Ks. Repasky et al., PERFORMANCE AND DESIGN OF AN OFF-RESONANT CONTINUOUS-WAVE RAMAN LASER, Journal of the Optical Society of America. B, Optical physics, 15(6), 1998, pp. 1667-1673
A steady-state theory that describes the performance of a cw oils-reso
nant Raman laser is presented. The cw Raman laser is constructed in a
nonconfocal high-finesse cavity that allows for high Raman gain with l
ow pump powers, Threshold values of the pump laser used to pump the cw
Raman laser are predicted to be as low as 1 mW. The maximum photon-co
nversion efficiency for the cw Raman laser is predicted to be 508. The
theory is compared with experimental results from a cw Raman laser th
at operates with a pump wavelength of 532 nm and a Stokes-shifted wave
length of 683 nm. A threshold pump power of 2 mW and a maximum photon-
conversion efficiency of 34% +/- 6% was measured. With the mirrors use
d in the experiment, these values correspond to the predictions from t
he steady-state cw Raman laser theory. The theoretical model is then u
sed to design cw Raman lasers operate near the maximum conversion effi
ciency in the 1-4-mu m wavelength region. (C) 1998 Optical Society of
America.