High-efficiency semi-external-cavity-structured periodically poled MgLN-based optical parametric oscillator with output power exceeding 9.2 W at 3.82 microm

Room temperature watt-level 3.87 µm MgO:PPLN optical parametric oscillator under pumping with a Tm:YAP laser

A room-temperature highly efficient Tm:YAP laser pumped MgO:PPLN optical parametric oscillator operating at 3.87 µm near degeneracy is demonstrated. The pump source is an acousto-optical (AO) Q-switched Tm:YAP laser, which delivers a maximum output power of 6.17 W with a pulse duration of 45 ns and a repetition rate of 6 kHz. The temperature dependent wavelength tuning characteristics of the PPLN-OPO is investigated, and a maximum OPO output power of 1.2 W at around 3.87 µm is achieved at 35°C, corresponding to an optical-optical conversion efficiency of 19.4%. To the best of our knowledge, this is the maximum output power ever reported from 2 µm waveband laser pumped 3-5 µm MgO:PPLN OPOs.

Highly efficient tunable mid-infrared optical parametric oscillator pumped by a wavelength locked, Q-switched Er:YAG laser

A highly efficient and stable mid-infrared optical parametric oscillator is demonstrated, pumped by an electro-optic Q-switched Er:YAG laser with operating wavelength locked at 1645 nm by a volume Bragg grating. The oscillator, based on MgO-doped periodically poled lithium niobate (MgO:PPLN) crystal, yields a maximum overall average output power in excess of 1 W, corresponding to a conversion efficiency of 35.5% and a slope efficiency of 43.6%. The signal and idler wavelengths of the OPO are around ~2.7 μm and ~4.3 μm, respectively, corresponding to the two peak absorption bands of CO(2). Lasing characteristics of the oscillator, including the time evolution of the pump, signal and idler pulses at different pump power levels, are also investigated. Temperature tuning of the MgO:PPLN crystal gives signal and idler ranges of 2.67 to 2.72 μm and 4.17 to 4.31 μm, respectively.

Millijoule-level picosecond mid-infrared optical parametric amplifier based on MgO-doped periodically poled lithium niobate

A millijoule-level high pulse energy picosecond (ps) mid-infrared (MIR) optical parametric amplifier (OPA) at 3.9 μm based on large-aperture MgO-doped periodically poled lithium niobate (MgO:PPLN) crystal was demonstrated for the first time, to the best of our knowledge. The MIR OPA was pumped by a 30 ps 1064 nm Nd:YAG laser at 10 Hz and injected by an energy-adjustable near-infrared seed based on a barium boron oxide (BBO) optical parametric generator/optical parametric amplifier (OPG/OPA) with double-pass geometry. Output energy of 1.14 mJ at 3.9 μm has been obtained at pump energy of 15.2 mJ. Furthermore, the performance of MIR OPG in MgO:PPLN was also investigated for comparing with the seeded OPA.

4.0 μm, high repetition rate periodically poled magnesium-oxide-doped lithium niobate mid-infrared optical parametric oscillator pumped by steep leading edge pulsed fiber laser

A high repetition rate optical parametric oscillator (OPO) generating an idler laser with a wavelength as long as 4.0 μm at 200 and 400 kHz was demonstrated in this paper. The OPO was pumped by a master oscillator power amplifier structure fiber laser with excellent characteristics. The pump pulse from the fiber laser had a steep leading edge, which was theoretically proved to improve the OPO's performance, compared with the Gaussian pump pulse. A homemade periodically poled magnesium-oxide-doped lithium niobate crystal with a grating period of 29 μm was employed in our experiment. By optimizing the resonator, 2.75 and 1.67 W idler lasers were finally achieved at repetition rates as high as 200 and 400 kHz, respectively, with a wavelength as long as 4.0 μm. The conversion efficiencies were 12.03% and 7.31%, respectively.

High-power PPMgLN-based optical parametric oscillator pumped by a linearly polarized, semi-fiber-coupled acousto-optic Q-switched fiber master oscillator power amplifier

We have experimentally demonstrated a periodically poled magnesium-oxide-doped lithium niobate (PPMgLN)-based, fiber-laser-pumped optical parametric oscillator (OPO) generating idler wavelength of 3.82 μm. The pump fiber laser was constructed with a linearly polarized, semi-fiber-coupled acousto-optic Q-switched fiber oscillator and a polarization-maintaining fiber amplifier with pulse duration of 190 ns at the highest output power. The OPO was specifically configured in single-pass, singly resonant linear cavity structure to avoid the damage risk of the pump fiber laser, which is always a serious issue in the fiber-laser-pumped, double-pass, singly oscillating structured OPOs. Under the highest pump power of 25 W, an idler average output power of 3.27 W with one-hour peak-to-peak instability of 5.2% was obtained. The measured M2 factors were 1.98 and 1.44 for horizontal and vertical axis, respectively. The high power stability and good beam quality demonstrated the suitability of such technology for practical application.

High-power multichannel PPMgLN-based optical parametric oscillator pumped by a master oscillation power amplification-structured Q-switched fiber laser

We experimentally demonstrated a compact fiber laser-pumped multichannel PPMgLN-based optical parametric oscillator (OPO) generating total OPO output power of 15.8, 15.2, 14.2, 12.9, and 8.8 W with idler output power of 4.7, 4.3, 4.1, 3.3, and 2.1 W at the wavelength of 3.43, 3.63, 3.72, 3.83, and 3.99 μm, respectively. The OPO was pumped by a fully fiberized polarization maintaining (PM) ytterbium-doped pulsed fiber master oscillation power amplifier (MOPA) operating at 1064 nm at a repetition rate of 65 kHz with effective pump power of 28.7 W. The MOPA system was constructed with an acousto-optic Q-switched fiber laser seed and only one stage PM fiber amplifier without any free space components, which makes the pump system compact and stable in the long-term. Comparisons on efficiencies and signal wavelength shifts between different channels showed that the idler absorption was the main factor preventing high average-power OPO operation with long idler wavelength.

Large aperture PPMgLN based high-power optical parametric oscillator at 3.8 µm pumped by a nanosecond linearly polarized fiber MOPA

We report a large aperture PPMgLN based OPO generating 21W of average output power at a slope efficiency of 45%. The OPO is pumped with the output from a polarization maintaining Ytterbium doped fiber MOPA operating at 1060nm producing 20ns pulses at a repetition rate of 100kHz and an average output power of 58W (after the isolators). A maximum of 5.5W of optical power was recorded at the idler wavelength of 3.82µm without thermal roll-off. The pulse rise/fall time plays a significant role in the OPO conversion efficiency and that further enhancements in the efficiency should be possible using pulses with faster rise and fall times.

Efficient all-solid-state mid-infrared optical parametric oscillator based on resonantly pumped 1.645 μm Er:YAG laser

We first report an all-solid-state tunable mid-infrared singly resonant optical parametric oscillator based on a 1532 nm laser diode resonantly pumped, Q-switched 1.645 μm Er:YAG laser. An MgO-doped periodically poled lithium niobate was used as the nonlinear material. At the pulse repetition frequency of 2 KHz, a maximum overall average output power of 0.95 W with pump power of 2.8 W was achieved, corresponding to a conversion efficiency of 34% and a slope efficiency of 38%. The temperature tuning was performed giving signal and idler ranges of 2.67 to 2.71 μm and 4.18 to 4.31 μm, respectively.

Theoretical and experimental studies on output characteristics of an intracavity KTA OPO

An acousto-optically Q-switched Nd:YVO(4)/KTiOAsO(4) (KTA) intracavity optical parametric oscillator (OPO) is efficiently realized in singly resonated scheme. With an end-pumping diode power of 25.9 W, output signal (1535 nm) power of 3.77 W and idler power (3467 nm) of 1.18 W are obtained at a pulse repetition rate of 50 kHz. A rate-equation model is set up to simulate the output power and time characteristics of both signal and idler waves. And both the numerical and experimental results show that the idler pulse width is shorter than the signal one in a singly resonant OPO.

Efficient parametric conversion from 1.06 to 3.8 μm by an aperiodically poled cascaded lithium niobate

We experimentally demonstrated an efficient optical parametric oscillator (OPO) with high parametric conversion from 1.0645 to 3.8 μm. An aperiodically poled magnesium oxide doped lithium niobate wafer was designed and fabricated as the nonlinear crystal of the OPO. A linearly polarized acousto-optic Q-switched Nd:YVO4 laser was used as the pump source. High pump-to-idler conversion efficiency of 18.5% was achieved with a slope efficiency of up to 21.5%. When compared with a periodically poled channel fabricated on the same wafer, under the condition of output coupler optimized for the periodically poled lithium niobate based OPO, an improvement of slope efficiency by 28.3% from 15.2% to 19.5% and total efficiency by 12.5% from 13.6% to 15.3% under the highest pump power of 11 W was realized for the pump-to-idler conversion.