Enhanced efficiency of UV second harmonic and sum frequency generation from copper vapor lasers

Author

Coutts, David W. ; Ainsworth, Mark D. ; Piper, James A.

Author_Institution

Centre for Lasers & Appls., Macquarie Univ., North Ryde, NSW, Australia

Volume

26

Issue

9

fYear

1990

fDate

9/1/1990 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1555

Lastpage

1558

Abstract

The authors have generated over 460-mW output power at 255.1 and 271.2 nm with a wall-plug efficiency of 0.016% and 300 mW at 289.1 nm with a wall-plug efficiency of 0.0008%. Using an off-axis unstable resonator matched to the plasma-tube geometry and gain characteristics along with focusing lenses with reduced achromatic and spherical aberration has allowed the highest efficiencies for nonlinear UV generation from a CVL (copper vapor laser) reported to date. Current UV output powers are limited by crystal damage which may be reduced by modifying the delivery optics

Keywords

copper; gas lasers; light sources; optical harmonic generation; 0.0008 percent; 0.016 percent; 255.1 nm; 271.2 nm; 289.1 nm; 300 mW; 460 mW; Cu vapour lasers; UV generation efficiency; UV output powers; UV second harmonic; aberration reduction; achromatic aberrations; crystal damage; focusing lenses; gain characteristics; nonlinear UV generation; off-axis unstable resonator; plasma-tube geometry; spherical aberration; sum frequency generation; wall-plug efficiency; Copper; Frequency; Laser modes; Lenses; Nonlinear optics; Optical harmonic generation; Optical resonators; Plugs; Polarization; Power lasers;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/3.102635

Filename

102635