Terahertz Optical Properties of KTiOPO4 Crystal in the Temperature Range of (−192)–150 °C

This paper presents the results of an experimental study of the optical properties of highly resistive monocrystals of potassium titanyl phosphate (KTiOPO4, KTP) in the frequency range of 0.2–1 THz and the temperature range of (−192)–150 °C. The dispersion of the refractive indices is approximated in the form of Sellmeier equations. The results show that the temperature dependence of the Sellmeier coefficients for all three principal optical axes is close to linear and, most likely, does not experience an extremum in the vicinity of the activation temperatures of the cationic conductivity of the KTP crystal at (−73)–(−23) °C. Weak frequency dependence of an optical axis direction angle VZ in the range of 0.2–1 THz is confirmed. However, the change in VZ with temperature is three times higher than reported before.

Increasing the conversion efficiency of KTP crystal using the pump-power technique

In this study, the effect of pumping power on the conversion efficiency of nonlinear crystal (KTP) was investigated using laser pump-power technique. The results showed that the higher the pumping power values, the greater the conversion efficiency (η) and, as the crystal thickness increases within limitations, the energy conversion efficiency increases at delay time of (0.333 ns) and at room temperature. Efficiency of 80% at length of KTP crystal (L = 1.75 X 10-3 m) and Pin = 28MW, and also, compare the experimental results with numerical results by using MATLAB program.

Studying the Effect of Laser Pump Pulse Energy and Delay Time on Conversion Efficiency of KTP

In this study, the effect of increasing pump pulse energy and delay time on the energy conversion efficiency of the Potassium Titanyl Phosphate (KTP) crystal at room temperature was investigated. It was found that the higher the pump pulse the greater the efficiency at a certain value of the delay time. Moreover, at the delay time 3.524ns, we found that the efficiency of the conversion of energy increases from 0.0112 to 0.0159. We also observed that the lower delay time between the pump and the probe pulses leads to increase the rate of energy conversion efficiency of the KTP crystal, where the reaches up to 3, which is higher than the value recorded in the absence of a pump pulse. The highest value of the rate of energy conversion efficiency recorded in this study was 0.0159. This work was achieved at room temperature.

Enhancement of Intracavity-Pumped Terahertz Parametric Oscillator Power by Adopting Diode-Side Pumped Configuration Based on KTiOPO4 Crystal

In this paper, a KTiOPO4 (KTP) crystal is used as the nonlinear medium in an intracavity-pumped terahertz parametric oscillator (TPO) based on stimulated polariton scattering (SPS). Almost all the reported intracavity SPS sources adopt the diode-end pumped configuration, and the THz output power is limited by the serious thermal effect and small fundamental beam size. For improving the THz output power, we propose diode-side pumping for the laser medium to get a higher fundamental power and a larger fundamental beam size. A convex–plane fundamental laser resonator is used to further offset the thermal effect and increase the fundamental beam size. The THz frequency of the intracavity-pumped KTP terahertz parametric oscillator can be discontinuously tuned from 3.19 THz to 5.94 THz with three gaps. The fundamental beam diameter in the KTP crystal is about 1.3 mm. The maximum average THz power is 166 μW at 5.74 THz under a pulse repetition frequency (PRF) of 6 kHz and a diode pump power of 98 W. By means of the diode-side pumped configuration, the maximum THz output power is more than two-fold higher compared to the diode-end pumped configuration reported using the KTP crystal.