High-average-power KTiOAsO4 optical parametric oscillator.

Area of Science:

• Optics and Photonics
• Nonlinear Optics
• Laser Technology

Background:

• Optical Parametric Oscillators (OPOs) are crucial for generating tunable laser light.
• High-average-power OPOs are essential for various applications, but often limited by crystal thermal effects.
• Potassium titanyl arsenate (KTA) offers potential advantages over KTiOPO4 (KTP) due to lower absorption.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate high-average-power generation from an OPO using KTA crystals.
• To investigate the performance of KTA in a high-power OPO system.
• To compare KTA with KTP for high-power OPO applications.

Main Methods:

• Utilized noncritically phase-matched 1-cm² aperture KTA crystals within an OPO setup.
• Employed a 100-Hz Q-switched 1064-nm Nd:YAG laser as the pump source.
• Measured the sustained average signal power at 1534.7 nm.

Main Results:

• Achieved a sustained average signal power of 33 W at 1534.7 nm, a record for OPOs.
• Observed negligible idler absorption in KTA, unlike in KTP.
• Minimized thermally induced refractive distortion in the KTA crystal, enabling high-power operation.

Conclusions:

• KTA is a highly effective material for high-average-power OPO generation.
• The low idler absorption of KTA significantly reduces thermal distortion, facilitating power scaling.
• This work establishes a new benchmark for average signal power in OPOs.