Demonstration of a second-harmonic powder laser

We demonstrate second-harmonic generation in a mixture of powders of laser [Nd0.5La0.5Al3(BO3)(4)] and frequency-doubling (2-methyl-4-nitroaniline) (M NA) materials. We quantitatively describe short-spike 1.06-mu m stimulated emission and its second harmonic with the model accounting for the populati on inversion and the energy density of 1.06-mu m and 0.53-mu m radiation in the pumped volume. The experimental results are in a good agreement with t he model predictions. The optimum MNA concentration was shown to be depende nt on the pumping energy. The determined optimum nonlinear coefficient in ( pulverized) nonlinear material was shown to be 10(2)-10(3) times larger tha n that in MNA. (C) 1998 Optical Society of America. [S0740-3224(98)01510-0] . OCIS codes: 140.3580; 300.2140; 160.0160.