Mid-infrared generation based on a periodically poled LiNbO3 optical parametric oscillator

We report a nanosecond Nd:YVO_4-pumped optical parametric oscillator (OPO) based on periodically poled LiNbO_3 (PPLN). Tuning is achieved in this experiment by varying the temperature and period of the PPLN. The design of double-pass singly resonant oscillator (DSRO) and confocal cavity enables the OPO threshold to be lowered considerably, resulting in a simple, compact, all-solid-state configuration with the mid-infrared idler powers of up to 466mW at 3.41μm.     

Period and temperature tuning of cascaded opticalparametric oscillator based on periodically poled LiNbO3

We report the broadly tunable source by a cascaded optical parametric oscillator in the periodically poled LiNbO_3 (PPLN) with domain grating period and temperature tuning. The optical parametric oscillator was pumped by a passive Q-switched Nd:YVO_4 laser. Multi-wavelength outputs from visible to infrared were obtained. The temperature of the PPLN crystal changed within the range of 70－150℃ with different periods of PPLN. The tunable range covered from 433 to 1657nm.     

High‐energy optical parametric oscillator for the 6 μm spectral range based on HgGa2S4 pumped at 1064 nm

The defect chalcopyrite crystal HgGa₂S₄ has been employed in a 1064‐nm pumped optical parametric oscillator to generate <7 ns long idler pulses near 6.3 μm with energies as high as 3 mJ, tunable in a broad spectral range from 4.5 to 9 μm.     

Few‐cycle,broadband, mid‐infrared optical parametric oscillator pumped by a 20‐fs Ti:sapphire laser

A few‐cycle, broadband, singly‐resonant optical parametric oscillator (OPO) for the mid‐infrared based on MgO‐doped periodically‐poled LiNbO₃ (MgO:PPLN), synchronously pumped by a 20‐fs Ti:sapphire laser is reported. By using crystal interaction lengths as short as 250 µm, and careful dispersion management of input pump pulses and the OPO resonator, near‐transform‐limited, few‐cycle idler pulses tunable across the mid‐infrared have been generated, with as few as 3.7 optical cycles at 2682 nm. The OPO can be continuously tuned over 2179‐3732 nm (4589‐2680 cm^‐1) by cavity delay tuning, providing up to 33 mW of output power at 3723 nm. The idler spectra exhibit stable broadband profiles with bandwidths spanning over 422 nm (FWHM) recorded at 3732 nm. The effect of crystal length on spectral bandwidth and pulse duration is investigated at a fixed wavelength, confirming near‐transform‐limited idler pulses for all grating interaction lengths. By locking the repetition frequency of the pump laser to a radio‐frequency reference, and without active stabilization of the OPO cavity length, an idler power stability better than 1.6% rms over >2.75 hours is obtained when operating at maximum output power, in excellent spatial beam quality with TEM₀₀ mode profile. Photograph shows a multigrating MgO:PPLN crystal used as a nonlinear gain medium in the few‐cycle femtosecond mid‐IR OPO. The visible light is the result of non‐phase‐matched sum‐frequency mixing between the interacting beams.     

High‐power HgGa2S4 optical parametric oscillator pumped at 1064 nm and operating at 100 Hz

The defect chalcopyrite crystal HgGa₂S₄ has been employed in a 1064‐nm pumped optical parametric oscillator operating at 100 Hz, to generate ∼5 ns long idler pulses near 4 µm with energies as high as 6.1 mJ and average power of 610 mW. At crystal dimensions comparable to those available for the commercial AgGaS₂ crystal, operation of the 1064‐nm pumped HgGa₂S₄ OPO is characterized by much lower pump threshold and higher conversion efficiency, with the most important consequence that such a device might become practical at pump levels sufficiently lower than the optical damage threshold.     

Dual‐wavelength optical parametric oscillator using antiresonant ring interferometer

A novel technique for coupling of two resonant optical cavities using an antiresonant ring (ARR) interferometer is reported. By deploying two synchronously‐pumped femtosecond optical parametric oscillators (OPOs), it is shown that the use of an ARR can provide an intracavity common path for the two oscillating fields, but without gain coupling between the two nonlinear media. The new technique permits the generation of two signal (idler) wavelengths, which can be independently and arbitrarily varied across the OPO tuning range. The absence of gain coupling also enables unrestricted and uninterrupted tuning through wavelength degeneracy at any arbitrary point within the OPO tuning range. It is shown that signal wavelength pairs tunable across 1500–1580 nm, corresponding to a frequency separation from ∼ 10 THz down to exact degeneracy, can be generated from the coupled OPOs, limited only by the reflectivity of the available mirrors.     

Self‐phase‐locked degenerate femtosecond optical parametric oscillator based on BiB3O6

A self‐phase‐locked degenerate femtosecond optical parametric oscillator (OPO) based on the birefringent nonlinear material, bismuth triborate, BiB₃O₆, synchronously‐pumped by a Kerr‐lens‐mode‐locked Ti:sapphire laser at 800 nm is described. By exploiting versatile phase‐matching properties of BiB₃O₆, including large spectral and angular acceptance for parametric generation and low group velocity dispersion in the optical xz plane, stable self‐phase‐locked degenerate OPO operation centered at 1600 nm is demonstrated using collinear type I (e → oo) interaction in a 1.5‐mm crystal at room temperature. The degenerate OPO output spectrum extends over 46 nm (∼5.4 THz) with 190 fs pulse duration for input pump pulses of 155 fs with a bandwidth of 7 nm. Phase coherence between the pump and degenerate output is verified using f‐2f interferometry, and discrete frequency beats caused by different carrier‐envelope‐offset frequencies are measured using radio frequency measurements. Photo shows a 1.5‐mm BiB₃O₆ crystal used as a nonlinear gain medium in a degenerate self‐phase‐locked femtosecond OPO operating at room temperature. The green beam is the result of non‐phase‐matched sum‐frequency mixing between the pump light and the sub‐harmonic OPO field at degeneracy.     

Compact efficient optical parametric generator internal to a Q-switched Nd:YVO4 laser with periodically poled MgO:LiNbO3

This paper demonstrates a compact efficient optical parametric generator internal to a Q-switched diode-end-pumped Nd:YVOquasi-phase-matching, intracavity optical parametric generator, periodically poled MgO-doped lithium niobate (PPMgLN)Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos 10474071 and 60671036).4265K, 4260F, 4270This paper demonstrates a compact efficient optical parametric generator internal to a Q-switched diode-end-pumped Nd:YVOquasi-phase-matching, intracavity optical parametric generator, periodically poled MgO-doped lithium niobate (PPMgLN)Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos 10474071 and 60671036).4265K, 4260F, 4270This paper demonstrates a compact efficient optical parametric generator internal to a Q-switched diode-end-pumped Nd:YVOquasi-phase-matching, intracavity optical parametric generator, periodically poled MgO-doped lithium niobate (PPMgLN)Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos 10474071 and 60671036).4265K, 4260F, 4270This paper demonstrates a compact efficient optical parametric generator internal to a Q-switched diode-end-pumped Nd:YVOquasi-phase-matching, intracavity optical parametric generator, periodically poled MgO-doped lithium niobate (PPMgLN)Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos 10474071 and 60671036).4265K, 4260F, 4270This paper demonstrates a compact efficient optical parametric generator internal to a Q-switched diode-end-pumped Nd:YVOquasi-phase-matching, intracavity optical parametric generator, periodically poled MgO-doped lithium niobate (PPMgLN)Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos 10474071 and 60671036).4265K, 4260F, 4270This paper demonstrates a compact efficient optical parametric generator internal to a Q-switched diode-end-pumped Nd:YVO$_{4}$ laser with periodically poled MgO:LiNbO₃(PPMgLN). With the Q-switch set at a repetition rate of 25kHz and the PPMgLN crystal operated at room temperature (25\du\,), the intracavity optical parametric generator threshold was reached as a diode pump power of 0.9\,W. A maximum signal output power of 0.34W with a pulse width of 25\,ns and a beam quality factor of 1.4 was obtained at an incident diode power of 3.4\,W, leading to a conversion efficiency of 10{\%} with a slope efficiency of 14.4{\%}. By varying the crystal temperature from 25 to 200\du, the output signal wavelengths were tuned in range of 1506--1565\,nm. Over a 30-minutes interval, the instability of the signal power was measured to be less than 1{\%}. In addition, the threshold pump intensity for the intracavity optical parametric generator is theoretically investigated, and the obtained result is in good agreement with the experimental results.     

Few‐optical‐cycle light pulses with passive carrier‐envelope phase stabilization

One of the most advanced frontiers of ultrafast optics is the control of carrier‐envelope phase (CEP) ϕ of light pulses, which enables the generation of optical waveforms with reproducible electric field profile. Such control is important for pulses with few‐optical‐cycle duration, for which a CEP variation produces a strong change in the waveform, so that strongly nonlinear optical phenomena, such as multiphoton absorption, above‐threshold ionization and high‐harmonic generation become CEP‐dependent. In particular, CEP control is the prerequisite for the production of isolated attosecond pulses. Standard laser systems generate pulses that are CEP unstable; the CEP can be stabilized using either active or passive methods. Passive, all‐optical schemes rely on difference‐frequency generation (DFG) between two pulses sharing the same CEP: in this process the phases of the two pulses add up with opposite signs, leading to cancellation of the shot‐to‐shot CEP fluctuations. This paper presents an overview of passive CEP stabilization schemes, starting from the basic concepts and progressing to the details of the practical implementations of the idea. The passive approach allows the generation of CEP‐controlled few‐optical‐cycle pulses covering a very broad range of parameters in terms of carrier frequency (from visible to mid‐IR), energy (up to several mJs) and repetition rate (up to hundreds of kHz)     

Mid‐infrared supercontinuum covering 2.0–16 μm in a low‐loss telluride single‐mode fiber

A mid‐infrared (MIR) supercontinuum (SC) has been demonstrated in a low‐loss telluride glass fiber. The double‐cladding fiber, fabricated using a novel extrusion method, exhibits excellent transmission at 8–14 μm: < 10 dB/m in the range of 8–13.5 μm and 6 dB/m at 11 μm. Launched intense ultrashort pulsed with a central wavelength of 7 μm, the step‐index fiber generates a MIR SC spanning from ∼2.0 μm to 16 μm, for a 40‐dB spectral flatness. This is a fresh experimental demonstration to reveal that telluride glass fiber can emit across the all MIR molecular fingerprint region, which is of key importance for applications such as diagnostics, gas sensing, and greenhouse CO₂ detection.

     

Ultrafast Nonlinear Optical Properties of a Graphene Saturable Mirror in the 2 μm Wavelength Region

Mid‐infrared ultrafast lasers have emerged as a promising platform for both science and industry because of their inherent high raw power and eye‐safe spectrum. 2D nanostructures such as graphene have emerged as promising photonic materials for laser mode‐locking to generate ultrashort pulses. However, there are still many unanswered questions about graphene's key advantages to be practical devices, especially over the matured semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM). In this work, we conducted systematic comparisons on the nonlinear optical properties of graphene and that of a commercial SESAM at 2 μm wavelength. Our results showed that graphene has significant advantages over the commercial SESAM, exhibiting ∼28% less absorptive cross‐section ratio of excited‐state to ground‐state and ∼50 times faster relaxation time. This implies that graphene can be exploited as a better mode‐locker than the current commercial SESAM for high power, high repetition rate and ultrafast mid‐infrared laser sources.