Abstract

The newly developed nonlinear crystals of KTiOPO₄ (KTP) and beta-barium-borate (BBO) provide the most efficient frequency conversion from the IR to visible and visible to UV, respectively. The unique features of BBO crystal and various potential applications including high-order harmonic generation and optical parametric oscillation (OPO) have been recently reported and compared with other crystals. ^1-3 A deep UV laser source as short as 189 nm has also been reported by Lambda Physik Co., where BBO crystal was used in the sum frequency mixing of two dye lasers at 788 and 497 nm. On the other hand, KTP has been widely used as a frequency doubler. However, the phasematching condition limits the fundamental wavelength to not shorter than 1 μm.

© 1988 Optical Society of America