Portable ultrafast blue light sources designed with frequency doubling in KTP and KNbO3

• We demonstrate an effective means of achieving compact, truly portable, and entirely self-contained ultrafast blue light sources. Using a variety of nonlinear media to achieve simple second-harmonic generation of a femtosecond Cr:LiSAF laser, we investigate the relative merits of aperiodically poled bulk and waveguide nonlinear crystals in comparison to periodically poled structures. Such a compact and convenient source of ultrashort laser pulses in the blue spectral region could be of great interest for on-site applications spanning a host of disciplines, such as biomedical imaging, optical micromanipulation, and high-resolution spectroscopy.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik -- Atom- och molekylfysik och optik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences -- Atom and Molecular Physics and Optics (hsv//eng)

Keyword

diode-pumped lasers

frequency conversion

mode-locked lasers

periodic structures

waveguides

phase-matching gratings

wave-guide crystal

cr-lisaf lasers

2nd-harmonic generation

pulse-compression

potassium niobate

femtosecond laser

efficient

diode

compact

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)