Optimum design considerations for CW intra-cavity second harmonic generation in end-pumped solid-state lasers

Abstract

An understanding of performance of a laser system in terms of design parameters is of the great importance to the engineer who is designing a laser system. This manuscript describes a theoretical report on the optimum design key parameters of an intracavity frequency doubled end-pumped solid-state laser based on the combination of space-dependent rate equations and nonlinear coupled-wave analysis of second-harmonic generation. The theoretical framework along with the results presenting the effect of various parameters such as pump beam characteristics, gain medium and nonlinear crystal properties to optimize the SHG efficiency has been investigated. By considering the optimized root mean square of pump beam radius as the effective value of pump spot size in the gain medium and perfect phase matching between fundamental and second harmonic waves,optimum nonlinear crystal's length, optimum mode size and second harmonic output power are derived as a function of pump-beam characteristics, and properties of the nonlinear and gain medium crystals. The results show that the optimum nonlinear crystal's length depends not only on the nonlinear coefficient and spot radius of laser beam but also on the pump beam properties and gain medium characteristic. In addition, the effect of pump and gain medium properties on the optimal fundamental beam by taking into account thermal aberration are investigated. The obtained results give useful guidelines for choosing the suitable active and nonlinear crystals for a given pump source and allow the straightforward evaluation of laser parameters for efficient intracavity doubling in end-pumped solid-state lasers.