Frequency-doubling of continuous laser light in the Laguerre Gaussian modes LG0,0 and LG3,3

For future generations of gravitational wave detectors, it is proposed to use the helical Laguerre-Gaussian LG(3)(,3) mode to reduce thermal noise, which limits the detector sensitivity. At the same time, this requires the efficient generation of squeezed vacuum states in the LG(3)(,3) mode for quantum noise reduction. Since this technique includes the process of second harmonic generation (SHG), we experimentally compare the conversion efficiency and harmonic output field of the LG(0,0) and LG(3)(,3) modes in a cavity-enhanced SHG using the same 7% doped MgO:LiNbO3 crystal. Conversion efficiencies of 96% and 45% are achieved, respectively. The influence of mode mismatches and astigmatism is analyzed to estimate the ratio of the pump mode-dependent effective nonlinearities to be d(0,0)/d(3,3)similar to 5. Furthermore, we show that absorption loss in the crystal is more relevant for the LG(3)(,3) mode. (C) 2020 Optical Society of America