Compact, Q-switched, intracavity OPO

Author

Conroy, R.S. ; Rae, C.F. ; Dunn, M.H. ; Sinclair, B.D. ; Ley, J.M.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Phys. & Astron., St. Andrews Univ., UK

fYear

1999

fDate

28-28 May 1999

Firstpage

516

Abstract

Summary form only given. In recent years there has been much interest in miniature optical parametric oscillators (OPOs) as sources of tuneable coherent radiation. We report an intracavity OPO based on an actively Q-switched semi-monolithic Nd:YVO/sub 4/ microchip laser and PPLN. The novelty of this OPO lies in its simple compact (<50 mm long) linear design, and its low diode-pumped threshold (/spl sim/1 W), making it a realistic, inexpensive source of widely tuneable nanosecond pulses.

Keywords

dielectric polarisation; infrared sources; laser tuning; lithium compounds; micro-optics; microcavity lasers; neodymium; optical materials; optical parametric oscillators; optical pulse generation; optical pumping; optical tuning; solid lasers; yttrium compounds; 1 W; 50 mm; LiNbO/sub 3/; Nd:YVO/sub 4/ microchip laser; YVO/sub 4/:Nd; actively Q-switched semi-monolithic microchip laser; compact Q-switched intracavity optical parametric oscillator; diode-pumped threshold; inexpensive source; intracavity optical parametric oscillators; miniature optical parametric oscillators; periodically poled LiNbO/sub 3/; simple compact linear design; tuneable coherent radiation; widely tuneable nanosecond pulses; Diodes; Laser tuning; Microchip lasers; Nonlinear optics; Optical coupling; Optical devices; Optical pulse generation; Optical pumping; Physics; Tunable circuits and devices;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Lasers and Electro-Optics, 1999. CLEO '99. Summaries of Papers Presented at the Conference on

Conference_Location

Baltimore, MD, USA

Print_ISBN

1-55752-595-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/CLEO.1999.834528

Filename

834528