Control of frequency chirp in nanosecond-pulsed laser spectroscopy. 2. A long-pulse optical parametric oscillator for narrow optical bandwidth
Date
2004
Authors
White, Richard T
He, Yabai
Orr, Brian J
Kono, Mitsuhiko
Baldwin, Kenneth
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Optical Society of America
Abstract
An injection-seeded optical parametric oscillator (OPO) based on periodically poled KTiOPO₄ is pumped at 532 nm by relatively long (∼27-ns) pulses from a specially constructed Nd:YAG laser. This pulsed OPO system generates continuously tunable, single-longitudinal-mode output at signal wavelengths near 842 nm, which is suitable for high-resolution spectroscopy. Optical-heterodyne measurements show that chirp in the instantaneous frequency of the pulsed OPO signal output radiation increases linearly as the seed frequency is detuned from the free-running (unseeded) OPO frequency. The frequency chirp can be maintained below 10 MHz, which is substantially less than the Fourier-transform-limited optical bandwidth (17.5 MHz full width at half-maximum for a 25-ns OPO signal pulse) and is insensitive to variation of the fluence of the pump radiation. The effects of detuning the OPO cavity length from resonance with the seed frequency and the onset of partially seeded OPO operation are also investigated.
Description
Keywords
Keywords: Bandwidth; Fourier transforms; Laser modes; Laser pulses; Light; Light polarization; Light propagation; Optical parametric oscillators; Optimization; Pumping (laser); Refractive index; Spectroscopy; High resolution spectroscopy; Optical bandwidth; Optical
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Source
Journal of the Optical Society of America B
Type
Journal article