ABSTRACT
An ultracompact, actively Q -switched optical parametric oscillator (OPO) has been realized that is only 30 mm in length, based on a semimonolithic microchip laser, a quadrupole deflector, and a monolithic periodically poled lithium niobate crystal. The OPO threshold was 550 mW when Nd:YAG was used as the gain material and 590 mW for Nd:Y VO(4), giving signal pulses of as much as 8.7 muJ in energy with Nd:YAG at 1 kHz and 5.9-muJ pulses with Nd:Y VO(4) at 5 kHz, for 1.2- and 2-W laser diode pumping, respectively. The output was single frequency and could be tuned over the range 1540-3440 nm.
ABSTRACT
We report a singly resonant pulsed intracavity KTiOPO>(4) optical parametric oscillator that uses a semi-monolithic microchip laser design. The compact (50-mm-long), low-threshold (1.3-W) cavity uses a novel quadrupole deflector Q switch to give 4-microJ pulses at 1.064 microm and 0.4-microJ signal pulses of 5.6-ns duration at 1.53 microm with a repetition frequency of 5 kHz when it is pumped with a 2-W laser diode. The signal pulses are diffraction limited and single frequency.
