Simultaneous single-frequency oscillations on different transitions in a laser-diode-pumped LiNdP(4)O(12) laser

Simultaneous single-mode oscillations on different transitions were observed in a laser-diode-pumped microchip LiNdP(4)O(12) laser. The unusual modal-output characteristics of the laser were reproduced by multitransition-oscillation laser model equations that include cross saturation of population inversions with a strong spatial exponential decay and transition-dependent resonant reabsorption loss.     

Highly sensitive self-mixing measurement of Brillouin scattering with a laser-diode-pumped microchip LiNdP(4)O(12) laser

Brillouin scattering has been measured with a high degree of sensitivity by a system built around a laser-diode-pumped microchip LiNdP(4)O(12) laser. An efficient self-mixing modulation effect that is due to the interference between a lasing field and a weak field fed back from an acousto-optic modulator by means of a phase-conjugate reflection was used. Laser-Doppler velocimetry that can discriminate the direction of motion has been demonstrated.     

Intra-cavity second-harmonic and sum-frequency generation in a diode-pumped broadband Yb-doped fibre laser

Intra-cavity nonlinear frequency mixing in a diode-pumped, broadband Yb-doped fibre laser has been investigated. Second-harmonic generation of the fibre output, second-harmonic generation of the residual pump beam and sum frequency mixing between the two was achieved simultaneously, resulting in three colour operation in the blue-green region. Including the nonlinear crystal inside the cavity is also shown to be effective in reducing fluctuations in the output power.     

准相位匹配非线性切连科夫倍频与和频效应

研究了两维光学超晶格光波导中的准相位匹配切连科夫（Cerenkov）倍频与和频效应, 利用光学超晶格的不同倒格矢实现了多组准相位匹配切连科夫倍频与和频的同时输出, 从理论和实验两个方面探讨了光学微结构材料中非线性切连科夫辐射产生的机制、效应和可能的应用.     

准相位匹配非线性切连科夫倍频与和频效应

研究了两维光学超晶格光波导中的准相位匹配切连科夫(Cerenkov)倍频与和频效应,利用光学超晶格的不同倒格矢实现了多组准相位匹配切连科夫倍频与和频的同时输出,从理论和实验两个方面探讨了光学微结构材料中非线性切连科夫辐射产生的机制、效应和可能的应用.     

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.     

LBO腔内和频593 nm激光器

报道了LD纵向泵浦NdYVO4晶体,经腔内和频得到593 nm激光输出的实验研究.采用一个线性平凹腔实现了1 064 nm和1 342 nm双波长连续波振荡,利用LBO腔内和频产生593 nm激光输出.在泵浦功率为1.4 W时得到593 nm的输出功率为70 mW.593 nm光束远场发散角小于1 mrad,光斑椭圆度为0.999,且具有低噪声输出特性.实验结果表明,该结构激光器是获得衍射极限全固体黄激光器的实用方法.     

Cascaded second-harmonic and sum-frequency generation of a CO2 laser by use of a single quasi-phase-matched GaAs crystal

Cascaded second-harmonic and sum-frequency generation were used to obtain the third harmonic of a CO(2) laser in a single quasi-phase-matched GaAs crystal. Both continuous-wave and pulsed regimes with a single-pass configuration were studied. The continuous case confirmed the good capability of the GaAs stack to bear high average power density. In the pulsed regime a 0.66% peak power conversion efficiency was achieved for the third harmonic when the laser was pumping at 8.2 MW/cm(2) , in fair agreement with theoretical predictions.     

Intracavity second-harmonic generation of 1.06 μm in GdCa4O(BO3)3 crystals

The characteristics of intracavity second-harmonic generation (SHG) at 1.06 μm in GdCa₄O(BO₃)₃ (GdCOB) crystals cut for different type I phase-matching (PM) directions of (θ,φ)=(66.8°, 132.3°); (19.4°, 0°); (90°, 46°) have been investigated. It was found that the intracavity SHG was significantly efficient in the PM direction of (66.8°, 132.3°), and that the intrinsic lower effective nonlinear coefficient (d_eff) was responsible for the less-efficient SHG in the other two directions. A maximum CW SHG output power of 2.81 W was obtained with an optical conversion efficiency of 18.7%, while the corresponding effective intracavity SHG efficiency was determined to be 41.3%. The intracavity SHG efficiency of GdCOB has been found to reach two-thirds of that obtained with type II phase-matching KTiOPO₄ (KTP). Received: 26 April 2000 / Revised version: 3 July 2000 / Published online: 5 October 2000     

Quantum-chemistry simulations of second-harmonic and sum-frequency generation of organic layers

By using quantum-chemistry approaches, the second-order nonlinear optical responses of molecules and two-dimensional molecular arrays containing the p-nitroaniline chromophore are evaluated in order to highlight key features of the simulation of the second-harmonic and sum-frequency generation spectra of organic layers. For the electronic component, which dominates the second-harmonic generation response and which constitutes the weakly frequency-dependent background contribution to the vibrational sum-frequency generation phenomenon, the time-dependent Hartree–Fock scheme based on the semi-empirical AM1 parameterization is suitable for predicting the microscopic responses as well as for accounting for the surrounding effects within a simple multiplicative scheme. For the vibrational resonant part of the sum-frequency generation response, ab initio density functional theory approaches turn out to be necessary for locating the resonances and estimating their intensities. Received: 16 October 2001 / Published online: 29 May 2002     

Intracavity sum-frequency generation of CW blue light in Nd:LuVO<Subscript>4</Subscript> laser

We report for the first time a continuous-wave (CW) blue laser emission by sum-frequency mixing in Nd:LuVO₄ crystal. Using type-I critical phase-matching (CPM) LBO crystal, a blue laser at 493 nm is obtained by 1066 and 916 nm intracavity sum-frequency mixing. The maximum laser output power of 520 mW is obtained when an incident pump laser of 18.2 W is used. At the output power level of 520 mW, the output stability is better than 2.8%. The beam quality M ² value is are about 1.22 and 1.31 in both horizontal and vertical dimensions respectively.     

Studies of interfacial regions by sum-frequency generation with a free-electron laser

The use of a Free-Electron Laser (FEL) allows the study of (non)linear optical properties of materials over unsurpassed large spectral intervals. As an example, we report on the use of a FEL as the infrared source in spectroscopic infrared-visible Sum-Frequency Generation (SFG). Employing the extremely wide tunability of the Free-Electron Laser for Infrared eXperiments (FELIX) at Rijnhuizen, we have studied the frequency dependence of the nonlinear susceptibility for sumfrequency generation in gallium phosphide between 20 and 32 m in great detail. We have developed a shortpulse visible laser system that is highly synchronous with FELIX thereby creating a two-color setup that can be broadly applied. Resonantly enhanced SFG in alphaquartz has been used to study the relative timing stability of FELIX and the synchronized picosecond-laser system.Paper presented at the 129th WE-Hearaeus-Seminar on Surface studies by Nonlinear Laser Spectroscopies, Kassel, Germany, May 30 to June 1, 1994     

Organic chemistry at interfaces studied by optical second-harmonic and IR-vis sum-frequency generation

Three selected systems are presented which demonstrate the versatility of second-order nonlinear techniques for interface analysis and thin film monitoring. With second-harmonic generation processes at buried interfaces can be monitored in real time as is shown by thiol adsorption on polycrystalline gold from solution. The time dependent second-harmonic signal shows a strong wavelength dependence due to resonances. In situ monitoring of thin-film formation by second-harmonic generation can differentiate between the reaction at the interface and the subsequent film growth. The chemical vapor deposition of polyamic acid is presented as example. Hydrogen adsorption on diamond C(111) is analysed by sum-frequency generation. It is demonstrated that sum-frequency generation has the sensitivity and specificity to trace chemical reactions at surfaces and to infer on the orientation of chemical bonds.     

Three-dimensional second-harmonic generation imaging with femtosecond laser pulses

A three-dimensional reflectance scanning optical microscope based on the nonlinear optical phenomenon of second-harmonic generation is presented. A mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser producing <90-fs pulses at ~790nm was used, and the images were constructed by scanning of an object, which possessed local second-order nonlinearity, relative to a focused spot from the laser. The second-harmonic light at ~395nm generated by the specimen was separated from the fundamental beam by use of dichroic and interference filters and was detected by a photodiode. The technique was then used to characterize the distribution of second-order nonlinearity and microstructure of the nonlinear material lithium triborate.     

Efficient second-harmonic generation of a CO2 laser with a quasi-phase-matched GaAs crystal

We report on the fabrication and characterization of 5-mm-long quasi-phase-matched diffusion-bonded GaAs crystals designed for frequency doubling of a CO(2) laser. Second-harmonic generation of a pulsed laser yielded up to 24% peak power efficiency at 20 MW/cm(2) . Tunability and laser damage threshold are also investigated.     

A laser-diode-pumped acoustic-optic Q-switched Nd:YVO4 slab laser with a hybrid resonator

A 32.1 W laser-diode-stack pumped acoustic-optic Q-switched Nd:YVO₄ slab laser with hybrid resonator at 1064 nm was demonstrated with the pumping power of 112 W and repetition rate of 40 kHz, the pulse duration was 32.47 ns. The slope efficiency and optical-to-optical efficiency were 37 and 28.7%, respectively. At the repetition rate of 20 kHz and pumping power of 90 W, the average output power and pulse duration were 20.4 W and 20.43 ns, respectively. With the pumping power of 112 W, the beam quality M² factors in CW operation were measured to be 1.3 in stable direction and 1.6 in unstable direction.     

Optically encoded second-harmonic generation in germanosilicate glass by a femtosecond laser

Second-harmonic generation in germanosilicate glasses was encoded by coherent superposition of the 810-nm fundamental and the 405-nm second-harmonic light of a femtosecond laser. The difference spectra between the absorption spectra of the glasses before and after preparation were measured. An evident correlation between the induced second-order nonlinearity and the creation of a Ge electron center was observed, suggesting that a band-to-band transition by multiphoton absorption is probably responsible for the photoinduced second-harmonic generation.     

Coherence and saturation properties of second-harmonic generation with a nonlinear crystal inside the laser cavity

The basic equations for second-harmonic generation including noise are derived for the case that the nonlinear crystal is put inside the laser cavity. A realistic model of a (detuned) laser with two-level atoms in single-mode operation is taken using the nonlinear theory of laser noise which describes the laser saturation effects, the phase diffusion and the intensity fluctuations. The reaction of the second-harmonic field on the fundamental field is taken into account as well as the reaction of the fundamental field on the laser. The nonlinear crystal is described by microscopic anharmonic oscillator equations (without introducing nonlinear susceptibilities by perturbation theory). The saturation of the polarization of the nonlinear medium is taken into account exactly with the only assumption that the influence of third and higher harmonics should be small. The electromagnetic field is described semiclassically by stochastic equations. In all equations, the damping is introduced simultaneously with Markoffian fluctuating forces by coupling to heatbaths. The equations are solved exactly in the stationary state without noise (the time dependent solution including noise will be presented in a subsequent paper). The most important saturation effect is a frequency shift which depends on the laser intensity.     

Third-harmonic and sum-frequency generation in a quadratically nonlinear polymer by time-ordered ultrashort laser pulses

Third-harmonic and sum-frequency generation in quadratically nonlinear azopolymer films is experimentally studied using femtosecond chromium forsterite laser pulses. A noncollinear geometry of sum-frequency and third-harmonic generation developed and implemented in this work allows the influence of the time ordering of ultrashort laser pump pulses on nonlinear-optical phenomena to be experimentally observed. Femtosecond laser pulses induce transitions of azopolymer molecules to an electronically excited state and produce vibrational wave packets, leading to an asymmetry in the dependence of the efficiency of second-and third-order nonlinear-optical processes on the delay time between the pump pulses.