MIDINFRARED SOURCES USING DYE-LASERS IN KTIOASO4 AND LIIO3

A coherent infrared source tunable from 3.4 to 5.3 mu m has been const ructed by difference-frequency mixing of the second harmonic of a Q-sw itched Nd:YAG laser and a pulsed dye laser using the new crystal KTiOA sO4 (KTA). A peak power of >50 kW and pulse energy of >250 mu J are me asured at 4.4 mu m. The results are compared with mixing in LiIO3. For a low-power Nd:YAG laser that produces 200 mJ of 532-nm radiation, th e infrared power is similar for the two crystals, For high-power YAG l asers, calculation shows that commercial KTA crystals can produce over 10 mJ of IR power in the absence of absorption loss. The laser damage threshold of KTA at 532 nm is determined to be 300 +/- 30 MW/cm(2). B oth the maximum IR power and the damage threshold are several times hi gher for KTA than for LiIO3. A simple frequency calibration method is described.