Efficient second harmonic conversion of broad-band high-peak-power Nd:glass laser radiation using large-aperture KDP crystals in quadrature

Author

Pronko, Mark S. ; Lehmberg, Robert H. ; Obenschain, S. ; Pawley, Carl J. ; Manka, Charles K. ; Eckardt, R.

Author_Institution

US Naval Res. Lab., Washington, DC, USA

Volume

26

Issue

2

fYear

1990

fDate

2/1/1990 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

337

Lastpage

347

Abstract

The authors have investigated the second-harmonic conversion efficiency of broadband Nd:glass laser light (Δν/c<30 cm^-1 FWHM). Using two KDP crystals in a quadrature arrangement, they obtain energy conversion efficiencies of ≈55% with an initial bandwidth for the fundamental of Δν/c≈17 cm^-1 FWHM. For these conditions, a modest increase (≈70%) was observed in the harmonic bandwidth (FWHM) relative to the fundamental. The usual theory of three-wave mixing in dispersive birefringent nonlinear crystals is extended to describe the broadband harmonic conversion process; the generalized theory includes the statistical properties of the light and phase mismatch effects on the spectral components in the complex field amplitudes. Good agreement is found between the code calculations and the measurements

Keywords

birefringence; laser beams; optical dispersion; optical frequency conversion; potassium compounds; spectral line breadth; 55 percent; KDP; KH2PO4; Nd:glass laser radiation; broad-band high-peak-power; complex field amplitudes; conversion efficiency; dispersive birefringent nonlinear crystals; energy conversion efficiencies; fundamental; harmonic bandwidth; initial bandwidth; large-aperture KDP crystals; phase mismatch effects; quadrature; second harmonic conversion; spectral components; statistical properties; three-wave mixing; Bandwidth; Birefringence; Crystals; Dispersion; Energy conversion; Glass; Gold; Laboratories; Laser ablation; Laser fusion; Laser modes; Laser theory; Neodymium;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/3.44967

Filename

44967