KEYWORDS: Quantum efficiency, Nonlinear optics, Picosecond phenomena, Signal processing, Harmonic generation, Energy efficiency, Crystal optics, Yttrium, System on a chip, Sum-frequency generation
We experimentally demonstrate a new technique for achieving efficient optical parametric amplification (OPA) which maintains the simplicity of conventional OPA implementation and works for common laser wavelengths using existing nonlinear media. This technique is achieved by simultaneously performing OPA and second harmonic generation at the idler wavelength. The dynamics of the two nonlinear processes hybridize, inhibiting back-conversion in the OPA and creating a long region of laser-like gain saturation. We show conversion of 2 μm picosecond pump pulses to 3.4 μm with 68% quantum efficiency, 44% internal pump to signal energy efficiency, and 48-dB gain in a bulk CSP crystal.
Second harmonic amplification - a hybridization of optical parametric amplification and second harmonic generation - is a route to ultra-efficient parametric amplification. Requiring the simultaneous phase matching of two parametric wave-mixing processes, it has limited frequency coverage in the collinear geometry in bulk media. Here we show that noncollinear birefringent phase matching can provide wide frequency tunability of second harmonic amplification across the near- and mid-infrared in the materials ZnGeP2, CdSiP2, LiNbO3, β - BaB2O4, and KD2PO4 in applications designed for accommodating high-energy picosecond pulses generated by solid state lasers. We discuss practical limitations including acceptance angle, phase-matching bandwidth, spatial walk off, and parasitic processes.
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