- Joined
- Nov 7, 2008
- Messages
- 5,725
- Points
- 0
I wanted to touch on a couple things here..
The efficiency numbers that we're used to seeing are for Nd:YVO4 and KTP, not Nd:YVO4 and MgO
PLN. There is bound to be a difference, and everything I've seen on MgOPLN says that it's superior to KTP in terms of doubling efficiency.
Also, mode changes that accompany temperature changes are simply a fact of life when working with solid-state lasers. It really takes a lot of extra effort to "stabilize" a solid-state laser, including but not limited to optical feedback, fast responding temperature control, complex non-linear cavities (ring, L), very carefully shaped pump beam etc. Pretty much any time you're dealing with a simple, linear cavity DPSS system you're going to have noise on many levels, from amplitude noise to mode hops. I've seen 473nm lasers that experience power fluctuations in the kHz range. You can't really see them in a static beam, but you sure can if you start scanning the beam. This is actually VERY common with 473nm lasers, and is generated in LBO during the doubling process. I have yet to see a linear-cavity DPSS that utilizes non-linear conversion (doubling, tripling, summing etc) that does not naturally have noise in the output on some level.
The efficiency numbers that we're used to seeing are for Nd:YVO4 and KTP, not Nd:YVO4 and MgO
PLN. There is bound to be a difference, and everything I've seen on MgOPLN says that it's superior to KTP in terms of doubling efficiency.Also, mode changes that accompany temperature changes are simply a fact of life when working with solid-state lasers. It really takes a lot of extra effort to "stabilize" a solid-state laser, including but not limited to optical feedback, fast responding temperature control, complex non-linear cavities (ring, L), very carefully shaped pump beam etc. Pretty much any time you're dealing with a simple, linear cavity DPSS system you're going to have noise on many levels, from amplitude noise to mode hops. I've seen 473nm lasers that experience power fluctuations in the kHz range. You can't really see them in a static beam, but you sure can if you start scanning the beam. This is actually VERY common with 473nm lasers, and is generated in LBO during the doubling process. I have yet to see a linear-cavity DPSS that utilizes non-linear conversion (doubling, tripling, summing etc) that does not naturally have noise in the output on some level.
Last edited:
