| Popis: |
The need for laser sources in the Mid-Infrared (MIR) region from 3-5 um has generated renewed interest 1n frequency downconversion techniques. Applications such as laser surgery, communications, lidar, and military countermeasures are in need of compact, efficient and reliable sources emitting in this region. Current sources such as chemical and F-center lasers do not meet these requirements, but extending the range of solid state lasers with non-linear techniques may have an impact in these areas. To extend near-infrared (NIR) sources from the .7-2.1 um region to the MIR region, the use of optical parametric oscillators (OPOs), Raman shifters, and difference frequency generation (DFG) have been employed. This thesis briefly reviews the Raman and DFG approaches and goes into detail on the key OPO parameters. Experimental work done with a KTP OPO is compared to a theoretical model developed by Byer and Bronsan. A review of recent work and crystal properties used for MIR generation will also be discussed. |
