Broadband non-collinear double QPM optical parametric amplification in mid-infrared wave

Abstract

The properties of optical parametric amplification (OPA) based on non-collinear double quasi-phase matching (NDQPM) with single periodically poled KTP (PPKTP) have been investigated theoretically. The NDQPM includes two different non-linear processes: one is optical parametric generation (OPG) and the other is difference frequency generation (DFG). The investigation of our numerical simulation focuses on the gain bandwidth of dependence upon non-collinear angle, grating period and crystal temperature. At a certain non-collinear angle and grating period with fixed temperature, there exists a broadest gain bandwidths of output mid-infrared pulse at 526 nm pump wavelength and certain signal wavelength in PPKTP. These are an optimal values of non-collinear angles and grating period. By accurately tuning the non-collinear angle or temperature near the optimal non-collinear angle, broadband mid-infrared tuning is obtained and an optimal operation of NDQPM can be realized. In this paper, the solutions of the coupled equations of the cascaded processes were discussed, and the spatial–temporal frequency (STF) band of the output idler pulse is analyzed by taking angular dispersion of amplified pulse beam into account. The idler pulse with a certain angular dispersion can improve the OPA bandwidth significantly. So, optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification can be realized in this configuration. For a broadband NDQPM both the acceptance angles and the acceptance temperature are smaller and the gain bandwidth is sensitive to non-collinear angles and temperature, it is important to control the precision of the non-collinear angles and the temperature in experiment.