Compact Mid-Infrared Laser

Significant deficiencies exist in the laser source technology for IRCM, specifically in the limited pulse rep-rate capability, limited average power output and capability to be transitioned to military environments. We propose a novel tandem OPO concept that uses two noncritical phasematched OPO's in KTA and AgGaSe(2) to generate the desired three output wavelength bands simultaneously. This concept uses existing materials where they have their best transmission characteristics to minimize bulk absorption and resulting thermally induced dephasing. Noncritical phasematching (NCPM) eliminates walkoff and makes conversion of small pulse energies practical. Obtaining efficient conversion with the IRCM pulse format is critical to making such systems meet size/weight constraints. NCPM also enables the use of relatively high divergence pump beams. This potentially enables the use of crossed porro-prism resonator designs like those used in all current military lasers, making reliable operation of the laser in the field a possibility. The phase I program will demonstrate the capability of a NCPM KTA OPO being used to pump the NCPM AgGaSe(2) OPO and will demonstrate over 1 watt output and Band IV at 10 kHz.