Simultaneously Wavelength- and Temperature-Insensitive Mid-Infrared Optical Parametric Amplification with LiGaS₂ Crystal

Abstract

Ultrafast mid-infrared (mid-IR) lasers with a high pulse repetition rate are in great demand in various fields, including attosecond science and strong-field physics. Due to the lack of suitable mid-IR laser gain medium, optical parametric amplifiers (OPAs) are used to generate an ultrafast mid-IR laser. However, the efficiency of OPA is sensitive to phase mismatches induced by wavelength and temperature deviations from the preset points, which thus limits the pulse duration and the average power of the mid-IR laser. Here, we exploited a noncollinear phase-matching configuration to achieve simultaneously wavelength- and temperature-insensitive mid-IR OPA with a LiGaS2 crystal. The noncollinearity can cancel the first-order dependence of phase matching on both wavelength and temperature. Benefitting from the thermal property of the LiGaS2 crystal, some collinear phase-matching solutions derived from the first-order and even third-order wavelength insensitivity have comparatively large temperature bandwidths and can be regarded as approximate solutions with simultaneous wavelength and temperature insensitivity. These simultaneously wavelength- and temperature-insensitive phase-matching designs are verified through numerical simulations in order to generate few-cycle, high-power mid-IR pulses.

Keywords

• mid-infrared lasers
• ultrafast lasers
• optical parametric amplification
• LiGaS₂ crystal