title: Pulsed blue laser at 491 nm by nonlinear cavity dumping.
abstract: A nonlinear cavity dumping process is applied for the first time to generate kW peak power pulses at 491 nm. The system is based on efficient sum-frequency mixing of 1063 nm and 912 nm radiations in a BiBO nonlinear crystal placed inside a Nd:GdVO4 laser oscillator with a high finesse cavity at 912 nm. The nonlinear cavity dumping process is triggered by high peak power nanosecond pulses from a 1063 nm Q-switched Nd:GdVO4 laser operating at 10 kHz. To reach the kW range at 491 nm a key point is to Q-switch the high finesse 912 nm cavity instead of continuous wave operation. Thus, the peak power (9.3 kW for 3 ns pulses) and the average power (280 mW) obtained at 491 nm are 14 times higher than the one obtained when the 912 nm laser operated in continuous wave.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Charles Fabry de l'Institut d'Optique, CNRS, Univ Paris-Sud, Campus Polytechnique, RD 128, 91127 Palaiseau Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Emilie
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Herault
authors.forename: Mickaël
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lelek
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Balembois
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Georges