High power 4.65 μm single-wavelength laser by second-harmonic generation of pulsed TEA CO2 laser in AgGaSe2 and ZnGeP2

Abstract

A high power 4.65 μm single-wavelength laser by second-harmonic generation (SHG) of TEA CO2 laser pulses in silver gallium selenide (AgGaSe2) and zinc germanium phosphide (ZnGeP2) crystals is reported. Experimental results show that the average output power of SHG laser is not only restricted by the damage threshold of the nonlinear crystals, but also limited by the irradiated power of fundamental-wave laser depending on the operating repetition-rate. It is found that ZnGeP2 can withstand higher 9.3 μm laser irradiation intensity than AgGaSe2. As a result, using a parallel array stacked by seven ZnGeP2 crystals, an average power of 20.3 W 4.65 μm laser is obtained at 250 Hz. To the best of our knowledge, it is the highest output power for SHG of CO2 laser by far.