Boosting and Taming Wave Breakup in Second Harmonic Generation

Modulation instability is a universal phenomenon that can be found in a wide variety of nonlinear systems where, in the presence of a noise seed, peaks of random intensities can be generated. Several dynamical systems admit exact solutions in the form of breathers or solitons on a finite background. The vast majority of soliton studies has been restricted so far to one-dimensional systems. In contrast, the occurrences of localized structures in fully spatiotemporal systems has been only sporadically explored. In this work, we experimentally study the conditions for the wave-breaking of spatially extended optical beams in the process of second harmonic generation. Whenever the pump energy of the picosecond-long fundamental beam reaches a critical level, the beam shape at the second harmonic in a KTP crystal breaks into small filaments. These filaments exhibit extreme local intensity peaks, and their statistical distribution can be modified by the input energy of the fundamental beam. Moreover, by analyzing similar wave-breaking dynamics in a PPLN crystal in the presence of a higher nonlinear quadratic response, we observe that the spatial beam breaking may even gradually vanish as the laser intensity grows larger, leading to a spatial reshaping into a smooth and wider beam, accompanied by a substantial broadening of its temporal spectrum.

Measurement of the absorption coefficient of a periodically poled LiNbO3 crystal at a radiation wavelength of 3 μm

Problem formulating. In the case of nonlinear-optical conversion of high-power laser radiation in nonlinear-optical crystals the optical absorption leads to a nonuniform heating of the crystals, which results in the violation of phase matching conditions, the formation of defects, and optical damage. Goal. Measurements of optical absorption coefficient of the periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) crystal at 3 μm radiation wavelength using the piezoelectric resonance laser calorimetry (PRLC). Result. The optical absorption coefficient of PPLN crystal at 3.045 μm radiation wavelength was measured using the piezoelectric resonance laser calorimetry. The value (1.15±0.15) 10⋅ -2cm-1 of absorption coefficient within the measurement error limits was independent of the initial temperature of PPLN and the incident radiation power in the ranges 293–343 K and 0.2–10 W respectively. Practical meaning. The interaction of mid-IR laser radiation with PPLN crystal was studied using the piezoelectric resonance laser calorimetry.

A Wavelength Tunable CW Orange-red Laser Source Based on Magnesium Oxide-doped Periodically-poled LiNbO3 in an Intracavity Sum-frequency Generation

A watt-level continuous wave (CW) orange-red laser with wavelength tunable properties is experimentally implemented based on sum-frequency generation (SFG) in a composite cavity. The cavity is composed of an 880 nm laser diode (LD) side-pumped Nd: GdVO4 p-polarized 1062.9 nm cavity and a single-resonant optical parametric oscillator (SRO) of signal light using a magnesium oxide-doped periodically-poled LiNbO3 (MgO: PPLN) crystal with a poling period of 29.1 μm. In the overlap region of the two cavities, orange-red laser is generated by using a type-II critical phase-matched potassium titanyl phosphate crystal (KTP) crystal. In the temperature tuning range of the MgO: PPLN crystal (from 30 °C to 200 °C), the CW orange-red laser beams are generated in a tunable waveband from 612.24 nm to 620.72 nm (Δλ = 8.48 nm), corresponding to the mid-infrared idler light is also obtained with tunable wavelength from 4027.5 nm to 3708.2 nm (Δλ = 319.3 nm). At the lowest tuning temperature of 30 °C, the maximum CW output power of the orange-red laser at 612.24 nm and the idler light at 4027.5 nm are obtained, which are 1.145 W and 2.83 W, respectively.

Simultaneous Generation of Two Orthogonally Polarized Terahertz Waves by Stimulated Polariton Scattering with a Periodically Poled LiNbO3 Crystal

We present a theoretical investigation of the simultaneous generation of two orthogonally polarized terahertz (THz) waves by stimulated polariton scattering (SPS) with a periodically poled LiNbO3 (PPLN) crystal. The two orthogonally polarized THz waves are generated from SPS with A1 and E symmetric transverse optical (TO) modes in a LiNbO3 crystal, respectively. The parallel polarized THz wave is generated from A1 symmetric TO modes with type-0 phase-matching of e = e + e, and the perpendicular polarized THz wave is generated from E symmetric TO modes with type-I phase-matching of e = o + o. The two types of phase-matching of e = e + e and e = o + o can be almost satisfied simultaneously by accurately selecting the poling period of the PPLN crystal. We calculate the photon flux density of the two orthogonally polarized THz waves by solving the coupled wave equations. The calculation results indicate that the two orthogonally polarized THz waves can be efficiently generated, and the relative intensities between the two orthogonally polarized THz waves can be modulated.