Efficient second-harmonic generation of a high-energy, femtosecond laser pulse in a lithium triborate crystal
C. Aparajit, Kamalesh Jana, Amit D. Lad, Yash M. Ved, A. Couairon, G. Ravindra Kumar
Abstract
We demonstrate the highest efficiency ( <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mo>∼</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:mn>80</mml:mn> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">%</mml:mi> </mml:math> ) second harmonic generation of joule level, 27 fs, high-contrast pulses in a type-I lithium triborate (LBO) crystal. In comparison, potassium dihydrogen phosphate gives a maximum efficiency of 26%. LBO thus offers high-intensity ( <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mo>></mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:mspace width="negativethinmathspace"/> <mml:msup> <mml:mn>10</mml:mn> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mn>18</mml:mn> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>19</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> </mml:mrow> <mml:mspace width="thickmathspace"/> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">W</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mo>/</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">c</mml:mi> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">m</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:msup> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> ), ultra-high contrast femtosecond pulses, which have great potential for high energy density science and applications, particularly with nanostructured targets.