Open AccessBeam quality and efficiency of ns-pulsed high-power mid-IR ZGP OPOs compared in linear and non-planar ring resonators
Author(s) -
Manuel A. Medina,
M. Piotrowski,
Martin Stevens,
Frank Wagner,
Antoine Berrou,
Anne Hildenbrand-Dhollande
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.430717
Subject(s) - opos , resonator , optics , planar , laser beam quality , materials science , beam (structure) , power (physics) , quality (philosophy) , physics , laser , optoelectronics , nonlinear optics , laser beams , computer graphics (images) , quantum mechanics , computer science
We compare the performance of ns-pulsed mid-infrared optical parametric oscillators (OPOs) based on ZGP crystals in a simple linear cavity and two non-planar image-rotating resonators. Our 2 μm pump source is a 68 W 10 kHz diffraction limited Ho:LLF MOPA system. In a linear cavity, it allows us to generate up to 38 W of the total average power with M 2 <2.2 from the ZGP OPO in the 3-5 μm range. Beam quality and stability are significantly improved in both types of non-planar ring resonators (M 2 <1.8 in RISTRA and M 2 <1.4 in FIRE), while the total average power is above 21 W. Factors influencing the beam quality such as average power and pump repetition rate are studied in detail.