New nonlinear-laser effects in YbVO4 crystal: Sesqui-octave stokes and anti-Stokes comb generation and the cascaded self-frequency “tripling” of χ(3)-Stokes components under a one-micron picosecond pumping

Abstract

We report the experimental investigations of nonlinear-laser effects in vanadate YbVO4 under a onemicron picosecond Nd3+:Y3Al5O12 laser pumping. In this tetragonal host-crystal for Ln3+ lasants, for the first time, we excited more than one-and-a-half octave (≈11661 cm−1) Raman-induced Stokes and anti-Stokes generation combs and observed a multistep cascaded parametric χ(3) lasing in the deep-blue spectral region. All generation lines were identified and attributed to the SRS-promoting vibration mode of the crystal (ωSRS ≈ 897 cm−1). We classified the ytterbium vanadate as a promising material for Raman frequency converters, wideband χ(3)-nonlinear comb generators, and as a gain medium for solid-state lasers.