The effects of temperature control in the optical parametric oscillator laser system

With the rapid development of optoelectronic information technology, the infrared light source with the wavelength of 1~5μm has many potential application prospect in the field of spectroscopy, laser radar, remote sensing, laser communication and so on. The infrared laser can be obtained by many methods. Optical Parametric Oscillator (OPO) is one of the most important methods. It has the advantages of small size, light weight, stable performance, good reliability, high beam quality and the wide spectral range. In this paper, we design an OPO optical arrangement with the MgO:PPLN crystal which is pumped by a high repetition rate acousto-optic Q-switched Nd:YVO4 laser. The crystal is fixed in a small case that the temperature could be precisely controlled. In the experiment, we heated the MgO: PPLN crystal to different temperatures. By adjusting the temperature, the relationship between the temperature and the output power is recorded. Theory analysis of the laser is given to illustrate the phenomenon. The effect on the output power and the transfer efficiency is detailed studied by varying the temperature of the MgO: PPLN crystal.