Frequency down-conversion of 1 μm laser radiation to the mid-IR using non-oxide nonlinear crystals in a cascaded intracavity configuration

• A singly-resonant OPO (SRO) based on AgGaSe2 (AGSe) intracavity pumped at ∼1.85 μm by the signal pulses of a Rb:PPKTP doubly-resonant OPO (DRO) provided extremely broad tuning (5.8 to ∼18 μm) for the non-resonated idler. In a similar set-up with the same nonlinear crystals, we studied intracavity difference-frequency generation (DFG). Both AGSe and the new monoclinic crystal BaGa4Se7 (BGSe) generated single pulse energies of ∼0.7 mJ near 7 μm at an overall conversion efficiency from the 1.064 μm pump of 1.2%. The main advantage of BGSe is its damage resistivity up to the maximum pump levels applied at 100 Hz.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik -- Annan fysik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences -- Other Physics Topics (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Cascaded frequency downconversion

Difference-frequency generation

Intracavity pumping

Mid-infrared

Non-oxide nonlinear crystals

Optical parametric oscillators

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