ samples of 1.0 mm thickness has been achieved. Samples have been evaluated by second harmonic generation and conversion efficiencies of up to 32% have been obtained. Received: 8 November 2000 / Accepted: 29 January 2001 / Published online: 20 June 2001     

400 mW and 16.5% wavelength conversion efficiency at 488 nm using a diode laser and a PPLN crystal in single pass configuration

Continuous wave power of more than 400 mW at 488 nm has been generated by frequency doubling of 2.45 W at 976 nm obtained from a distributed Bragg reflector tapered diode laser. This results in a wavelength conversion efficiency of 16.5% and an electrical-to-optical efficiency of more than 4.5%. We used a 50 mm long periodically poled MgO:LiNbO₃ bulk crystal in single-pass configuration for the second harmonic generation. This is to the author’s knowledge the highest output power and the highest wavelength conversion efficiency at 488 nm generated by a monolithic semiconductor laser device in single pass configuration with a bulk crystal. A deviation from the quadratic dependency of the frequency doubling is explained by the decrease of the beam quality of the fundamental wave.     

Second-harmonic generation in a microradius LiNbO(3) cylinder with a quasi-elliptical cross section

LiNbO(3) single-crystal fibers with diameters of 63 and 230 mum were grown, and the second-harmonic-generation (SHG) process was studied with femtosecond laser pulses perpendicularly focused to the fiber. SHG occurred without collinear phase matching, leading to wavelength-independent overall conversion efficiency, unlike in a bulk crystal. The scattering pattern of the second harmonic exhibited an intense forward peak and an almost-uniform, less-intense distribution around the fiber, owing to trapping in high-Q whispering modes. Implementation of a second-order autocorrelator with the 63-mum fiber demonstrates its application potential.     

Optical behaviour of VTE treated near stoichiometric LiNbO3 crystals

Near stoichiometric LiNbO₃ crystal wafers of thickness up to 2 mm were prepared by vapour transport equilibration technique (VTE) at various process temperatures. Crystals were characterised by measurement of the UV absorption edge, refractive index, second harmonic generation (SHG) efficiency, and conoscopy pattern analysis. The comparison of VTE treated crystals show that the blue shift in cut off wavelength occurred with the increasing process temperature (i.e. increasing Li/Nb ratio). The refractive indices were found decreasing with increasing process temperature of VTE samples. The SHG efficiency increases in the range of 1.98-2.3 times for the VTE processed samples with respected to congruent crystals. Conoscopy pattern reveals the optical homogeneity of the VTE treated crystal.     

Diode-pumped Nd:LGS/LBO laser at 452 nm

We report a blue laser at 452 nm generation by intracavity frequency doubling of a continuous wave (cw) laser operation of a 904 nm Nd:LGS laser under 808 nm diode pumping. A LiB₃O₅ (LBO) crystal, cut for critical type I phase matching at room temperature is used for second harmonic generation (SHG) of the laser. At an incident pump power of 17.8 W, as high as 1.14 W of cw output power at 452 nm is achieved. The optical-to-optical conversion efficiency is up to 6.4%, and the fluctuation of the blue output power was better than 4.1% in the given 30 min.     

高功率高重复频率多波长飞秒激光系统的研究

以大模场面积光子晶体光纤飞秒激光系统为基频光源,利用非线性频率上转换的方法,获得了高功率高重复频率多波长的飞秒激光脉冲.理论分析并实验验证了聚焦透镜的焦距对倍频光横向模场分布的影响,透镜焦距越长,模场质量越好.在基频光平均功率为218 W,脉冲宽度为110 fs,重复频率为50 MHz的条件下,经过二倍频、三倍频和四倍频获得波长分别为520,347和261 nm的飞秒激光,其平均功率分别达105,47和214 W.二倍频和三倍频的转换效率分别为482%和216%,二倍频到四倍频的转换效率为20 关键词： 超快光学 紫外飞秒激光 频率上转换 光子晶体光纤激光器     

High-power intracavity frequency doubling of a Ti:sapphire femtosecond oscillator

We demonstrate intracavity frequency doubling of a standard femtosecond Ti:sapphire oscillator. The cavity is extended with a pair of focusing mirrors and a 0.5-mm-thick BBO crystal. We achieve a repetition rate of 50 MHz and simultaneously generate 22 mW of 55-fs pulses at 810 nm and 200 mW of 73-fs pulses at 405 nm, which corresponds to 4 nJ per pulse. We create a total of 330-mW, 405-nm light when pumping the Ti:sapphire crystal with 5.7 W from an Ar-ion laser, corresponding to a conversion efficiency of 5.7%. No saturation is found, which implies that higher outputs can be achieved with higher pump rates. Preliminary results from the use of blue pulses as pump in an optical parametric amplifier seeded by pulses from a photonic crystal fiber are presented. Received: 27 January 2003 / Revised version: 27 March 2003 / Published online: 12 May 2003 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +45-861/96199, E-mail: tva@chem.au.dk     

基于空间啁啾的宽带激光倍频技术

提出一种新型的宽带倍频方案,利用时空耦合效应将宽带的时间啁啾光转换成空间啁啾光,采用多块晶体并联、各晶体独立调谐的技术途径对空间啁啾光进行谐波转换,因此倍频效率与窄带激光倍频相当。理论研究表明,采用KDP晶体I类位相匹配,对中心波长为1 053 nm的宽带基频光实现了带宽约30 nm、转换效率大于60%的高效率宽带二倍频。而且倍频光仍为线性啁啾宽带光,具备可压缩性。     

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%.     

产生蓝色相干辐射和实现Nd:YAG 1.0642μm倍频90°非临界相位匹配的Nb:KTiPO4

本文报道了用熔盐顶部籽晶法生长Nb浓度(0～13)mol%的Nb:KTP晶体的倍频的Ⅱ型相位匹配的截止波长和Nd:YAG1.0642μm及Nd:YA1O₃1.0795μm激光在这些晶体中倍频的最佳相位匹配角的测量结果.从中可看出,由于Nb⁵⁺的引入使KTP晶体倍频的Ⅱ相位匹配的截止波长有效蓝移,目前已使截止波长蓝移至937nm且有效产生468.5nm的倍频蓝光.同时Nb⁵⁺的引入使Nd:YAG1.0642μm激光和Nd:YA1O₃倍频的最佳相位匹配方向产生很大的变化,目前已使Nb:KTP晶体倍频的最佳相位匹配方向为θ=88.32°、Φ=0°,非常接近于90°非临界相位匹配方向.