Abstract

We report what is to our knowledge the first optical parametric oscillator (OPO) generating coherent laser radiation with high optical-to-optical conversion efficiency in the near ultraviolet. The OPO, pumped at 307.8 nm by a pulsed injection-seeded XeCl excimer laser, employs a crystal of LiB₃O₅ in a noncritical phase-matching geometry to generate tunable output over the range 381–387 nm in the near ultraviolet and 1.5–1.6 μm in the near infrared. We report internal energy conversion efficiencies as high as 28% for the signal wave at 385.5 nm and 7% for the idler wave at 1.53 μm, leading to a total internal conversion efficiency of 35%. Studies of oscillation threshold, external and internal conversion efficiency, spectral linewidth, and temporal variation of output pulses are also reported. Temperature tuning of the LiB₃O₅ OPO under the noncritical phase-matching condition is demonstrated for the first time to our knowledge.

© 1991 Optical Society of America

Blue parametric generation from temperature-tuned LiB₃O₅

Frank Hanson and David Dick
Opt. Lett. 16(4) 205-207 (1991)

Picosecond Ti:sapphire-pumped optical parametric oscillator based on LiB₃O₅

M. Ebrahimzadeh, S. French, W. Sibbett, and A. Miller
Opt. Lett. 20(2) 166-168 (1995)

Doubly resonant optical parametric oscillator formed by index matching cavity mirrors directly onto an uncoated LiB₃O₅ crystal

Tracy R. Stevenson, Finlay G. Colville, Malcolm H. Dunn, and Miles J. Padgett
Opt. Lett. 20(7) 722-724 (1995)

LiB₃O₅ optical parametric oscillator pumped by a Q-switched frequency-doubled all-solid-state laser

G. J. Hall and A. I. Ferguson
Opt. Lett. 18(18) 1511-1513 (1993)

Continuous-wave singly resonant pump-enhanced type II LiB₃O₅ optical parametric oscillator

Gordon Robertson, Miles J. Padgett, and Malcolm H. Dunn
Opt. Lett. 19(21) 1735-1737 (1994)