OUTPUT IN THE VISIBLE TO NEAR-INFRARED

THE OPTICAL PARAMETRIC OSCILLATOR (OPO) IS KNOWN TO BE A WIDELY TUNABLE SOURCE OF LASER RADIATION. WIDESPREAD USE OF OPO'S HAS NOT OCCURRED BECAUSE SUITABLE NON-LINEAR MATERIALS HAVE NOT BEEN AVAILABLE. RECENT RESEARCH AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY HAS SHOWN UREA IS A POTENTIALLY EXCELLENT MATERIAL FOR USE IN OPO'S WITH OUTPUTS IN THE VISIBLE TO NEAR-INFRARED SPECTRAL REGION. OVERALL CONVERSION EFFICIENCY AS HIGH AS 23% HAS BEEN DEMONSTRATED WITH A SINGLY RESONANT UREA OPO PUMPED BY A TRIPLED Q-SWITCHED ND-YAG LASER. AVERAGE OUTPUT POWER AT 10HZ HAS BEEN LIMITED TO 6MW. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROGRAM IS TO DESIGN, ASSEMBLE AND TEST A UREA OPO OPTIMIZED FOR GENERATION 100MW AVERAGE POWER CONTINUOUSLY TUNABLE FROM 550NM-1000NM WHEN PUMPED WITH THE TRIPLED OUTPUT OF A Q-SWITCHED ND-YAG LASER OPERATING AT 10HZ. THE OPO WILL BE A FLUID FILLED HOUSING WITH DICHORIC DIELECTRIC MIRRORS AS HOUSING WINDOWS AND THE LARGEST AVAILABLE UREA CRYSTAL MOUNTED INSIDE. ROTATION OF THE UREA CRYSTAL INSIDE THE HOUSING WILL TUNE THE OUTPUT. THE UREA OPO WILL BE TESTED FOR OSCILLATION THRESHOLD, OUTPUT AT VARIOUS INPUT POWERS AND OUTPUT WAVELENGTHS, MAXIMUM OUTPUT POWER, AND THE SPECTRAL, SPACIAL AND TEMPORAL QUALITY OF THE OUTPUT.