TUNABLE SOLID STATE LASER SOURCE

THE NEW NON-LINEAR CRYSTAL BETA-BARIUM BORATE (B-BAB(2)O(4), BBO) HAS BEEN RECENTLY IDENTIFIED AS A VERY PROMISING MATERIAL FOR NONLINEAR FREQUENCY CONVERSION, AND OPTICAL PARAMETRIC OSCILLATION. IT IS INDEED AN EXCELLENT MATERIAL FOR PRODUCING TUNABLE LASER RADIATION FROM 400 TO 700NM WHEN IT IS USED AS AN OPO, PUMPED BY A THIRD HARMONIC 354.7NM FROM A ND:YAG LASER. IT IS PROPOSED THAT A PRACTICALOPO DEVICE BE BUILT USING ONE CRYSTAL AS OPO AND ONE AS OPA FOR TUNING THE RANGE 400NM TO 700NM WITH A CRYSTAL ORIENTATION OF 27 DEG AND TUNING OVER + OR - 5 DEG. THE OPO CRYSTAL (6X10X7MM[3]) IS TUNED IN THE 10MM DIRECTION TO GIVE ADEQUATE TUNING OF + OR - 5 DEG ANGLE. THE OPA CRYSTAL SIZE IS 6X10X9MM(3) FOR ADEQUATE AMPLIFICATION. THE CRYSTAL CD*A IS USEDAS TYPE I DOUBLER AND KD*P IS USED AS A TYPE II TRIPLER. THE OVERALL TRIPLING EFFICIENCY OF 25% OF THE FUNDAMENTAL 1060NM ND"YAG RADIATION. THIS 355NM TRIPLED RADIATION WILL BE USED TO PUMP THE B-BBO OPO AND SUBSEQUENT BBO OPA WITH AN EXPECTED EFFICIENCY OF 20 TO 30% OF THE PUMP AT 355NM. THIS DEVICE IS SOLID STATE, EFFIEICNT, RELIABLE, COMPACT AND HIGHLY TEMPERATURE STABLE BECAUSE OF THE UNIQUE FEATURE OF A VERY LARGE TEMPERATURE ACCEPTANCE WIDTH OF 55 DEG C (FWHM). A MARKED IMPROVEMENT IN THE OPO PERFORMANCE IS EXPECTED TO CREATE SIGNIFICANT IMPACT IN THE SOLID STATE TUNABLE LASER TECHNOLOGY.