Abstract

Efficient means of extending the wavelengths of solid-state lasers to the blue are currently being sought. We have generated 435 nm radiation by four-wave mixing between an 8 ns 1064 nm pulse, and a time-delayed 7 ns 532 nm pulse; both pulses being obtained from a single Nd:YAG laser. The first pulse at 1064 nm generates a Stokes shifted output at a frequency ω_S = ω_P - ω_Q, and a coherent excitation Q of the medium, where ω_Q is the frequency of Q. This Q decays on a ns timescale, after termination of the initial pump pulse and the second pulse can scatter off this existing Q with a resultant enhancement in gain.

© 1990 Optical Society of America