Optical Parametric Generation in Hydrothermally-grown KTiOPO4

Abstract

KTiOPO4 (KTP) is a widely used material for frequency doubling Nd:YAG lasers and other Nd-doped laser systems emitting around 1.06 μm /1/. Second harmonic generation of a 1.32 μm Nd:YAG laser has also been shown in this material /2/. Recently, second harmonic generation at other wavelengths and sum-frequency mixing of the outputs of a Nd:YAG and a near infrared dye laser has been reported in KTP /3/,/4/. Prior to the latter work, sum frequency mixing in KTP of the signal and idler generated by a parametric LilO3 oscillator has also been described /5/. Here, we report the first observation of single-pass optical parametric generation in hydrothermally-grown KTP. By pumping with the second harmonic of a picosecond Nd:YLF laser system (526 nm), we have obtained high peak power radiation tunable from 600 nm to 4.3 μm.