Optical parametric generation at extremely low pump irradiance in a long periodically poled lithium niobate

Shy Acco; Pinhas Blau; Shaul Pearl; Ady Arie

doi:10.1117/12.700707

14 February 2007 Optical parametric generation at extremely low pump irradiance in a long periodically poled lithium niobate

Shy Acco, Pinhas Blau, Shaul Pearl, Ady Arie

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 6455, Nonlinear Frequency Generation and Conversion: Materials, Devices, and Applications VI; 64551A (2007) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.700707
Event: Lasers and Applications in Science and Engineering, 2007, San Jose, California, United States

Abstract

Optical parametric generator (OPG) is a very attractive optical down-conversion configuration since it is a single pass process and no cavity mirror's alignment is required. Thus the system configuration is much more simple and robust. Traditionally, OPG processes were demonstrated using a pump source with a pulse length of the order of picoseconds or less. This is because GW/cm² order of magnitude pump irradiance was required to excite an OPG process, and such irradiance in nanosecond long pulses commonly damages the non-linear crystal. The introduction of periodically poled crystals with high non-linear coefficients has significantly lowered the threshold for parametric processes. This progress in non-linear crystals enables exciting OPG processes at less than 100MW/cm² irradiance, using nanoseconds long pulses from Q-switched lasers. We present an OPG with a threshold of less than 10 MW/cm² using an 80 mm long Periodically Poled Lithium Niobate (PPLN) non-linear crystal. High signal conversion efficiency and high power were obtained at 25 nanosecond pulse length, 10 kHz repetition rate pumping without damaging the crystal. Theoretical approaches for explaining this OPG regime are discussed.

Citation Download Citation

Shy Acco, Pinhas Blau, Shaul Pearl, and Ady Arie "Optical parametric generation at extremely low pump irradiance in a long periodically poled lithium niobate", Proc. SPIE 6455, Nonlinear Frequency Generation and Conversion: Materials, Devices, and Applications VI, 64551A (14 February 2007); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.700707

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

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.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available