Tunable, CW Laser Emission at 225 nm via Intracavity Frequency Tripling in a Semiconductor Disk Laser

Abstract

Numerous applications would benefit from a compact laser source with tunable, continuous-wave emission in the deep ultraviolet (wavelengths <250 nm); however, very few laser sources have been demonstrated with direct emission in this spectral region and options are generally limited to pulsed, fixed wavelength sources or complex and impractical setups for nonlinear frequency mixing of the emission of several infrared lasers in various external enhancement cavities. Here, we propose an all-solid-state, continuous-wave, tunable laser with emission between 224 and 226 nm via intracavity frequency tripling in an AlGaInP-based semiconductor disk laser (SDL). Output power up to 78 μW is achieved in continuous wave operation, with a tuning range over 350 cm-1. AlGaInP-based SDLs may be designed to emit anywhere between ∼640-690 nm such that wavelengths between 213 and 230 nm may be targeted for specific applications using a similar set-up. An in-depth study of the nonlinear conversion has been carried out to understand the limitations of the set-up, namely large walk-off angles for phase-matching in the nonlinear crystals, and the potential for increasing the output power to several milli-Watts. This is, to the authors' knowledge, the first implementation of intracavity frequency tripling in a visible SDL and the shortest wavelength emitted from an SDL system.