High-power 1.5 and 3.4μm intracavity KTA OPO driven by a diode-pumped Q-switched Nd:YAG laser

Abstract: With a non-critically phase-matched KTA crystal, a high-power intracavity optical parametric oscillator (IOPO) driven by a diode-side-pumped acousto-optically Q-switched Nd:YAG laser has been realized. The maximum average output power of 13.6W at the signal wavelength of 1534nm and 3W at the idler wavelength of 3472.7nm were obtained with the repetition rate of 18kHz, giving the optical–optical conversion efficiency of about 5.7% from diode-power at 808nm to OPO signal output, which was the highest conversion efficiency for intracavity KTA OPO with diode-side-pumping configurations to our best knowledge. At the highest output power of 13.6W, the signal pulse duration of 5.46ns was obtained, corresponding to the single pulse energy of 756μJ and peak power of 138kW, respectively. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]