Topical Papers on Microchip Lasers and Applications. Characteristics of Blue and Green Solid-State Lasers Using MgO-LiNbO3 Periodic Domain Inverted Bulk SHG Crystal.

Abstract

A quasi-phasematched second harmonic generation device with a periodically poled crystal is one of the most attractive methods for realizing high-quality visible lasers. We have recently newly developed a blue and green laser diode-pumped intracavity frequency doubling solid-state lasers through the use of periodically poled bulk MgO-LiNbO3. The periodically poled MgO-LiNbO3 with uniform periodicity was successfully obtained by a novel corona discharge method. The larger temperature-acceptance bandwidth of the periodically poled bulk MgO-LiNbO3 made it possible to realize the simultaneous temperature control of the laser diode and of the solid-state laser cavity. In addition, the stable single axial mode operation in the solid-state laser was accomplished by using an etalon. As a result, our new blue and green solid-state laser is compact, has high-stability laser power, low noise operation, and high beam quality. By using these blue and green solid-state lasers, a new digital photo-printing system and a new fluorescent image analyzer were realized.