Efficient 2nd and 4th harmonic generation of a single-frequency, continuous-wave fiber amplifier

We demonstrate efficient cavity-enhanced second and fourth harmonic generation of an air-cooled, continuous-wave (cw), single-frequency 1064 nm fiber-amplifier system. The second harmonic generator achieves up to 88% total external conversion efficiency, generating more than 20-W power at 532 nm wavelength in a diffraction-limited beam (M-2 < 1.05). The nonlinear medium is a critically phase-matched, 20-mm long, anti-reflection (AR) coated LBO crystal operated at 25 degrees C. The fourth harmonic generator is based on an AR-coated, Czochralski-grown beta-BaB2O4 (BBO) crystal optimized for low loss and high damage threshold. Up to 12.2 W of 266-nm deep-UV (DUV) output is obtained using a 6-mm long critically phase-matched BBO operated at 40 C. This power level is more than two times higher than previously reported for cw 266-nm generation. The total external conversion efficiency from the fundamental at 1064 nm to the fourth harmonic at 266 nm is > 50%. (c) 2008 Optical Society of America.