Lithium triborate picosecond optical parametric oscillator (original) (raw)
Journal of the Optical Society of America B, 1993
ABSTRACT We report on an investigation of a singly resonant picosecond optical parametric oscillator in a noncollinear configuration for which we alternatively used β-barium borate and lithium triborate in a type-I phase-matching configuration tunable from 407 to 2780 nm and from 452 and 1650 nm, respectively. The parametric oscillator was synchronously pumped by the third harmonic of a passive negative-feedback actively-passively mode-locked Nd:YAG laser-amplifier system, and long and flat trains of short bandwidth-limited 9-ps pulses were produced. We obtained conversion efficiency into the idler wave (at 900 nm) of as high as 10% and overall efficiency as high as 26%. We present a numerical model of the operation that agrees very well with the experimental results. The simplicity and ruggedness are the main strengths of this source when high-power conversion capability and wide tunability are the main requirements.
Journal of The Optical Society of America B-optical Physics, 1993
We report on an investigation of a singly resonant picosecond optical parametric oscillator in a noncollinear configuration for which we alternatively used -barium borate and lithium triborate in a type-I phasematching configuration tunable from 407 to 2780 nm and from 452 and 1650 nm, respectively. The parametric oscillator was synchronously pumped by the third harmonic of a passive negative-feedback activelypassively mode-locked Nd:YAG laser-amplifier system, and long and flat trains of short bandwidth-limited 9-ps pulses were produced. We obtained conversion efficiency into the idler wave (at 900 nm) of as high as 10% and overall efficiency as high as 26%. We present a numerical model of the operation that agrees very well with the experimental results. The simplicity and ruggedness are the main strengths of this source when high-power conversion capability and wide tunability are the main requirements.
Femtosecond optical parametric oscillators synchronously pumped by Yb:KGW oscillator
Lithuanian Journal of Physics, 2013
Three synchronously pumped optical parametric oscillators (SPOPO's) based on different nonlinear optical materials are used to show the viability of Yb:KGW lasers for generation of pump radiation. Periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) is a convenient nonlinear optical material to begin the investigation, and typical of PPLN interesting additional phenomena are observed. Optical parametric amplification proves to be a useful technique for establishing SPOPO operation in lithium triborate (LBO) and beta barium borate (BBO) with a lower gain than PPLN. Numerical modelling helps in the analysis of SPOPO performance and indicates possible directions for future development such as non-collinear propagation to mitigate group velocity differences. The compact construction and efficient operation of femtosecond Yb:KGW lasers provide a favourable source of pump radiation for SPOPO's in these preliminary investigations.
Journal of the Optical Society of America B, 1995
The design and the operating characteristics of a high-repetition-rate, singly resonant picosecond optical parametric oscillator based on temperature-tuned LiB 3 O 5 and synchronously pumped by a self-mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser at 81 MHz are described. It is shown that LiB 3 O 5 is an excellent nonlinear material candidate for parametric generation of ultrashort pulses because of its broad tunability, small spatial and temporal walk-off, wide acceptance bandwidths, and low dispersion. With a 30-mm-long LiB 3 O 5 crystal cut for noncritical type-I phase matching, average output powers of as much as 325 mW have been obtained at 1.8 times the 650-mW threshold. We demonstrate continuous tuning from 1.15 to 2.26 mm with a single crystal, limited by the tunability of the Ti:sapphire pump laser. For 1.8-ps input pump pulses, transform-limited signal pulses with durations of 1-1.2 ps and idler pulses with durations of 2-2.2 ps have been generated over 1.2-2.2 mm without requiring dispersion compensation.
Femtosecond optical parametric oscillator based on periodically poled lithium niobate
Journal of the Optical Society of America B, 1998
We describe a femtosecond optical parametric oscillator based on periodically poled lithium niobate and pumped by a self-mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser. Signal and idler outputs almost continuously tunable from 975 nm to 4.55 m were generated by a combination of grating tuning and cavity-length tuning, and an explanation of the tuning properties is given in terms of the gain bandwidth. A threshold of 45 mW was measured and, in the absence of optimized output coupling, signal powers of 90 mW and idler powers of 70 mW were obtained, with 140 mW of green light at 540 nm generated by phase-matched frequency doubling of the signal. Dispersion compensation produced near-transform-limited signal pulses of duration 140 fs. Observations regarding temperature tuning and pump depletion are also presented.
Diode-Laser-Pumped Optical Parametric Oscillator
This report describes the first operation of a CW directly diode-pumped optical parametric oscillator using periodically poled lithium niobate as a nonlinear medium. Degenerate oscillation of a doubly resonant device was sucessful. This device shows potential as a CW source in the near infrared region from 1.3-5 microns.
Quasi-phase-matched 1064-µm-pumped optical parametric oscillator in bulk periodically poled LiNbO_3
Optics Letters, 1995
We report a quasi-phase-matched optical parametric oscillator, using bulk periodically poled LiNbO 3 . The optical parametric oscillator, pumped by a 1.064-mm Q-switched Nd:YAG laser, was temperature tuned over the wavelength range 1.66 -2.95 mm. The oscillation threshold of ഠ0.1 mJ was more than a factor of 10 below the damage limit. The LiNbO 3 crystal, fabricated by application of an electric field to a sample with liquid and metal surface electrodes, was 0.5 mm thick with a 5.2-mm interaction length and a quasi-phase-matched period of 31 mm.
Quasi-phase-matched optical parametric oscillators in bulk periodically poled LiNbO_3
Journal of the Optical Society of America B, 1995
We review progress in quasi-phase-matched optical parametric oscillators in bulk periodically poled LiNbO 3. Using the electric-field poling process, we can reliably fabricate 0.5-mm-thick crystals with uniform domain structures over a 15-mm length. Periodically poled material retains the low-loss and bulk power handling properties of single-domain LiNbO 3 , and quasi phase matching permits noncritical phase matching with d 33 , the highest-valued nonlinear coefficient. Optical parametric oscillators pumped by 1.064-mm pulsed Nd:YAG lasers have been operated over the wavelength range 1.4-4 mm with tuning by temperature or by quasi-phasematched period. We have shown an oscillation threshold as low as 0.012 mJ with a Q-switched pump laser and pumping at greater than ten times threshold without damage. We have also demonstrated a cw doubly resonant oscillator near 1.96 mm pumped directly with a commercial cw diode laser at 978 nm.
Optical parametric oscillator based on LBO crystal at degeneracy
Optik, 2018
A pulsed doubly resonant LiB3O5 (LBO) optical parametric oscillator design (OPO) at degenerate case pumped with a frequency doubled Q-switched Nd: YAG laser was built-up. The LBO crystal was designed for collinear phasematching. The threshold power density at degenerate case was 141.4 MW/cm2. The linewidth of the amplified output at degenerate case due to both signal and idler beams was found to be 10 ns. The effect of crystal rotation in the horizontal plane on the output energy per pulse of both signal and idler were studied. The OPO maximum output energy per pulse at degeneracy was assessed, it was 54 μJ for 20 mJ pumping energy at optimum phasematching angle θpm = 11.2°. The theoretical calculations that describe the output energy per pulse at different input pumping energy for the LBO-OPO linear cavity are numerically simulated and compared with the experimental results as well as conversion efficiency calculations at optimum phasematching.
Efficient, high-power, ytterbium-fiber-laser-pumped picosecond optical parametric oscillator
We report a high-power picosecond optical parametric oscillator (OPO) synchronously pumped by a Yb fiber laser at 1.064μm, providing 11.7W of total average power in the near to mid-IR at 73% extraction efficiency. The OPO, based on a 50mm MgO:PPLN crystal, is pumped by 20.8ps pulses at 81.1MHz and can simultaneously deliver 7.1W of signal at 1.56μm and 4.6W of idler at 3.33μm for 16W of pump power. The oscillator has a threshold of 740mW, with maximum signal power of 7.4W at 1.47μm and idler power of 4.9W at 3.08μm at slope efficiencies of 51% and 31%, respectively. Wavelength coverage across 1.43–1.63μm (signal) and 4.16–3.06μm (idler) is obtained, with a total power of ~11 W and an extraction efficiency of ~68%, with pump depletion of ~78% maintained over most of the tuning range. The signal and idler output have a single-mode spatial profile and a peak-to-peak power stability of ±1.8% and ±2.9% over 1h at the highest power, respectively. A signal pulse duration of 17.3ps with a clean single-peak spectrum results in a time-bandwidth product of ~1.72, more than four times below the input pump pulses.