An efficient intracavity-pumped KTP optical parametric oscillator at 1572 nm

We demonstrate an efficient and eye-safe wavelength intracavity optical parametric oscillator (OPO),based on a KTP crystal inside a Q-switched Nd:YVO4 laser end pumped by a fiber-coupled diode laser. Inthe acousto-optic Q-switched operation with the pulse repetition rate of 10 kHz, a 1572-nm eye-safe laser with the average power of 237 mW at the incident pump power of 5.64 W is obtained. Under the pulse repetition rate of 5 kHz, the signal light with pulse width of 2 ns and peak power of 18.5 kW is achieved.The conversion efficiency of the average power is 4.2% from pump diode to OPO signal output and thesignal pulse duration is about 13 times shorter than that of the depleted pump light.     

A High Conversion Efficiency Q-Switched Intracavity Nd:YVO_4/KTA Optical Parametric Oscillator under Direct Diode Pumping at 880nm

We report a high conversion efficiency Q-switched Nd:YVO_4/KTiOAsO_4(KTA) intracavity optical parametric oscillator(IOPO) operating near 3.5 um based on direct 880 nm laser diode(LD) pumping. A maximum average idler output power of 2.6 W with a pulse width of about 7.9 ns is achieved under an absorbed LD power of 45.4 W at a pulse repetition rate(PRR) of 10 kHz. The maximum optical-optical conversion efficiency from LD power to OPO mid-infrared(MIR) output of 6.74% is achieved. To our knowledge, this is the highest conversion efficiency for a KTA-IOPO by exploiting a Q-switched laser as the parent fundamental pump source. The beam quality factors M~2 of the MIR beam at the full output power with a PRR of 10 kHz are within 2.12 in both the horizontal and vertical directions, indicating a near Gaussian mode.     

All-solid-state cw mode-locked picosecond KTiOAsO4 (KTA) optical parametric oscillator

4 (KTA) optical parametric oscillator (OPO) synchronously pumped by a cw diode-pumped mode-locked Nd:YVO₄ oscillator–amplifier system. The laser system (pumped by 84 W of cw 808-nm diode radiation) generates 7-ps-long pulses at 1.064 μm with a repetition rate of 83.4 MHz and an average power of 29 W. The OPO, synchronously pumped by the 1.064-μm laser pulses, consists of a 15-mm-long KTA crystal (cut for type II noncritical phase-matching) in a folded signal resonant linear resonator. The average powers of the 1.54-μm signal radiation and the 3.47-μm idler radiation are 14.6 W and 6.4 W, respectively. The total OPO output of 21 W corresponds to an internal efficiency of 75%. The experimental investigations include measurements of the OPO output power (and its dependence on the pump power, the transmission of the output coupler, and the resonator length) and of the pulse properties (such as pulse duration and spectral width). The measured results are in good agreement with the predictions of a numerical analysis based on a split-step Fourier method. Received: 4 May 1998     

High-power high-repetition-rate acousto-optically Q-switched 1342 nm laser

A high-power high-repetition-rate acousto-optically Q-switched 1342 nm laser with double Nd:YVO₄ crystals pumped by fiber-coupled laser diodes is presented. The highest output power of 13.7 W was achieved with a total of 42 W pumping power in cw operation, the slope efficiency was measured as 36%, and the optical efficiency was better than 32%. In Q-switchedoperation, the highest pulse repetition rate of 100 kHz was obtained. At 50 kHz repetition rate, the laser exported 11.2 W average output power, with 60 ns average pulse width, ∼5% width stability (RMS) and ∼8% peak-power stability (RMS). At 10 kHz repetition rate, the highest average output power was measured as 6.3 W, single pulse energy was calculated as 0.63 mJ, with pulse width of 19 ns and peak-power higher than 30 kW. Combining the experimental results, we analyze and discuss some problems concerning Nd:YVO₄ crystal working at 1,342 nm wavelength. PACS 42.55.-f; 42.55.Xi; 42.60.Gd     

1.8 μm optical parametric oscillator based on KTiOPO4

A 1.8 ??m optical parametric oscillator pumped by a diode end-pumped acousto-optically Q-switched Nd:YAG is demonstrated. A 30-mm-long KTiOPO₄ crystal cut with an angle of ?? = 59.4°, ?? = 0° is employed as the OPO crystal. 685 mW signal laser at 1.8 ??m is obtained at the diode pump power of 13 W and the pulse repetition rate of 25 kHz. Simultaneously, 265 mW idler emission at 2.6 ??m is obtained. The corresponded diode-to-OPO conversion efficiency is 7.3%. The pulse width of the signal and idler wave are measured to be 4.5 and 2.5 ns, respectively. This gives a peak power of 6.1 and 4.2 kW, respectively.     

LD-pumped passively Q-switched Nd:YVO4 infrared and green lasers

A laser diode directly end-pumped, passively Q-switched Nd:YVO₄/Cr:YAG laser is presented in this paper. With 600 mW incident pump laser, Q-switched 1064 nm laser with an average power of 138 mW, pulse width of 19.8 ns, repetition rate of 170.1 kHz and peak power of 40.96 W is obtained. When a KTP crystal was inserted into the cavity, Q-switched 532 nm laser with an average power of 56 mW, pulse width of 28.4 ns, repetition rate of 118.2 kHz and peak power of 16.7 W is obtained at last.     

High-repetition-rate eye-safe optical parametric oscillator intracavity pumped by a diode-pumped Q-switched Nd:YVO<Subscript>4</Subscript> laser

A high-repetition-rate eye-safe optical parametric oscillator (OPO), using a non-critically phase-matched KTP crystal intracavity pumped by an acousto-optically (AO) Q-switchedNd:YVO₄ laser, is experimentally demonstrated. It is found that the average OPO signal power at 1573 nm can be efficiently increased by increasing the pulse repetition rate. Moreover, the intracavity OPO process effectively shortens the pulse width so that it is in the range 5∼8 ns for pulse repetition rates of 10 to 80 kHz. As a result of the relatively short pulse, the peak power at 1573 nm is higher than 2 kW at a pulse repetition rate of 80 kHz. Received: 10 July 2002 / Published online: 26 February 2003 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +886-35/729-134, E-mail: yfchen@cc.nctu.edu.tw     

激光二极管端面泵浦的调Q内腔倍频Nd：YAG激光器

报道了用两个１．５Ｗ激光二极管偏振耦合端面泵浦的声光调Ｑ内腔倍频Ｎｄ：ＹＡＧ激光器。输出５３２ｎｍ绿光重复频率１ＫＨｚ时，最大峰值功率为２．２３ＫＷ，最窄脉宽为１８ｎｓ，平均功率４０ｍＷ。最高重复频率３０ＫＨｚ。重复频率１５ｋＨＺ时，最高平均率１２８ｍＷ。对声光调Ｑ内倍频Ｎｄ：ＹＡＧ激光器的动态特性进行了理论分析及计算。     

Continuous-wave and Q-switched laser operation of Nd:Gd0.18Y0.82VO4 mixed crystal

Efficient continuous-wave (cw), passively Q-switched, and actively Q-switched laser operations are demonstrated with a mixed vanadate crystal of Nd:Gd_0.18Y_0.82VO₄ under diode pumping. In a cw operation, an output power of 8.25 W is obtained at a maximum available incident pump power (P_in) of 15 W, with a slope efficiency of 56%. Using a Cr⁴⁺:YAG crystal of initial transmission of 62% as the saturable absorber for Q-switching, an average output power of 3.05 W is generated at pulse repetition frequency (PRF) of 16.7 kHz when the laser is pumped with the same maximum P_in. The pulse energy, pulse duration, and peak power are 183.3 μJ, 6.0 ns, and 30.6 kW, respectively. When actively Q-switched by an acousto-optic modulator, the laser produces an average output power of 5.5 W at PRF of 30 kHz with 16.2 W of pump power incident upon the laser crystal. The pulse energy, duration, and peak power are measured to be 183 μJ, 10.5 ns, and 17.5 kW, respectively.     

Compact eye-safe intracavity optical parametric oscillator with efficient pulse shortening

We report a compact eye-safe intracavity optical parametric oscillator (IOPO), driven by a diode end-pumped passively Q-switched Nd:YVO₄/Cr: YAG laser. At the incident diode pump power of 6.2 W and signal pulse repetition rate of 13 kHz, we obtain a minimum signal pulse duration as short as 1.3 ns, holding a pulse compressing factor of 17 with respect to that of the pump, and exhibiting an efficient pulse shortening mechanism. At the same time, the maximum average power of 110 mW and pulse energy of 8.5 μJ for the signal wave are also achieved. In addition, cavity dumping characteristics and the correlation dynamics between the laser and the OPO are qualitatively analyzed.     

1.57μm被动调Q光学参量振荡器

在半导体泵浦被动调QNd∶GdVO4/Cr4+∶YAG激光腔内,利用KTP晶体实现了高重复频率的内腔OPO的稳定运转。OPO其信号光转换效率为7%,斜效率为10.3%。当泵浦功率7.3W时,可获得平均功率为0.48W,重频15kHz,脉宽6ns,峰值功率达13KW的1570nm激光输出。     

Efficient 1.8 μm KTiOPO4 optical parametric oscillator pumped within an Nd:YAG/SrWO4 Raman laser

A 1.8?μm optical parametric oscillator (OPO) based on a noncritically phase-matched KTiOPO4 crystal is demonstrated. OPO and stimulated Raman scattering techniques are successfully combined in an acousto-optically Q-switched Nd:YAG/SrWO4 Raman laser. The device efficiently realizes three steps of conversion: from a laser diode wavelength of 808?nm to the fundamental wavelength of 1064?nm; next, to the Stokes wavelength of 1180?nm; and finally to the OPO signal wavelength of 1810?nm. With an incident diode power of 7.2?W and a pulse repetition rate of 15?kHz, an average signal power of 485?mW is obtained with a diode-to-signal conversion efficiency of 6.75%. The beam quality factors (M2) of the signal wave in both horizontal and vertical directions are measured to be 1.7±0.2. The numerical output power results of the system, the thermal lensing, and the stability parameter of the cavity are also discussed.     

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.     

High-peak-power AlGaInAs quantum-well 1.3-mum laser pumped by a diode-pumped actively Q-switched solid-state laser

We report a room-temperature high-peak-power AlGaInAs 1.36 microm TEM00 laser pumped by a diode-pumped actively Q-switched Nd:YAG 1.06 microm laser. With an average pump power of 1.0 W, an average output power of 140 mW was obtained at a pulse repetition rate of 10 kHz. With a peak pump power of 8.3 kW, the highest peak output power was 1.5 kW at a pulse repetition rate of 5 kHz.     

8.30 μm singly resonant ZnGeP2 optical parametric oscillators pumped by a Tm,Ho:GdVO4 laser

A single resonator 8.30 μm ZnGeP₂ (ZGP) optical parametric oscillators (OPO) was reported in the paper. The OPO was pumped by a 10.2-W Tm,Ho:GdVO₄ laser at 8 kHz in a Q-switch mode, a 170-mW idler was obtained at 8.30 μm, and the output power of the idler and signal wave was 1.0 W, corresponding to an optical-optical conversion efficiency of 10.3% and a slope efficiency of 20.9%. Tm,Ho:GdVO₄ laser was pumped by a 30-W fiber-coupled laser diode (LD) at the center wavelength of 801 nm. The output wavelength of Tm,Ho:GdVO₄ laser was at 2.05 μm, and the energy per pulse of 1.28 mJ in 18 ns was achieved at 8 kHz with the peak power of 71.1 kW.     

LD侧泵的声光调Q Nd∶YAG/KTP人眼安全激光器

为获得人眼安全的激光,在一个由激光二极管（LD）阵列侧泵、声光调Q的Nd∶YAG激光器谐振腔中放置一非临界相位匹配的KTP晶体,形成了一个内腔式光学参量振荡器,实现了准连续的1.57 μm激光振荡.通过对单谐振光学参量振荡器阈值公式进行讨论,采用了平凹腔的结构和尽可能短的光学参量振荡器腔长,有效地降低了光学参量振荡器的泵浦阈值.测量了不同声光重复率和不同透射率输出镜下光学参量振荡器输出的各项特性参量.分析了声光重复率和输出镜的透过率对光学参量振荡器的泵浦阈值和输出脉冲波形的影响,并对实验中出现的饱和现象作了解释.当泵浦电流14.5A,声光重复率10 kHz,光学参量振荡器输出镜透过率15%时,在保持单脉冲输出的情况下,获得了1.57 μm激光的最高平均功率输出值1.748 W.     

1.2 W中红外ZnGeP2光参量振荡器

报导了利用Tm,HoGdVO4激光器抽运双谐振ZnGeP2光参量振荡器实验研究.Tm(5%),Ho(0.5%)GdVO4晶体采用液氮制冷方式,工作在77 K温度条件下.以25 W波长为800 nm的光纤耦合激光二极管抽运,2 μm激光最大平均功率7 W,脉冲宽度小于30 ns, 脉冲重复频率5 kHz到20 kHz可调.非线性频率转换晶体ZnGeP2长15 mm,55?切割,OPO谐振腔为平平腔,腔长约25 mm.在5W的2 μm激光抽运下,脉冲重复频率10 kHz,实现了信号光3.7 μm及闲频光4.5 μm中红外激光输出,参量光脉冲宽度为15～17 ns,最大平均功率大于1.2 W,光-光转换效率为20%.测量参量光输出光束全宽度远场发散角4 mrad,光束质量M2因子小于3.     

Optical parametric oscillators for high pulse energy and high average power operation based on large aperture periodically poled KTP and RTA

We report on optical parametric oscillators (OPOs) based on large aperture periodically poled KTiOPO₄ (PPKTP) and RbTiOAsO₄ (PPRTA) pumped with high pulse energy and high average power Q-switched solid-state lasers. The OPOs were pumped with 1064-nm pulses of a diode-pumped Nd:YVO₄ laser at 20 kHz repetition rate. The emitted signal wavelengths were 1.72 μm and 1.58 μm and the idler wavelengths were 2.79 μm and 3.26 μm, respectively. Pumping the PPKTP OPO with 7.2 W and the PPRTA OPO with 8 W average power, 2 W and 1.3 W total OPO output powers were generated. Two-dimensional measurements of the total OPO output power, the signal wavelength and the signal bandwidth in dependence on the crystal location indicated a good uniformity of the quasiphasematching structure over the entire 3-mm-thick crystals. This allowed pumping with larger pump beams and therefore with pulse energies of tens of millijoules. Pumping with different flash-lamp-pumped lasers, good OPO performance and high output pulse energies could be achieved for all pump lasers. Maximum input pulse energies of 56 mJ gave output pulse energies of as much as 18 mJ. The temperature tuning behaviors of both OPOs were measured, showing excellent agreement with calculated temperature tuning curves. New equations for temperature dispersion in RTA are presented. These results show that large-aperture PPKTP and PPRTA crystals are well suited for tunable nanosecond OPO operation with multi-watt average pump power and several tens of millijoules pump pulse energies. Received: 7 September 2001 / Published online: 7 November 2001     

The first-stokes pulse generation in Nd:KGW intracavity driven by a diode-pumped passively Q-switched Nd:YAG/Cr<Superscript>4+</Superscript>:YAG laser

The operation of an all solid-state pulsed Nd:KGW Raman laser pumped by compact passively Q-switched Nd:YAG/Cr:YAG laser is demonstrated. The first-Stokes radiation of stimulated Nd:KGW Raman scattering at the 1178 nm is generated. The average output power of 336 mW at Stokes wavelength was obtained under the laser diode pump power of 5.74 W. The corresponding optical efficiency from the diode light to the Raman output is 9.85%. The pulse width of 1.65 ns and a pulse repetition rate of 10 kHz were also obtained.     

High-efficiency eye-safe intracavity Raman laser at 1531 nm with SrWO4 crystal

A high-efficiency diode-end-pumped Q-switched eye-safe linearly-polarized intracavity Raman laser at 1531 nm is demonstrated, with Nd:YVO₄ as the laser medium and SrWO₄ as the Raman crystal. The highest average power of 1.93 W is achieved, with an incident pump of 15.6 W and a repetition rate of 35 kHz. The narrowest pulse duration of 4.9 ns and the highest peak power of 32.2 kW are obtained at a repetition rate of 5 kHz.