Continuous-wave mid-infrared intracavity singly resonant optical parametric oscillator based on periodically poled lithium niobate

This paper reports a continuous-wave （CW） mid-infrared intracavity singly resonant optical parametric oscillator based on periodically poled lithium niobate （PPLN） pumped by a diode-end-pumped CW Nd：YVO4 laser. Considering the thermal lens effects, it adopted an optical ballast lens and the near-concentric cavity for better operation. At the PPLN＇s grating period of 28.5 μm and the temperature of 140℃, the maximum idler output power of 155 mW at 3.86 μm has been achieved when the 808 nm pump power is 8.5 W, leading to an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 1.82%.

High efficiency continuous-wave tunable signal output of an intracavity singly resonant optical parametric oscillator based on periodically poled lithium niobate

In this paper we report on a continuous-wave （CW） intracavity singly resonant optical parametric oscillator （ICSRO） based on periodically poled LiNbO3 （PPLN） pumped by a diode-end-pumped CW Nd：YVO4 laser. Considering the thermal lens effects and diffraction loss, an optical ballast lens and a near-concentric cavity are adopted for better operation. Through varying the grating period and the temperature, the tunable signal output from 1406 nm to 1513 nm is obtained. At a PPLN grating period of 29 pm and a temperature of 413 K, a maximum signal output power of 820 mW at 1500 nm is achieved when the 808 nm pump power is 10.9 W, leading to an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 7.51%.

Efficient idler broadening via oppositely dual-chirped difference frequency generation

Dual-chirped difference frequency generation(DFG)is an advantageous technique for generating the broadband midinfrared(IR)idler wave,which is inaccessible by a population-inversion-based laser system.In principle,the generated idler wave may even suffer a spectrum broadening compared with the driving pulsed lasers if the pump and signal waves are oppositely chirped.However,broadband phase-matching is always the determining factor for the resulting efficiency and the bandwidth of the generated idler wave.In this study,specific to an oppositely dual-chirped DFG scheme,we derive the precondition to realize broadband frequency conversion,wherein a negative(1/υp-1/υi)/(1/υs-1/υi),in terms of the correlation coefficient of the group velocity(σ),is necessary.However,most birefringence bulk crystals can only provide the required material dispersions in limited spectral regions.We show that the periodically poled lithium niobate crystal that satisfies an inactive Type-II(eo-o)quasi-phase-matching condition has a stable negativeσand exerts the expected broadband gain characteristic across an ultra-broad idler spectral region(1.7-4.0µm).Finally,we propose and numerically verify a promising DFG configuration to construct a tunable mid-IR spectrum broader based on the broadband phase-matched oppositely dual-chirped DFG scheme.