Generation of Broadly Tunable Picosecond Mid-Infrared Laser and Sensitive Detection of a Mid-Infrared Signal by Parametric Frequency Up-Conversion in MgO: LiNbO3 Optical Parametric Amplifiers

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2012

Publication Title

Chinese Physics B

DOI

10.1088/1674-1056/21/5/054213

Abstract

Picosecond optical parametric generation and amplification in the near-infrared region within 1.361–1.656 μm and the mid-infrared region within 2.976–4.875 μm is constructed on the basis of bulk MgO:LiNbO3 crystals pumped at 1.064 μm. The maximum pulse energy reaches 1.3 mJ at 1.464 μm and 0.47 mJ at 3.894 μm, corresponding to a pump-to-idler photon conversion efficiency of 25%. By seeding the hard-to-measure mid-infrared radiation as the idler in the optical parametric amplification and measuring the amplified and frequency up-converted signal in the near-infrared or even visible region, one can measure very week mid-infrared radiation with ordinary detectors, which are insensitive to mid-infrared radiation, with a very high gain. A maximum gain factor of about 7 × 107 is achieved at the mid-infrared wavelength of 3.374 μm and the corresponding energy detection limit is as low as about 390 aJ per pulse.

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