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.
Recommended Citation
Zhang, Qiu-Lin, Jing Zhang, Kang-Sheng Qiu, Dong-Xiang Zhang, Bao-Hua Feng, Jing-Yuan Zhang.
2012.
"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."
Chinese Physics B, 21 (5): IOP Publishing.
doi: 10.1088/1674-1056/21/5/054213
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/physics-facpubs/83
