Apr 17, 2014

High power laser sources at exotic wavelengths

High power laser sources at exotic wavelengths may be a step closer as researchers in China report a fibre optic parametric oscillator with record breaking efficiency. The research team believe this could lead to new light sources for a range of biomedical imaging applications.

For fibre lasers the most commonly available outputs are around 1.06, 1.5 or 2.0 µm. Developing materials that can provide gain in less conventional wavelength bands is difficult and it is easier to employ conversion from the wavelength of a more conventional laser source.
Fibre optical parametric amplifiers (FOPAs) can convert optical energy from conventional wavelengths and a fibre optical parametric oscillator (FOPO) based on the gain from a FOPA can generate tuneable radiation. Theoretically, FOPAs could provide optical gain at nearly any wavelength and so FOPOs could emit laser beams in nearly any wavelength. However, low conversion efficiencies limit the usefulness of FOPOs as light sources.


Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2014-04-high-power-laser-sources-exotic.html#jCp

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