Highly efficient single pass blue light generation at 488 nm using a PPKTP waveguide crystal and high brightness diode lasers

摘要

The combination of high brightness laser diodes and periodically poled (PP) waveguide crystals for the generation of blue light at the technically interesting wavelength of 488 nm is promising. Although PPKTP has a lower nonlinear coefficient compared to PPLN it is of interest for the use in such devices. Because of its higher photorefractive damage threshold, it is well suited for operation at room temperature. In this work, a DFB laser as well as a tunable external cavity enhanced broad area diode laser (ECDL) are used for second harmonic generation using a waveguide PPKTP crystal. Both lasers yield several hundred Miliwatts of diffraction limited light around a center wavelength of 976 nm with excellent spectral properties. The ECDL system is further tunable over a broad range of 40 nm. The PPKTP crystal has a length of 12 mm and the 4 μm × 8 μm waveguides are manufactured by ion exchange followed by a patented submount poling technique. By using a DFB laser diode as pump source a laser to waveguide coupling efficiency of more than 55% could be achieved. A maximum output power of 66.7 mW could be generated out of 220 mW infrared light inside the waveguide channel at room temperature. This results in a conversion efficiency of more than 260%/W.