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

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.

Keywords: optical parametric amplifiers picoseconds mid-infrared laser sensitive detection

Received: 14 December 2011
Revised: 27 April 2012
Accepted manuscript online:

PACS:	42.65.-k	(Nonlinear optics)
	42.65.Yj	(Optical parametric oscillators and amplifiers)

Fund: Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61078005), the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2007CB613205), and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation

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Zhang Qiu-Lin(张秋琳), Zhang Jing(张静), Qiu Kang-Sheng(邱康生), Zhang Dong-Xiang(张东香), Feng Bao-Hua(冯宝华), and Zhang Jing-Yuan(张景园) 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 2012 Chin. Phys. B 21 054213

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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

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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