Abstract

Second harmonic (SHG) and sum frequency generation (SFG) from the green and yellow copper vapour laser (CVL) wavelengths (510.6 nm and 578.2 nm) into the ultraviolet. (255 nm, 271 nm and 289 nm) using the nonlinear crystal, beta barium borate (BBO) is now an established technique. UV powers over one watt are readily available from medium scale CVL’s operating at low pulse repetition rates (prf 4-5kHz), where the CVL gain duration is longest (maximising the yield of high beam quality output) and the peak power is relatively high. However, extending the prf range and UV power would benefit many application areas such as micro-machining[1]. Efficient SHG of CVL output at elevated prf’s is difficult, due to decreases in both the pulse average beam quality and peak power of the CVL output[2].

© 1996 Optical Society of America