title: High-efficiency intracavity Nd:YVO4\KTA optical parametric oscillator with 3.6 W output power at 1.53 microm.
abstract: An efficient intracavity KTA optical parametric oscillator (OPO) driven by diode-end-pumped acousto-optical Q-switched Nd:YVO(4) laser is demonstrated. The mode mismatch between fundamental cavity and OPO cavity caused by the thermal lens effect in Nd:YVO(4) crystal as the pump power increased was studied. To lessen mode mismatch, a thermal lens-like cavity mirror made of plane BK7 glass induced by idler absorption was introduced into the OPO cavity. Under a diode pump power of 20 W, a maximum 1535nm light output power of 3.6 W was achieved at the pulse repetition rate of 60 kHz, corresponding to a diode-to-signal conversion efficiency of 18%. This is the highest efficiency reported for eye-safe laser based on intracavity OPO.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials Chemistry and Physics, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Fuzhou 350002, China.
authors.forename: Haiyong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Ge
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Huibin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Chenghui
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Yanmin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Duan
authors.forename: Yidong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Hongyan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Qiu