High power 4.65 μm single-wavelength laser by second-harmonic generation of pulsed TEA CO2 laser in AgGaSe2 and ZnGeP2

A high power 4.65 ??m single-wavelength laser by second-harmonic generation (SHG) of TEA CO₂ laser pulses in silver gallium selenide (AgGaSe₂) and zinc germanium phosphide (ZnGeP₂) crystals is reported. Experimental results show that the average output power of SHG laser is not only restricted by the damage threshold of the nonlinear crystals, but also limited by the irradiated power of fundamental-wave laser depending on the operating repetition-rate. It is found that ZnGeP₂ can withstand higher 9.3 ??m laser irradiation intensity than AgGaSe₂. As a result, using a parallel array stacked by seven ZnGeP₂ crystals, an average power of 20.3 W 4.65 ??m laser is obtained at 250 Hz. To the best of our knowledge, it is the highest output power for SHG of CO₂ laser by far.     

A comparative study of second harmonic generation of pulsed CO2 laser radiation in some infrared crystals

A comparative study of second harmonic generation of CO₂ laser radiation in different infrared transmitting crystals like HgGa₂S₄, AgGa_xIn_(1−x)Se₂, sulphur and indium doped GaSe and ZnGeP₂ is reported. It is also shown that sulphur doped GaSe crystal is more efficient than ZnGeP₂ crystal in terms of effective figure of merit.     

Development of coherent tunable source in 2–16 μm region using nonlinear frequency mixing processes

A very convenient way to obtain widely tunable source of coherent radiation in the infrared region is through nonlinear frequency mixing processes like second harmonic generation (SHG), difference-frequency mixing (DFM) or optical parametric oscillation (OPO). Using commonly available Nd:YAG laser and its harmonic pumped dye laser radiation as parent beams, we have been able to generate coherent tunable infrared radiation (IR) in 2–16 μm region using different nonlinear crystals by DFM and OPO. We have also generated such IR source in the 4–5 μm region through SHG of CO₂ laser in different infrared crystals. In the process we have characterized a large number of nonlinear crystals like different borate group of crystals, KTP, KTA, LiIO₃, MgO:LiNbO₃, GaSe, AgGaSe₂, ZnGeP₂, AgGa_1?x In _x Se₂, HgGa₂S₄ etc. To improve the conversion efficiencies of such frequency conversion processes, we have developed some novel schemes, like multipass configuration (MC) and positive optical feedback (POF). The significance of the obtained results lies in the fact that to get the same conversion in SHG or DFM, one now requires fundamental input radiation with much lower intensity.     

Comparative investigation of long-wave infrared generation based on ZnGeP2 and CdSe optical parametric oscillators

Long-wave infrared (IR) generation based on type-II (o→e+o) phase matching ZnGeP₂ (ZGP) and CdSe optical parametric oscillators (OPOs) pumped by a 2.05 μm Tm,Ho:GdVO₄ laser is reported. The comparisons of the birefringent walk-off effect and the oscillation threshold between ZGP and CdSe OPOs are performed theoretically and experimentally. For the ZGP OPO, up to 419 mW output at 8.04 μm is obtained at the 8 kHz pump pulse repetition frequency (PRF) with a slope efficiency of 7.6%. This ZGP OPO can be continuously tuned from 7.8 to 8.5 μm. For the CdSe OPO, we demonstrate a 64 mW output at 8.9 μm with a single crystal 28 mm in length.     

A High-Power,Long-Wavelength Infrared ZnGeP<Subscript>2</Subscript> Opo Pumped by a <Emphasis Type="Italic">Q</Emphasis>-Switched Tm,Ho:GdVO<Subscript>4</Subscript> Laser

We report a high-power, long-wavelength infrared ZnGeP₂ (ZGP) optical parametric oscillator (OPO) pumped by a Q-switched Tm,Ho:GdVO₄ laser. The wavelength tuning range of 7.8–9.9 μm is realized by rotating the external angle of the ZGP crystal. We obtain an output power over 30 mW across the whole wavelength range and achieve a 1.71 W output power at 8.08 μm by transmitting the OPO parameters, corresponding to an idler laser slope efficiency of 12.1%.     

Broadband frequency conversion of laser radiation in ZnGeP2 crystal

The phase matching conditions in the ZnGeP₂ crystal are calculated and analyzed from the viewpoint of broadband frequency conversion of mid-IR radiation. The frequency conversion of Cr:ZnS laser radiation in the ZnGeP₂ crystal is calculated. The results show the possibility of developing a broadband laser source whose spectrum spans a wavelength range of 3.2–9.5 µm.     

A Broadband Infrared Laser Source (2.5–17 μm) for Plasma Diagnostics

This paper presents the results of studies aimed at the creation of a hybrid laser system which is composed of a gas lasers and a nonlinear crystal and appreciably broadens and enriches the radiation spectrum of these lasers. A highly efficient conversion (37%) is attained when generating the second harmonic in a ZnGeP₂ crystal owing to an increase in the peak power of CO laser radiation in the mode locking regime. The two-cascade conversion (generation of both sum and difference frequencies) of radiation of a broadband CO laser in the single sample of such nonlinear crystals as ZnGeP₂ and AgGaSe₂ is demonstrated. In this case, the radiation spectrum is broadened by nearly a factor of two, and the number of detected spectral lines grows by a factor of four. The use of a comparatively simple laser system of gas-discharge CO and CO₂ lasers to conversion in AgGaSe₂ results in laser radiation tunable over a set of narrow spectral lines within a range from 2.5 to 16.6 μm (more than two and a half octaves).     

Pump tuned wide tunable noncritically phase-matched ZnGeP2 narrow line width optical parametric oscillator

A line tunable singly resonant noncritically phase matched narrow band width ZnGeP₂ (ZGP) optical parametric oscillator pumped by the output idler radiation from a KTA OPO based on a 20 mm long KTA crystal pumped from a Q-switched Gaussian shaped Nd:YAG laser beam with a grating having grooves density 85 lines/mm has been demonstrated in the spectral ranges of 3–7 μm. The measured threshold of oscillation energy was 10 μJ. The conversion efficiency was 20.5% and slope efficiency of the ZGP OPO was 20% using a 23 mm long ZGP crystal at 26 mm cavity length. Line width of the generated infrared radiation from ZGP OPO was 37–60 nm.     

Efficient intracavity second-harmonic generation at 1063 nm in a GdCOB crystal

We report an efficient intracavity second-harmonic generation (SHG) at 1063 nm in a non-linear optical crystal, GdCa₄O(BO₃)₃ (GdCOB), performed with a diode end pumped continuous-wave (CW) Nd:GdVO₄ laser. In the case of a laser with an a-cut 0.4 at % Nd:GdVO₄ crystal frequency-doubled with a GdCOB crystal cut for Type I frequency doubling. A CW SHG output power of 2.25 W has been obtained using a 15 mm long GCOB crystal. The optical conversion efficiency with respect to the incident pump power was 12.4%.     

All-solid-state continuous-wave frequency-doubling Nd:LuVO<Subscript>4</Subscript>/GBCOB laser at 533 nm

We report an efficient intracavity second-harmonic generation (SHG) at 1066 nm in a non-linear optical crystal, GdCa₄O(BO₃)₃ (GdCOB), performed with a diode end pumped continuous-wave (CW) Nd:LuVO₄ laser. In the case of a laser with a Nd:LuVO₄ crystal frequency-doubled with a GdCOB crystal cut for type I frequency doubling. A CW SHG output power of 5.18 W has been obtained using a 10 mm long GCOB crystal. The optical conversion efficiency with respect to the incident pump power was 28.5%.     

Simulation of parametric oscillation in the submillimeter range at pumping of the ZnGeP2 crystal by a train of 100-ps high-power pulses

Analysis is given for a possibility of singly resonant parametric oscillation in the submillimeter range at synchronous pumping of the ZnGeP₂ crystal by a train of 100-ps second-harmonic pulses from the CO₂ laser with the radiation energy 1.0 J. The calculation shows that using the ZnGeP₂ crystal and the second harmonic of the CO₂ laser with the energy density 1.8 J cm⁻², one can get the peak submillimeter radiation power from 3.6 to 12 MW in the range from 95 to 300 μm (1.0–3.3 THz). The expected peak power values are larger than the experimental ones obtained by other nonlinear optics methods.     

Growth of high quality non-linear optical crystal zinc germanium phosphide for Mid-infrared optical parametric oscillator

ZnGeP₂ single crystals were grown from Vertical Bridgman method. High-quality near-stoichiometric ZnGeP₂ single crystals were obtained in the diameter of 30 mm and length of 120 mm. The results showed that after thermal annealing of the crystals the optical absorption coefficient was below 0.03 cm^?1 at 2.05 μm, and ～0.02 cm^?1 at 3–8 μm. The low absorption loss ZnGeP₂ samples with dimension of 6 × 6 × 18 mm³ were cut from the annealed ingots for 3–5 μm optical parametric oscillation (OPO) experiments. For OPO experiment, we obtained up to 8.7 W output in the 3–5 μm wavelength range (with signal of 3.80 μm and idler of 4.45 μm, respectively) pumped by a 16.3 W 2.05 μm Tm,Ho:GdVO₄ laser at pulse repetition rate of 10 kHz, which corresponded to a conversion efficiency of 53.4% and slope efficiency of 64.8%, respectively.     

Efficient intracavity second-harmonic generation at 1.06 μm in a BiB3O6 (BIBO) crystal

We report, for the first time, efficient intracavity second-harmonic generation (SHG) at 1.06 μm in a non-linear optical crystal, BiB₃O₆ (BIBO), at a type-I phase-matching direction of (θ,ϕ)=(168.9°,90°), performed with a LD end-pumped cw Nd:YVO₄ laser. A cw SHG output power of 364 mW has been obtained using a 1.9-mm-thick BIBO crystal. The optical conversion efficiency was 12.2% and the corresponding effective intracavity SHG efficiency was determined to be 32.4%. It was found that the intracavity SHG efficiency is greater than that obtained with a type-II phase-matching KTiOPO₄ (KTP) crystal with a thickness of 3 mm. The effective non-linear optical coefficient (d_eff) ratio of BIBO to that of KTP, determined experimentally, is 1.23:1. Received: 7 May 2001 / Revised version: 6 July 2001 / Published online: 19 September 2001     

All-solid-state CW intracavity frequency-doubling Nd:Lu<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>3</Subscript>/LBO red laser at 679.5 nm

We report an efficient intracavity second-harmonic generation (SHG) at 1359 nm in a non-linear optical crystal, LiB₃O₅ (LBO), performed with a diode end pumped continuous-wave (cw) Nd:Lu₂O₃ laser. In the case of a laser with a Nd:Lu₂O₃ crystal frequency-doubled with a LBO crystal cut for type I frequency doubling. A cw SHG output power of 462 mW has been obtained using a 10 mm long LBO crystal. The red power stability was 3.4% in 4 h.     

Far infrared generation by CO2 lasers frequencies subtraction in a ZnGeP2 crystal

a pulsed radiation power of the order of 1W in the submillimeter range (102–110 µm) was reached for the first time, with the aid of a ZnGeP₂ crystal, at the difference frequency of CO₂ laser radiations.     

Efficient Nd:Y0.5Gd0.5VO4-KTiOPO4 green laser under diode pumping into the emitting level 4F3/2

We report a green laser at 532 nm generation by intracavity frequency doubling of a continuous wave (cw) laser operation of a 1064 nm Nd:Y_0.5Gd_0.5VO₄ laser under diode pumping into the emitting level ⁴ F _3/2. A KTiOPO₄ (KTP) crystal, cut for critical type-II 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 4.21 W of cw output power at 532 nm is achieved. The optical-to-optical conversion efficiency is up to 23.6%, and the fluctuation of the green output power was better than 2.8% in the given 30 min.     

990 mW average power, 52% efficient, high-repetition-rate picosecond-pulse generation in the blue with BiB3O6

Efficient single-pass second-harmonic generation (SHG) of tunable high-repetition-rate picosecond pulses into the blue is reported in the nonlinear crystal BiB3O6. Using 2.4 ps fundamental pulses from a mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser at 76 MHz and a 10 mm crystal cut for type I (e + e --> o) phase matching in the optical yz plane, second-harmonic average powers as high as 990 mW with excellent stability have been generated at 52% conversion efficiency, and a tunable range of 370-450 nm is demonstrated. From measurements of single-pass SHG in the continuous-wave regime an effective nonlinear coefficient of 3.7 pm/V has been verified for BiB3O6, and direct comparison with beta-BaB2O4 confirms a SHG power enhancement of approximately 23% for the same crystal length. Autocorrelation measurements in a 200 microm crystal of beta-BaB2O4 result in durations of 2.8 ps for the second-harmonic blue pulses.     

Frequency doubling of phase-modulated femtosecond laser pulses in periodically poled and chirped nonlinear crystals

The second harmonic generation (SHG) at a wavelength of 0.8 μm by 50-and 10-fs pulses with and without phase modulation (PM) was systematically studied in LiNbO₃ crystals with regular domain structure and linearly varied domain thickness. The main results were obtained by numerical method, taking into account the difference between group velocities of interacting pulses and the group-velocity dispersion. In the approximation of the given field of the fundamental radiation, an analytical expression was derived for the spectral density of the second harmonic in the periodically poled nonlinear crystal (PPNC) under nonstationary excitation conditions. It was numerically found that the conversion efficiency of about 90% can be achieved by doubling the frequency of 50-fs laser pulses without PM in the LiNbO₃ PPNC. The maximum conversion efficiency for the SHG by PM pulses is achieved at a certain optimum chirp step in the crystal domain length, which depends on both the value and sign of frequency modulation.     

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.     

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.