Optical parametric master oscillator and power amplifier for efficient conversion of high-energy pulses with high beam quality

Abstract

Abstract:We describe a system for parametric conversion of high-energy, Q-switched laser pulses from 1.064 µm to 2.1 µm in KTiOPO 4 . High beam quality and efficiency are obtained by use of a two-stage system: An optical parametric oscillator (OPO) pumped by a narrow beam with 8 mJ of energy, generates 1.9 mJ of signal energy for seeding an optical parametric amplifier (OPA). With 500 mJ pump energy, different OPA configurations produce up to 138 mJ signal energy with M 2 ≈ 2.3.

Demonstration of a 100-mJ OPO/OPA for future lidar applications and laser-induced damage threshold testing of optical components for MERLIN

“…According to the work of Arisholm et al, 12 this can improve beam quality and output power. The KTP crystals are cut in a critical phase-matching configuration (θ ¼ 76 deg, ϕ ¼ 0 deg).…”

Atmospheric CO2 measurements with a 2-μm DIAL instrument

“…To maintain the beam quality at the output the KTP crystals are oriented in a walk-off compensation configuration. A dichroic mirror is inserted between the second and the third crystal to mitigate back-conversion defects, following the approach from [7].…”

Co2 remote detection using a 2-?m dial instrument

“…To maintain a high beam quality at the output, the four bulk 20 mm long KTP amplifiers are oriented in a walk-off compensation configuration, and a filtering mirror, highly reflective for the idler wave, is inserted between crystal 2 and crystal 3 in order to mitigate back-conversion defects. Indeed, it has already been shown that such idler suppression scheme reduces saturation and thus limits its detrimental effects such as beam quality deterioration [5]. The performances of the source are measured at 2.05 µm, in the vicinity of the R30 CO 2 line.…”