KEYWORDS: Semiconductor lasers, Diffraction gratings, Diffraction, Deep ultraviolet, High power lasers, Nonlinear frequency conversion, Polarization, Laser systems engineering, Second-harmonic generation, Crystals
We reported a high-power narrowband blue diode laser which is suitable for subsequent nonlinear frequency conversion into the deep ultraviolet (DUV) spectral range. The laser is based on an external cavity diode laser (ECDL) system using a commercially available GaN-based high-power blue laser diode emitting at 448 nm. Longitudinal mode selection is realized by using a surface diffraction grating in Littrow configuration. The diffraction efficiency of the grating was optimized by controlling the polarization state of the laser beam incident on the grating. A maximum optical output power of 3.1 W in continuous-wave operation with a spectral width of 60 pm and a side-mode suppression ratio (SMSR) larger than 10 dB at 448.4 nm is achieved. Based on the experimental spectra and output powers, the theoretical efficiency and output power of the subsequent nonlinear frequency conversion were calculated according to the Boyd– Kleinman theory. The single-pass conversion efficiency and output power is expected to be 1.9×10-4 and 0.57 mW, respectively, at the 3.1 W output power of the ECDL. The high-power narrowband blue diode laser is very promising as pump source in the subsequent nonlinear frequency conversion.
For many applications, laser diodes with very narrow and stable emission wavelength are needed. The realization of mode selection by an external cavity system with a grating is widely used. The influence of longitudinal mode selection by external grating on the filamentation and catastrophic optical mirror damage (COMD) of 970 nm broad area single emitters is studied in this paper. The emitters worked at three configurations: free running, with 10% mirror feedback (mirror lasers), and 10% grating feedback (grating lasers). The grating lasers showed very short lifetime caused by COMD, while the free-running lasers and mirror lasers show no power degradation. The COMD was confirmed by optical microscope showing cracking and melting of the optical antireflective (AR) coatings. By observing the near-field pattern of the three lasers, the COMD of the grating lasers was attributed to the pronounced filamentation induced by the grating feedback. What’s more, the filamentations vary when the locked wavelength change which indicates that the carrier dynamics thus the refractive index profile is very sensitive to the locked lasing wavelength.
We present a high-efficiency mid-infrared optical parametric amplifier (OPA) pumped by a Nd:YAG slab laser with rectangular beam distribution. To improve the conversion efficiency of OPA, we used an approximate uniform pump beam, which helped most of the pump area maintain the optimal intensity to reduce the back conversion effect. The uniform pump distribution without any peak intensity also reduced the damage chances of the nonlinear crystal of PPMgOLN and increased its pump power capability in power-scaling operations. To make sufficient usage of the narrow and small interface of PPMgOLN, we chose a rectangular pump shape whose size was adjusted to match the maximum effective interface of PPMgOLN. The idler laser of 3.82 μm from an optical parametric oscillator (OPO) was powerscaled in the following OPA system. We used two 1.064 μm lasers to pump the OPO and OPA separately. The pulsewidth adjustment and pulse synchronization of the 1 μm pump laser and 3.82 μm seed laser were realized by changing the parameters of the two acoustic-optical Q-switches in the two pump lasers. With the input pump power of 293.4 W, the amplified 3.82 μm laser power was 40.3 W deducting the injected seed laser power of 2.9 W from OPO. The corresponding conversion efficiency from the pump to the idler was 13.7% for the PPMgOLN OPA.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.