High Power Mid-Infrared Generation with a Quasi-Phase Matched GaAs Guided-wave Optical Parametric Oscillator

摘要

As described in our original proposal, the goal of this project is to create a new type of engineered nonlinear optical material, orientation- patterned GaAs, and use it to demonstrate improved high-power coherent mid- infrared sources. Considerable effort has been devoted over the past decade to the development of mid-IR coherent sources based on nonlinear optical frequency conversion, e.g., optical parametric oscillator (OPOs), pumped by available high-power near-IR sources such as diode-laser-pumped solid-state lasers or near-IR diode lasers themselves. The rapid development of quasiphasematched materials, especially periodically-poled ferroelectrics, has revolutionized this field for wavelengths in the 2-4 micrometers region. At 4 to 5 micrometers absorption limits the maximum power attainable to the range of several watts, and operation is entirely precluded in the 8 to 12 micrometers band. The orientation-patterned GaAs that we are developing is intended to complement periodically-poled ferroelectrics, providing a lithographically-engineerable low-loss material for high power devices at wavelengths beyond 4 micrometers.